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diff --git a/16600-8.txt b/16600-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64c9700 --- /dev/null +++ b/16600-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6290 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Cecil Rhodes, by Princess Catherine Radziwill + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Cecil Rhodes + Man and Empire-Maker + + +Author: Princess Catherine Radziwill + + + +Release Date: August 26, 2005 [eBook #16600] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CECIL RHODES*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Dainis Millers, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 16600-h.htm or 16600-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/6/0/16600/16600-h/16600-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/6/0/16600/16600-h.zip) + + + + + +CECIL RHODES + +Man and Empire-Maker + +by + +PRINCESS CATHERINE RADZIWILL +(CATHERINE KOLB-DANVIN) + +With Eight Photogravure Plates + +Cassell & Company, Ltd +London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne + +1918 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE RT. HON. CECIL RHODES] + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + + 1. CECIL RHODES AND SIR ALFRED MILNER 1 + 2. THE FOUNDATIONS OF FORTUNE 17 + 3. A COMPLEX PERSONALITY 28 + 4. MRS. VAN KOOPMAN 40 + 5. RHODES AND THE RAID 50 + 6. THE AFTERMATH OF THE RAID 69 + 7. RHODES AND THE AFRIKANDER BOND 82 + 8. THE INFLUENCE OF SIR ALFRED MILNER 104 + 9. THE OPENING OF THE NEW CENTURY 120 + 10. AN ESTIMATE OF SIR ALFRED MILNER 130 + 11. CROSS CURRENTS 144 + 12. THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS 157 + 13. THE PRISONERS' CAMPS 170 + 14. IN FLIGHT FROM THE RAND 191 + 15. DEALING WITH THE REFUGEES 202 + 16. UNDER MARTIAL LAW 214 + CONCLUSION + INDEX + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + THE RT. HON. CECIL RHODES Frontispiece + + Facing page + + THE RT. HON. W.P. SCHREINER 32 + PRESIDENT KRUGER 68 + THE HON. J.H. HOFMEYR 86 + THE RT. HON. SIR W.F. HELY-HUTCHINSON 98 + VISCOUNT MILNER 132 + THE RT. HON. SIR LEANDER STARR JAMESON 148 + THE RT. HON. SIR JOHN GORDON SPRIGG 224 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The recent death of Sir Starr Jameson reminded the public of the South +African War, which was such an engrossing subject to the British public at +the close of the 'nineties and the first years of the present century. Yet +though it may seem quite out of date to reopen the question when so many +more important matters occupy attention, the relationship between South +Africa and England is no small matter. It has also had its influence on +actual events, if only by proving to the world the talent which Great +Britain has displayed in the administration of her vast Colonies and the +tact with which British statesmen have contrived to convert their foes of +the day before into friends, sincere, devoted and true. + +No other country in the world could have achieved such a success as did +England in the complicated and singularly difficult task of making itself +popular among nations whose independence it had destroyed. + +The secret of this wonderful performance lies principally in the care +which England has exercised to secure the welfare of the annexed +population, and to do nothing likely to keep them in remembrance of the +subordinate position into which they had been reduced. England never +crushes those whom it subdues. Its inbred talent for colonisation has +invariably led it along the right path in regard to its colonial +development. Even in cases where Britain made the weight of its rule +rather heavy for the people whom it had conquered, there still developed +among them a desire to remain federated to the British Empire, and also a +conviction that union, though it might be unpleasant to their personal +feelings and sympathies, was, after all, the best thing which could have +happened to them in regard to their material interests. + +Prosperity has invariably attended British rule wherever it has found +scope to develop itself, and at the present hour British patriotism is far +more demonstrative in India, Australia or South Africa than it is in +England itself. The sentiments thus strongly expressed impart a certain +zealotism to their feelings, which constitutes a strong link with the +Mother Country. In any hour of national danger or calamity this trait +provides her with the enthusiastic help of her children from across the +seas. + +The Englishman, generally quiet at home and even subdued in the presence +of strangers, is exuberant in the Colonies; he likes to shout his +patriotism upon every possible occasion, even when it would be better to +refrain. It is an aggressive patriotism which sometimes is quite uncouth +in its manifestations, but it is real patriotism, disinterested and devoid +of any mercenary or personal motives. + +It is impossible to know what England is if one has not had the +opportunity of visiting her Dominions oversea. It is just as impossible to +judge of Englishmen when one has only seen them at home amid the comforts +of the easy and pleasant existence which one enjoys in Merrie England, and +only there. It is not the country Squires, whose homes are such a definite +feature of English life; nor the aristocratic members of the Peerage, with +their influence and their wealth; nor even the political men who sit in +St. Stephen's, who have spread abroad the fame and might and power of +England. But it is these modest pioneers of "nations yet to be" who, in +the wilds and deserts of South Africa, Australia and Asia, have +demonstrated the realities of English civilisation and the English spirit +of freedom. + +In the hour of danger we have seen all these members of the great Mother +Country rush to its help. The spectacle has been an inspiring one, and in +the case of South Africa especially it has been unique, inasmuch as it has +been predicted far and wide that the memory of the Boer War would never +die out, and that loyalty to Great Britain would never be found in the +vast African veldt. Facts have belied this rash assertion, and the world +has seldom witnessed a more impressive vindication of the triumph of true +Imperialism than that presented by Generals Botha and Smuts. As the leader +of a whole nation, General Botha defended its independence against +aggression, yet became the faithful, devoted servant and the true adherent +of the people whom he had fought a few years before, putting at their +disposal the weight of his powerful personality and the strength of his +influence over his partisans and countrymen. + CATHERINE RADZIWILL. + _December, 1917._ + + + + +CECIL RHODES + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +CECIL RHODES AND SIR ALFRED MILNER + + +The conquest of South Africa is one of the most curious episodes in +English history. Begun through purely mercenary motives, it yet acquired a +character of grandeur which, as time went on, divested it of all sordid +and unworthy suspicions. South Africa has certainly been the land of +adventurers, and many of them found there either fame or disgrace, +unheard-of riches or the most abject poverty, power or humiliation. At the +same time the Colony has had amongst its rulers statesmen of unblemished +reputation and high honour, administrators of rare integrity, and men who +saw beyond the fleeting interests of the hour into the far more important +vista of the future. + +When President Kruger was at its head the Transvaal Republic would have +crumbled under the intrigues of some of its own citizens. The lust for +riches which followed upon the discovery of the goldfields had, too, a +drastic effect. The Transvaal was bound to fall into the hands of someone, +and to be that Someone fell to the lot of England. This was a kindly throw +of Fate, because England alone could administer all the wealth of the +region without its becoming a danger, not only to the community at large, +but also to the Transvaalers. + +That this is so can be proved by the eloquence of facts rather than by +words. It is sufficient to look upon what South Africa was twenty-five +years ago, and upon what it has become since under the protection of +British rule, to be convinced of the truth of my assertion. From a land of +perennial unrest and perpetual strife it has been transformed into a +prosperous and quiet colony, absorbed only in the thought of its economic +and commercial progress. Its population, which twenty years ago was +wasting its time and energy in useless wrangles, stands to-day united to +the Mother Country and absorbed by the sole thought of how best to prove +its devotion. + +The Boer War has still some curious issues of which no notice has been +taken by the public at large. One of the principal, perhaps indeed the +most important of these, is that, though brought about by material +ambitions of certain people, it ended by being fought against these very +same people, and that its conclusion eliminated them from public life +instead of adding to their influence and their power. The result is +certainly a strange and an interesting one, but it is easily explained if +one takes into account the fact that once England as a nation--and not as +_the_ nation to which belonged the handful of adventurers through whose +intrigues the war was brought about--entered into the possession of the +Transvaal and organised the long-talked-of Union of South Africa, the +country started a normal existence free from the unhealthy symptoms which +had hindered its progress. It became a useful member of the vast British +Empire, as well as a prosperous country enjoying a good government, and +launched itself upon a career it could never have entered upon but for the +war. Destructive as it was, the Boer campaign was not a war of +annihilation. On the contrary, without it it would have been impossible +for the vast South African territories to become federated into a Union of +its own and at the same time to take her place as a member of another +Empire from which it derived its prosperity and its welfare. The grandeur +of England and the soundness of its leaders has never come out in a more +striking manner than in this conquest of South Africa--a blood-stained +conquest which has become a love match. + +During the concluding years of last century the possibility of union was +seldom taken into consideration; few, indeed, were clever enough and wise +enough to find out that it was bound to take place as a natural +consequence of the South African War. The war cleared the air all over +South Africa. It crushed and destroyed all the suspicious, unhealthy +elements that had gathered around the gold mines of the Transvaal and the +diamond fields of Cape Colony. It dispersed the coterie of adventurers who +had hastened there with the intention of becoming rapidly rich at the +expense of the inhabitants of the country. A few men had succeeded in +building for themselves fortunes beyond the dreams of avarice, whilst the +majority contrived to live more or less well at the expense of those naïve +enough to trust to them in financial matters until the day when the war +arrived to put an end to their plunderings. + +The struggle into which President Kruger was compelled to rush was +expected by some of the powerful intriguers in South Africa to result in +increasing the influence of certain of the millionaires, who up to the +time when the war broke out had ruled the Transvaal and indirectly the +Cape Colony by the strength and importance of their riches. Instead, it +weakened and then destroyed their power. Without the war South Africa +would have grown more wicked, and matters there were bound soon to come to +a crisis of some sort. The crux of the situation was whether this crisis +was going to be brought about by a few unscrupulous people for their own +benefit, or was to arise in consequence of the clever and far-seeing +policy of wise politicians. + +Happily for England, and I shall even say happily for the world at large, +such a politician was found in the person of the then Sir Alfred Milner, +who worked unselfishly toward the grand aim his far-sighted Imperialism +saw in the distance. + +History will give Viscount Milner--as he is to-day--the place which is due +to him. His is indeed a great figure; he was courageous enough, sincere +enough, and brave enough to give an account of the difficulties of the +task he had accepted. His experience of Colonial politics was principally +founded on what he had seen and studied when in Egypt and in India, which +was a questionable equipment in the entirely new areas he was called upon +to administer when he landed in Table Bay. Used to Eastern shrewdness and +Eastern duplicity, he had not had opportunity to fight against the +unscrupulousness of men who were neither born nor brought up in the +country, but who had grown to consider it as their own, and exploited its +resources not only to the utmost, but also to the