Part 1: The Form and Structure of International Capital
1. Capital Accumulation
2. Ideological Background and Framing
3. Formation of Rhodes Society
4. Key Figures in Cecil John Rhodes’ Early and Later Business Life
5. After the Death of Rhodes
6. Rhodes Scholarship
7. Anglo-American Establishment
1. Capital Accumulation
Cecil John Rhodes (1853 – 1902) was a British and a son of a Church of England Vicar.
He supported himself with money lent by his aunt, just known as Sophia, when he first came to South Africa at the age of 17 years.
After he briefly stayed with the Surveyor-General of Natal, Dr. P.C. Sutherland, in Pietermaritzburg, Rhodes took an interest in agriculture and joined his brother Herbert on his cotton farm in the Umkomaas valley in Natal. In the colony, he established the Rhodes Fruit Farms in the Stellenbosch district.
In October 1871, Rhodes left the colony for the diamond fields of Kimberley. He supervised the working of his brother's diamond claim and speculated on his behalf. Among his associates in the early days were John X. Merriman (was the Treasurer-General under Rhodes from 1890 to 1893 and ended his relationship with Rhodes after the Jameson Raid in December 1895) and Charles Rudd, who later became his partner in the De Beers Mining Company and Niger Oil Company.
In 1872, Rhodes and Rudd became friends and partners, working diamond claims in Kimberley, dealing in diamonds and operating pumping and ice-making machinery, amongst many other odds and ends. Between 1873 and 1881, while Rhodes intermittently attended college in England, Rudd managed their interests.
In April 1880, Rhodes and Rudd launched the De Beers Mining Company after the amalgamation of a number of individual claims. With 200 000 pounds capital, of which Rhodes was secretary, the company owned the largest interest in the mine.
The company's name, De Beers comes from Johannes Nicholas de Beer and Diederik Arnoldus de Beer, two Afrikaner farmers on whose farm, called Vooruitzicht, near the confluence of the Orange River and the Val River, diamonds were discovered.
The de Beer brothers were not able to protect the farm from the ensuing diamond rush, and sold it for £6300. Two diamond mines formed on the site, known as the "Big Hole" or Premier Mine. Although the brothers did not become the owners of the mines, one of the mines was named after them. Cecil Rhodes and Charles Rudd gained control of both the De Beers mine and the Kimberley mine.
Rhodes later bought out his fierce rival and fellow Jewish rabbi, Barney Barnato (born Barnett Isaacs), who was the owner of Barnato Diamond Mining Company to form De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited. De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited was created to gain control over the newly found diamond deposits of South Africa and to control the world diamond market through the support of the Nathaniel Mayer Rothschilds and his friend Alfred Beit.
Barnato competed with Cecil John Rhodes in taking over the diamond mining industry in Cape Colony by aggressive buying out of competitors, although in the end Rhodes succeeded in buying him and his brother out for around four million pounds, writing the single largest check in history at that point.
In 1887, Rudd's interests had shifted to gold, the previous year discovered at the Witwatersrand. With Rhodes and him as directors, and his brother Thomas as chairman, they registered Gold Fields of South Africa Ltd (now called Goldfields Limited) in early 1887. The company was structured to enormously favor Rudd and Rhodes, with its London board of directors unaware of most of their activities in southern Africa. On the 13 October 1888 Rudd secured an agreement to the mineral rights of Matabeleland and Mashonaland from Lobengula, the King of Matabeleland. The agreement became know as the Rudd Concession.
Rhodes and Rudd had duped the British government and the investing public in believing that the concession was vested in a public company and made millions of pounds when the British South Africa Company bought the concession.
British South Africa Company (BSAC) was a mercantile company incorporated in 1889 under a Royal Charter by Cecil Rhodes for the purpose of settling the territory and bringing it under British rule. The BSAC was the rule of the land and was the responsible agent for colonization.
The Company Administrator, in terms of the Royal Charter, was the British monarchy's representative in the territories under the control of the Company. The Pioneer Column was set up to exploit the provisions of a treaty of 1888, the Rudd Concession, between Rhodes' British South Africa Company (on behalf of Queen Victoria in the text) and the sovereign power in the region at the time, Matabele King Lobengula. This treaty gave Rhodes the rights to mining and administration in the area of Mashonaland which was ruled by the King by use of coercion and murderous raids involved tribute-taking and abduction of young men and women.
The Pioneer Column was a force raised by Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company in 1890. It left Cecil Rhodes' farm at Kenilworth, a suburb of Kimberley, under Col. Pennefather and Sir John Willoughby.
It was used in his efforts to annex the territory of Mashonaland, later part of today Zimbabwe. The column consisted of a Pioneer Corps of 180 men, accompanied by a paramilitary police force (later christened the British South Africa Police) of 300 together with various mining prospectors; it was commanded by Major Frank Johnson and guided by the hunter Frederick Selous. The Pioneer Corps was officially disbanded on October 1, 1890 and each member was granted land on which to farm thereby displacing the native Africans, a colonial issue that has remained thorny leading to the liberation struggle by African nationalists.
With with the financial support of fellow Jewish English Freemasons, Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild (1840-1915) and Alfred Beit, Rhodes was able to control the diamond mines of South Africa with his De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd, by buying out the French Diamond Co. and then merging with the Barnato Diamond Mining Company. He eventually controlled the production of diamonds throughout the world.
By the end of the nineteenth century, Cecil Rhodes, who owned the De Beers diamond company and Consolidated Gold Fields (later Gold Fields Limited) had founded the British South Africa Company (BSAC) which was to play a leading role in the colonization of southern and central Africa.
Patterned on the 17th century chartered companies, the BSAC invested the profits it derived from its mining activities to build a colonial infrastructure north of the Transvaal, and induced British immigrants to settle on the newly occupied lands in order to increase the value of its investments. Until the mid-1920s, when the British administration took over, the BSAC ruled the territories of Zimbabwe and Zambia (then Southern and Northern Rhodesia).
Truncated agreements with the local chiefs granted mining concessions to the BSAC in all the territories it ruled; these concessions were readily confirmed by the British government. Later, the BSAC granted an exclusive prospecting licence to two mining enterprises owned by British, American and South African interests. Only in 1964, when Zambia became independent, were the concession rights transferred to the Zambian government against a 'compensation' of £2 million.
This pattern of granting concessions whereby colonization was organized by private mining companies with the support, and on behalf of the imperial state, was not limited to British Central and Southern Africa, but applied also to the Belgian Congo. There, the Katanga Mining Company ruled the territory in exchange for an exclusive mining concession granted by the Belgian state which derived its 'rights' in the Congo from the Berlin Conference of 1885.
From the turn of the twentieth century up to the 1930s, mining activity in Africa - with the exception of Ghana (gold) and Sierra Leone (diamonds) was concentrated mainly in the south. But colonial expansion in Africa was not limited to the search for minerals and, after the slave trade ended, spread to include land occupation, food production and, more generally, the acquisition of large zones of influence by the European powers. Early in the twentieth century the whole of Africa, with the exception of Ethiopia, was under colonial domination. But it was investment in mining, attracting huge amounts of capital and mobilizing masses of labourers, that had the greatest impact on indigenous societies. – Mining in Africa Today - Strategies and Prospects, General Editor: Samir Amin, 1988.
By 1890, Rhodes had become Prime Minister of the Cape, but continued to steer events to the north, adding Matabeleland of today’s Zimbabwe to the BSAC's territory after the Matabele had been defeated in 1893. Between 1890 and the First European War, the BSAC and the British government appropriated the land of the Shona and Ndebele people largely by military conquest and created the new colony of Southern Rhodesia by 1895.
By the end of 1895, the BSAC had introduced the hut tax, "native reservations" and passes for the purpose of dispossessing Africans of their land, livestock and minerals and forcing them to work for European settlers. The famous Chimurenga rebellion of the Shona and Ndebele in 1896 was not finally suppressed by the BSAC until 1903, but by this time the settlers had seized over 15 million acres of land.
In 1898 Southern Rhodesia (today’s Zimbabwe) became a British Protectorate administered by the British South Africa Company. It became a self-governing colony in 1923, with Africans increasingly excluded. In 1930 an Act of parliament was passed to limit the amount of land available to Africans. From 1933 to 1953 the 'Anglo-Saxon Rhodesia' policy of racial segregation was practised and African opposition grew.
By 1900, the company ruled both Southern and Northern Rhodesia and its rule ended in Southern Rhodesia in 1923 and in Northern Rhodesia in 1924.
By 1914, the BSAC had taken 48 million acres, other companies 9 million acres and individual settlers a further 13 million acres. By this time Africans who were 97% of the population had been forced into 23% of the land in the so-called "reserves".
2. Ideological Background and Framing
In his university college days, Rhodes later became a student and a devoted fan of another British, John Ruskin (1819-1900).
Ruskin was a teacher at the Working Men’s College (founded in 1854 by philosopher JFD. Maurice). He was also a professor of Fine Arts at Oxford University, an artist and a writer.
He spoke to Oxford British undergraduates as members of the privileged ruling class and that they were possessors of what was called a magnificent tradition of education, beauty, rule of law, freedom, decency and self-discipline.
He based his views on those of socialist Robert Owen and advocated and espoused theories developed from the teachings of Plato (428-347 BCE), who had studied under Socrates.
Rhodes began developing his vision about life after hearing a speech by John Ruskin which espoused an opinion, which by extension, furthered the teachings found in Plato's book, 'The Republic.'
Plato, an initiate of ancient mystery systems of Africa in ancient Egypt, called for "...a ruling class with a powerful army to keep it in power and a society completely subordinate to the monolithic authority of the rulers."
Plato established an academy which operated for almost 800 years, producing many great Greek thinkers, including Aristotle.
Rhodes was also greatly influenced by Windom Reade's book 'The Martyrdom of Man' (1872) and the tremendous suffering that man must undergo, which was epitomized in the phrase "the survival of the fittest." The book said that the "inevitable progress of man (was) to perfection."
Rhodes incorporated his rationalization about the focus and discipline of Catholic Church, the Order of Jesuits and Freemasonry into his thinking and then started to talk about starting an organization to preserve and extend the British Empire.
He was initiated as a English Freemason in 1877 at the Apollo University Lodge No. 357, which had been founded in 1819.
On April 17, 1877, he became a Master Mason in the same lodge. Rhodes also joined a Scottish Rite Lodge at Oxford University called Prince Rose Croix Lodge No. 30.
