The Indianapolis journal., 1894-01-23

reserved to them under the several conces-
This scheme Cecil Rhodes carried into
effect To do this he had 10 secure the APP
est men. 1t was then that he presented to
Mr. ParnelPs Parliamentary fund 10000.
though @ his his friends m md 1 haYe always denied thSe he
Imperial British South Africa Company was
organized in 1889. with the Duke OF Aber-
president and Cecil Rhodes as managing di-
rector
Under the supervision of Mr. Rhodes
ponce force was organized, the companys
MOrkIng policy was outlined. and the mem
OraDIe march through NaShOnaland began.
The union jack was planted at Fort Sails
Dury. claims were laid out. and soon the
Mashona natives could hear the putting OF
engines and the noise Of busy mines.
Before he was thirty years old Mr.
Rhodes had been elected to the Cape House
OF Assembly from Barkley General Cor
aon, VINO was on a special mission with him
III Basutoland asked him afterward TO ac-
company him on his mission TO Khartoum
as his private secretary. Mr. Rhodes. how
urer-general of the Cape, and was COM
PEELED to decline General Gordon's offer
course na of bG GbarpeI once d however in the
You are one of those men who never
approve OF anything you don't organize
Rhodes reflected for a moment and an
sWered; I'm inclined to think you're right"
sprigg as Premier of the Cape Colony. It
was then that he began to push forward
energetically the scheme that he had
busy years. With all his might he extended
the power of the South Africa Company
Zambesi To the west and east We're the
possessions of Germany and Portugal.
whose agents bad for years been sehening
10 gain that central stretch of land which
the English call Zambesia. Rhodes out
schemed them. Slowly but surely he crept
around the Orange Free State and the
South African Republic, cutting them eff
completely from communication with the
north eHXeeptting, exec q tI's,t through ugh this land
WHAT WILL BECOME OF IT?
Is that still true? Is Cecil Rhodes, the
nineteenth century man, still amalgamating
all these lands and building this grand ed
ifice, TO hand it over to Great Britain? Is
the South Africa Federation to be merely
British colony, or a great republic? Many
british statesman has asked these ques-
tions, but no one has answered them salts
factorly. A political writer in the Specta-
TOR not long ago summed up the situation
in these words:
THE Beers in the Transvaal We're push
ing on toward Mashonaland. But if they
reached the Zambesi and touched the Portu-
guese territory the chance of bringing
them into the South African Federation was
slight Hence il became necessary to head
them off and surround them with English
possessions. Mr.. RhOdeS'S action was in 10
sense unfriendly to the Beers: he merely
terests antagonistic to fusion. We take it
that the way in which the unity of South
AFRICA VIII be brought about will be some
'In Mashonaiand Mr. Rhodes-Mr. Rhodes
Is the company, and il is therefore simpler
to speak of him personally-will develop
the country as thoroughly as possible paw
Ing special attention always TO co1nriuni-
cations both with the Cape and with the
come very valuable territory In Cane
Colony, where Mr. Rhodes is at present
or othef exercise power, he will maintain
a steady railway policy. That is, he will
push on the railways which run uD the
continent from Table Bay till II reaches at
least the Mashonalandl frontier and possi-
bly, the Zambesi. At the same time he
will keep on the best of terms with the
Orange Free State and the Transvaal by
giving them certain privileges of a very
valuable kind, and by inauguratng a com
mon policy as to customs and dues. The
same policy Will be pursued in regard to
Natal, and the fragmentary crown colonies
now existing in South Africa In this way
the ground will be we'll prepared for a
definite scheme of unity.
Mr.. Rhodes may or may not live to pro-
pose the fusion of a federal government
but either he or some politician trained in
his school will suggest that the Parliament
at Westminster shall pass an act on the
lines of the British North America act"
the act under which the Dominion was es-
tablished. The bribe used to induce the
various States to come in will be Mash
onaland. 1t will be proposed that Mashon-
ada, shall be handed over to the central
government. the rights of the South Africa
Company being eXtinguiShed, and that all
the States constituting the federation shall
have share in its management
Possibly the laying of a certain number
of miles of railway will further be de-
manded by some of the States, but gener-
ally Ii will be found that Mashonaland
will be a sufficient inducement. The States
will have been already prepared for feder-
alton, and the notion of a compact terri
tory. extending from the Zambesi to Table
Mountain, will be quite enough to make
men forget for the time all local
jealousies
In person the Premier is tall, standing
over six feet in his shoes, and he has a
very muscular appearance He dresses
without the least consideration for fashion,
is always unaffected and unpretending, and
Is very plain spoken. He is not orator,
and when he speaks he has ungainly
way of turning his body about and twitch-
ing his hands. He knows absolutely moth
ing about gastronomy. eating, and drink
ing anything and everyt thing that is set
before him. In all things but his great
schemes he is peculiarly absent-minded.
Once it is said while pOndering over a
new scheme, he drank a quart of char
treuse which had by accident been set be
fore him. When his attention vas called to
| his performance, he opened his eyes in
amazement and then said:
MY! I'll have a fine time digeSting
that"
But he has iron constitution, and un-
less he killed by accident, or insists on
repeating his chartreuSe performance there
| Is no reason why he should not live to be
| ninety years old-the veteran President of
| the South African republic.