detriment of the +principles of common honesty. + +The reader must not take my words as signifying a sweeping condemnation of +the European population of South Africa. On the contrary, there existed in +that distant part of the world many men of great integrity, high +principles and unsullied honour who would never, under any condition +whatsoever, have lent themselves to mean or dishonest action; men who held +up high their national flag, and who gave the natives a splendid example +of all that an Englishman could do or perform when called upon to maintain +the reputation of his Mother Country abroad. + +Some of the early English settlers have left great remembrance of their +useful activity in the matter of the colonisation of the new continent to +which they had emigrated, and their descendants, of whom I am happy to say +there are a great number, have not shown themselves in any way unworthy of +their forbears. South Africa has its statesmen and politicians who, having +been born there, understand perfectly well its necessities and its wants. +Unfortunately, for a time their voices were crushed by the new-comers who +had invaded the country, and who considered themselves better able than +anyone else to administer its affairs. They brought along with them fresh, +strange ambitions, unscrupulousness, determination to obtain power for the +furtherance of their personal aims, and a greed which the circumstances in +which they found themselves placed was bound to develop into something +even worse than a vice, because it made light of human life as well as of +human property. + +In any judgment on South Africa one must never forget that, after all, +before the war did the work of a scavenger it was nothing else but a vast +mining camp, with all its terrifying moods, its abject defects, and its +indifference with regard to morals and to means. The first men who began +to exploit the riches of that vast territory contrived in a relatively +easy way to build up their fortunes upon a solid basis, but many of their +followers, eager to walk in their steps, found difficulties upon which +they had not reckoned or even thought about. In order to put them aside +they used whatever means lay in their power, without hesitation as to +whether these answered to the principles of honesty and +straightforwardness. Their ruthless conduct was so far advantageous to +their future schemes that it inspired disgust among those whose ancestors +had sought a prosperity founded on hard work and conscientious toil. These +good folk retired from the field, leaving it free to the adventurers who +were to give such a bad name to England and who boasted loudly that they +had been given full powers to do what they liked in the way of conquering +a continent which, but for them, would have been only too glad to place +itself under English protection and English rule. To these people, and to +these alone, were due all the antagonisms which at last brought about the +Boer War. + +It was with these people that Sir Alfred Milner found himself out of +harmony; from the first moment that he had set his foot on African soil +they tried to put difficulties in his way, after they had convinced +themselves that he would never consent to lend himself to their schemes. + +Lord Milner has never belonged to the class of men who allow themselves to +be influenced either by wealth or by the social position of anyone. He is +perhaps one of the best judges of humanity it has been my fortune to meet, +and though by no means an unkind judge, yet a very fair one. Intrigue is +repulsive to him, and unless I am very much mistaken I venture to affirm +that, in the 'nineties, because of the intrigues in which they indulged, +he grew to loathe some of the men with whom he was thrown into contact. +Yet he could not help seeing that these reckless speculators controlled +public opinion in South Africa, and his political instinct compelled him +to avail himself of their help, as without them he would not have been +able to arrive at a proper understanding of the entanglements and +complications of South African politics. + +Previous to Sir Alfred's appointment as Governor of the Cape of Good Hope +the office had been filled by men who, though of undoubted integrity and +high standing, were yet unable to gauge the volume of intrigue with which +they had to cope from those who had already established an iron--or, +rather, golden--rule in South Africa. + +Coteries of men whose sole aim was the amassing of quick fortunes were +virtual rulers of Cape Colony, with more power than the Government to whom +they simulated submission. All sorts of weird stories were in circulation. +One popular belief was that the mutiny of the Dutch in Cape Colony just +before the Boer War was at bottom due to the influence of money. This was +followed by a feeling that, but for the aggressive operations of the +outpost agents of certain commercial magnates, it would have been possible +for England to realise the Union of South Africa by peaceful means instead +of the bloody arbitrament of war. + +In the minds of many Dutchmen--and Dutchmen who were sincerely patriotic +Transvaalers--the conviction was strong that the natural capabilities of +Boers did not lie in the direction of developing, as they could be, the +amazing wealth-producing resources of the Transvaal and of the Orange Free +State. By British help alone, such men believed, could their country hope +to thrive as it ought. + +Here, then, was the nucleus around which the peaceful union of Boer and +English peoples in South Africa could be achieved without bloodshed. +Indeed, had Queen Victoria been represented at the Cape by Sir Alfred +Milner ten years before he was appointed Governor there, many things which +had a disastrous influence on the Dutch elements in South Africa would not +have occurred. The Jameson Raid would certainly not have been planned and +attempted. To this incident can be ascribed much of the strife and +unpleasantness which followed, by which was lost to the British Government +the chance, then fast ripening, of bringing about without difficulty a +reconciliation of Dutch and English all over South Africa. This +reconciliation would have been achieved through Cecil Rhodes, and would +have been a fitting crown to a great career. + +At one time the most popular man from the Zambesi to Table Mountain, the +name of Cecil Rhodes was surrounded by that magic of personal power +without which it is hardly possible for any conqueror to obtain the +material or moral successes that give him a place in history; that win for +him the love, the respect, and sometimes the hatred, of his +contemporaries. Sir Alfred Milner would have known how to make the work of +Cecil Rhodes of permanent value to the British Empire. It was a thousand +pities that when Sir Alfred Milner took office in South Africa the +influence of Cecil Rhodes, at one time politically dominant, had so +materially shrunk as a definitive political factor. + +Sir Alfred Milner found himself in the presence of a position already +compromised beyond redemption, and obliged to fight against evils which +ought never to have been allowed to develop. Even at that time, however, +it would have been possible for Sir Alfred Milner to find a way of +disposing of the various difficulties connected with English rule in South +Africa had he been properly seconded by Mr. Rhodes. Unfortunately for both +of them, their antagonism to each other, in their conception of what ought +or ought not to be done in political matters, was further aggravated by +intrigues which tended to keep Rhodes apart from the Queen's High +Commissioner in South Africa. + +It would not at all have suited certain people had Sir Alfred contrived to +acquire a definite influence over Mr. Rhodes, and assuredly this would +have happened had the two men have been allowed unhindered to appreciate +the mental standard of each other. Mr. Rhodes was at heart a sincere +patriot, and it was sufficient to make an appeal to his feelings of +attachment to his Mother Country to cause him to look at things from that +point of view. Had there existed any real intimacy between Groote Schuur +and Government House at Cape Town, the whole course of South African +politics might have been very different. + +Sir Alfred Milner arrived in Cape Town with a singularly free and unbiased +mind, determined not to allow other people's opinions to influence his +own, and also to use all the means at his disposal to uphold the authority +of the Queen without entering into conflict with anyone. He had heard a +deal about the enmity of English and Dutch, but though he perfectly well +realised its cause he had made up his mind to examine the situation for +himself. He was not one of those who thought that the raid alone was +responsible; he knew very well that this lamentable affair had only fanned +into an open blaze years-long smoulderings of discontent. The Raid had +been a consequence, not an isolated spontaneous act. Little by little over +a long span of years the ambitious and sordid overridings of various +restless, and too often reckless, adventurers had come to be considered as +representative of English rule, English opinions and, what was still more +unfortunate, England's personality as an Empire and as a nation. + +On the other side of the matter, the Dutch--who were inconceivably +ignorant--thought their little domain the pivot of the world. Blind to +realities, they had no idea of the legitimate relative comparison between +the Transvaal and the British Empire, and so grew arrogantly oppressive in +their attitude towards British settlers and the powers at Cape Town. + +All this naturally tinctured native feeling. Suspicion was fostered among +the tribes, guns and ammunition percolated through Boer channels, the +blacks viewed with disdain the friendly advances made by the British, and +the atmosphere was thick with mutual distrust. The knowledge that this was +the situation could not but impress painfully a delicate and proud mind, +and surely Lord Milner can be forgiven for the illusion which he at one +time undoubtedly cherished that he would be able to dispel this false +notion about his Mother Country that pervaded South Africa. + +The Governor had not the least animosity against the Dutch, and at first +the Boers had no feeling that Sir Alfred was prejudiced against them. Such +a thought was drilled into their minds by subtle and cunning people who, +for their own avaricious ends, desired to estrange the High Commissioner +from the Afrikanders. Sir Alfred was represented as a tyrannical, +unscrupulous man, whose one aim in life was the destruction of every +vestige of Dutch independence, Dutch self-government and Dutch influence +in Africa. Those who thus maligned him applied themselves to make him +unpopular and to render his task so very uncongenial and unpleasant for +him that he would at last give it up of his own accord, or else become the +object of such violent hatreds that the Home Government would feel +compelled to recall him. Thus 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 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 impossible to judge of facts of which one has had no +occasion to watch the developments, or which have taken place in lands +where one has never been. Neither Fernando Cortez in Mexico nor Pizzaro +Gonzalo in Peru proved themselves merciful toward the populations whose +territory they conquered. The tragedy which sealed the fate of +Matabeleland was neither a darker nor a more terrible one than those of +which history speaks when relating to us the circumstances attending the +discovery of America. Such events must be judged objectively and forgiven +accordingly. When forming an opinion on the doings and achievements of +Cecil Rhodes one must make allowance for all the temptations which were +thrown in his way and remember that he was a man who, if ambitious, was +not so in a personal sense, but in a large, lofty manner, and who, whilst +appropriating to himself the good things which he thought he could grasp, +was also eager to make others share the profit of his success. + +Cecil Rhodes, in all save name, was monarch over a continent almost as +vast as his own fancy and imagination. He was always dreaming, always lost +in thoughts which were wandering far beyond his actual surroundings, +carrying him into regions where the common spirit of mankind seldom +travelled. He was born for far better things than those which he +ultimately attained, but he did not belong to the century in which he +lived; his ruthless passions of anger and arrogance were more fitted for +an earlier and cruder era. Had he possessed any disinterested friends +capable of rousing the better qualities that slumbered beneath his +apparent cynicism and unscrupulousness, most undoubtedly he would have +become the most remarkable individual in his generation. Unfortunately, he +found himself surrounded by creatures absolutely inferior to