In June 1877, while at Oxford University, he wrote a Will what he referred to as the 'Confession of Faith' in which he said: "It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory...more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race, more of the best, the most human, most honourable race the world possesses...the absorption of the greater portion of the world under our rule simply means the end of all wars."
It was this mentality that fuelled his desire to unite the world under British rule.
Rhodes's first Will included the following passage directing that his fortune form the endowment of a "secret society" devoted to:
"The extension of British rule throughout the world.... The colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour, and enterprise and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the islands of Cyprus and Canada, the whole of South America, the islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire...." (Christopher Marlowe, 'John Cecil Rhodes: The Anatomy of an Empire,' London, 1972)
“Throughout most the ninetieth century, French Freemasonry, and not English Freemasonry, was the dominant revolutionary force…offering the lower and middle classes a voice in government. Since its beginning in 1717, the British (Masonic) Brotherhood was aristocratic, capitalist...
“Ruskin's inspiration and devotion to the creation of an elite of race patriots derived directly from Plato's Republic. In the 'Republic,' Plato called for "a ruling class with a powerful army to keep it in power and a society completely subordinate to the monolithic authority of the rulers." Ruskin sent out to recoup and extend the influence of British Masonry. He wanted to do this by education of the working man. His views on the ruling class as developed from Plato's Republic, sent shock waves through Oxford.
"[You, the undergraduates are] the possessors of a magnificent tradition of education, beauty, rule of law, freedom, decency and self-discipline but... this tradition [can] not be saved, and does not deserve to be saved, unless it can be extended to the lower classes in England itself and to the non-English masses throughout the world. If this precious tradition is not extended to these two great majorities, the minority of upper-class Englishmen will ultimately be submerged by these majorities and the tradition lost. To prevent this, the tradition must be extended to the masses and to the empire."
“Ruskin's rationale for proclaiming such ideas was to plant in the fertile minds of his Oxford students the theory that if they educated the working man and elevated him to the middle class, he would labor in behalf of the aristocracy to perpetuate the tradition of the upper-class Englishmen - which tradition was to control the finances of nations through ground rent, banking and trade. Ruskin taught that it was the essential duty of the aristocracy to guarantee an education for the so that an expanded middle class would rule the country. This arrangement would be a type of legal slavery whereby both classes would benefit. Through the power of finance, the ruling class would maintain control from behind the scenes, while the working class would have opportunity to share in the common wealth made available through loans.
“Ruskin successfully transmitted his vision to his students at Oxford. They in turn became the Masonic movers and shakers in the new politics and economics that today govern the seven industrial nations of the world - the United States, Canada, England, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan.
“A wealthy young man, Cecil Rhodes, like John Ruskin believed that only the British elite could and should rule the world to the benefit and happiness of mankind.
"Shortly after arriving at Oxford, Rhodes was initiated into Freemasonry at the Apollo University lodge No. 357. On April 17, 1877, he was raised a Master Mason in the same lodge. Rhodes also joined a Scottish Rite Lodge at Oxford called Prince Rose Croix Lodge No. 30.
“What sort of character was Cecil Rhodes? Rhodes was a critic of English Freemasonry - of its impotence and incompetence in advancing British race interest. After being raised to Master Mason on April 17, 1877, Rhodes drafted a program for world dominion by the British race patriots. To guarantee the funding from his vast wealth of his world vision for the British empire, Rhodes wrote in 1877 the first of seven wills that he composed over his lifetime. The first will called for the formation of a "secret society" whose primary function would be focused on returning England to her former glory.
"He viewed English Freemasonry and its conspiracy as impotent and in effect defunct in this regard. Ironically, when the society Rhodes had envisioned was finally organized after his death, its membership consisted only of English Freemasons. "The Round Table," as it was known, soon became the most powerful appendage of the British (Masonic) Brotherhood.
“In his third will Rhodes left his entire estate to a fellow Freemason, Lord Nathan Rothschild, as trustee. Rhodes stipulated that his gigantic fortune be used by his disciples to carry out the program he envisioned. Rothschild appointed Freemason Alfred Milner to head up the Secret society for which Rhodes's first will made provision. Lord Milner once remarked of himself, "My patriotism knows no geographical but only racial limits. I am a British Race patriot ." – Source: http://watch.pair.com/roundtable.html
All these motives and impulses were combined in Rhodes’ ambition, whose original intention for his secret society, as indicated in his correspondence with Lord Rothschild (a Jewish financier who funded his South African diamond mining enterprises), was to create “a society of the elect for the good of the Empire” based on the model of the Roman Catholic Church and its clerical order, the Jesuits: “In considering question suggested take Constitution of Jesuits if obtainable and insert English Empire for Roman Catholic Religion.”
He wanted to work with "men of ability and enthusiasm who find no suitable way to serve their country under the current political system; able youth recruited from the schools and universities; men of wealth with no aim in life; younger sons with high thoughts and great aspirations but without opportunity; rich men whose careers are blighted by some great disappointment. All must be men of ability and character. . . Rhodes envisages a group of the ablest and the best, bound together by common unselfish ideals of service to what seems to him the greatest cause in the world. There is no mention of material rewards. This is to be a kind of religious brotherhood like the Jesuits, 'a church for the extension of the British Empire.'" - p. 34 The Anglo-American Establishment, Carroll Quigley.
The British Empire was built through the following motives:
· Exploitation of natural resources of other countries, trade and commerce;
· The creation of settlement and penal colonies in other people’s lands;
· The creation and defense of British trade routes and markets; and
· The spreading of Western civilization (in its British incarnation).
As the Jesuits were the most loyal, dedicated and convinced servants of the Church, so too Rhodes saw that the British people were “the first race in the world, and the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race.” He saw the reunification and “the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire.”
If the Catholic faith and Latin learning had allegedly united Christendom, then the ‘White Man’s Burden’, then he envisaged the English language and ‘William Shakespearean’ literature, political system, and culture uniting the British Empire.
In February of 1891, Cecil John Rhodes had met with fellow Freemason friends, William Thomas Stead and Reginald Baliol Brett.
Stead was a famous British journalist of the day and was an early imperialist dreamer, whose influence on Cecil Rhodes in South Africa remained of primary importance.
Stead was intended to be one of Rhodes's executors but disagreed with the British government over the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) and his name was struck out from the Last Will and Testament of C. J. Rhodes in 1902.
Brett (later Lord Esher) was a product of Cambridge University, was friend and confidant of Queen Victoria. He was to be the most influential advisor of King Edward VII and King George V. In 1901, Lord Esher became deputy governor (and later governor) of Windsor Castle, and remained close to the royal family until his death. During this period, he helped edit Queen Victoria's papers, publishing a work called Correspondence of Queen Victoria (1907).
He was offered many public offices, including the Viceroyalty of India and the Secretaryship for War, but declined, accepting instead an appointment to the Privy Council (a body of advisors to the British monarchy) in 1922. He was Deputy Constable and Lieutenant-Governor of Windsor Castle 1901 to 1928, when he became Constable and Governor, an office he held until his death in 1930.
Rhodes told his friend, Snead that his envisaged society should be "a secret society, organized like Loyola's (founder of Society of Jesus – Jesuits), supported by the accumulated wealth of those whose aspiration is to do something." And this "something" that Rhodes had in mind for them to "do" with their wealth? Nothing less, said Rhodes, than to control the world through Britain.
The men of the secret group were to be English upper class: the university educated, from a privileged family background, and initiated into Freemasonry. The group was publicly referred to as the “English Establishment” and it is so up to this day.
Using the Roman Catholic Church, the Jesuits (Society of Jesus) and the English Freemasonry (United Grand Lodge of England) as organizational models, the three Freemason friends (Rhodes, Stead and Brett) drew up a plan of organization for their secret society and a list of original members.
3. Formation of the Rhodes Society
Rhodes’ plan for the organization provided for the first layer called, the Inner Circle (Rhodes, Stead and Brett) and the second layer called the "Society of the Elect".
This second layer eight members and was led by Rhodes. It comprised of the Inner Circle and the following five members:
The third layer of the Rhodes Society was called the Circle of Initiates. It consisted only those English initiated into Freemasonry. Rhodes was made a Master Mason in 1877 at the age of 24, while at Oxford University.
The Circle of Initiates consisted of Rhodes’ Ruskin associates at Oxford University such as
* Arnold Toynbee,
* Arthur Glazebrook,
* Sir George Parkin,
* Philip Lyttleton Gell,
* Sir Henry Birchenough*
A similar group from Cambridge University, recruited and led by his Freemason friend journalist William T. Stead, which included
* Lord Reginald Baliol Brett;
* Sir John Robert Seeley, an English essayist and historian;
* Lord Albert Grey; and
* Edmund Garrett.
The fourth layer, Outer Circle or Association of Helpers was created after the death of Rhodes and will be dealt with later.
Edward Jay Epstein has this to say: “Rhodes, after all, was the only man in history to have two nations and a federation named after him-Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and the Rhodesian Federation (which had included Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe). In less than ten years, under the royal charter granted to him by the British government, he had colonized millions of square miles of the richest part of southern and eastern Africa. This territorial empire proved ephemeral. He created another empire, however, De Beers, which endured.”
4. Key Figures in Cecil John Rhodes’ Early and Later Business Life
1. Alfred Beit - Rhodes feverishly exploited the diamond and gold fields of South Africa. With financial support from the Rothschild Dynasty at the recommendation of a fellow rich German Jew, Alfred Beit, he was able to monopolize the diamond mines of South Africa as De Beers Consolidated Mines to the extent that in the middle of the 1890s, Rhodes had a personal income of a least a million pounds a year which he spent on his goal in life (and after death) of establishing and extending British imperialism. The billions upon billions of dollars derived from South African gold and diamonds would be used to fund his secret society's work.
A fellow Jew and allegedly a Freemason, Alfred Beit was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1853, Beit had emigrated, gained a leading position in the South African gold and diamond business. He was richer than Rhodes and was considered Rhodes’ business conscience, financial encyclopaedia and his ready reckoner. It was him, who made it possible for Rhodes to be funded by the Rothschild since he had good connections with the House of Rothschild in London.
The son of a well-to-do merchant who had converted to Lutheranism, Alfred Beit was the close friend, lieutenant and adviser of Cecil Rhodes, and were born in the same year. Together they amalgamated the Kimberley Diamond Mines as De Beers Consolidated Mines in 1888. He helped develop the Transvaal gold mines and was an original director of the British South Africa Company (BSAC) and a trustee of Rhodes Trust. Indeed, without Beit’s backing Rhodes could not have carried out his schemes for the opening up of Northern and Southern Rhodesia under the British Charter.
