Nexus - 1201 - New Times Magazine-pages

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SHORT HISTORY THE ROUND TABLE Cecil Rhodes, founder of the De Beers diamond mining corporation, had a vision of an Imperial Federation that would re-unify Great Britain and the United States and globalise the world. Part 1 of 4 But for [King] George III, war would have been unknown throughout the world today. The English-speaking race would have been reorganised as a unit, with its central Parliament meeting alternately in New York and London, and it would have given peace to the world. — anil Rhadac lil, 10N41 t the end of the 19th century the British Empire was the largest the world had ever seen, covering some 19 million square kilometres of territory and nearly a quarter of the world's population. Britain was also the pre-eminent global power, possessing the strongest navy in the world and the largest merchant fleet and dominating the global economy as the biggest investor, banker, insurer and commodity dealer.> According to Niall Ferguson, author of Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World (2003), this Pax Britannica was not only a force for good, but also the "nearest thing there has ever been to a world government".’ Perhaps it was, though for the millions of indigenous peoples who had been colonised, often with great brutality, and whose lands and natural resources were now being plundered by the British while they were relegated to the status of second-class subjects, the benefits of eing part of the British Empire were somewhat elusive. Yet, despite all these apparent strengths, Britain was no longer at the peak of its power, a point it reached in the 1870s. Indeed, the start of the 20th century marked the final phases of its inevitable decline. The er osion of British power was occurring on two fronts: first, through the imperial expansion of the other European powers, which impinged on its military dominance; and second, by the gradual loss of its industrial and commercial supremacy, upon which its military might had rested. The British Establishment was already reading these portents of imperial decay. The First Lord of the Admiralty, for example, had warned in 1900 that in coming years Britain "...by itself will not be strong enough to hold its proper place alongside of the US or Russia and probably not Germany. We shall be thrust aside by sheer weight."* It was in the midst of this pervading sense of gloom that, in 1909, a movement emerged which sought to preserve British power by converting its Empire into an "Imperial Federation" or "Imperial Union".* This movement was known as the Round Table. The Round Table occupies a special place in most populist accounts of the New World Order, the group given a pivotal role in the World Government conspiracy. David Icke, for example, writes that the Round Table "spawned a network of interconnecting groups in many countries working toward a common aim...world government".* The reason for this focus on the Round Table is the rather sensational analysis of the group provided by Carroll Quigley (1910-1977) in his 1966 book, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time. A professor of history and international relations at Georgetown University, Quigley discussed the Round Table movement in some detail, claiming it formed the hub of an "international Anglophile network" which had exercised disproportionate influence over the American and British governments for much of the 20th century. More importantly, he personally confirmed the existence of this alleged network, citing some 20 years of studying its history, including gaining exclusive access to its documents over a two-year period; even claiming that for much of his life he was "close to it and to many of its instruments".” For many researchers, Quigley's personal testimony has seemed reason enough to by Will Banyan © October 2004 Email: banyan007@rediffmail.com NEXUS = 31 — Cecil Rhodes, July 1901" DECEMBER 2004 — JANUARY 2005 www.nexusmagazine.com