AHC: Cecil Rhodes' will

[La Spezia]

At his death, Cecil Rhodes was considered one of the wealthiest men in the world. In his first will, Rhodes wanted to create a secret society that would bring the whole world under British rule. The exact wording from this will is:

To and for the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of 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 Candia, 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, the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible, and promote the best interests of humanity.

The aim of this challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to come as close to realising Cecil Rhodes' dream as is possible without invoking ASB-esque scenarios.

The POD must be in a year between 1877 (the year Rhodes wrote his will) and 1902 (the year of his death).

Let's see what you can come up with!

 

[dreadnought jenkins]

An interesting point might be that this secret society, realising how stupid the plan is to try and bring the United States, let alone the whole world, under British rule instead turns itself into a powerful lobby for Imperial Federation.

 

[La Spezia]

So what parts of Rhodes' plan were doable?

 

[Emperor-of-New-Zealand]

So what parts of Rhodes' plan were doable?

None.

Well, except for his minor ones such as the incorporation of Katanga and more of Africa. Britain could never fight the world alone and win, let alone try to flood it with British settlers.

 

[robcraufurd]

except for his minor ones such as the incorporation of Katanga and more of Africa.

To be fair, with 13 million people leaving Britain between 1850 and 1910, the free market on its own was doing a good job of the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise. Nor was it impossible to have the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire. Beyond that, though, it's kind of a stretch. Though it's highly unlikely, maybe Rhodes' society could have allied with the nascent Zionist movement and bought the Holy Land off the Ottomans or something. Could Rothschilds have put up some of the cash?

 

[unprincipled peter]

is it safe to say that Rhodes was a wanker?


And was this a good or a bad thing?

He absolutely was a wanker. Good or bad? thinking of the people of south africa and Mozambique and zimbabwe and zambia. I tend to think bad. The portuguese (the other pretenders to the overlord throne in that region) weren't great, but they were a little more hands off. OK, a lot more hands off. they had no idea how to govern a colony, but in retrospect, in terms of humanity, I like that more.

IMO, the scramble for Africa was wanking. He came a little later to the scene, but Rhodes was a wanker, and he was a prime driver in making wanking into an English policy regarding the south half of Africa.

 

[Space Oddity]

Yeah, I agree with the 'these goals are impossible' crowd. If this gets carried out--well, best case scenario, there's now an unpleasant kooky old boys club whose members will, no doubt, spend the second half of the 20th century sipping mixed drinks in backrooms and whining about the government "giving into the darkies". (Which probably happened anyway, but now they have an official place to hang out.) Worst case scenario, there's a nasty little organization creating scandals and problems for the UK in the world until it finally gets kicked down.

 

[tonsofun]

The main problem of British people emigrating, is that they tended to form separate identities to the homeland and that in turn created a desire for independence so the dream of flooding the world with British people in simply that.

 

[Johnny Canuck]

Rhodes is nothing if not ambitious!

It might be a kooky old boys' club, but considering Rhodes' wealth it would be a very well-financed kooky old boys' club. I could see them sponsoring any number of 'expeditions' into Africa to overthrow local rulers & set up pro-British regimes - a Dogs of War scenario (a la Forsyth) run rampant.