He learnt the diamond trade under Jules Porges in Amsterdam and elsewhere. In 1875, he went to Port Elizabeth on behalf of his cousins, the Lipperts, who sent him to Kimberley as their representative. There he came into touch with Julius Wernher and with Cecil Rhodes. Attaining considerable prosperity as a diamond merchant, he became a member of the firm of Jules Porges and Co., and on the retirement of Porges, he and Wernher converted this firm in 1884 to Wernher, Beit and Co.
Returning to England he joined forces with Rhodes in his efforts to amalgamate the diamond mines, which resulted in the foundation of De Beers. A Life Governor of De Beers, he was one of the principal figures in the foundation of the Chartered Company and in the first efforts to open up Rhodesia. Wernher, Beit and Co. presently became leaders in Barberton and then in the Witwatersrand gold industry. Beit visited Rhodesia in the very early days, but kept his headquarters in London. Unlike Rhodes, he did his utmost to keep out of politics, though his friendship with him remained undiminished, and he was one of the main trustees and heirs under his will. Upon Alfred Beit's death the Beit Trust came into existence. He also bequeathed enormous sums for university education and research in South Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Britain and Germany.
He started railroads in the early days of the development of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), when roads were virtually non-existent, Beit foresaw that the country’s greatest needs would be in the communications field. Strongly imbued with Rhodes’s ideas of British imperialism, he was an imperialist who founded the chair (Beit Professorship) for Colonial History at Oxford. His brother, Otto John Beit (1865-1930), founded the Beit Fellowships in his honour. He was an MP, British Secretary of State for the Colonies 1944-45 and a director of Tanganyika Concessions Ltd.
He gave £100,000 to establish a university in his native city of Hamburg, Germany and £200,000 for a university in Johannesburg. He made many ‘gifts’ for educational purposes in London, Hamburg, and Southern Africa including South Africa and Zimbabwe. He also built a fine house in Park Lane, London, but was never prominent in social life. He died unmarried, on the 16th of July 1906, and like Rhodes, is believed to have been gay.
Cecil John Rhodes, Alfred Beit and Julius Wernher, who collectively controlled the richest gold mines of the Rand, were directly involved in causing the Anglo-Boer War in 1899.
Beit and Lionel Phillips, another Jewish millionaire from England, together controlled H. Eckstein & Co., the largest South African mining syndicate. Of the six largest mining companies, four were controlled by Jews
A large proportion of Beit’s wealth, amounting originally to £1,200,000.00, was accordingly bequeathed for public purposes in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) through the creation of the Beit Trust. He set up this trust fund for the specific purpose of assisting an undeveloped country in a way, which foreshadowed public assistance schemes for backward countries in later times. Firstly the Trust financed the Rhodesian railway projects for feeder lines which could not hope to be paying propositions for a long time. Later the Trust turned to bridge-building, and in addition a great deal of money was spent on the award of scholarships and the provision of buildings for educational and community purposes.
The great bridge which spans the Limpopo River linking Zimbabwe with South Africa is known as Beit Bridge was built by the Beit Railway Trust.
Personally of a modest, gentle, generous and retiring disposition, and strongly imbued with Rhodes’ ideas of British imperialism, he was one of the South African millionaires of German birth against whom the anti-imperialist section in England were never tired of employing their sarcastic invective. He died, unmarried, on the 16th of July 1906.
The great bridge, Birchenough Bridge, which spans the Save River whose single span arch of 329 metres joins Masvingo Province to the Eastern Districts in Zimbabwe is named after this friend of Rhodes, Sir Henry Birchenough who was President of the British South Africa Company (BSAC) from 1925 to 1937 and later became the Duke of Abercon. The ashes of Birchenough, along with those of his wife Mabel, are contained in one of the pillars of the bridge. It was built by the Beit Trust.
At the time of his death, Beit was a director of the Rand Mines, Rhodesia Railways, Bechuanaland Railway Trust, Beira Railway Company, the Consolidated Company, the Bultfontein Mines, and a shareholder in almost every company whose interests center in South Africa. His commercial interests passed to the Beit Trust, established by his Will in 1906.
2. Jules Porges, (1838-1921) was a Jewish mining magnate and was related to the Rothschilds. Born in Prague, settled in Paris in the 1860s and became a leading diamond merchant. Both Alfred Beit and Sir Julius Wernher worked for him and were sent by him to Kimberley. He himself arrived there in 1875 and became a successful operator in shares, claims and stones, later extending operations (establishing the firm of H. Eckstein) to the Witwatersrand in 1887. In 1880 he returned to Europe. He retired from business in 1889, but long outlived both Beit and Wernher.
3. Sir Julius Charles Wernher (1850-1912) a Jewish mining magnate. Born in Darmstadt, Germany, where his father was attached to the Grand-Ducal court, he entered a London bank as a learner, served in the Prussian cavalry in the Franco-German War of 1870-1871, and, like Alfred Beit, took a post in Paris with Jules Porges. Porges sent him to Kimberley, where he was elected to the Mining Board and soon gained wealth and prominence. After the discovery of the Rand he extended his operations to the Transvaal. In 1888 he became one of the four original 'Life Governors' of De Beers Consolidated Mines.
He settled in London as Porges' partner and, when the latter retired in 1889, continued operations under the name of Wernher, Beit and Co., the largest mining house and financial house in South Africa with the support of the Rothschilds and the Dresdner Bank (one of Germany’s largest banking corporations and is located in Frankfurt. It was founded in 1872 in Dresden), controlling the Rand Mines group and other huge interests.
Apart from occasional visits to South Africa, he spent the rest of his life in England. A noted art collector, he died, leaving the largest South African fortune on record - over £11,000,000.
5. After the Death of Rhodes (26 March 1902)
The fourth layer of Rhodes Society, referred to as the Outer Circle or the Association of Helpers came into being after Rhodes' death.
This was to become the "Milner's Kindergarten" and the worldwide beneficiaries under the Rhodes Scholarship Trust.
The Milner Kindergarten was an informal reference to a group of Britons who served in the South African Civil Service under High Commissioner and Governor-Genral Lord Alfred Milner, between the Second Boer War (1899-1902) and the founding of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
Because of an ‘enormous number of applications’ for employment (W. Baillie Hamilton to Lord Ralph Kerr, 21 June 1903, NA Scot., Lothian Papers 453, fol. 2), Milner largely fell back on personal and Oxford connections in filling the senior posts in his South African administration.
For example, Perry and Robinson were recruited from the British Colonial Office, where each had worked with Milner; Perry in turn recruited Brand; Duncan was poached from the Inland Revenue, where he had been Milner's private secretary; Curtis came armed with an introduction from Lord Welby, and in turn was able to secure posts for his New College friends Hichens, Feetham, and Dove.
Oxford connections, a common veneration for Lord Milner, and a shared social life of holidays, dinners, and discussions cemented a friendship between the young men which was to endure for the rest of their lives.
In South Africa they shared accommodation in various combinations, and after 1906 had a fixed base at Moot House (moot is old English for 'meeting' and the RTG website is http://www.moot.org.uk/), in Parktown, Johannesburg, designed for Feetham by Herbert Baker, a British architect. The dictionary meaning of "moot" is that it is "an ancient English meeting, especially a representative meeting of the freemen of a shire, a former administrative division of Great Britain, equivalent to a county. The adjective moot is originally a legal term going back to the mid-16th century. It derives from the noun moot, in its sense of a hypothetical case argued as an exercise by law students. Consequently, a moot question is one that is arguable or open to debate."
The name 'Moot' was chosen in self-conscious imitation of Anglo-Saxon freemen, and to convey the group's frequent discussions of moot points. Through their influence, these men were able to win influential posts in government and international finance and became the dominant influence in British imperial and foreign affairs.
Moot House became a laboratory for the working out of the ideas they had absorbed at Oxford, and they held meetings modelled on those of the jewel club in Oxford, the New College Essay Society.
The name 'Kindergarten' was first used by a critic of the group, Sir William Marriott, and taken up by J. X. Merriman, who complained in the Cape parliament of Milner's ‘setting up a sort of kindergarten … to govern the country’ (Nimocks, Milner's Young Men, 44).
Milner's young men at first resisted the term 'kindergarten' but then embraced the description.They were in favour of the South African union and, ultimately, an imperial federation of the British Empire itself.
Found among Milner's papers was his Credo, which was soon published to great acclaim. "I am a Nationalist and not a cosmopolitan .... I am a British (indeed primarily an English) Nationalist. If I am also an Imperialist, it is because the destiny of the English race, owing to its insular position and long supremacy at sea, has been to strike roots in different parts of the world. I am an Imperialist and not a Little Englander because I am a British Race Patriot ... The British State must follow the race, must comprehend it, wherever it settles in appreciable numbers as an independent community. If the swarms constantly being thrown off by the parent hive are lost to the State, the State is irreparably weakened. We cannot afford to part with so much of our best blood. We have already parted with much of it, to form the millions of another separate but fortunately friendly State. We cannot suffer a repetition of the process," - The Times, 25 July 1925.
The goals which Rhodes and Milner sought and the methods by which they hoped to achieve them were so similar by 1902 that the two are almost indistinguishable. Both sought to unite the world, and above all the English-speaking world, in a federal structure around Britain. Both felt that this goal could best be achieved by a secret band of men united to one another by devotion to the common cause and by personal loyalty to one another. Both felt that this band should pursue its goal by secret political and economic influence behind the scenes and by the control of journalistic, educational, and propaganda agencies.
The group has been so successful in keeping their role in shaping world events a secret that even students of history and public affairs are unfamiliar with their accomplishments or the extent to which they control their nation. This organization has been able to conceal its existence quite successfully, and many of its most influential members, satisfied to possess the reality rather than the appearance of power, are unknown even to close students of history.
In advancing Rhodes' vision, the 'Milner Kindergarten' was able to get access to Rhodes's money after his death in 1902 under the trusteeship of Alfred (later Lord) Milner. The group sought to extend and execute the ideals that Rhodes had obtained from Ruskin.
Key members of the 'Milner's Kindergarten' were:
Many of these 'Milner Kindergarten' men continued to associate formally after their South African service. On Milner's retirement, most members of Milner Kindergarten continued in the service under William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne, who was Milner's successor.
The name Round Table also dates from the same period. In 1906, John Buchan paid tribute to ‘the brilliant minds of the Round Table’ (Buchan, The Lodge in the Wilderness, 1906, preface).
The term is also considered to have come from the mythical King Arthur's group of political advisors called "The Round Table".
