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strong commitment to imperialism, fulfilling Milner's criteria of It is questionable, thoug] having "brains and character". They served under Milner to pivotal as its members c reconstruct the devastated Boer republics and were all inspired by Kindergarten had launche his visions of a united South Africa and an imperial federation. receptive to the idea of at For the members of the Kindergarten, Milner was "the centre of | Boer leaders Jan Smuts a1 their world" (Kendle); he was their "father-figure and Socrates", would in time dominate thi whom they considered "the fountainhead of political wisdom and the concept. According to the greatest statesman of the Empire" (Nimocks).” despite their "at times, hys Milner had first ventured to southern Africa convinced that it more than soften the opinic was the "weakest link" in the British Empire; to "prevent it snap- in fact played "a marginal rc ping" and to maintain British supremacy in Africa, he believed Nimocks, in his detailed that waging war on the Boers would be necessary. When Milner dismissive of the move retired in April 1905 in the wake of bitter controversy over his unification: plan to import indentured Chinese labour, he returned to Britain deeply pessimistic about South Africa's future in the British Empire. This view was The "Kindergarten" was a not shared by the Kindergarten, whose group of young Oxford members remained convinced they could finish the work that Milner and graduates...with a belief in Rhodes had started (it was their machi - inri i nations that had contributed to the out. the superiority of English break of the Boer War) and integrate civilisation and a strong the now devastated and defeated Boer commitment to imperialism... states into the Empire. To push the cause for closer unity in South Africa, the Kindergarten employed a number of measures aime at shaping popular and elite opinion. Drawing on a range of But in the overall schenx funds, including The Rhodes Trust," the Kindergarten kept out of haps redundant, for, as Ken public view as much as possible while carefully managing their Africa convinced of the n propaganda organs, seeking to create support for union. These behind-the-scenes discussio methods of organised propaganda included their periodical The the unification of the Britist State, which Kindergarten members edited from 1907 to 1909, idated the colonies of south: and the formation of Closer Union Societies, which further propa- the world. gated unification propaganda but under the guise of bipartisan political leadership. Finally, a united South Africa was popu- Part Three examines the f larised in the lengthy propaganda pieces The Selborne efforts to secure the suppc Memorandum and The Government of South Africa, both written imperial federation. by Kindergarten member Lionel Curtis (1872-1955). It is questionable, though, that the Kindergarten's role was as pivotal as its members chose to believe. Well before the Kindergarten had launched its campaign, Britain was already receptive to the idea of a united South Africa. Moreover, key Boer leaders Jan Smuts and Louis Botha, confident that they would in time dominate the proposed union, had also embraced the concept. According to historian Norman Rose, for example, despite their "at times, hysterical lobbying", which often did no more than soften the opinion of British settlers, the Kindergarten in fact played "a marginal role".** Nimocks, in his detailed history of the Kindergarten, is more dismissive of the movement's impact on South African unification: It is obvious...that Milner's young men did not unite South Africa. Their efforts were important in bringing closer union to the attention of the general population and keeping it there. And members of the group did exert some influence upon those, both British and Boer, who determined the final form of the constitution. But forces far more powerful than anything the kindergarten could muster were responsible for South African unification. group of young Oxford graduates...with a belief in the superiority of English civilisation and a strong commitment to imperialism... But in the overall scheme of things, such observations are per- haps redundant, for, as Kendle notes, the Kindergarten "left South Africa convinced of the merits of organized propaganda and behind-the-scenes discussion", which they now hoped to apply to the unification of the British Empire as a whole. Having consol- idated the colonies of southern Africa, they now set their sights on the world. Part Three examines the founding of the Round Table and its efforts to secure the support of the Dominion governments for imperial federation. Cantinuad nayt iceia Continued from page 29 72. Marlowe, Milner: Apostle of Empire, "Reviewing the Rhodes Legacy", The New . p. 21. American, 20 February 1995. eum WHEE Stead val WL gm, AV. 73. Quoted in Rotberg, The Founder, p. 79. Milner quoted in Rose, The Cliveden 68. Quigley, Tragedy and Hope, p. 131. : . . 416. Set, p. 2; Kendle, The Round Table 69. Carroll Quigley, The Anglo-American . oe WA . an Establishment: From Rhodes to Cliveden 74. Quoted in Miles F. Shore, "Cecil Movement, p. 21; Nimocks, Milner's ake | : ‘ * Rhodes and the Ego Ideal", Journal of Young Men, p. 132. Books in Focus, 1981, pp. 33, 34, 38; excerpts at http://userscyberone.com.au/ myers/quigley.html. Interdisciplinary History, Autumn 1979, p. 80. Quoted in Kendle, The Round Table 256. Garrett, the Pall Mall Gazette's cor- Movement, p. 8. 70. David P. Billington Jr, "The Tragedy respondent in southern Africa and later 81. Through Milner, £1,000 was secured and Hope of Carroll Quigley", The Editor of the Cape Times, is described by from the Rhodes Trust in 1906, but on the American Oxonian, Fall 1994 Quigley as an "intimate friend" of Stead, condition the funding source be kept (found through the Wayback Machine Milner and Rhodes (The Anglo-American secret; see Marlowe, Milner: Apostle of Internet archive at Establishment, pp. 43-44). Empire, p. 206. http://www.leonardo.net/davidpb/quigley. 75. Rotberg, The Founder, p. 416; and 82. Kendle, The Round Table Movement, html); Billington, "The Tragedy and Hope of pp. 22-45; Nimocks, Milner's Young Men, Whyte, The Life of W. T. Stead, vol. II, p. Carroll Quigley", ibid. pp. 54-108. 210. 76. Rotberg, The Founder, pp. 664-668. 83. Rose, The Cliveden Set, p. 65. 71. Stead and Rhodes quoted in Estelle 77. Quoted in Rotberg, ibid., p. 667 84. Nimocks, Milner's Young Men, pp. W. Stead, My Father: Personal & 78. See Christopher Hitchens, "Minority 121-122. Spiritual Reminiscences, William Report", The Nation, 14 December 1992, 85. See also Kendle, The Round Table Heinemann, 1913, p. 240. pp. 726, 743. See also William F. Jasper, Movement, pp. 22-45. 30 + NEXUS The "Kindergarten" was a Continued next issue ... www.nexusmagazine.com FEBRUARY — MARCH 2005