Part 8 (1/2)

The Charter itself was a visualization of the Rhodes ness of vision It gave the Coage in shi+pping, to build railway, telegraph and telephone lines, to establish banks, to operate s and to pro was overlooked It meant the union of business and statesiven ader than that of Great Britain, France and Prussia It divided up into Northern and Southern Rhodesia with the Za line Northern Rhodesia remains a sparsely settled country--there are only 2,000 white inhabitants to 850,000 natives--and the only industry of importance is the lead and zinc development at Broken Hill Southern Rhodesia, where there are 35,000 white persons and 800,000 natives, has been the stronghold of Chartered interests and the battleground of the struggle to throw off corporate control It is the Rhodesia to be referred to henceforth in this chapter without prefix

The Charter is perpetual but it contained a provision that at the end of twenty-five years, (1914) and at the end of each succeeding ten years, the Imperial Government has the power to alter, amend or rescind the instrument so far as the ade in the original document has been made so far, but by the time the next cycle expires in 1924 it is certain that the Company control will have ended and Rhodesia will either be a part of the Union of South Africa or a self-deter Colony

The Company is directed by a Board of Directors in London, but no director resides in the country itself Thus at the beginning the funda to run an in Office the Company names an Administrator,--the present one is Sir Drue Governor-General, has little to say The Coid rule led to its undoing, as you will see later on

The original capitalization was 1,000,000,--it was afterwards increased to 9,000,000,--but it is only a part of the strea that has been poured into the country In all the years of its existence the company has never paid a dividend It is only since 1914 that the revenue has balanced expenditures More than 40,000 shareholders have invested in the enterprise Today the fate of the country rests practically on the issue between the interests of these shareholders on one hand and the 35,000 inhabitants on the other Once et the spectacle, so coly intrenched vested interest with the real exploiter or the consuainst it The Company rule has not been harsh but it has been animated by a desire to make a profit The homesteaders want liberty of movement without handicap or restraint An irreconcilable conflict ensued

[Illustration: _Photograph Copyright by British South Africa Co_

CULTIVATING CITRUS LAND IN RHODESIA]

II

We can now go into the story of the occupation of Rhodesia, which not only unfolds a stirring dra of an epic of adventure With et down to business once a charter is granted It is only necessary to subscribe stock and then enter upon active operations, whether they produce soap, razors or automobiles The market is established for the product

With the British South Africa Company it was a far different and infinitely more difficult performance, to translate the license to operate into action Matabeleland and Mashonaland ild regions where war-like tribes roaht at will There were no roads The only white men who had ventured there were hunters, traders, and concession seekers Occupation preceded exploitation A white man's civilization had to be set up first The rifle and the hoe went in together

In June, 1890, the Pioneer Colu it were two men who left an impress upon African romance One was Dr Jameson, hero of the Raid and Rhodes' most intimate friend The first tiht, bald, ure in so many heroic exploits The other was the famous hunter, F C Selous, as Roosevelt's companion in British East Africa Under the Captain Heany, an Aula had an ariments)--after the Zulu fashi+on and in every respect a forranted the concession, no one trusted him and Jameson and Selous had to feel their way, sleep under arhways as they went

Upon Lobengula's suggestion it was decided to occupy Mashonaland first

This was achieved without any trouble and the British flag was raised on what is now the site of Salisbury, the capital of Southern Rhodesia

Most of the me up on the veldt The Coanize a police force to patrol the land and keep off predatory natives But this was purely incidental to the larger troubles that noded thick and fast In the South the Boers launched an expedition to occupy Matabeleland by force and it had to be headed off To the east rose friction with the Portuguese and a Rhodesian contingent was couese East Africa until the boundary line was adjusted

In 1893 came the first of the events that iment raided the nen of Victoria and killed some of the Company's native servants The Matabeles then went on the warpath and Dr Jaainst theed It ended with the defeat and disappearance of Lobengula and the occupation of Bulawayo by the Coht the whole of Matabeleland under the direct authority of the British South Africa Con cost the Coress followed Railway construction started in two directions One line was headed froh Bechuanaland toward Bulawayo and another frouese East Africa, ard toward Salisbury Gold mines were opened and farms extended At the end of 1895 came the Jameson Raid Practically the entire force under the many-sided Doctor was recruited from the Rhodesian police and they were all captured by the Boers Rhodesia was left defenceless

The Matabeles seized this ain Ever since the defeat of 1893 they had been restless and discontented Various other causes contributed to the uprising One is peculiarly typical of the African savage An outbreak of rinderpest, a disease hitherto unknown in Southern Africa, caed the cattle herds

In order to check the advance of the pest the Govern all the cattle in a certain area It was impossible for the Matabeles to understand the wisdoe committed by the white men on their property for they were extensive cattle owners In additioninfected meat and they also held the settlers responsible

The net result of it all was a sudden descent upon the white settlehtered

This tie scale The present Lord Pluainst the Gerht hundred soldiers and drove the Matabeles into the fastnesses of the Matopos,--a range of hills fifty es took refuge in caves and could not be driven out

You now reach one of the remarkable feats in the life of Cecil Rhodes

The an he hastened northward to the country that bore his nae in the Matopos he boldly went out to parley with them With three unarmed companions, one of them an interpreter, he set up a camp in the wilds and sent emissaries to the syndicate of the chiefs who had succeeded Lobengula He had becoreat DeBeers Diamond Syndicate, and had other i Director of the British South Africa Coest stockholder He was determined to protect his interests and at the sarity of the country that he loved so well

He exposed hies in all Africa Plumer's couard

Rhodes waited patiently and his perseverance was eventually rewarded