According to tradition, Arthur was a boy of fifteen when he was crowned King of Britain in 516 CE. Soon after his ascension to the throne he founded the "Order of the Knights of the Round Table" at Windsor. Thereafter the Knights met annually at Carleon, Winchester, or at Camelot, to celebrate Pentecost. From all parts of Europe came the brave and the bold, seeking admission into this noble order of British knighthood. Nobility, virtue, and valor were its requirements, and those possessing these qualities to a marked degree were welcomed to King Arthur's court at Camelot.
Having gathered the bravest and noblest Knights of Europe about him, King Arthur chose twenty-four who excelled all the others in daring and integrity and formed of them his Circle of the Round Table. According to legend, each of these Knights was so great in dignity and power that none could occupy a more exalted seat than another, so when they gathered at the table to celebrate the anniversary of their foundation it was necessary to use a round table that all might occupy chairs of equal importance.
While it is probable that the 'Order of the Round Table' had its distinctive rituals and symbols, the knowledge of them has not survived the ages.
Following the union of South Africa in 1910, Duncan and Feetham remained in the new dominion, and Perry made his way to Canada, where he became a prominent financier. The other Kindergarten members drifted back to England, where they embarked on successful and in some cases lucrative careers in journalism, politics, business, finance, and the burgeoning world of think-tanks and policy institutes.
Reunited with Milner, who had retired as high commissioner and governor-general for South Africa in 1905 , they formed the core of the Round Table ‘moot’, which launched a network of study-groups around the empire to discuss imperial and foreign policy problems (in the hope that they would support imperial federation and published a journal they named 'The Round Table.'
The Round Table first appeared in 1910 with the subtitle ‘A Quarterly Review of the Politics of the British Empire’. Patrick Duncan's obituary in the journal's September 1943 edition, may best describe their ethos: "Duncan became the doyen of the band of brothers, Milner's young men, who were nicknamed . . .The Kindergarten, then in the first flush of youthful enthusiasm. It is a fast ageing and dwindling band now; but it has played a part in the Union of South Africa colonies, and it is responsible for the foundation and conduct of The Round Table. For forty years and more, so far as the vicissitudes of life have allowed, it has kept together; and always, while looking up to Lord Milner and to his successor in South Africa, the late Lord Selborne, as its political Chief, has revered Patrick Duncan as the Captain of the band."
Founders of 'The Round Table' were:
Its sub-title in 1919 became ‘A Quarterly Review of the Politics of the British Commonwealth’. It became ‘A Quarterly Review of British Commonwealth Affairs’ in 1948, ‘A Quarterly Review of Commonwealth Affairs’ in 1966, and ‘The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs’ in 1983 up to this day.
The Milner Kindergarten (or Rhodes-Milner Group) also gave birth to the (British) Royal Institute of International Affairs – RIIA or Chatham House in 1920. It was considerably funded by the Rothschilds. It’s early purpose was to train young political activists and business leaders to be loyal to the British government and do the bidding for the British policy.
The first chairman of the RIIA was Lord Robert Cecil, while Lionel Curtis served as honorary secretary. Arnold J. Toynbee later became director. The RIIA's patron is the Queen of England. It set up branches dotted around the world as affiliates and the products of Rhodes Scholarship created to "to maintain the Imperial thought".
6. Rhodes Scholarships
Rhodes's Will created the Rhodes Scholarships to bind together the elite of the former British colonies by bringing promising young men to Oxford University to “imbibe the English imperial ethos”.
“The administration of the scholarships was vested in a board of Trustees nominated in the Will. The first Trustee included the Earl of Rosebery, Earl Grey, Lord Milner and Sir Leander Starr Jameson. Later Trustees included Rudyard Kipling, Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, the first Viscount Hailsham, and Sir Kenneth Where.
"When Rhodes' estate was settled up in 1907 it was valued at £3,345,000. By 1924, owing to various charges, including death duties, it was estimated to be worth £2,276,000, its lowest valuation. At that point the investment portfolio was placed in the hands of Baring Brothers, who have administered the scholarship funds, under the direction of the Trustees, ever since,” - Rhodes Scholarship Trust (www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/).
After Rhodes' death, Lord Milner became the leader of the 'Rhodes Society' and one of the Trustees of Rhodes' vast personal wealth.
Milner built up his power upon three pillars:
i. the ideology of 'moral imperialism' he had learned from Arnold Toynbee at Balliol College, Oxford in the 1870s,
ii. the political connections of the Cecil John Rhodes, and
iii. Rhodes’ economic resources gained in exploiting the human and material wealth of Southern Africa.
Rhodes had told Stead that scholars should possess the following traits: " smugness, brutality, unctuous rectitude, and tact." Webster's dictionary defines "unctuous" as "oily in speech or manner; plastic; mouldable; characterized by a smug, smooth pretence of spiritual feeling, fervour, or earnestness, as in seeking to persuade."
It is believed that there was a balance to the men Rhodes thought capable of implementing his plan and attaining his English imperial ethos dream should meet the following standards:
The Rhodes Scholarships were established in the year Rhodes died in 1902 is the last three of the wealthy Cecil Rhodes' seven wills, the scholarships were to be given without regard to race or creed. But they were limited to men until the British Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 that caused the Rhodes Scholarship Trust to change the will. The first women Scholars were selected in 1977.
The Rhodes Scholarship Trust provides at least two years of study at England's Oxford University in any field of the scholar's choice, are, arguably, the most prestigious and coveted prizes in all of academe.
The scholarships are given to students of countries that were formerly part of the British Empire, including the Dominion - Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The United States and Germany are also included because the Kaiser had made studying English compulsory in German schools. It was also because the idea of Pax Britannica was to be a Federation of Germanic states led by England since the British monarch has German Jewish origins.
Approximately 85 Scholars have been selected worldwide each year since 1902. Currently scholars selected are from the United States of America (32 Scholarships); Australia (11); Canada (11); South Africa (9); India (6); Germany (4); New Zealand (3); Commonwealth Caribbean (2); Kenya (2); Pakistan (2); Zambia (2); Zimbabwe (2); Bermuda (1); Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia and Swaziland (1); Hong Kong (1); Jamaica (1).
There were originally 52 scholarships. During the ensuing 100 years, the Trustees added at one time or another approximately another 40 scholarships, though not all have continued. There have been over 7,000 Rhodes Scholars since the inception of the Scholarship Trust in 1903. Over 4,000 are still living.
The value of the Rhodes Scholarship varies depending on the academic field and the degree (B.A., master’s, doctoral) chosen. The Rhodes Trust pays all college and university fees, provides a stipend to cover necessary expenses while in residence in Oxford as well as during vacations, and transportation to and from England.
Scholastic achievement, character, leadership qualities, and physical vigour, usually exemplified by accomplishment in sports, are the winning attributes most often cited of the recipients.
7. The Anglo-American Establishment
In 1919, was the Versailles Peace Conference near Paris when the elite of the Round Table from Britain and the United States, people like Alfred Milner, Edward Mandel House, and Bernard Baruch, were appointed to represent their countries at the meetings which decided how the world would be structured.
The American President, Woodrow Wilson, was "advised" at Versailles by Colonel House and Bernard Baruch, both Rothschild clones and leaders of the Round Table in the United States; the British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, was "advised" by Alfred Milner, Rothschild employee and Round Table leader, and Sir Phillip Sassoon, a direct descendant of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the founder of the dynasty; the French leader, Georges Clemenceau, was "advised" by his Minister for the Interior, Georges Mandel, whose real name was Jeroboam Rothschild.
The British Empire is now called the British Commonwealth, a name-change pioneered by Round Table Group leader Lionel Curtis.
Dr. Carroll Quigley wrote of Curtis. In 1911 Curtis decided that the name of His Majesty's Dominions must be changed from "British Empire" to "Commonwealth of Nations". This was done officially in 1948.' ( The Anglo-American Establishment, p. 63).
The Anglo-American Establishment evolves around the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA), Rhodes Scholarship and Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in the USA and other institutions as indicated in Part 5 of this series.
Resources:
The Last Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes
Rhodes Scholarship Trust
Cecil John Rhodes Last Will and Testament
Carroll Quigley (1910-1977), The Anglo-American Establishment, From Rhodes to Cliveden, 1981, Books In Focus, NY, NY
1. Capital Accumulation
2. Ideological Background and Framing
3. Formation of Rhodes Society
4. Key Figures in Cecil John Rhodes’ Early and Later Business Life
5. After the Death of Rhodes
6. Rhodes Scholarship
7. Anglo-American Establishment
1. Capital Accumulation
Cecil John Rhodes (1853 – 1902) was a British and a son of a Church of England Vicar.
He supported himself with money lent by his aunt, just known as Sophia, when he first came to South Africa at the age of 17 years.
After he briefly stayed with the Surveyor-General of Natal, Dr. P.C. Sutherland, in Pietermaritzburg, Rhodes took an interest in agriculture and joined his brother Herbert on his cotton farm in the Umkomaas valley in Natal. In the colony, he established the Rhodes Fruit Farms in the Stellenbosch district.
In October 1871, Rhodes left the colony for the diamond fields of Kimberley. He supervised the working of his brother's diamond claim and speculated on his behalf. Among his associates in the early days were John X. Merriman (was the Treasurer-General under Rhodes from 1890 to 1893 and ended his relationship with Rhodes after the Jameson Raid in December 1895) and Charles Rudd, who later became his partner in the De Beers Mining Company and Niger Oil Company.
In 1872, Rhodes and Rudd became friends and partners, working diamond claims in Kimberley, dealing in diamonds and operating pumping and ice-making machinery, amongst many other odds and ends. Between 1873 and 1881, while Rhodes intermittently attended college in England, Rudd managed their interests.
In April 1880, Rhodes and Rudd launched the De Beers Mining Company after the amalgamation of a number of individual claims. With 200 000 pounds capital, of which Rhodes was secretary, the company owned the largest interest in the mine.
The company's name, De Beers comes from Johannes Nicholas de Beer and Diederik Arnoldus de Beer, two Afrikaner farmers on whose farm, called Vooruitzicht, near the confluence of the Orange River and the Val River, diamonds were discovered.
The de Beer brothers were not able to protect the farm from the ensuing diamond rush, and sold it for £6300. Two diamond mines formed on the site, known as the "Big Hole" or Premier Mine. Although the brothers did not become the owners of the mines, one of the mines was named after them. Cecil Rhodes and Charles Rudd gained control of both the De Beers mine and the Kimberley mine.