himself, +whose deficiencies he was the first to notice, whom he despised either for +their insignificance or for their mental and moral failings, but to whose +influence he nevertheless succumbed. + +When Cecil Rhodes arrived at Kimberley he was a mere youth. He had come to +South Africa in quest of health and because he had a brother already +settled there, Herbert Rhodes, who was later on to meet with a terrible +fate. Cecil, if one is to believe what one hears from those who knew him +at the time, was a shy youth, of a retiring disposition, whom no one could +ever have suspected would develop into the hardy, strong man he became in +time. He was constantly sick, and more than once was on the point of +falling a victim of the dreaded fever which prevails all over South Africa +and then was far more virulent in its nature than it is to-day. Kimberley +at that time was still a vast solitude, with here and there a few +scattered huts of corrugated iron occupied by the handful of colonists. +Water was rare: it is related, indeed, that the only way to get a wash was +to use soda water. + +The beginning of Rhodes' fortune, if we are to believe what we are told, +was an ice machine which he started in partnership with another settler. +The produce they sold to their companions at an exorbitant price, but not +for long; whereafter the enterprising young man proceeded to buy some +plots of ground, of whose prolificacy in diamonds he had good reason to be +aware. It must be here remarked that Rhodes was never a poor man; he could +indulge in experiments as to his manner of investing his capital. And he +was not slow to take advantage of this circumstance. Kimberley was a wild +place at that time, and its distance from the civilised world, as well as +the fact that nothing was controlled by public opinion, helped some to +amass vast fortunes and put the weaker into the absolute power of the most +unscrupulous. It is to the honour of Rhodes that, however he might have +been tempted, he never listened to the advice which was given to him to do +what the others did, and to despoil the men whose property he might have +desired to acquire. He never gave way to the excesses of his daily +companions, nor accepted their methods of enriching themselves at top +speed so as soon to be able to return home with their gains. + +From the first moment that he set foot on African soil Rhodes succumbed to +the strange charm the country offers for thinkers and dreamers. His +naturally languid temperament found a source of untold satisfaction in +watching the Southern Cross rise over the vast veldt where scarcely man's +foot had trod, where the immensity of its space was equalled by its +sublime, quiet grandeur. He liked to spend the night in the open air, +gazing at the innumerable stars and listening to the voice of the desert, +so full of attractions for those who have grown to discern somewhat of +Nature's hidden joys and sorrows. South Africa became for him a second +Motherland, and one which seemed to him to be more hospitable to his +temperament than the land of his birth. In South Africa he felt he could +find more satisfaction and more enjoyment than in England, whose +conventionalities did not appeal to his rebellious, unsophisticated heart. +He liked to roam about in an old coat and wideawake hat; to forget that +civilisation existed; to banish from his mind all memory of cities where +man must bow down to Mrs. Grundy and may not defy, unscathed, certain +well-defined prejudices. + +Yet Cecil Rhodes neither cared for convention nor custom. His motto was to +do what he liked and not to trouble about the judgments of the crowd. He +never, however, lived up to this last part of his profession because, as I +have shown already, he was keenly sensitive to praise and to blame, and +hurt to the heart whenever he thought himself misjudged or condemned. Most +of his mistakes proceeded from this over-sensitiveness which, in a certain +sense, hardened him, inasmuch as it made him vindictive against those from +whom he did not get the approval for which he yearned. In common with many +another, too, Cecil Rhodes had that turn of mind which harbours resentment +against anyone who has scored a point against its possessor. After the +Jameson Raid Rhodes never forgave Mr. Schreiner for having found out his +deceit, and tried to be revenged. + +Cecil Rhodes had little sympathy with other people's woes unless these +found an echo in his own, and the callousness which he so often displayed +was not entirely the affectation it was thought by his friends or even by +his enemies. Great in so many things, there were circumstances when he +could show himself unutterably small, and he seldom practised consistency. +Frank by nature, he was an adept at dissimulation when he thought that his +personal interest required it. But he could "face the music," however +discordant, and, unfortunately for him as well as for his memory, it was +often so. + +The means by which Cecil Rhodes contrived to acquire so unique a position +in South Africa would require volumes to relate. Wealth alone could not +have done so, nor could it have assured for him the popularity which he +gained, not only among the European colonists, but also among the coloured +people, notwithstanding the ruthlessness which he displayed in regard to +them. There were millionaires far richer than himself in Kimberley and in +Johannesburg. Alfred Beit, to mention only one, could dispose of a much +larger capital than Rhodes ever possessed, but this did not give him an +influence that could be compared with that of his friend, and not even the +Life Governorship of De Beers procured for him any other fame than that of +being a fabulously rich man. Barney Barnato and Joel were also familiar +figures in the circle of wealthy speculators who lived under the shade of +Table Mountain; but none among these men, some of whom were also +remarkable in their way, could effect a tenth or even a millionth part of +what Rhodes succeeded in performing. His was the moving spirit, without +whom these men could never have conceived, far less done, all that they +did. It was the magic of Rhodes' name which created that formidable +organisation called the De Beers Company; which annexed to the British +Empire the vast territory known now by the name of Rhodesia; and which +attracted to the gold fields of Johannesburg all those whom they were to +enrich or to ruin. Without the association and glamour of Rhodes' name, +too, this area could never have acquired the political importance it +possessed in the few years which preceded, and covered, the Boer War. +Rhodes' was the mind which, after bringing about the famous Amalgamation +of the diamond mines around Kimberley, then conceived the idea of turning +a private company into a political instrument of a power which would +control public opinion and public life all over South Africa more +effectually even than the Government. This organisation had its own agents +and spies and kept up a wide system of secret service. Under the pretext +of looking out for diamond thieves, these emissaries in reality made it +their duty to report on the private opinions and doings of those whose +personality inspired distrust or apprehension. + +This organisation was more a dictatorship than anything else, and had +about it something at once genial and Mephistophelian. The conquest of +Rhodesia was nothing in comparison with the power attained by this +combine, which arrogated to itself almost unchallenged the right to +domineer over every white man and to subdue every coloured one in the +whole of the vast South African Continent. Rhodesia, indeed, was only +rendered possible through the power wielded in Cape Colony to bring the +great Northward adventure to a successfully definite issue. + +In referring to Rhodesia, I am reminded of a curious fact which, so far as +I am aware, has never been mentioned in any of the biographies of Mr. +Rhodes, but which, on the contrary, has been carefully concealed from the +public knowledge by his admirers and his satellites. The concession +awarded by King Lobengula to Rhodes and to the few men who together with +him took it upon themselves to add this piece of territory to the British +Empire had, in reality, already been given by the dusky monarch--long +before the ambitions of De Beers had taken that direction--to a Mr. +Sonnenberg, a German Jew who had very quickly amassed a considerable +fortune in various speculations. This Mr. Sonnenberg--who was subsequently +to represent the Dutch party in the Cape Parliament, and who became one of +the foremost members of the Afrikander Bond--during one of his journeys +into the interior of the country from Basutoland, where he resided for +some time, had taken the opportunity of a visit to Matabeleland to obtain +a concession from the famous Lobengula. This covered the same ground and +advantages which, later, were granted to Mr. Rhodes and his business +associates. + +Owing in some measure to negligence and partly through the impossibility +of raising the enormous capital necessary to make anything profitable out +of the concession, Mr. Sonnenberg had put the document into his drawer +without troubling any more about it. Subsequently, when Matabeleland came +into possession of the Chartered Company, Mr. Sonnenberg ventured to speak +mildly of his own concession, and the matter was mentioned to Mr. Rhodes. +The latter's reply was typical: "Tell the ---- fool that if he was fool +enough to lose this chance of making money he ought to take the +consequences of it." And Mr. Sonnenberg had to content himself with this +reply. Being a wise man in his generation he was clever enough to ignore +the incident, and, realising the principle that might is stronger than +right, he never again attempted to dispute the title of Cecil John Rhodes +to the conquest which he had made, and, as I believe, pushed prudence to +the extent of consigning his own concession to the flames. He knew but too +well what his future prosperity would have been worth had he remembered +the document. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A COMPLEX PERSONALITY + + +Rhodesia and its annexation was but the development of a vast scheme of +conquest that had its start in the wonderful brain of the individual who +by that time had become to be spoken of as the greatest man South Africa +had ever known. Long before this Cecil Rhodes had entered political life +as member of the Cape Parliament. He stood for the province of Barkly +West, and his election, which was violently contested, made him master of +this constituency for the whole of his political career. The entry into +politics gave a decided aim to his ambitions and inspired him to a new +activity, directing his wonderful organising faculties toward other than +financial victories and instilling within him the desire to make for +himself a name not solely associated with speculation, but one which would +rank with those great Englishmen who had carried far and wide British +renown and spread the fame of their Mother Country across the seas. + +Rhodes' ambitions were not as unselfish as those of Clive, to mention only +that one name. He thought far more of himself than of his native land in +the hours when he meditated on all the advantages which he might obtain +from a political career. He saw the way to become at last absolutely free +to give shape to his dreams of conquest, and to hold under his sway the +vast continent which he had insensibly come to consider as his private +property. And by this I do not mean Rhodesia only--which he always spoke +of as "My country"--but he also referred to Cape Colony in the same way. +With one distinction, however, which was remarkable: he called it "My old +country," thus expressing his conviction that the new one possessed all +his affections. It is probable that, had time and opportunity been granted +him to bring into execution his further plans, thereby to establish +himself at Johannesburg and at Pretoria as firmly as he had done at +Kimberley and Buluwayo, the latter townships would have come to occupy the +same secondary importance in his thoughts as that which Cape Colony had +assumed. Mr. Rhodes may have had a penchant for old clothes, but he +certainly preferred new countries to ones already explored. To give Rhodes +his due, he was not the money-grubbing man one would think, judging by his +companions. He was constantly planning, constantly dreaming of wider areas +to conquer and to civilise. The possession of gold was for him a means, +not an aim; he appreciated riches for the power they produced to do +absolutely all that he wished, but not for the boast of having so many +millions standing to his account at a bank. He meant to become a king in +his way, and a king he unquestionably was for a time at least, until his +own hand shattered his throne. + +His first tenure of the Cape Premiership was most successful, and even +during the second term his popularity went