Cecil Rhodes Quotes
I will devote the rest of my life to God’s plan and help to make the rest of the world English.
Cecil Rhodes, 1853-1902, Prime Minister of Cape Colony (South Africa), Quoted on PBS, The Victorian Empire, July 20, 2003
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Christian Neophytes were Indians who claimed that they had converted to Christianity. The French initially banned giving or selling firearms to the Indians of North America. However in 1640, they made an exception to provide arms to the Huron Indians who they thought had converted to Christianity. Four years later the Jesuits were using guns as the major motivation for conversion of Indians. The hypocrisy of using weapons of war to attract converts to a religion of peace gave way to the incredible success that the trading of guns for souls had achieved. The French military also thought that the armed Indians could be used as allies in the coming battle with England for control of North America. The English then armed their Indian allies, and the French and Indian Wars saw armed Indians on both sides.
This was a large part of the “moral” justification of conquering the New World peoples.
This church which was so active later in sending missionaries throughout the world, at first thought the idea absurd.
This quotation is an excellent example of the early, militant Gandhi. It is typical of militant theocracies of the Islamic world today.
This is a very important quotation because it reflects the attitude of many of the leading American expansionists and imperialists of the period—ie that American imperialism would uplift peoples around the world. This was an extension of the religious motive of many of the British imperialists who referred to the “3 Cs”: Commerce, Civilization & Christianity. Seelye himself was a missionary of the Protestant Dutch Reformed Church.
In China, the religious activities of the Missionaries never really lead to the many troubles between the missionaries and the Chinese. It was their activities in the non-religious arenas articulated here by Denby.
Cecil John Rhodes PC was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his British South Africa Company founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia), which the company named after him in 1895. South Africa's Rhodes University is also named after him. He also put much effort towards his vision of a Cape to Cairo Railway through British territory. Rhodes set up the provisions of the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate.