Rhodes later bought out his fierce rival and fellow Jewish rabbi, Barney Barnato (born Barnett Isaacs), who was the owner of Barnato Diamond Mining Company to form De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited. De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited was created to gain control over the newly found diamond deposits of South Africa and to control the world diamond market through the support of the Nathaniel Mayer Rothschilds and his friend Alfred Beit.
Barnato competed with Cecil John Rhodes in taking over the diamond mining industry in Cape Colony by aggressive buying out of competitors, although in the end Rhodes succeeded in buying him and his brother out for around four million pounds, writing the single largest check in history at that point.
In 1887, Rudd's interests had shifted to gold, the previous year discovered at the Witwatersrand. With Rhodes and him as directors, and his brother Thomas as chairman, they registered Gold Fields of South Africa Ltd (now called Goldfields Limited) in early 1887. The company was structured to enormously favor Rudd and Rhodes, with its London board of directors unaware of most of their activities in southern Africa. On the 13 October 1888 Rudd secured an agreement to the mineral rights of Matabeleland and Mashonaland from Lobengula, the King of Matabeleland. The agreement became know as the Rudd Concession.
Rhodes and Rudd had duped the British government and the investing public in believing that the concession was vested in a public company and made millions of pounds when the British South Africa Company bought the concession.
British South Africa Company (BSAC) was a mercantile company incorporated in 1889 under a Royal Charter by Cecil Rhodes for the purpose of settling the territory and bringing it under British rule. The BSAC was the rule of the land and was the responsible agent for colonization.
The Company Administrator, in terms of the Royal Charter, was the British monarchy's representative in the territories under the control of the Company. The Pioneer Column was set up to exploit the provisions of a treaty of 1888, the Rudd Concession, between Rhodes' British South Africa Company (on behalf of Queen Victoria in the text) and the sovereign power in the region at the time, Matabele King Lobengula. This treaty gave Rhodes the rights to mining and administration in the area of Mashonaland which was ruled by the King by use of coercion and murderous raids involved tribute-taking and abduction of young men and women.
The Pioneer Column was a force raised by Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company in 1890. It left Cecil Rhodes' farm at Kenilworth, a suburb of Kimberley, under Col. Pennefather and Sir John Willoughby.
It was used in his efforts to annex the territory of Mashonaland, later part of today Zimbabwe. The column consisted of a Pioneer Corps of 180 men, accompanied by a paramilitary police force (later christened the British South Africa Police) of 300 together with various mining prospectors; it was commanded by Major Frank Johnson and guided by the hunter Frederick Selous. The Pioneer Corps was officially disbanded on October 1, 1890 and each member was granted land on which to farm thereby displacing the native Africans, a colonial issue that has remained thorny leading to the liberation struggle by African nationalists.
With with the financial support of fellow Jewish English Freemasons, Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild (1840-1915) and Alfred Beit, Rhodes was able to control the diamond mines of South Africa with his De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd, by buying out the French Diamond Co. and then merging with the Barnato Diamond Mining Company. He eventually controlled the production of diamonds throughout the world.
By the end of the nineteenth century, Cecil Rhodes, who owned the De Beers diamond company and Consolidated Gold Fields (later Gold Fields Limited) had founded the British South Africa Company (BSAC) which was to play a leading role in the colonization of southern and central Africa.
Patterned on the 17th century chartered companies, the BSAC invested the profits it derived from its mining activities to build a colonial infrastructure north of the Transvaal, and induced British immigrants to settle on the newly occupied lands in order to increase the value of its investments. Until the mid-1920s, when the British administration took over, the BSAC ruled the territories of Zimbabwe and Zambia (then Southern and Northern Rhodesia).
Truncated agreements with the local chiefs granted mining concessions to the BSAC in all the territories it ruled; these concessions were readily confirmed by the British government. Later, the BSAC granted an exclusive prospecting licence to two mining enterprises owned by British, American and South African interests. Only in 1964, when Zambia became independent, were the concession rights transferred to the Zambian government against a 'compensation' of £2 million.
This pattern of granting concessions whereby colonization was organized by private mining companies with the support, and on behalf of the imperial state, was not limited to British Central and Southern Africa, but applied also to the Belgian Congo. There, the Katanga Mining Company ruled the territory in exchange for an exclusive mining concession granted by the Belgian state which derived its 'rights' in the Congo from the Berlin Conference of 1885.
From the turn of the twentieth century up to the 1930s, mining activity in Africa - with the exception of Ghana (gold) and Sierra Leone (diamonds) was concentrated mainly in the south. But colonial expansion in Africa was not limited to the search for minerals and, after the slave trade ended, spread to include land occupation, food production and, more generally, the acquisition of large zones of influence by the European powers. Early in the twentieth century the whole of Africa, with the exception of Ethiopia, was under colonial domination. But it was investment in mining, attracting huge amounts of capital and mobilizing masses of labourers, that had the greatest impact on indigenous societies. – Mining in Africa Today - Strategies and Prospects, General Editor: Samir Amin, 1988.
By 1890, Rhodes had become Prime Minister of the Cape, but continued to steer events to the north, adding Matabeleland of today’s Zimbabwe to the BSAC's territory after the Matabele had been defeated in 1893. Between 1890 and the First European War, the BSAC and the British government appropriated the land of the Shona and Ndebele people largely by military conquest and created the new colony of Southern Rhodesia by 1895.
By the end of 1895, the BSAC had introduced the hut tax, "native reservations" and passes for the purpose of dispossessing Africans of their land, livestock and minerals and forcing them to work for European settlers. The famous Chimurenga rebellion of the Shona and Ndebele in 1896 was not finally suppressed by the BSAC until 1903, but by this time the settlers had seized over 15 million acres of land.
In 1898 Southern Rhodesia (today’s Zimbabwe) became a British Protectorate administered by the British South Africa Company. It became a self-governing colony in 1923, with Africans increasingly excluded. In 1930 an Act of parliament was passed to limit the amount of land available to Africans. From 1933 to 1953 the 'Anglo-Saxon Rhodesia' policy of racial segregation was practised and African opposition grew.
By 1900, the company ruled both Southern and Northern Rhodesia and its rule ended in Southern Rhodesia in 1923 and in Northern Rhodesia in 1924.
By 1914, the BSAC had taken 48 million acres, other companies 9 million acres and individual settlers a further 13 million acres. By this time Africans who were 97% of the population had been forced into 23% of the land in the so-called "reserves".
2. Ideological Background and Framing
In his university college days, Rhodes later became a student and a devoted fan of another British, John Ruskin (1819-1900).
Ruskin was a teacher at the Working Men’s College (founded in 1854 by philosopher JFD. Maurice). He was also a professor of Fine Arts at Oxford University, an artist and a writer.
He spoke to Oxford British undergraduates as members of the privileged ruling class and that they were possessors of what was called a magnificent tradition of education, beauty, rule of law, freedom, decency and self-discipline.
He based his views on those of socialist Robert Owen and advocated and espoused theories developed from the teachings of Plato (428-347 BCE), who had studied under Socrates.
Rhodes began developing his vision about life after hearing a speech by John Ruskin which espoused an opinion, which by extension, furthered the teachings found in Plato's book, 'The Republic.'
Plato, an initiate of ancient mystery systems of Africa in ancient Egypt, called for "...a ruling class with a powerful army to keep it in power and a society completely subordinate to the monolithic authority of the rulers."
Plato established an academy which operated for almost 800 years, producing many great Greek thinkers, including Aristotle.
Rhodes was also greatly influenced by Windom Reade's book 'The Martyrdom of Man' (1872) and the tremendous suffering that man must undergo, which was epitomized in the phrase "the survival of the fittest." The book said that the "inevitable progress of man (was) to perfection."
Rhodes incorporated his rationalization about the focus and discipline of Catholic Church, the Order of Jesuits and Freemasonry into his thinking and then started to talk about starting an organization to preserve and extend the British Empire.
He was initiated as a English Freemason in 1877 at the Apollo University Lodge No. 357, which had been founded in 1819.
On April 17, 1877, he became a Master Mason in the same lodge. Rhodes also joined a Scottish Rite Lodge at Oxford University called Prince Rose Croix Lodge No. 30.
In June 1877, while at Oxford University, he wrote a Will what he referred to as the 'Confession of Faith' in which he said: "It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory...more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race, more of the best, the most human, most honourable race the world possesses...the absorption of the greater portion of the world under our rule simply means the end of all wars."
It was this mentality that fuelled his desire to unite the world under British rule.
Rhodes's first Will included the following passage directing that his fortune form the endowment of a "secret society" devoted to:
"The extension of British rule throughout the world.... The colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour, and enterprise and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the islands of Cyprus and Canada, the whole of South America, the islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire...." (Christopher Marlowe, 'John Cecil Rhodes: The Anatomy of an Empire,' London, 1972)
“Throughout most the ninetieth century, French Freemasonry, and not English Freemasonry, was the dominant revolutionary force…offering the lower and middle classes a voice in government. Since its beginning in 1717, the British (Masonic) Brotherhood was aristocratic, capitalist...
“Ruskin's inspiration and devotion to the creation of an elite of race patriots derived directly from Plato's Republic. In the 'Republic,' Plato called for "a ruling class with a powerful army to keep it in power and a society completely subordinate to the monolithic authority of the rulers." Ruskin sent out to recoup and extend the influence of British Masonry. He wanted to do this by education of the working man. His views on the ruling class as developed from Plato's Republic, sent shock waves through Oxford.
"[You, the undergraduates are] the possessors of a magnificent tradition of education, beauty, rule of law, freedom, decency and self-discipline but... this tradition [can] not be saved, and does not deserve to be saved, unless it can be extended to the lower classes in England itself and to the non-English masses throughout the world. If this precious tradition is not extended to these two great majorities, the minority of upper-class Englishmen will ultimately be submerged by these majorities and the tradition lost. To prevent this, the tradition must be extended to the masses and to the empire."
“Ruskin's rationale for proclaiming such ideas was to plant in the fertile minds of his Oxford students the theory that if they educated the working man and elevated him to the middle class, he would labor in behalf of the aristocracy to perpetuate the tradition of the upper-class Englishmen - which tradition was to control the finances of nations through ground rent, banking and trade. Ruskin taught that it was the essential duty of the aristocracy to guarantee an education for the so that an expanded middle class would rule the country. This arrangement would be a type of legal slavery whereby both classes would benefit. Through the power of finance, the ruling class would maintain control from behind the scenes, while the working class would have opportunity to share in the common wealth made available through loans.