on growing until the fatal +Jameson Raid--an act of folly which nothing can explain, nothing can +excuse. Until it broke his political career, transforming him from the +respected statesman whom every party in South Africa looked up to into a +kind of broken idol never more to be trusted, Rhodes had enjoyed the +complete confidence of the Dutch party. They fully believed he was the +only man capable of effecting the Union which at that time was already +considered to be indispensable to the prosperity of South Africa. Often he +had stood up for their rights as the oldest settlers and inhabitants of +the country. Even in the Transvaal, notwithstanding the authority wielded +then by President Kruger, the populace would gladly have taken advantage +of his services and of his experience to help them settle favourably their +everlasting quarrels with the Uitlanders, as the English colonists were +called. + +Had Cecil Rhodes but had the patience to wait, and had he cared to enter +into the details of a situation, the intricacies of which none knew better +than he, it is probable that the annexation of the Transvaal to the +British Empire would have taken place as a matter of course and the Boer +War would never have broken out. Rhodes was not only popular among the +Dutch, but also enjoyed their confidence, and it is no secret that he had +courted them to the extent of exciting the suspicions of the ultra-English +party, the Jingo elements of which had openly accused him of plotting with +the Dutch against the authority of Queen Victoria and of wishing to get +himself elected Life President of a Republic composed of the various South +African States, included in which would be Cape Colony, and perhaps even +Natal, in spite of the preponderance of the English element there. + +That Rhodes might have achieved such a success is scarcely to be doubted, +and personally I feel sure that there had been moments in his life when +the idea of it had seriously occurred to him. At least I was led to think +so in the course of a conversation which we had together on this subject a +few weeks before the Boer War broke out. At that moment Rhodes knew that +war was imminent, but it would be wrong to interpret that knowledge in the +sense that he had ever thought of or planned rebellion against the Queen. +Those who accused him of harbouring the idea either did not know him or +else wished to harm him. Rhodes was essentially an Englishman, and set his +own country above everything else in the world. Emphatically this is so; +but it is equally true that his strange conceptions of morality in matters +where politics came into question made him totally oblivious of the fact +that he thought far more of his own self than of his native land in the +plans which he conceived and formulated for the supremacy of England in +South Africa. He was absolutely convinced that his election as Life +President of a South African Republic would not be in any way detrimental +to the interests of Great Britain; on the contrary, he assured himself it +would make the latter far more powerful than it had ever been before in +the land over which he would reign. By nature something of an Italian +_condottieri_, he considered his native land as a stepping-stone to his +own grandeur. + +For a good many years he had chosen his best friends among Dutchmen of +influence in the Cape Colony and in the Transvaal. He flattered, courted +and praised them until he quite persuaded them that nowhere else would +they find such a staunch supporter of their rights and of their claims. +Men like Mr. Schreiner,[A] for instance, trusted him absolutely, and +believed quite sincerely that in time he would be able to establish firm +and friendly relations between the Cape Government and that of the +Transvaal. Though the latter country had been, as it were, sequestrated by +friends of Rhodes--much to their own profit--Mr. Schreiner felt convinced +that the Colossus had never encouraged any plans which these people might +have made against the independence of the Transvaal Republic. Rhodes had +so completely fascinated him that even on the eve of the day when Jameson +crossed the Border, Mr. Schreiner, when questioned by one of his friends +about the rumours which had reached Cape Town concerning a projected +invasion of the Transvaal by people connected with the Chartered Company, +repudiated them with energy. Mr. Schreiner, indeed, declared that so long +as Mr. Rhodes was Prime Minister nothing of the kind could or would +happen, as neither Jameson nor any of his lieutenants would dare to risk +such an adventure without the sanction of their Chief, and that it was +more to the latter's interest than to that of anyone else to preserve the +independence of the Transvaal Republic. + + [A] Now High Commissioner for the Union of South Africa. + +[Illustration: THE RT. HON. W.G. SCHREINER.] + +Talking of Mr. Schreiner reminds me of his sister, the famous Olive +Schreiner, the author of so many books which most certainly will long rank +among the English classics. Olive Schreiner was once upon terms of great +friendship with Mr. Rhodes, who extremely admired her great talents. She +was an ardent Afrikander patriot, Dutch by sympathy and origin, gifted +with singular intelligence and possessed of wide views, which strongly +appealed to the soul and to the spirit of the man who at that time was +considered as the greatest figure in South Africa. + +It is not remarkable, therefore, that Rhodes should fall into the habit +of confiding in Miss Schreiner, whom he found was "miles above" the +people about him. He used to hold long conversations with her and to +initiate her into many of his plans for the future, plans in which the +interests and the welfare of the Cape Dutch, as well as the Transvaalers, +used always to play the principal part. His friendship with her, however, +was viewed with great displeasure by many who held watch around him. +Circumstances--intentionally brought about, some maintain--conspired to +cause a cooling of the friendship between the two most remarkable +personalities in South Africa. Later on, Miss Schreiner, who was an ardent +patriot, having discovered what she termed and considered to be the +duplicity of the man in whom she had so absolutely trusted, refused to +meet Cecil Rhodes again. Her famous book, "Trooper Peter Halkett of +Mashonaland," was the culminating point in their quarrel, and the break +became complete. + +This, however, was but an incident in a life in which the feminine element +never had any great influence, perhaps because it was always kept in check +by people anxious and eager not to allow it to occupy a place in the +thoughts or in the existence of a man whom they had confiscated as their +own property. There are people who, having risen from nothing to the +heights of a social position, are able to shake off former associations: +this was not the case with Rhodes, who, on the contrary, as he advanced in +power and in influence, found himself every day more embarrassed by the +men who had clung to him when he was a diamond digger, and who, through +his financial acumen, had built up their fortunes. They surrounded him day +and night, eliminating every person likely to interfere; slandering, +ridiculing and calumniating them in turns, they at last left him nothing +in place of his shattered faiths and lost ideals, until Rhodes became as +isolated amidst his greatness and his millions as the veriest beggar in +his hovel. + +It was a sad sight to watch the ethical degradation of one of the most +remarkable intelligences among the men of his generation; it was +heartrending to see him fall every day more and more into the power of +unscrupulous people who did nothing else but exploit him for their own +benefit. South Africa has always been the land of adventurers, and many a +queer story could be told. That of Cecil John Rhodes was, perhaps, the +most wonderful and the most tragic. + +Whether he realised this retrogression himself it is difficult to say. +Sometimes one felt that such might be the case, whilst at others it seemed +as if he viewed his own fate only as something absolutely wonderful and +bound to develop in the future even more prosperously than it had done in +the past. There was always about him something of the "tragediante, +comediante" applied to Napoleon by Pope Pius VII., and it is absolutely +certain that he often feigned sentiments which he did not feel, anger +which he did not experience, and pleasure that he did not have. He was a +being of fits and starts, moods and fancies, who liked to pose in such a +way as to give others an absolutely false idea of his personality when he +considered it useful to his interests to do so. At times it was evident he +experienced regret, but it is doubtful whether he knew the meaning of +remorse. The natives seldom occupied his thoughts, and if he were reminded +in later years that, after all, terrible cruelties had been practised in +Mashonaland or in Matabeleland, he used simply to shrug his shoulders and +to remark that it was impossible to make an omelette without breaking some +eggs. It never occurred to him that there might exist people who objected +to the breaking of a certain kind of eggs, and that humanity had a right +to be considered even in conquest. + +And, after all, was this annexation of the dominions of poor Lobengula a +conquest? If one takes into account the strength of the people who +attacked the savage king, and his own weakness, can one do else but regret +that those who slaughtered Lobengula did not remember the rights of mercy +in regard to a fallen foe? There are dark deeds connected with the +attachment of Rhodesia to the British Empire, deeds which would never have +been performed by a regular English Army, but which seemed quite natural +to the band of enterprising fellows who had staked their fortunes on an +expedition which it was their interest to represent as a most dangerous +and difficult affair. I do not want to disparage them or their courage, +but I cannot help questioning whether they ever had to withstand any +serious attack of the enemy. I have been told perfectly sickening details +concerning this conquest of the territory now known by the name of +Rhodesia. The cruel manner in which, after having wrung from them a +concession which virtually despoiled them of every right over their native +land and after having goaded these people into exasperation, the people +themselves were exterminated was terrible beyond words. For instance, +there occurred the incident mentioned by Olive Schreiner in "Trooper Peter +Halkett of Mashonaland," when over one hundred savages were suffocated +alive in a cave where they sought a refuge. + +Personally, I remain persuaded that these abominable deeds remained +unknown to Mr. Rhodes and that he would not have tolerated them for one +single instant. They were performed by people who were in possession of +Rhodes' confidence, and who abused it by allowing the world to think that +he encouraged such deeds. Later on it is likely that he became aware of +the abuse that had been made of his name and of the manner in which it had +been put forward as an excuse for inexcusable deeds, but he was far too +indolent and far too indifferent to the blame of the world, at these +particular moments to disavow those who, after all, had helped him in his +schemes of expansion, and who had ministered to his longing to have a +kingdom to himself. Apart from this, he had a curious desire to brave +public opinion and to do precisely the very things that it would have +disapproved. He loved to humiliate those whom he had at one moment thought +he might have occasion to fear. This explains the callousness with which +he made the son of Lobengula one of his gardeners, and did not hesitate to +ask him one day before strangers who were visiting Groote Schuur in what +year he "had killed his father." The incident is absolutely true; it +occurred in my own presence. + +At times, such as that related in the paragraph above, Rhodes appeared a +perfectly detestable and hateful creature, and yet he was never sincere +whilst in such moods. A few moments later he would show himself under +absolutely different colours and give proof of a compassionate heart. +Generous to a fault, he liked to be able to oblige his friends, or those +who passed as such, while the charitable acts which he was constantly +performing are too numerous to be remembered. He had a supreme contempt +for money, but he spoiled the best sides of his strange, eccentric +character by enjoying a display of its worst facets with a "cussedness" as +amusing as it was sometimes unpleasant. Is it remarkable, then, that many +people who only saw him in the disagreeable moods should judge him from an +entirely false and misleading point of view? + +Rhodes was a man for whom it was impossible to feel indifference; one +either hated him or became fascinated by his curious and peculiar charm. +This quality led many admirers to remain faithful to him even after +disillusion had shattered their former friendship, and who, whilst +refusing to speak to him any more, yet retained for him a deep affection +which not even the conviction that it had been misplaced could alter. This +is a remarkable and indisputable fact. After having rallied around him all +that was honest in South Africa; after having been the petted child of all +the old and influential ladies in Cape Town; after having been accepted as +their leader by men like Mr. Schreiner and Mr. Hofmeyr, who, clever though +they were, and convinced, as they must have been, of their personal +influence on the Dutch party and the members of the Afrikander Bond, still +preferred to subordinate their judgment to Rhodes'; after having enjoyed +such unparalleled confidence, Rhodes had come to be spurned and rejected +politically, but had always kept his place in their hearts. Fate and his +own faults separated him from these people of real weight and influence, +and left him in the hands of those who pretended that they were attached +to him, but who, in reality, cared only for the material advantages that +their constant attendance upon him procured to them. They poisoned his +mind, they separated him from all those who might have been useful to him, +and they profited by the circumstance that the Raid had estranged him from +his former friends to strengthen their own influence upon him, and to +persuade him that those who had deplored the rash act were personal +enemies, wishful for his downfall and disgrace. