Page:Last Will and Testament of Cecil Rhodes.djvu/182

168 sition is that it would have been law as long as it was no good, and when it was any good it would have been done away with. That shows a want of knowledge again. People think the people in the colonies are all for Protection. It is nothing of the kind. They are very sensible people, and they know that Protection means that everything you eat and wear costs you 50 per cent. more. But what does happen is that at times a wave comes over a country, of Protection, and it is carried by a small majority. It then becomes law; the factories are created and the human beings come out and they have to be fed, and therefore you cannot get rid of them. But in case of a wave coming in the country under a constitution as suggested, the Secretary of State would be justified in disallowing. He would say: ‘There is a large minority against this law, and as it is against the constitution I disallow.’ And look at the ramifications of it. Of course if the gold is in the quantity in Matabeleland and Mashonaland that we think, that will become a valuable asset in Africa, and we know perfectly well there is going to be a Customs Union of Africa—leave out the question of republics and the questions of Government and the Flag; but we know the practical thing will happen, that there will be a Customs Union in Africa. This clause being in our charter would have governed the rest of Africa, and therefore you would have had preserved to British goods, Africa as one of your markets. (Cheers.) Take the comparison of this question, and I will show you what it means. You have sixty millions of your people in the United States. You created that Government; that is your production, if I may call it so; they have adopted this folly of Pro-