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AN UPLIFTING POWER 239
the expansion
of the undertakings of De Beers Consolidated Mines was the carrying out
of his long-cherished aims. It was for this chiefly that De Beers
Charter was drawn with so free a hand. Assured control of the great
South African diamond mines was the assurance of great wealth, — from
Rhodes's point of view, great power that should be greatly used. His
aims ranged far beyond any personal exalting. His heart was set on the
making of Greater Britain by expansion and loyal federal union. In the
Dark Continent, beyond the confines of civilization, he saw
the open field for British occupation and development, and was
unresting till it was grasped. How great this attainment was in actual
stretch of territory may best be comprehended, A Corner in Mr" Rhodes's Library-
as the London Times notes, "by any one who will take the trouble
to contrast the map of Africa as it appeared in 1881, when Mr. Rhodes
first entered public life, with that which Is open to his study to-day.
At the earlier date, the line of the 28th degree of south latitude
bounded our possessions in South Africa; the later map he will find
coloured red right up to the shores of Lake Tanganyika — within a few
degrees of the Equator."
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