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MRS. VAN KOOPMAN + + +Among those with whom Rhodes had been intimate from almost the first days +of his establishment in Cape Town and his entrance into political life was +a lady who, for something like half a century, had been enjoying an +enviable position throughout almost the whole of South Africa. Mrs. van +Koopman was a Dutchwoman of considerable means and of high character. She +was clever, well read, and her quick intelligence allowed her to hold her +own in discussion upon any subject against the most eminent men of her +generation. She had never made a secret of her Dutch sympathies, nor of +her desire to see her countrymen given equal rights with the English all +over South Africa. She was on excellent terms with President Kruger, and +with President Steyn, whose personality was a far more remarkable one than +that of his old and crafty colleague. + +The leading South African political men used to meet at Mrs. van Koopman's +to discuss the current events of the day. It is related that she was one +of the first to bring to the notice of her friends the complications that +were bound to follow upon the discovery of the gold fields, and to implore +them to define, without delay, the position of the foreign element which +was certain to move toward Johannesburg as soon as the news of the riches +contained in that region became public property. + +If the English Government had considered the matter at once the +complications which arose as soon as companies began to be formed would +have been less acute. The directors of these concerns imagined themselves +to be entitled to displace local government, and took all executive power +into their own hands. This would never have happened if firm governmental +action had been promptly taken. The example of Kimberley ought to have +opened the eyes of the Mother Country, and measures should have been taken +to prevent the purely commercial domain of the gold fields from assuming +such strident political activities, and little by little dominating not +only the Transvaal Republic, but also the rest of South Africa. + +Mrs. van Koopman had cherished a great affection for Rhodes. Her age--she +was in the sixties--gave an almost maternal character to the tenderness +with which she viewed him. He had made her his confidante, telling her all +that he meant to do for the welfare of the land which she loved so dearly. +She thought he looked upon South Africa with the same feelings of +admiration as she did. + +The strength of her belief led Mrs. van Koopman to interest all her +friends in the career of the young Englishman, who appealed to her +imagination as the embodiment of all that was great and good. Her +enthusiasm endowed him with many qualities that he did not possess, and +magnified those which he really had. When he consulted her as to his +future plans she entered closely into their details, discussed with him +their chances of success, advised him and used all her influence, which +was great, in winning him friends and adherents. She trusted him fully, +and, on his part, whenever he returned to Cape Town after one of his +yearly visits to Kimberley, or after a few months spent in the solitudes +of Rhodesia, his first visit was always to the old and gentle lady, who +welcomed him with open arms, words of affection, and sincere as well as +devoted sympathy. She had always refused to listen to disparagement of her +favourite, and would never allow any of the gruesome details connected +with the annexation of Rhodesia to be recited in her presence. + +In Mrs. van Koopman's eyes there was only a glorious side to the Rhodesian +expedition, and she rejoiced in the renown which it was destined to bring +to the man who had conceived and planned it. She fully believed that +Rhodes meant to bring English civilisation, English laws, the English +sense of independence and respect for individual freedom into that distant +land. The fact that lucre lay at the bottom of the expedition never +crossed her mind; even if it had she would have rejected the thought with +scorn and contempt. + +Although the attacks upon Cecil Rhodes increased day by day in intensity +and in bitterness, Mrs. van Koopman never wavered in her allegiance. She +attributed them to jealousy and envy, and strenuously defended his name. +Mrs. van Koopman, too, rejoiced at any new success of Rhodes as if it had +been her own. She was the first to congratulate him when the dignity of a +Privy Councillor was awarded to him. After the Matabele Rebellion, during +which occurred one of the most famous episodes in the life of Rhodes, Mrs. +van Koopman had been loud in her praises of the man whom she had been the +first to guess would do great things. + +The episode to which I refer, when he alone had had the courage to go +unattended and unarmed to meet the savage chiefs assembled in the Matoppo +Hills, had, by the way, done more than anything else to consolidate the +position of the chairman of De Beers in South Africa. + +During the first administration of Cape Colony by Mr. Rhodes, when his +accession to the premiership had been viewed with a certain suspicion by +the Dutch party, Mrs. van Koopman made tremendous efforts to induce them +to have full confidence in her protégé. And the attempt succeeded, because +even the shrewd Mr. Hofmeyr had at last succumbed to the constant +entreaties which she had poured upon him. Thenceforward Mr. Hofmeyr became +one of Mr. Rhodes' firm admirers and strong partisans. Under the able +guidance of Mrs. van Koopman the relations between the Dutch party and +their future enemy became so cordial that at last a singular construction +was put upon both sides of the alliance by the opponents of both. The +accusation, already referred to, was made against Rhodes that he wished to +make for himself in South Africa a position of such independence and +strength that even the authority of the Queen might find itself +compromised by it. As has been pointed out, the supposition was devoid of +truth, but it is quite certain that the then Premier of Cape Colony would +not have objected had the suzerainty been placed in his hands by England +and British rule in South Africa vested solely in his person. + +During a brief interval in his political leadership Rhodes pursued his +work in Rhodesia. In those days the famous British South Africa Company, +which was to become known as the Chartered Company, was definitely +constituted, and began its activity in the new territories which had come +under its control. Ere long, though, the tide of events brought him again +to the head of the Government. This time, however, though his appointment +had been considered as a foregone conclusion, and though very few had +opposed it, he no longer met the same sympathetic attention and +co-operation which had characterised his first administration of public +affairs. The Colony had begun to realise that Mr. Rhodes alone, and left +free to do what he liked, or what he believed was right, was very +different from Mr. Rhodes under the influence of the many so-called +financiers and would-be politicians who surrounded him. + +An atmosphere of favouritism and of flattery had changed Rhodes, whom one +would have thought far above such small things. Vague rumours, too, had +begun to circulate concerning certain designs of the Chartered Company +(one did not dare yet mention the name of its chief and chairman) on the +Transvaal. Rhodes was directly questioned upon the subject by several of +his friends, amongst others by Mr. Schreiner, to whom he energetically +denied that such a thing had ever been planned. He added that Doctor +Jameson, of whom the man in the street was already speaking as the man who +was planning an aggression against the authority of President Kruger, was +not even near the frontier of the neighbouring Republic. The mere idea of +such a thing, Rhodes emphatically declared to Mr. Schreiner, was nothing +but an ill-natured hallucination to create bad blood between the English +and the Dutch. His tone seemed so sincere that Mr. Schreiner allowed +himself to be convinced, and voluntarily assured his colleagues that he +was convinced of the sincerity of the Prime Minister. + +The only person who was really alarmed at the persistent rumours which +circulated in Cape Town in regard to a possible attack in common accord +with the leaders of the Reform movement in Johannesburg against the +independence of the Transvaal Republic was Mrs. van Koopman. She knew +Rhodes' character too well not to fear that he might have been induced to +listen to the misguided advice of people trying to persuade him that the +Rhodesian adventure was susceptible of being repeated on a larger and far +more important scale, with as much impunity and as little danger as the +other one had been. Alarmed beyond words by all that she was hearing, she +determined to find out for herself the true state of things, and, trusting +to her knowledge of Rhodes' character, she asked him to call upon her. + +Rhodes came a few afternoons later, and Mrs. van Koopman closely +questioned him on the subject, telling him of the tales which were being +circulated not only in Cape Town, but also at Kimberley and Buluwayo and +Johannesburg. Rhodes solemnly assured her that they were nothing but +malicious gossip, and, taking her hands in his own, he repeated that all +she had heard concerning the sinister designs he was supposed to be +harbouring against the independence of the Transvaal had absolutely no +foundation. To add force to his words, he continued that he respected her +far too much to deceive her willingly, and that he would never have risked +meeting her and talking with her upon such a subject had there been the +slightest ground for the rumours which were disturbing the tranquillity of +the inhabitants of Cape Town. When he left her Mrs. van Koopman felt quite +reassured. + +Next morning Mrs. van Koopman told her anxious friends that she had +received such assurances from Rhodes that she could not disbelieve him, +and that the best thing which they could do would be to contradict all +statements on the subject of a raid on the Transvaal that might come to +their ears. This occurred on an after-Christmas evening of the year 1895. + +When the decisive conversation which I have just related was taking place +between Mrs. van Koopman and Cecil Rhodes, Doctor Jameson and his handful +of eager adventurers had already entered Transvaal territory. The Raid had +become an accomplished fact. It was soon realised that it was the most +deplorable affair that could have occurred for the reputation of Cecil +Rhodes and for his political future. The rebound, indeed, was immediate; +his political career came to an end that day. + +The person who was struck most painfully by this disgraceful and cryingly +stupid adventure was Mrs. van Koopman. All her illusions--and she had +nursed many concerning Rhodes--were destroyed at one blow. She never +forgave him. All his attempts to bring about a reconciliation failed, and +when later on he would fain have obtained her forgiveness, she absolutely +refused all advances, and declared that she would never consent willingly +to look upon his face or listen to his voice again. The proud old woman, +whose ideals had been wrecked so cruelly, could not but feel a profound +contempt for a man who had thus deliberately lied to her at the very time +when she was