of
campaign which his superior mind has conceived, so Rhodes looked about
for the strongest and ablest men to join him in repelling the vigorous
attack which was being made against him. The first check which he gave
his opponents seemed at first sight to be a complete surrender to them.
Instead of allowing Bar-nato and his colleagues to bid against him for
the purchase of the French Company, Rhodes arranged with them that he
should complete the purchase upon the lines agreed upon with the
directors of that company, and promised to unite the interests so
purchased with the Kimberley Central Company, in which Mr. Francis
Baring-Gould, who was the chairman, Barnato, and others held the
controlling power, taking shares in the Central Company in payment.
In
this, as well as in subsequent transactions, Rhodes was most ably
assisted by Mr. Alfred Beit, the Kimberley representative of Jules
Porges & Co., who started business in Paris as diamond merchants in
1869. The men who from time to time have been connected with Mr. Porges
and the successors to him, Messrs. Wernher, Beit & Co., took the
keenest interest in Rhodes's scheme, and assisted him more than all
others in bringing about the consolidation of the diamond interests.
As early as 1871 Mr. Julius Wernher went out to Kimberley in the
capacity of diamond buyer for Jules Porges & Co., and became
partner in the firm in 1878. The firm grew in importance, and became
owners in some of the largest companies in the four mines. They were
the founders of the Griqualand West Diamond Mining Company in
Kimberley mine, which was afterward re-formed into the " French
Company." Mr. Alfred Beit came to the fields in 1875 as a diamond buyer
for the firm of Lippert & Co., of Hamburg, and after a few years
established himself in business as a diamond
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