Cecil Rhodes | Page 7

accused both by the Dutch and by the English party in the
Colony of labouring under a misconception of its real political situation
was the one who had from the very first appreciated it as it deserved,
and had recognised its damning as well as its redeeming points.
Sir Alfred meant South Africa to become a member of the British
Empire, to participate in its greatness, and to enjoy the benefits of its
protection. He had absolutely no idea of exasperating the feelings of the
Dutch part of its population. He had the best intentions in regard to
President Kruger himself, and there was one moment, just at the time of
the Bloemfontein Conference, when a modus vivendi between President
Kruger and the Court of St. James's might have been established,
notwithstanding the difficult question of the Uitlanders. It was
frustrated by none other than these very Uitlanders, who, fondly
believing that a war with England would establish them as absolute
masters in the Gold Fields, brought it about, little realising that thereby
was to be accomplished the one thing which they dreaded--the firm,
just and far-seeing rule of England over all South Africa.
In a certain sense the Boer War was fought just as much against
financiers as against President Kruger. It put an end to the arrogance of
both.
CHAPTER II.
THE FOUNDATIONS OF FORTUNE
It is impossible to speak of South Africa without awarding to Cecil
Rhodes the tribute which unquestionably is due to his strong
personality. Without him it is possible that the vast territory which

became so thoroughly associated with his name and with his life would
still be without political importance. Without him it is probable that
both the Diamond Fields to which Kimberley owes its prosperity and
the Gold Fields which have won for the Transvaal its renown would
never have risen above the importance of those of Brazil or California
or Klondyke.
It was Rhodes who first conceived the thought of turning all these
riches into a political instrument and of using it to the advantage of his
country--the England to which he remained so profoundly attached
amid all the vicissitudes of his life, and to whose possessions he was so
eager to add.
Cecil Rhodes was ambitious in a grand, strange manner which made a
complete abstraction of his own personality under certain conditions,
but which in other circumstances made him violent, brutal in manner,
thereby procuring enemies without number and detractors without end.
His nature was something akin to that of the Roman Emperors in its
insensate desire to exercise unchallenged an unlimited power. Impatient
of restraint, no matter in what shape it presented itself, he brooked no
resistance to his schemes; his rage against contradiction, and his
opposition to any independence of thought or action on the part of
those who were around him, brought about a result of which he would
have been the first to complain, had he suspected it--that of allowing
him to execute all his fancies and of giving way to all his resentments.
Herein lies the reason why so many of his schemes fell through. This
unfortunate trait also thrust him very often into the hands of those who
were clever enough to exploit it, and who, more often than proved good
to Rhodes' renown, suggested to him their own schemes and
encouraged him to appropriate them as his own. He had a very quick
way of catching hold of any suggestions that tallied with his
sympathies or echoed any of his secret thoughts or aspirations.
Yet withal Rhodes was a great soul, and had he only been left to
himself, or made longer sojourns in England, had he understood
English political life more clearly, had he had to grapple with the
difficulties which confront public existence in his Mother Country, he

would most certainly have done far greater things. He found matters far
too easy for him at first, and the obstacles which he encountered very
often proved either of a trivial or else of a removable nature--by fair
means or methods less commendable. A mining camp is not a school of
morality, and just as diamonds lose of their value in the estimation of
those who continually handle them, as is the case in Kimberley, so
integrity and honour come to be looked upon from a peculiar point of
view according to the code of the majority.
Then again, it must not be forgotten that the first opponents of Cecil
Rhodes were black men, of whom the European always has the
conception that they are not his equals. It is likely that if, instead of
Lobengula, he had found before him a European chief or monarch,
Rhodes would have acted differently than history credits him to have
done toward the dusky sovereign. It is