“Ruskin successfully transmitted his vision to his students at Oxford. They in turn became the Masonic movers and shakers in the new politics and economics that today govern the seven industrial nations of the world - the United States, Canada, England, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan.
“A wealthy young man, Cecil Rhodes, like John Ruskin believed that only the British elite could and should rule the world to the benefit and happiness of mankind.
"Shortly after arriving at Oxford, Rhodes was initiated into Freemasonry at the Apollo University lodge No. 357. On April 17, 1877, he was raised a Master Mason in the same lodge. Rhodes also joined a Scottish Rite Lodge at Oxford called Prince Rose Croix Lodge No. 30.
“What sort of character was Cecil Rhodes? Rhodes was a critic of English Freemasonry - of its impotence and incompetence in advancing British race interest. After being raised to Master Mason on April 17, 1877, Rhodes drafted a program for world dominion by the British race patriots. To guarantee the funding from his vast wealth of his world vision for the British empire, Rhodes wrote in 1877 the first of seven wills that he composed over his lifetime. The first will called for the formation of a "secret society" whose primary function would be focused on returning England to her former glory.
"He viewed English Freemasonry and its conspiracy as impotent and in effect defunct in this regard. Ironically, when the society Rhodes had envisioned was finally organized after his death, its membership consisted only of English Freemasons. "The Round Table," as it was known, soon became the most powerful appendage of the British (Masonic) Brotherhood.
“In his third will Rhodes left his entire estate to a fellow Freemason, Lord Nathan Rothschild, as trustee. Rhodes stipulated that his gigantic fortune be used by his disciples to carry out the program he envisioned. Rothschild appointed Freemason Alfred Milner to head up the Secret society for which Rhodes's first will made provision. Lord Milner once remarked of himself, "My patriotism knows no geographical but only racial limits. I am a British Race patriot ." – Source: http://watch.pair.com/roundtable.html
All these motives and impulses were combined in Rhodes’ ambition, whose original intention for his secret society, as indicated in his correspondence with Lord Rothschild (a Jewish financier who funded his South African diamond mining enterprises), was to create “a society of the elect for the good of the Empire” based on the model of the Roman Catholic Church and its clerical order, the Jesuits: “In considering question suggested take Constitution of Jesuits if obtainable and insert English Empire for Roman Catholic Religion.”
He wanted to work with "men of ability and enthusiasm who find no suitable way to serve their country under the current political system; able youth recruited from the schools and universities; men of wealth with no aim in life; younger sons with high thoughts and great aspirations but without opportunity; rich men whose careers are blighted by some great disappointment. All must be men of ability and character. . . Rhodes envisages a group of the ablest and the best, bound together by common unselfish ideals of service to what seems to him the greatest cause in the world. There is no mention of material rewards. This is to be a kind of religious brotherhood like the Jesuits, 'a church for the extension of the British Empire.'" - p. 34 The Anglo-American Establishment, Carroll Quigley.
The British Empire was built through the following motives:
· Exploitation of natural resources of other countries, trade and commerce;
· The creation of settlement and penal colonies in other people’s lands;
· The creation and defense of British trade routes and markets; and
· The spreading of Western civilization (in its British incarnation).
As the Jesuits were the most loyal, dedicated and convinced servants of the Church, so too Rhodes saw that the British people were “the first race in the world, and the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race.” He saw the reunification and “the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire.”
If the Catholic faith and Latin learning had allegedly united Christendom, then the ‘White Man’s Burden’, then he envisaged the English language and ‘William Shakespearean’ literature, political system, and culture uniting the British Empire.
In February of 1891, Cecil John Rhodes had met with fellow Freemason friends, William Thomas Stead and Reginald Baliol Brett.
Stead was a famous British journalist of the day and was an early imperialist dreamer, whose influence on Cecil Rhodes in South Africa remained of primary importance.
Stead was intended to be one of Rhodes's executors but disagreed with the British government over the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) and his name was struck out from the Last Will and Testament of C. J. Rhodes in 1902.
Brett (later Lord Esher) was a product of Cambridge University, was friend and confidant of Queen Victoria. He was to be the most influential advisor of King Edward VII and King George V. In 1901, Lord Esher became deputy governor (and later governor) of Windsor Castle, and remained close to the royal family until his death. During this period, he helped edit Queen Victoria's papers, publishing a work called Correspondence of Queen Victoria (1907).
He was offered many public offices, including the Viceroyalty of India and the Secretaryship for War, but declined, accepting instead an appointment to the Privy Council (a body of advisors to the British monarchy) in 1922. He was Deputy Constable and Lieutenant-Governor of Windsor Castle 1901 to 1928, when he became Constable and Governor, an office he held until his death in 1930.
Rhodes told his friend, Snead that his envisaged society should be "a secret society, organized like Loyola's (founder of Society of Jesus – Jesuits), supported by the accumulated wealth of those whose aspiration is to do something." And this "something" that Rhodes had in mind for them to "do" with their wealth? Nothing less, said Rhodes, than to control the world through Britain.
The men of the secret group were to be English upper class: the university educated, from a privileged family background, and initiated into Freemasonry. The group was publicly referred to as the “English Establishment” and it is so up to this day.
Using the Roman Catholic Church, the Jesuits (Society of Jesus) and the English Freemasonry (United Grand Lodge of England) as organizational models, the three Freemason friends (Rhodes, Stead and Brett) drew up a plan of organization for their secret society and a list of original members.
3. Formation of the Rhodes Society
Rhodes’ plan for the organization provided for the first layer called, the Inner Circle (Rhodes, Stead and Brett) and the second layer called the "Society of the Elect".
This second layer eight members and was led by Rhodes. It comprised of the Inner Circle and the following five members:
- Lord Alfred Milner, a German-born product of Oxford University, later to be part of the Inner Circle, Governor of the Cape Colony* and High Commissioner to South Africa (1897–1901), British government minister (1916-1921) and a member of British Prime Minister Lloyd George’s ‘war cabinet’, chief author of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, even though it was issued in the name of Arthur Balfour, Secretary of the Rhodes Trust (1921-25). He was a member of the Coefficients Dining Club of social reformers set up in 1902 by the Fabian Society campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb;
- Lord Arthur Balfour, a product of Cambridge University, who later became British Foreign Secretary in 1898 and wrote to Rothschild promising his support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. He later became British Prime Minister (1902-05) having succeeded his uncle, Lord Salisbury;
- Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, a product of Oxford University. He was later replaced by his son-in-law, Lord Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, another product of Oxford University and later Prime Minister of Britain in 1985-95. At the time of Walter’s birth, the Rothschilds were quite simply and almost certainly the wealthiest family in the world.
The Rothschild banks throughout Europe were virtually without rival in the field of international finance and one of the two banks in the world (the other being Baring Brothers) which was pre-eminent in the business of raising loans for governments ; - Sir Henry (Harry) Johnston, a British explorer, botanist and colonial administrator, one of the key players in the "Scramble for Africa"; and
- Lord Albert Grey, a product of Oxford University, succeeded Leander Starr Jameson as the Administrator of Southern Rhodesia (1896-98), director of the British South African Company, Governor General of Canada (1904-1911) and was one of the first four trustees responsible for the administration of the scholarship funds which established the Rhodes Scholarship.
The third layer of the Rhodes Society was called the Circle of Initiates. It consisted only those English initiated into Freemasonry. Rhodes was made a Master Mason in 1877 at the age of 24, while at Oxford University.
The Circle of Initiates consisted of Rhodes’ Ruskin associates at Oxford University such as
* Arnold Toynbee,
* Arthur Glazebrook,
* Sir George Parkin,
* Philip Lyttleton Gell,
* Sir Henry Birchenough*
A similar group from Cambridge University, recruited and led by his Freemason friend journalist William T. Stead, which included
* Lord Reginald Baliol Brett;
* Sir John Robert Seeley, an English essayist and historian;
* Lord Albert Grey; and
* Edmund Garrett.
The fourth layer, Outer Circle or Association of Helpers was created after the death of Rhodes and will be dealt with later.
Edward Jay Epstein has this to say: “Rhodes, after all, was the only man in history to have two nations and a federation named after him-Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and the Rhodesian Federation (which had included Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe). In less than ten years, under the royal charter granted to him by the British government, he had colonized millions of square miles of the richest part of southern and eastern Africa. This territorial empire proved ephemeral. He created another empire, however, De Beers, which endured.”
4. Key Figures in Cecil John Rhodes’ Early and Later Business Life
1. Alfred Beit - Rhodes feverishly exploited the diamond and gold fields of South Africa. With financial support from the Rothschild Dynasty at the recommendation of a fellow rich German Jew, Alfred Beit, he was able to monopolize the diamond mines of South Africa as De Beers Consolidated Mines to the extent that in the middle of the 1890s, Rhodes had a personal income of a least a million pounds a year which he spent on his goal in life (and after death) of establishing and extending British imperialism. The billions upon billions of dollars derived from South African gold and diamonds would be used to fund his secret society's work.
A fellow Jew and allegedly a Freemason, Alfred Beit was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1853, Beit had emigrated, gained a leading position in the South African gold and diamond business. He was richer than Rhodes and was considered Rhodes’ business conscience, financial encyclopaedia and his ready reckoner. It was him, who made it possible for Rhodes to be funded by the Rothschild since he had good connections with the House of Rothschild in London.
The son of a well-to-do merchant who had converted to Lutheranism, Alfred Beit was the close friend, lieutenant and adviser of Cecil Rhodes, and were born in the same year. Together they amalgamated the Kimberley Diamond Mines as De Beers Consolidated Mines in 1888. He helped develop the Transvaal gold mines and was an original director of the British South Africa Company (BSAC) and a trustee of Rhodes Trust. Indeed, without Beit’s backing Rhodes could not have carried out his schemes for the opening up of Northern and Southern Rhodesia under the British Charter.
He learnt the diamond trade under Jules Porges in Amsterdam and elsewhere. In 1875, he went to Port Elizabeth on behalf of his cousins, the Lipperts, who sent him to Kimberley as their representative. There he came into touch with Julius Wernher and with Cecil Rhodes. Attaining considerable prosperity as a diamond merchant, he became a member of the firm of Jules Porges and Co., and on the retirement of Porges, he and Wernher converted this firm in 1884 to Wernher, Beit and Co.