appealing to his confidence. Her aristocratic instincts arose +in indignation at the falsehoods which had been used to dupe her. She +would not listen to any excuse, would not admit any extenuating +circumstances; and perhaps because she knew in the secret of her heart +that she would never be able to resist the pleadings of the man who had +thus deceived her, she absolutely refused to see him. + +Rhodes never despaired of being restored to her favour, and would have +given much to anyone able to induce her to relent in her judgment as to +his conduct. Up to the last he made attempts to persuade her to reconsider +her decision, but they all proved useless, and he died without having been +able to win a forgiveness which he craved for many years. + +I used to know Mrs. van Koopman well and to see her often. I admired her +much, not only on account of her great talents and of her powerful +intellect, but also for the great dignity which she displayed all through +the Boer War, when, suspected of favouring the Dutch cause to the extent +of holding communications with the rebels all over the Cape Colony, she +never committed any indiscretion or gave cause for any direct action +against her. For some time, by order of the military authorities, she was +placed under police supervision, and her house was searched for papers and +documents which, however, were not found--as might have been foreseen. + +All through these trying months she never wavered in her attitude nor in +her usual mode of life, except that she saw fewer people than +formerly--not, as she used playfully to say, because she feared to be +compromised, but because she did not wish to compromise others. More than +once during my visits I spoke to her of Mr. Rhodes and tried to induce her +to relent in her resolution. I even went so far as to tell her that her +consent to meet him would, more than anything else, cause him to use all +his influence, or what remained of it, in favour of a prompt settlement of +the war in a peace honourable to both sides. Mrs. van Koopman smiled, but +remained immovable. At last, seeing that I would not abandon the subject, +she told me in tones which admitted of no discussion that she had far too +much affection for Rhodes not to have been so entirely cut to the core by +his duplicity in regard to her and by his whole conduct in that +unfortunate matter of the Raid. She could trust him no longer, she told +me, and, consequently, a meeting with him would only give her unutterable +pain and revive memories that had better remain undisturbed. "Had I cared +for him less I would not say so to you," she added, "but you must know +that of all sad things the saddest is the destruction of idols one has +built for oneself." + +This attitude on the part of the one friend he had the greatest affection +for was one of the many episodes which embittered Rhodes. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +RHODES AND THE RAID + + +After the Raid, faithful to his usual tactics of making others responsible +for his own misdeeds, Cecil Rhodes grew to hate with ferocity all those +whose silence and quiet disapproval reminded him of the fatal error into +which he had been led. He was loud in his expressions of resentment +against Mr. Schreiner and the other members of the Afrikander party who +had not been able to conceal from him their indignation at his conduct on +the memorable occasion which ruined his own political life. They had +compelled him--one judged by his demeanour--to resign his office of Prime +Minister at the very time when he was about to transform it into something +far more important--to use it as the stepping-stone to future grandeurs of +which he already dreamt, although he had so far refrained from speaking +about them to others. Curious to say, however, he never blamed the authors +of this political mistake, and never, in public at least, reproached +Jameson for the disaster he had brought upon him. + +What his secret thoughts were on this subject it is easy to guess. +Circumstances used to occur now and then when a stray word spoken on +impulse allowed one to discern that he deplored the moment of weakness +into which he had been inveigled. For instance, during a dinner-party at +Groote Schuur, when talking about the state of things prevailing in +Johannesburg just before the war, he mentioned the names of five Reformers +who, after the Raid, had been condemned to death by President Kruger, and +added that he had paid their fine of twenty-five thousand pounds each. +"Yes," he continued, with a certain grim accent of satire in his voice, "I +paid £25,000 for each of these gentlemen." And when one of his guests +tactlessly remarked, "But surely you need not have done so, Mr. Rhodes? It +was tacitly admitting that you had been a party to their enterprise!" he +retorted immediately, "And if I choose to allow the world to think that +such was the case, what business is it of yours?" I thought the man was +going to drop under the table, so utterly flabbergasted did he look. + +It is, of course, extremely difficult to know what was the actual part +played by Rhodes in the Raid. He carried that secret to the grave, and it +is not likely that his accomplices will ever reveal their own share in the +responsibility for that wild adventure. My impression is that the idea of +the Raid was started among the entourage of Rhodes and spoken of before +him at length. He would listen in silence, as was his wont when he wished +to establish the fact that he had nothing to do with a thing that had been +submitted to him. Thus the Raid was tacitly encouraged by him, without his +ever having pronounced himself either for or against it. + +Rhodes was an extremely able politician, and a far-seeing one into the +bargain. He would never have committed himself into an open approval of an +attempt which he knew perfectly well involved the rights of nations. On +the other hand, he would have welcomed any circumstance which would result +in the overthrow of the Transvaal Republic by friends of his. His former +successes, and especially the facility with which had been carried out the +attachment of Rhodesia to the British Empire, had refracted his vision, +and he refused--or failed--to see the difficulties which he might +encounter if he wanted to proceed for the second time on an operation of +the same kind. + +On the other hand, he was worried by his friends to allow them to take +decisive action, and was told that everyone in England would approve of +his initiative in taking upon himself the responsibility of a step, out of +which could only accrue solid advantage for the Mother Country. + +Rhodes had been too long away from England, and his sojourns there during +the ten years or so immediately preceding 1895 had been far too short for +him to have been able to come to a proper appreciation of the importance +of public opinion in Great Britain, or of those principles in matters of +Government which no sound English politician will ever dare to put aside +if he wishes to retain his hold. He failed to understand and to appreciate +the narrow limit which must not be overstepped; he forgot that when one +wants to perform an act open to certain well-defined objections there must +be a great aim in order eventually to explain and excuse the doing of it. +The Raid had no such aim. No one made a mistake as to that point when +passing judgment upon the Raid. The motives were too sordid, too mean, for +anyone to do aught else but pass a sweeping condemnation upon the whole +business. + +If he did not, Rhodes ought to have known that the public would most +certainly pass this verdict on so dark and shameful an adventure, one that +harmed England's prestige in South Africa far more than ever did the Boer +War. But though perhaps he realised beforehand that this would be the +verdict, he only felt a vague apprehension, more as a fancy than from any +real sense of impending danger. He had grown so used to see success attend +his every step that his imagination refused to admit the possibility of +defeat. + +As for the people who engaged in the senseless adventure, their motives +had none of the lofty ideals which influenced Rhodes himself. They simply +wanted to obtain possession of the gold fields of the Transvaal and to +oust the rightful owners. President Kruger represented an obstacle that +had to be removed, and so they proceeded upon their mad quest without +regard as to the possible consequences. Still less did they reflect that +in his case they had not to deal with a native chief whose voice of +protest had no chance to be heard, but with a very cute and determined man +who had means at his disposal not only to defend himself, but also to +appeal to European judgment to adjudge an unjustifiable aggression. + +Apart from all these considerations, which ought to have been seriously +taken into account by Doctor Jameson and his companions, the whole +expedition was planned in a stupid, careless manner. No wonder that it +immediately came to grief. It is probable that if Rhodes had entered into +its details and allowed others to consult him, matters might have taken a +different turn. But, as I have already shown, he preferred to be able to +say at a given moment that he had known nothing about it. At least, this +must have been what he meant to do. But events proved too strong for him. +The fiasco was too complete for Rhodes to escape from its +responsibilities, though it must be conceded that he never tried to do so +once the storm burst. He faced the music bravely enough, perhaps because +of the knowledge that no denial would be believed, perhaps also because +all the instincts of his, after all, great nature caused him to come +forward to take his share in the disgrace of the whole deplorable affair. + +Whether he forgave Doctor Jameson for this act of folly remains a mystery. +Personally I have always held that there must have _un cadavre entre eux_. +No friendship could account for the strange relations which existed +between these two men, one of whom had done so much to harm the other. At +first it would have seemed as if an individual of the character of Cecil +Rhodes would never have brought himself to forgive his confederate for the +clumsiness with which he had handled a matter upon which the reputation of +both of them depended, in the present as well as in the future. But far +from abandoning the friend who had brought him into such trouble, he +remained on the same terms of intimacy as before, with the difference, +perhaps, that he saw even more of him than before the Raid. It seemed as +if he wanted thus to affirm before the whole world his faith in the man +through whom his whole political career had been wrecked. + +The attitude of Rhodes toward Jameson was commented upon far and wide. The +Dutch party in Cape Town saw in it a mere act of bravado into which they +read an acknowledgment that, strong as was the Colossus, he was too weak +to tell his accomplices to withdraw from public sight until the +ever-increasing difficulties with the Transvaal--which became more and +more acute after the Raid--had been settled in some way or other between +President Kruger and the British Government. Instead of this Rhodes seemed +to take a particular pleasure in parading the trust he declared he had in +Doctor Jameson, and to consult him publicly upon almost all the political +questions which were submitted to him for consideration. This did not mean +that he followed the advice which he received, because, so far as I was +able to observe, this was seldom the case. + +To add to the contrariness of the situation, Rhodes always seemed more +glad than anything else if he heard someone make an ill-natured remark +about the Doctor, or when anything particularly disagreeable occurred to +the latter. An ironic smile used to light up Rhodes' face and a sarcastic +chuckle be heard. But still, whenever one attempted to explain to him that +the Raid had been an unforgivable piece of imprudence, or hazarded that +Jameson had never been properly punished for it, Rhodes invariably took +the part of this friend of his younger days, and would never acknowledge +that Doctor Jim's desire to enter public life as a member of the Cape +Parliament ought not to be gratified. + +On his side, Doctor Jameson was determined that the opportunity to do so +should be offered to him, and he used Rhodes' influence in order to obtain +election. He knew very well that without it his candidature would have no +chance. + +Later on, when judging the events which preceded the last two years of +Rhodes' life, many people expressed the opinion that Jameson, being a +physician of unusual ability, was perfectly well aware that his friend was +not destined to live to a very old age, and therefore wished to obtain +from him while he could all the political support he required to establish +his career as the statesman he fully believed he was. In fact, Doctor +Jameson had made up his mind to outlive the odium of the