Nexus - 1203 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

SHORT HISTORY ROUND TABLE THE In 1909, members of Alfred Milner’s Kindergarten regrouped in London to found the Round Table for the purpose of creating an imperial federation covering Britain and all its dominions. Part 3 of 4 ore than a few researchers have found attractive Quigley's argument that Cecil Rhodes's essential vision for the unity of the English-speaking peoples was a benevolent one. Commenting on the "international Anglophile net- work" that had grown out of both Rhodes's money and vision of Anglo- American unity, Quigley described as "commendable" this group's "chief aims", including to "maintain the peace" and "help backward, colonial and underdeveloped areas to advance toward stability, law and order, and prosperity...'*° Taking his cue from Quigley, one prominent researcher suggested that Rhodes founded the Round Table "possibly with the best of intentions", including "a desire to stop wars", but following Rhodes's death in 1902 "the big switch was made and the Illuminati, in clas- sic fashion, hijacked his creation".”’ To be sure, Rhodes was interested in world peace; but the Round Table was founded seven years after his untimely death and we cannot forget that in his "Confession" Rhodes dismissed non-British peoples as "despicable". But if we put aside these elementary errors it is worth noting that when the Kindergarten returned to Britain in 1909, it was not Cecil Rhodes's ideas they drew upon but Milner's visions and ambitions. More importantly, as we have already seen in part two, Milner's ideas on imperial federation fell somewhat short of the Anglo-American world government sought by Rhodes. The Kindergarten received many reminders of Milner's commitment to imperial consol- idation and disinterest in expanding the British Empire. Before his return to Britain in 1905, for example, Milner had given a farewell speech on the "great ideal of Imperial Unity" in which he argued for an empire “united not in an alliance—for alliances can be made and unmade... but in a permanent organic union".* In 1904, also in Johannesburg, Milner had declared himself prepared "to see the Federal Council of the Empire sitting in Ottawa, in Sydney, in South Africa—sitting anywhere within the Empire—if in the great future we can only hold it all together".® Another influence on the Kindergarten was Frederick Scott Oliver (1864-1934), an American businessman, aspiring politician and author of Alexander Hamilton: An Essay on American Union (1906)”—a book hailed by leading Round Table members Leo Amery and Lionel Curtis as "the Bible" and "great inspiration" of their movement. According to Nimocks, rather than its being merely a biography of the famed American statesman, Oliver's book "is more accurately described as a five-hundred-page plea for imperial unity". Oliver drew comparisons between Hamilton's push to centralise authority in the North American colonies, and then argued for the British Empire's need to consider a similar course.”' Like Milner, Oliver was an advocate of imperial consolidation, not fur- ther expansion. He also shared a disdain for democracy; in fact, Milner believed Oliver to have "an aversion for Democracy".” by Will Banyan © January — February 2005 LIONEL CURTIS'S PLAN FOR IMPERIAL UNITY It was Lionel Curtis, probably the most zealous and idealistic of the Kindergarten mem- bers, who took the initiative, devising a step-by-step plan to unify the Empire based on their South African experience. This was perhaps inevitable, as he was the most avid pro- ponent of the Kindergarten's devotion to imperial unity—hence his nickname, "the Prophet". As Amery noted, "His passionate sincerity and energy, as well as the indis- putable logic of his arguments, tended to dominate our councils". Educated at New College, Oxford, and one of the first of Milner's recruits in 1901, Email: banyan007@rediffmail.com APRIL — MAY 2005 NEXUS = 39 THE KINDERGARTEN RETURNS HOME www.nexusmagazine.com