Returning to England he joined forces with Rhodes in his efforts to amalgamate the diamond mines, which resulted in the foundation of De Beers. A Life Governor of De Beers, he was one of the principal figures in the foundation of the Chartered Company and in the first efforts to open up Rhodesia. Wernher, Beit and Co. presently became leaders in Barberton and then in the Witwatersrand gold industry. Beit visited Rhodesia in the very early days, but kept his headquarters in London. Unlike Rhodes, he did his utmost to keep out of politics, though his friendship with him remained undiminished, and he was one of the main trustees and heirs under his will. Upon Alfred Beit's death the Beit Trust came into existence. He also bequeathed enormous sums for university education and research in South Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Britain and Germany.
He started railroads in the early days of the development of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), when roads were virtually non-existent, Beit foresaw that the country’s greatest needs would be in the communications field. Strongly imbued with Rhodes’s ideas of British imperialism, he was an imperialist who founded the chair (Beit Professorship) for Colonial History at Oxford. His brother, Otto John Beit (1865-1930), founded the Beit Fellowships in his honour. He was an MP, British Secretary of State for the Colonies 1944-45 and a director of Tanganyika Concessions Ltd.
He gave £100,000 to establish a university in his native city of Hamburg, Germany and £200,000 for a university in Johannesburg. He made many ‘gifts’ for educational purposes in London, Hamburg, and Southern Africa including South Africa and Zimbabwe. He also built a fine house in Park Lane, London, but was never prominent in social life. He died unmarried, on the 16th of July 1906, and like Rhodes, is believed to have been gay.
Cecil John Rhodes, Alfred Beit and Julius Wernher, who collectively controlled the richest gold mines of the Rand, were directly involved in causing the Anglo-Boer War in 1899.
Beit and Lionel Phillips, another Jewish millionaire from England, together controlled H. Eckstein & Co., the largest South African mining syndicate. Of the six largest mining companies, four were controlled by Jews
A large proportion of Beit’s wealth, amounting originally to £1,200,000.00, was accordingly bequeathed for public purposes in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) through the creation of the Beit Trust. He set up this trust fund for the specific purpose of assisting an undeveloped country in a way, which foreshadowed public assistance schemes for backward countries in later times. Firstly the Trust financed the Rhodesian railway projects for feeder lines which could not hope to be paying propositions for a long time. Later the Trust turned to bridge-building, and in addition a great deal of money was spent on the award of scholarships and the provision of buildings for educational and community purposes.
The great bridge which spans the Limpopo River linking Zimbabwe with South Africa is known as Beit Bridge was built by the Beit Railway Trust.
Personally of a modest, gentle, generous and retiring disposition, and strongly imbued with Rhodes’ ideas of British imperialism, he was one of the South African millionaires of German birth against whom the anti-imperialist section in England were never tired of employing their sarcastic invective. He died, unmarried, on the 16th of July 1906.
The great bridge, Birchenough Bridge, which spans the Save River whose single span arch of 329 metres joins Masvingo Province to the Eastern Districts in Zimbabwe is named after this friend of Rhodes, Sir Henry Birchenough who was President of the British South Africa Company (BSAC) from 1925 to 1937 and later became the Duke of Abercon. The ashes of Birchenough, along with those of his wife Mabel, are contained in one of the pillars of the bridge. It was built by the Beit Trust.
At the time of his death, Beit was a director of the Rand Mines, Rhodesia Railways, Bechuanaland Railway Trust, Beira Railway Company, the Consolidated Company, the Bultfontein Mines, and a shareholder in almost every company whose interests center in South Africa. His commercial interests passed to the Beit Trust, established by his Will in 1906.
2. Jules Porges, (1838-1921) was a Jewish mining magnate and was related to the Rothschilds. Born in Prague, settled in Paris in the 1860s and became a leading diamond merchant. Both Alfred Beit and Sir Julius Wernher worked for him and were sent by him to Kimberley. He himself arrived there in 1875 and became a successful operator in shares, claims and stones, later extending operations (establishing the firm of H. Eckstein) to the Witwatersrand in 1887. In 1880 he returned to Europe. He retired from business in 1889, but long outlived both Beit and Wernher.
3. Sir Julius Charles Wernher (1850-1912) a Jewish mining magnate. Born in Darmstadt, Germany, where his father was attached to the Grand-Ducal court, he entered a London bank as a learner, served in the Prussian cavalry in the Franco-German War of 1870-1871, and, like Alfred Beit, took a post in Paris with Jules Porges. Porges sent him to Kimberley, where he was elected to the Mining Board and soon gained wealth and prominence. After the discovery of the Rand he extended his operations to the Transvaal. In 1888 he became one of the four original 'Life Governors' of De Beers Consolidated Mines.
He settled in London as Porges' partner and, when the latter retired in 1889, continued operations under the name of Wernher, Beit and Co., the largest mining house and financial house in South Africa with the support of the Rothschilds and the Dresdner Bank (one of Germany’s largest banking corporations and is located in Frankfurt. It was founded in 1872 in Dresden), controlling the Rand Mines group and other huge interests.
Apart from occasional visits to South Africa, he spent the rest of his life in England. A noted art collector, he died, leaving the largest South African fortune on record - over £11,000,000.
5. After the Death of Rhodes (26 March 1902)
The fourth layer of Rhodes Society, referred to as the Outer Circle or the Association of Helpers came into being after Rhodes' death.
This was to become the "Milner's Kindergarten" and the worldwide beneficiaries under the Rhodes Scholarship Trust.
The Milner Kindergarten was an informal reference to a group of Britons who served in the South African Civil Service under High Commissioner and Governor-Genral Lord Alfred Milner, between the Second Boer War (1899-1902) and the founding of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
Because of an ‘enormous number of applications’ for employment (W. Baillie Hamilton to Lord Ralph Kerr, 21 June 1903, NA Scot., Lothian Papers 453, fol. 2), Milner largely fell back on personal and Oxford connections in filling the senior posts in his South African administration.
For example, Perry and Robinson were recruited from the British Colonial Office, where each had worked with Milner; Perry in turn recruited Brand; Duncan was poached from the Inland Revenue, where he had been Milner's private secretary; Curtis came armed with an introduction from Lord Welby, and in turn was able to secure posts for his New College friends Hichens, Feetham, and Dove.
Oxford connections, a common veneration for Lord Milner, and a shared social life of holidays, dinners, and discussions cemented a friendship between the young men which was to endure for the rest of their lives.
In South Africa they shared accommodation in various combinations, and after 1906 had a fixed base at Moot House (moot is old English for 'meeting' and the RTG website is http://www.moot.org.uk/), in Parktown, Johannesburg, designed for Feetham by Herbert Baker, a British architect. The dictionary meaning of "moot" is that it is "an ancient English meeting, especially a representative meeting of the freemen of a shire, a former administrative division of Great Britain, equivalent to a county. The adjective moot is originally a legal term going back to the mid-16th century. It derives from the noun moot, in its sense of a hypothetical case argued as an exercise by law students. Consequently, a moot question is one that is arguable or open to debate."
The name 'Moot' was chosen in self-conscious imitation of Anglo-Saxon freemen, and to convey the group's frequent discussions of moot points. Through their influence, these men were able to win influential posts in government and international finance and became the dominant influence in British imperial and foreign affairs.
Moot House became a laboratory for the working out of the ideas they had absorbed at Oxford, and they held meetings modelled on those of the jewel club in Oxford, the New College Essay Society.
The name 'Kindergarten' was first used by a critic of the group, Sir William Marriott, and taken up by J. X. Merriman, who complained in the Cape parliament of Milner's ‘setting up a sort of kindergarten … to govern the country’ (Nimocks, Milner's Young Men, 44).
Milner's young men at first resisted the term 'kindergarten' but then embraced the description.They were in favour of the South African union and, ultimately, an imperial federation of the British Empire itself.
Found among Milner's papers was his Credo, which was soon published to great acclaim. "I am a Nationalist and not a cosmopolitan .... I am a British (indeed primarily an English) Nationalist. If I am also an Imperialist, it is because the destiny of the English race, owing to its insular position and long supremacy at sea, has been to strike roots in different parts of the world. I am an Imperialist and not a Little Englander because I am a British Race Patriot ... The British State must follow the race, must comprehend it, wherever it settles in appreciable numbers as an independent community. If the swarms constantly being thrown off by the parent hive are lost to the State, the State is irreparably weakened. We cannot afford to part with so much of our best blood. We have already parted with much of it, to form the millions of another separate but fortunately friendly State. We cannot suffer a repetition of the process," - The Times, 25 July 1925.
The goals which Rhodes and Milner sought and the methods by which they hoped to achieve them were so similar by 1902 that the two are almost indistinguishable. Both sought to unite the world, and above all the English-speaking world, in a federal structure around Britain. Both felt that this goal could best be achieved by a secret band of men united to one another by devotion to the common cause and by personal loyalty to one another. Both felt that this band should pursue its goal by secret political and economic influence behind the scenes and by the control of journalistic, educational, and propaganda agencies.
The group has been so successful in keeping their role in shaping world events a secret that even students of history and public affairs are unfamiliar with their accomplishments or the extent to which they control their nation. This organization has been able to conceal its existence quite successfully, and many of its most influential members, satisfied to possess the reality rather than the appearance of power, are unknown even to close students of history.
In advancing Rhodes' vision, the 'Milner Kindergarten' was able to get access to Rhodes's money after his death in 1902 under the trusteeship of Alfred (later Lord) Milner. The group sought to extend and execute the ideals that Rhodes had obtained from Ruskin.
Key members of the 'Milner's Kindergarten' were:
- Sir Patrick Duncan - Governor General of South Africa, 1937-1943;
- Philip Henry Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian - a product of Oxford University, British Ambassador to the United States of America, 1939-1940;
- Robert Henry Brand, 1st Baron Brand - a product of Oxford University. From 1902, soon after the Second Anglo-Boer War, he joined Alfred Milner's civil service in South Africa, where he was appointed "Secretary of the Intercolonial Council of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony". He later became partner and Managing Director of Lazard Brothers till 1944;
- Lionel Curtis - former Secretary to Lord Milner, a product of Oxford University and the éminence grise (the leading and ultimate secret authority) of British imperial and foreign policy. conceptualize his version of a Federal World Government, which became his life work. In pursuit of this goal, he initiated the founding of the quarterly The Round Table, the Royal Institute of International Affairs founder;
- Richard " Dick" Feetham - lawyer, later, first Chief Justice of the Union of South Africa;
- Geoffrey Robinson (who in 1917 changed his name to Geoffrey Dawson), - a product of Eton College and Oxford University, while in civil service in South Africa, he became private secretary of Lord Milner. At the influence of Lord Milner, the owners of the Johannesburg Star appointed him editor as part of an effort to promote support for official British policies. He later became The Times correspondent in Johannesburg and the owner of the newspaper, Lord Northcliffe, appointed him as editor of The Times in the years 1912–19 and also for the period 1923–41, when the paper's ownership had passed to John Jacob Astor. He was associated with a group that sought to shape national policy through personal exchanges with leading statesmen; he saw himself as the “secretary-general of the Establishment";
- John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir - novelist and Governor General of Canada, 1935-1940;
- Leo Amery - a product of Oxford University, was an exponent of Imperial unity, as he saw the British Empire as a force for justice and progress in the world. He strongly supported the evolution of the dominions into independent nations bound to Britain by ties of kinship, trade, defence and a common pride in the Empire. During the Second Anglo-Boer War Amery was a correspondent for The Times. He later edited the Times History of the South African War. He was a member of the Coefficients Dining Club of social reformers set up in 1902 by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb.