Raid, and to +become rehabilitated in public opinion to the extent of being allowed to +take up the leadership of the party which had once owned Rhodes as its +chief. By a strange freak of Providence, helped no doubt by an iron will +and opportunities made the most of, Jameson, who had been the great +culprit in the mad adventure of the Raid, became the foremost man in Cape +Colony for a brief period after the war, while Rhodes, who had been his +victim, bore the full consequences of his weakness in having permitted +himself to be persuaded to look through his fingers on the enterprise. + +Rhodes never recovered any real political influence, was distrusted by +English and Dutch alike, looked upon with caution by the Cape Government, +and with suspicion even among his followers. The poor man had no friends +worthy of the name, and those upon whom he relied the most were the first +to betray his confidence. Unfortunately for himself, he had a profound +contempt for humanity, and imagined himself capable of controlling all +those whom he had elected to rule. He imagined he could turn and twist +anyone according to his own impulses. In support of this assertion let me +relate an incident in which I played a part. + +When the Boer War showed symptoms of dragging on for a longer time than +expected, some Englishmen proposed that Rhodes should be asked to stand +again for Prime Minister, to do which he resolutely refused. Opinions, +however, were very much divided. Some people declared that he was the only +man capable of conciliating the Dutch and bringing the war to a happy +issue. Others asserted that his again taking up the reins of Government +would be considered by the Afrikander Bond--which was very powerful at the +time--as an unjustifiable provocation which would only further embitter +those who had never forgiven Rhodes for the Raid. + +A member of the Upper House of Legislature, whom I used to see often, and +who was a strong partisan of Rhodes, determined to seek advice outside the +House, and went to see an important political personage in Cape Town, one +of those who frequented Groote Schuur and who posed as one of the +strongest advocates of Rhodes again becoming the head of the Government +presided over by Sir Alfred Milner. What was the surprise of my friend +when, instead of finding a sympathising auditor, he heard him say that he +considered that for the moment the return of Rhodes at the head of affairs +would only complicate matters; that it was still too soon after the Raid; +that his spirit of animosity in regard to certain people might not help to +smooth matters at such a critical juncture; and that, moreover, Rhodes had +grown very morose and tyrannical, and refused to brook any contradiction. +Coming from a man who had no reason to be friendly with Rhodes, the +remarks just reported would not have been important, but proceeding from a +personage who was continually flattering Rhodes, they struck me as showing +such considerable duplicity that I wrote warning Rhodes not to attach too +much importance to the protestations of devotion to his person that the +individual in question was perpetually pouring down upon him. The reply +which I received was absolutely characteristic: "Thanks for your letter. +Never mind what X---- says. He is a harmless donkey who can always make +himself useful when required to do so." + +The foregoing incident is enlightening as to the real nature of Cecil +Rhodes. His great mistake was precisely in this conviction that he could +order men at will, and that men would never betray him or injure him by +their false interpretation of the directions which it pleased him to give +them. He considered himself so entirely superior to the rest of mankind +that it never struck him that inferior beings could turn upon him and rend +him, or forget the obedience to his orders which he expected them to +observe. He did not appreciate people with independence, though he admired +them in those rare moments when he would condescend to be sincere with +himself and with others; but he preferred a great deal the miserable +creatures who always said "yes" to all his vagaries; who never dared to +criticise any of his instructions or to differ from any opinions which he +expressed. Sometimes he uttered these opinions with a brutality that did +him considerable harm, inasmuch as it could not fail to cause repugnance +among any who listened to him, but were not sufficiently acquainted with +the peculiarities of his character to discern that he wanted simply to +scare his audience, and that he did not mean one single word of the +ferocious things he said in those moments when he happened to be in a +particularly perverse mood, and when it pleased him to give a totally +false impression of himself and the nature of his convictions in political +and public matters. + +It must not be lost sight of when judging Mr. Rhodes that he had been +living for the best part of his life among people with whom he could not +have anything in common except the desire to make money in the shortest +time possible. He was by nature a thinker, a philosopher, a reader, a man +who belonged to the best class of students, those who understand that +one's mind wants continually improving and that it is apt to rust when not +kept active. His companions in those first years which followed upon his +arrival in South Africa would certainly not have appreciated any of the +books the reading of which constituted the solace of the young man who +still preserved in his mind the traditions of Oxford. They were his +inferiors in everything: intelligence, instruction, comprehension of those +higher problems of the soul and of the mind which always interested him +even in the most troubled and anxious moments of his life. He understood +and realised that this was the fact, and this did not tend to inspire him +with esteem or even with consideration for the people with whom he was +compelled to live and work. + +Men like Barney Barnato, to mention only this one name among the many, +felt a kind of awe of Cecil Rhodes. This kind of thing, going on as it did +for years, was bound to give Rhodes a wrong idea as to the faculty he had +of bringing others to share his points of view, and he became so +accustomed to be considered always right that he felt surprised and vexed +whenever blind obedience was not given. Indeed, it so excited his +displeasure that he would at once plunge into a course of conduct which he +might never have adopted but for the fact that he had heard it condemned +or criticised. + +It has been said that every rich man is generally surrounded by parasites, +and Cecil Rhodes was not spared this infliction. Only in his case these +parasites did not apply their strength to attacks upon his purse; they +exploited him for his influence, for the importance which it gave them to +be considered by the world as his friends, or even his dependants. They +appeared wherever he went, telling the general public that their presence +had been requested by the "Boss" in such warm terms that they could not +refuse. It was curious to watch this systematic chase which followed him +everywhere, even to England. Sometimes this persistency on the part of +persons whom he did not tolerate more than was absolutely necessary bored +him and put him out of patience; but most of the time he accepted it as a +necessary evil, and even felt flattered by it. He also liked to have +perpetually around him individuals whom he could bully to his heart's +content, who never resented an insult and never minded an insolence--and +Rhodes was often insolent. + +Another singular feature in a character as complex as it was interesting +was the contempt in which he held all those who had risen under his very +eyes, from comparative or absolute poverty, to the status of millionaires +possessed of houses in Park Lane and shooting boxes in Scotland. He liked +to relate all that he knew about them, and sometimes even to mention +certain facts which the individuals themselves would probably have +preferred to be consigned to oblivion. But--and here comes the singularity +to which I have referred--Rhodes would not allow anyone else to speak of +these things, and he always took the part of his so-called friends when +outsiders hinted at dark episodes which did not admit of investigation. He +almost gave a certificate of good conduct to people whom he might have +been heard referring to a few hours before in a far more antagonistic +spirit than that displayed by those whom he so sharply contradicted. + +I remember one amusing instance of the idiosyncrasy referred to. There was +in Johannesburg a man who, having arrived there with twenty-five pounds in +his pockets--as he liked to relate with evident pride in the fact--had, in +the course of two years, amassed together a fortune of two millions +sterling. One day during dinner at Groote Schuur he enlarged upon the +subject with such offensiveness that an English lady, newly arrived in +South Africa and not yet experienced in the things which at the time were +better left unsaid, was so annoyed at his persistency that she interrupted +the speaker with the remark: + +"Well, if I were you, I would not be so eager to let the world know that I +had made two millions out of twenty-five pounds. It sounds exactly like +the story of the man who says that in order to catch a train at six +o'clock in the morning he gets up at ten minutes to six. You know at once +that he cannot possibly have washed, whilst your story shows that you +could not possibly have been honest." + +I leave the reader to imagine the consternation produced among those +present by these words. But what were their feelings when they heard +Rhodes say in reply: + +"Well, one does not always find water to wash in, and at Kimberley this +happened oftener than one imagines; as for being honest, who cares for +honesty nowadays?" + +"Those who have not lived in South Africa, Mr. Rhodes," was the retort +which silenced the Colossus. + +This man of the get-rich-quick variety was one of those who had mastered +the difficult operation of passing off to others the mines out of which he +had already extracted most of the gold, an occupation which, in the early +Johannesburg days, had been a favourite one with many of the inhabitants +of this wonderful town. One must not forget that as soon as the fame of +the gold fields of the Transvaal began to spread adventurers hastened +there, together with a few honest pioneers, desirous of making a fortune +out of the riches of a soil which, especially in prospectuses lavishly +distributed on the London and Paris Stock Exchanges, was described as a +modern Golconda. Concessions were bought and sold, companies were formed +with a rapidity which savoured of the fabulous. Men made not only a +living, but also large profits, by reselling plots of ground which they +had bought but a few hours before, and one heard nothing but loud praises +of this or that mine that could be had for a song, "owing to family +circumstances" or other reasons which obliged their owner to part with it. + +The individual who had boasted of the intelligent manner with which he had +transformed his twenty-five pounds into two solid millions had, early in +his career, invested some of his capital in one of these mines. Its only +merit was its high-sounding name. He tried for some time without success +to dispose of it. At last he happened to meet a Frenchman, newly arrived +in Johannesburg, who wanted to acquire some mining property there with the +view of forming a company. Our hero immediately offered his own. The +Frenchman responded to the appeal, but expressed the desire to go down +himself into the shaft to examine the property and get some ore in order +to test it before the purchase was completed. The condition was agreed to +with eagerness, and a few days later the victim and his executioner +proceeded together to the mine. The Frenchman went down whilst Mr. X---- +remained above. He walked about with his hands in his pockets, smoking +cigarettes, the ashes of which he let fall with an apparent negligence +into the baskets of ore which were being sent up by the Frenchman. When +the latter came up, rather hot and dusty, the baskets were taken to +Johannesburg and carefully examined: the ore was found to contain a +considerable quantity of gold. The mine was bought, and not one scrap of +gold was ever found in it. Mr. X---- had provided himself with cigarettes +made for the purpose, which contained gold dust in lieu of tobacco, and +the ashes which he had dropped were in reality the precious metal, the +presence of which was to persuade the unfortunate Frenchman that he was +buying a property of considerable value. He paid for it something like two +hundred thousand pounds, whilst the fame of the man who had thus cleverly +tricked him spread far and wide. + +The most amusing part of the story consists in its _dénouement_. The duped +Frenchman, though full of wrath, was, nevertheless, quite