12 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 
Tlie greatest single proponent of this idea was doubtless Cecil 
John Rhodes. A true empire-builder he combined the ability to 
dream dreams and see visions with a great capacity for practical 
affairs and an element of ruthlessness, often so necessary for suc¬ 
cess. Rhodes saw clearly the benefits which could be derived from 
union, presented its cause in several public addresses, and worked 
persistently to arouse popular interest in its favor. His private 
secretary testifies that the union of all the white communi¬ 
ties in South Africa was Rhodes’ “Lifelong dream.Unfortu¬ 
nately his zeal for this proved at times stronger than his scruples 
and even than his discretion. It led him to plot the Jameson 
Raid—a crime and a blunder which discredited a great cause and 
precipitated a bloody and protracted war.®^ 
Pew wars fought by Britain in modern times have caused 
fiercer partisan controversies than that in South Africa, 1899-1902. 
Condemned by hostile critics as an unjust imperialistic attack upon 
two weak states at the behest of a small band of adventurers and 
capitalists, its defenders contended with equal vigor that it had 
been forced upon the empire by Kruger’s violation of treaty 
obligations; his unfair treatment of the foreign born, the majority 
of whom were British; and necessitated by regards for the safety 
of the South African colonies. The Kruger government in the 
Transvaal was doubtless narrow in it's conservatism, possibly cor¬ 
rupt and certainly galling to the Uitlanders. Germany’s activities 
might also justify serious apprehensions.^^ But it appears prob¬ 
able that this war, like most confiicts of ancient and modern times, 
could have been avoided if a more conciliatory policy had been 
adopted by the British government. Chamberlain, Milner, Rhodes, 
and their lieutenants, were the proponents of great plans for the 
safeguarding and consolidation of the overseas possessions and 
favored aggressive methods in securing their aims. The republics 
lay close to the highway to the interior. Their annexation rounded 
off the South African Colonial empire, made it safer against for- 
P. Jourdan, Cecil Rhodes, His Private Life hy Hw Private Secretary (New York, 
1911), pp. 162, 163. Among the advocates of union were also found Mr. P. A. 
Molteno, the son of the first prime minister at the Cape. He favored a federation 
similar to that of the United States. See P. A. Molteno, A Federal South Africa (Lon¬ 
don, 1896). 
The best brief account of the Raid, revealing Cecil Rhodes’ connections with it 
and the results, is found in Williams, Cecil Rhodes, pp. 242-275. 
Wolf, Ripon, II, pp. 231-233. German plans for an expedition to the Transvaal, 
1896, seem to have been thwarted only by the common sense shown by the Portugese 
foreign minister, the Marquis de Several. See Baron von Eckardstein, Ten Years at 
the Court of St. James (London, 1921), pp. 84, 85. i 
