Cecil Rhodes | Page 6

they would be rid of the presence of a personage
possessed of a sufficient energy to oppose them, and they would no
longer need to fear his observant eyes. Sir Alfred Milner saw himself
surrounded by all sorts of difficulties, and every attempt he made to
bring forward his own plans for the settlement of the South African
question crumbled to the ground almost before he could begin to work
at it. Small wonder, therefore, if he felt discouraged and began to form
a false opinion concerning the persons or the facts with whom he had to
deal. Those who might have helped him were constrained, without it
being his fault. Mr. Rhodes became persuaded that the new Governor
of Cape Colony had arrived there with preconceived notions in regard
to himself. He was led to believe that Milner's firm determination was
to crush him; that, moreover, he was jealous of him and of the work he
had done in South Africa.
Incredible as it appears, Rhodes believed this absurd fiction, and
learned to look upon Sir Alfred Milner as a natural enemy, desirous of
thwarting him at every step. The Bloemfontein Conference, at which
the brilliant qualities and the conciliating spirit of the new Governor of
Cape Colony were first made clearly manifest, was represented to
Rhodes as a desire to present him before the eyes of the Dutch as a
negligible quantity in South Africa. Rhodes was strangely susceptible
and far too mindful of the opinions of people of absolutely no
importance. He fell into the snare, and though he was careful to hide
from the public his real feelings in regard to Sir Alfred Milner, yet it
was impossible for anyone who knew him well not to perceive at once
that he had made up his mind not to help the High Commissioner.
There is such a thing as damning praise, and Rhodes poured a good
deal of it on the head of Sir Alfred.

Fortunately, Sir Alfred was sufficiently conscious of the rectitude of his
intentions and far too superior to feelings of petty spite. He never
allowed himself to be troubled by these unpleasantnesses, but went on
his way without giving his enemies the pleasure of noticing the
measure of success which, unhappily, attended their campaign. He
remained inflexible in his conduct, and, disdaining any justification,
went on doing what he thought was right, and which was right, as
events proved subsequently. Although Milner had at last to give up, yet
it is very largely due to him that the South African Union was
ultimately constituted, and that the much-talked-of reconciliation of the
Dutch and English in Cape Colony and in the Transvaal became an
accomplished fact. Had Sir Alfred been listened to from the very
beginning it might have taken place sooner, and perhaps the Boer War
altogether avoided.
It is a curious thing that England's colonising powers, which are so
remarkable, took such a long time to work their way in South Africa.
At least it would have been a curious thing if one did not remember that
among the first white men who arrived there Englishmen were much in
the minority. And of those Englishmen who were attracted by the
enormous mineral wealth which the country contained, a good
proportion were not of the best class of English colonists. Many a one
who landed in Table Bay was an adventurer, drawn thither by the wish
to make or retrieve his fortune. Few came, as did Rhodes, in search of
health, and few, again, were drawn thither by the pure love of
adventure. In Australia, or in New Zealand or other colonies, people
arrived with the determination to begin a new life and to create for
themselves new ties, new occupations, new duties, so as to leave to
their children after them the result of their labours. In South Africa it
was seldom that emigrants were animated by the desire to make their
home in the solitudes of the vast and unexplored veldt. Those who got
rich there, though they may have built for themselves splendid houses
while they dwelt in the land, never looked upon South Africa as home,
but aspired to spend their quickly gained millions in London and to
forget all about Table Mountain or the shafts and factories of
Johannesburg and Kimberley.

To such men as these England was a pretext but never a symbol. Their
strange conception of patriotism jarred the most unpleasantly on the
straightforward nature of Sir Alfred Milner, who had very quickly
discerned the egotism that lay concealed beneath its cloak. He
understood what patriotism meant, what love for one's own country
signified. He had arrived in South Africa determined to spare neither
his person nor his strength in her service, and the man who was
repeatedly