- John Dove,;
- Lionel Hichens;
- J. F. (Peter) Perry (1873–1935);
Many of these 'Milner Kindergarten' men continued to associate formally after their South African service. On Milner's retirement, most members of Milner Kindergarten continued in the service under William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne, who was Milner's successor.
The name Round Table also dates from the same period. In 1906, John Buchan paid tribute to ‘the brilliant minds of the Round Table’ (Buchan, The Lodge in the Wilderness, 1906, preface).
The term is also considered to have come from the mythical King Arthur's group of political advisors called "The Round Table".
According to tradition, Arthur was a boy of fifteen when he was crowned King of Britain in 516 CE. Soon after his ascension to the throne he founded the "Order of the Knights of the Round Table" at Windsor. Thereafter the Knights met annually at Carleon, Winchester, or at Camelot, to celebrate Pentecost. From all parts of Europe came the brave and the bold, seeking admission into this noble order of British knighthood. Nobility, virtue, and valor were its requirements, and those possessing these qualities to a marked degree were welcomed to King Arthur's court at Camelot.
Having gathered the bravest and noblest Knights of Europe about him, King Arthur chose twenty-four who excelled all the others in daring and integrity and formed of them his Circle of the Round Table. According to legend, each of these Knights was so great in dignity and power that none could occupy a more exalted seat than another, so when they gathered at the table to celebrate the anniversary of their foundation it was necessary to use a round table that all might occupy chairs of equal importance.
While it is probable that the 'Order of the Round Table' had its distinctive rituals and symbols, the knowledge of them has not survived the ages.
Following the union of South Africa in 1910, Duncan and Feetham remained in the new dominion, and Perry made his way to Canada, where he became a prominent financier. The other Kindergarten members drifted back to England, where they embarked on successful and in some cases lucrative careers in journalism, politics, business, finance, and the burgeoning world of think-tanks and policy institutes.
Reunited with Milner, who had retired as high commissioner and governor-general for South Africa in 1905 , they formed the core of the Round Table ‘moot’, which launched a network of study-groups around the empire to discuss imperial and foreign policy problems (in the hope that they would support imperial federation and published a journal they named 'The Round Table.'
The Round Table first appeared in 1910 with the subtitle ‘A Quarterly Review of the Politics of the British Empire’. Patrick Duncan's obituary in the journal's September 1943 edition, may best describe their ethos: "Duncan became the doyen of the band of brothers, Milner's young men, who were nicknamed . . .The Kindergarten, then in the first flush of youthful enthusiasm. It is a fast ageing and dwindling band now; but it has played a part in the Union of South Africa colonies, and it is responsible for the foundation and conduct of The Round Table. For forty years and more, so far as the vicissitudes of life have allowed, it has kept together; and always, while looking up to Lord Milner and to his successor in South Africa, the late Lord Selborne, as its political Chief, has revered Patrick Duncan as the Captain of the band."
Founders of 'The Round Table' were:
- Lord Alfred Milner;
- Lionel Curtis;
- Geoffrey Dawson;
- Philip Kerr.
Its sub-title in 1919 became ‘A Quarterly Review of the Politics of the British Commonwealth’. It became ‘A Quarterly Review of British Commonwealth Affairs’ in 1948, ‘A Quarterly Review of Commonwealth Affairs’ in 1966, and ‘The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs’ in 1983 up to this day.
The Milner Kindergarten (or Rhodes-Milner Group) also gave birth to the (British) Royal Institute of International Affairs – RIIA or Chatham House in 1920. It was considerably funded by the Rothschilds. It’s early purpose was to train young political activists and business leaders to be loyal to the British government and do the bidding for the British policy.
The first chairman of the RIIA was Lord Robert Cecil, while Lionel Curtis served as honorary secretary. Arnold J. Toynbee later became director. The RIIA's patron is the Queen of England. It set up branches dotted around the world as affiliates and the products of Rhodes Scholarship created to "to maintain the Imperial thought".
6. Rhodes Scholarships
Rhodes's Will created the Rhodes Scholarships to bind together the elite of the former British colonies by bringing promising young men to Oxford University to “imbibe the English imperial ethos”.
“The administration of the scholarships was vested in a board of Trustees nominated in the Will. The first Trustee included the Earl of Rosebery, Earl Grey, Lord Milner and Sir Leander Starr Jameson. Later Trustees included Rudyard Kipling, Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, the first Viscount Hailsham, and Sir Kenneth Where.
"When Rhodes' estate was settled up in 1907 it was valued at £3,345,000. By 1924, owing to various charges, including death duties, it was estimated to be worth £2,276,000, its lowest valuation. At that point the investment portfolio was placed in the hands of Baring Brothers, who have administered the scholarship funds, under the direction of the Trustees, ever since,” - Rhodes Scholarship Trust (www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/).
After Rhodes' death, Lord Milner became the leader of the 'Rhodes Society' and one of the Trustees of Rhodes' vast personal wealth.
Milner built up his power upon three pillars:
i. the ideology of 'moral imperialism' he had learned from Arnold Toynbee at Balliol College, Oxford in the 1870s,
ii. the political connections of the Cecil John Rhodes, and
iii. Rhodes’ economic resources gained in exploiting the human and material wealth of Southern Africa.
Rhodes had told Stead that scholars should possess the following traits: " smugness, brutality, unctuous rectitude, and tact." Webster's dictionary defines "unctuous" as "oily in speech or manner; plastic; mouldable; characterized by a smug, smooth pretence of spiritual feeling, fervour, or earnestness, as in seeking to persuade."
It is believed that there was a balance to the men Rhodes thought capable of implementing his plan and attaining his English imperial ethos dream should meet the following standards:
- 30% for "literary and scholastic attainments."
- 20% for "fondness of and success in manly outdoor sports such as cricket, football and the like."
- 30% for "quality of manhood, truth, courage, devotion to duty sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness, and fellowship."
- 20% for "exhibition during schooldays of moral force of character and of instincts to lead and to take an interest in his schoolmates."
The Rhodes Scholarships were established in the year Rhodes died in 1902 is the last three of the wealthy Cecil Rhodes' seven wills, the scholarships were to be given without regard to race or creed. But they were limited to men until the British Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 that caused the Rhodes Scholarship Trust to change the will. The first women Scholars were selected in 1977.
The Rhodes Scholarship Trust provides at least two years of study at England's Oxford University in any field of the scholar's choice, are, arguably, the most prestigious and coveted prizes in all of academe.
The scholarships are given to students of countries that were formerly part of the British Empire, including the Dominion - Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The United States and Germany are also included because the Kaiser had made studying English compulsory in German schools. It was also because the idea of Pax Britannica was to be a Federation of Germanic states led by England since the British monarch has German Jewish origins.
Approximately 85 Scholars have been selected worldwide each year since 1902. Currently scholars selected are from the United States of America (32 Scholarships); Australia (11); Canada (11); South Africa (9); India (6); Germany (4); New Zealand (3); Commonwealth Caribbean (2); Kenya (2); Pakistan (2); Zambia (2); Zimbabwe (2); Bermuda (1); Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia and Swaziland (1); Hong Kong (1); Jamaica (1).
There were originally 52 scholarships. During the ensuing 100 years, the Trustees added at one time or another approximately another 40 scholarships, though not all have continued. There have been over 7,000 Rhodes Scholars since the inception of the Scholarship Trust in 1903. Over 4,000 are still living.
The value of the Rhodes Scholarship varies depending on the academic field and the degree (B.A., master’s, doctoral) chosen. The Rhodes Trust pays all college and university fees, provides a stipend to cover necessary expenses while in residence in Oxford as well as during vacations, and transportation to and from England.
Scholastic achievement, character, leadership qualities, and physical vigour, usually exemplified by accomplishment in sports, are the winning attributes most often cited of the recipients.
7. The Anglo-American Establishment
In 1919, was the Versailles Peace Conference near Paris when the elite of the Round Table from Britain and the United States, people like Alfred Milner, Edward Mandel House, and Bernard Baruch, were appointed to represent their countries at the meetings which decided how the world would be structured.
The American President, Woodrow Wilson, was "advised" at Versailles by Colonel House and Bernard Baruch, both Rothschild clones and leaders of the Round Table in the United States; the British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, was "advised" by Alfred Milner, Rothschild employee and Round Table leader, and Sir Phillip Sassoon, a direct descendant of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the founder of the dynasty; the French leader, Georges Clemenceau, was "advised" by his Minister for the Interior, Georges Mandel, whose real name was Jeroboam Rothschild.
The British Empire is now called the British Commonwealth, a name-change pioneered by Round Table Group leader Lionel Curtis.
Dr. Carroll Quigley wrote of Curtis. In 1911 Curtis decided that the name of His Majesty's Dominions must be changed from "British Empire" to "Commonwealth of Nations". This was done officially in 1948.' ( The Anglo-American Establishment, p. 63).
The Anglo-American Establishment evolves around the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA), Rhodes Scholarship and Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in the USA and other institutions as indicated in Part 5 of this series.
Resources:
The Last Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes
Rhodes Scholarship Trust
Cecil John Rhodes Last Will and Testament
Carroll Quigley (1910-1977), The Anglo-American Establishment, From Rhodes to Cliveden, 1981, Books In Focus, NY, NY
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3 comments:
Wow, great article, very well composed as well. Can't believe no one has commented on this up until now.
Interesting article, well written. I do not believe Rhodes was a Jew - his father was an Anglican priest, which makes the claim of Jewry impossible.
WOW! The connection of Rhodes to everything from the rule of Africa, to the reconquest of the United States of America to the founding of the nation of Israel, all supporting a top down institutional rule by Brits is amazing in scope and almost incredible in detail, but though I've never seen such a thing before it seems "right" to me.
The Druid
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