Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-18
CAIRO TO THE CAPE
Cecil Rhodes Outlines Plans for the
Future.
MATTERS OF INTEREST In LONDON
Holding a Coroner's inquest Over
a Peruvian Mummy.
FORMER ARMY SCANDALS

IoNboN, May 1893.
Probably not since the days of the South
sea bubble has the city of London seen
such excitement over public company mat
tiers as that which was manifest yesterday
at the meeting of the British South Africa
Chartered Company. 1t was Rhodes day
and the great Cecil Rhodes the empire
maker, was there in person to explain to
interested and excited shareholders. and as
many others could secure the coveted
privilege of seat or standing place, what
the company doing and what it pro-
posed to DO.
The meeting was held at the Cannon
Street Hotel. a place sacred to company
meetings. and admission was by ticket
Some of the tickets changed hands so often
that tt was demanded and cheerfully given
Tor the privilege of seat to hear the i'm
periallst director. Many of the sharehoid-
erS slept IN the hotel over night in order
to be sure of obtaining admission. AL
though the meeting did not open until noon
as carry as hdLf-past { o clock many snare
holders had already taken their seats and
fully two hours before the time fixed for
the commencement of the proceedings the
hall was filled to OVERLOOKING Every inch
OF space on the floor and in the galleries
was occupied, and the broad ma rble mantel-
pieces, denuded of their customary plants
We're used as coisns of vantage by several
laoties-rany provided with opera glasses
was exceptionally large. and the appear
ance of the front seats bore a certain re-
sembiance to those at theatrical per-
fofnance. The StaircaseS and corridors
were guarded by large posses of police
Dukes apd duchesses jostled city men and
stockholders, all humanity being on a COM
mon level before the god of money in the
shape of Cecil Rhodes A duke introduced
nm ana marquis proposed the first vote
Of thanks.
A Practical Statement
Mr.. Rhodes " as not academicaI: he was
in the position of director giving an ac-
count to his shareholders of the business
he is doing in their behalf and of the
course which he and his colleagues are
taking. He was on practical ground and
talked like practical man. The last
speaker who made the same kind of i'm
preston was Prince Bismarck. He too
was like director giving an account to
his shareholders; he used to set forth the
broad lines on which he was running the
German empire. No such all-round view
is ever Vouchsafed of the mana cement of
the British empire
Mr. Rhodes was rendering his balance
sheet of the condition of the plot of en-
plre that bears his name and is his work
AS sober statesman he began with
finance: The balance between revenue and
expenditure IS as yet a matter of the flu
ture. but 1t is Il short future Then fol-
lowed practical matters, the telegraph and
railway. The telegraph is to be made from
the cape to Cairo; the German emperor has
taken a business view of it, and Germany
Will accept what is offered her The line
will be laid in about three years, and the
rates have been fixed by agreement in ad-
vance a a figure that will make even Mr.
Henniker HeatOn happy
AS for the railway, British ministers have
kept Mr.. Rhodes dangling for nine months
and at the md of that time they cannot see
thelr way Foresight is not the strong
point of the normal British cabinet. So
Mr.. Rhodes means to go on with the rail-
way himself, and yesterday he fully ex-
planned the proposals by which the com
pany intends during the next four five
years to prolong the lines. which now con-
verge from the Cape and the east coast on
the hills which a few years ago were the
Matahele strongholds, as far as the north
ern limit of Rhodesia, that is, as far as
Lake Tanganyika.
Lack of Foresight.
Mr.. Rhodes in revealing his strength will
incidentally cause a fiuttering in the par
liamentary dovecOte. In two passages of
his speech Mr.. Rhodes gave expression to
what every one has felt for some years.
He reminded his hearers that owing to
insufficient foresight in the past on the part
of our government in the development of
Africa the course of history had not been
quite what it might have been; and little
idIti on referring 10 the pUUCy winch ne
described as that 'of extension" he felt
that "the house of commons would have to
wake up 1t is not these words that will
produce the effect. but the general tenor of
the speech ir the course of which they were
let fall. The public will see that while
ministries at home have been keeping in or
failing to keep in. and while the house of
commons has been talking to no very evil
dent purpose, Englshmen away from home
have been at work. Mr.. Rhodes has pegged
out for his COuntrymen claim in "a pay
able country" and has worked that claim
to some purpose. Meanwhile governments
ana parliament have looked on aStonished,
incredulous. reluctant to extend their re-
sponsibilities. until public pressure has
forced from them some measure of recogni-
ton and assistance to these enterprises
The habit OF not looking further than from
the treasury bench to the front bench op-
posite has become such second nature to
British parliamentary hands that govern
mentS have for nearly a generation never
been expected to look round the world or
as far forward as the day after tomorrow.
The public had almost come to believe with
the ordinary cabinet minister that it was
wrong to think of the future; that no Gues-
ton affecting distant lands ought ever to
be considered until the actual shooting of
guns made II burning question of the day.
4 Dream Come True.
Now comes Mr.. Rhodes, with the record
behind him that, against all parliamentary
and cabinet traditions, he considered the
future of Matabeleland and Mashonaland
when they were inhabited only by bar
barians; that he saw in his minds eye a
prosperous British colony arising in those
regions; that he set about to make his
dream a reality, and has done it. This is
shock to the traditions.
Before finishing Mr. Rhodes touched a
matter of more immediate interest The
chartered company, like the sirdar has had
TO eau for tenders for railway work Like
the sirdar, the company has had the low
est tender from the United States. Now :"
says Mr.. Rhodes to his countrymen that
Will never do. If you mean to keep your
place in the world you must be able to COM
pete with your rivals in manufacture" The
Morning Post, commenting this, says:
This is sound advice. Our statesmen's
business is to find out how the rivals are
able to compete to such advantage. Is it
in the elementary and higher schools in the
education of workmen and masters, that
the Americans are better off? Is 1t in tech
nical instruction, or is it in the general and
social conditions? If these questions are
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