up to the game. +He kept silence, but proceeded to form his company as if nothing had been +the matter. When it was about to be constituted and registered, he asked +Mr. X---- to become one of its directors, a demand that the latter could +not very well refuse with decency. He therefore allowed his name to figure +among those of the members of the board, and he used his best endeavours +to push forward the shares of the concern of which he was pompously +described on the prospectus as having been once the happy owner. As his +name was one to conjure with the scrip went up to unheard-of prices, when +both he and his supposed victim, the Frenchman, realised and retired from +the venture, the richer by several hundreds of thousands of pounds. +History does not say what became of the shareholders. As for Mr. X----, he +now lives in Europe, and has still a reputation in South Africa. + +This story is but one amongst hundreds, and it is little wonder that, +surrounded as he was with men who indulged in this charming pastime of +always trying to dupe their fellow creatures, Rhodes' moral sense relaxed. +It is only surprising that he kept about him so much that was good and +great, and that he did not succumb altogether to the contamination which +affected everything and everybody around him. Happily for him he cherished +his own ambitions, had his own dreams for companions, his absorption in +the great work he had undertaken; these things were his salvation. +Rhodesia became the principal field of Rhodes' activity, and the care with +which he fostered its prosperity kept him too busy and interested to +continue the quest for riches which had been his great, if not his +principal, occupation during the first years of his stay in South Africa. + +Although Cecil Rhodes was so happily placed that he had no need to bother +over wealth, he was not so aloof to the glamour of politics. He had always +felt the irk of his retirement after the Raid, and the hankering after a +leading political position became more pronounced as the episode which +shut the Parliamentary door behind him after he had passed through its +portals faded in the mind of the people. + +It was not surprising, therefore, to observe that politics once more took +the upper hand amidst his preoccupations. It was, though, politics +connected with the development of the country that bore his name more than +with the welfare of the Cape Colony or of the Transvaal. It was only +during the last two years of Rhodes' existence that his interest revived +in the places connected with his first successes in life. Rhodes had been +convinced that a war with the Boers would last only a matter of a few +weeks--three months, as he prophesied when it broke out--and he was +equally sure, though for what reason it is difficult to guess, that the +war would restore him to his former position and power. The illusion +lingered long enough to keep him in a state of excitement, during which, +carried along by his natural enthusiasm, he indulged in several +unconsidered steps, and when at last his hope was dispelled he accused +everybody of being the cause of his disappointment. Never for a moment +would he admit that he could have been mistaken, or that the war, which at +a certain moment his intervention might possibly have avoided, had been +the consequence of the mischievous act he had not prevented. + +When the Bloemfontein Conference failed Rhodes was not altogether +displeased. He had felt the affront of not being asked to attend; and, +though his common sense told him that it would have been altogether out of +the question for him to take part in it, as this would have been +considered in the light of a personal insult by President Kruger, he would +have liked to have been consulted by Sir Alfred Milner, as well as by the +English Government, as to the course to be adopted during its +deliberations. He was fully persuaded in his own mind that Sir Alfred +Milner, being still a new arrival in South Africa, had not been able to +grasp its complicated problems, and so had not adopted the best means to +baffle the intrigues of President Kruger and the diplomacy of his clever +colleague, President Steyn. At every tale which reached Cecil Rhodes +concerning the difficulties encountered by Sir Alfred, he declared that he +was "glad to be out of this mess." Yet it was not difficult to see that he +passionately regretted not being allowed to watch from a seat at the +council table the vicissitudes of this last attempt by conference to +smooth over difficulties arising from the recklessness displayed by people +in arrogantly rushing matters that needed careful examination. + +[Illustration: PRESIDENT KRUGER] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE AFTERMATH OF THE RAID + + +Toward the close of the last chapter I referred to the Raid passing from +the forefront of public memory. But though, as a fact, it became blurred +in the mind of the people, as a factor in South African history its +influence by no means diminished. Indeed, the aftermath of the Raid +assumed far greater proportions as time went on. It influenced so entirely +the further destinies of South Africa, and brought about such enmities and +such bitterness along with it, that nothing short of a war could have +washed away its impressions. Up to that fatal adventure the Jingo English +elements, always viewed with distrust and dislike in the Transvaal as well +as at the Cape, had been more or less held back in their desire to gain an +ascendancy over the Dutch population, whilst the latter had accepted the +Jingo as a necessary evil devoid of real importance, and only annoying +from time to time. + +After the Raid all the Jingoes who had hoped that its results would be to +give them greater facilities of enrichment considered themselves +personally aggrieved by its failure. They did just what Rhodes was always +doing. The Boers and President Kruger had acted correctly in this +enterprise of Doctor Jameson, but the Jingoes made them responsible for +the results of its failure. They went about giving expression to feelings +of the most violent hatred against the Boers, and railed at their +wickedness in daring to stand up in defence of rights which the British +Government had solemnly recognised. It became quite useless to tell those +misguided individuals that the Cabinet at Westminster had from the very +first blamed Rhodes for his share in what the English Press, with but few +exceptions, had declared to be an entirely disgraceful episode. They +pretended that people in London knew nothing about the true state of +affairs in South Africa or the necessities of the country; that the +British Government had always shown deplorable weakness in regard to the +treatment meted out to its subjects in the Colonies, and that both Rhodes +and Jameson were heroes whose names deserved to be handed down to +posterity for the services which they had rendered to their country. + +It is true that these ardent Jingoes were but a small minority and that +the right-minded elements among the English Colonials universally blamed +the unwarranted attack that had been made against the independence of the +Transvaal. But the truculent minority shouted loud enough to drown the +censure, and as, with a few notable exceptions, the South African Press +was under the influence of the magnates, it was not very easy to protest +against the strange way in which the Raid was being excused. I am +persuaded that, had the subject been allowed to drop, it would have died a +natural death, or at worst been considered as an historical blunder. But +the partisans of Rhodes, the friends of Jameson, and personages connected +with the leading financial powers did their best to keep the remembrance +of the expedition which wrecked the political life of Rhodes fresh before +the public. The mere mention of it was soon sufficient to arouse a tempest +of passions, especially among the Dutch party, and by and by the history +of South Africa resolved itself into the Raid and its memories. You never +heard people say, "This happened at such a time"; they merely declared, +"This happened before, or after, the Raid." It became a landmark for the +inhabitants of Cape Town and of the Transvaal, and I could almost believe +that, in Kimberley at any rate, the very children in the schools were +taught to date their knowledge of English history from the time of the +Raid. + +The enemies of Cecil Rhodes, and their number was legion, always declared +that the reason why he had faced the music and braved public opinion in +England lay in the fact that, for some reason or other, he was afraid of +Doctor Jameson. I have referred already to this circumstance. Whilst +refusing to admit such a possibility, yet I must own that the influence, +and even the authority exercised by the Doctor on his chief, had something +uncanny about it. My own opinion has always been that Rhodes' attitude +arose principally from his conviction that Jameson was the only one who +understood his constitution, the sole being capable of looking after his +health. Curious as it may seem, I am sure the Colossus had an inordinate +fear of death and of illness of any kind. He knew that his life was not a +sound one, but he always rebelled against the idea that, like other +mortals, he was subject to death. I feel persuaded that one of the reasons +why he chose to be buried in the Matoppo Hills was that, in selecting this +lonely spot, he felt that he would not often be called upon to see the +place where he would rest one day. + +This dread of the unknown, so rare in people of his calibre, remained with +him until the end. It increased in acuteness as his health began to fail. +Then, more than ever, did he entertain and plan new schemes, as if to +persuade himself that he had unlimited time before him in which to execute +them. His flatterers knew how to play upon his weakness, and they never +failed to do so. Perhaps this foible explains the influence which Doctor +Jameson undoubtedly exercised upon the mind of Rhodes. He believed himself +to be in safety whenever Jameson was about him. And so in a certain sense +he was, because, with all his faults, the Doctor had a real affection for +the man to whom he had been bound by so many ties ever since the days when +at Kimberley they had worked side by side, building their fortunes and +their careers. + +By a curious freak of destiny, when the tide of events connected with the +war had given to the Progressive English party a clear majority in the +Cape Parliament, Jameson assumed its leadership as a matter of course, +largely because he was the political next-of-kin to Rhodes. The fact that +at that time he lived at Groote Schuur added to his popularity, and he +continued whilst there the traditional hospitality displayed during the +lifetime of Rhodes. That he ultimately became Prime Minister was not +surprising; the office fell to his share as so many other good things had +fallen before; and, having obtained this supreme triumph and enjoyed it +for a time, he was tactful enough to retire at precisely the right moment. + +The Raid indirectly killed Rhodes and directly obliterated his political +reputation. It lost him, too, the respect of all the men who could have +helped him to govern South Africa wisely and well. It deprived him of the +experience and popularity of Mr. Schreiner, Mr. Merriman, Mr. Sauer and +other members of the Afrikander Bond who had once been upon terms of +intimacy and affection with him. + +It must never be forgotten that at one period of his history Rhodes was +considered to be the best friend of the Dutch party; and, secondly, that +he had been the first to criticise the action of the British Government in +regard to the Transvaal. At the very moment when the Raid was contemplated +he was making the most solemn assurances to his friends--as they then +believed themselves to be--that he would never tolerate any attack against +the independence of the Boers. If his advice had been taken, Rhodes +considered that the errors which culminated at Majuba with the defeat of +the British troops would have been avoided. He caused the same assurances +to be conveyed to President Kruger, and this duplicity, which in anyone +less compromised than he was in regard to the Dutch party might have been +blamed, was in his case considered as something akin to high treason, and +roused against him sentiments not only of hatred, but also of disgust. +When later on, at the time of the Boer War, Rhodes made attempts to +ingratiate himself once more into the favour of the Dutch he failed to +realise that while there are cases when animosity can give way before +political necessity, it is quite impossible in private to shake hands with +an individual whom one despises. And that such persons as Mrs. van Koopman +or Mr. Schreiner, for instance, despised Rhodes there can be no doubt. + +They were wrong in doing so. Rhodes was essentially a man of moods, and +also an opportunist in his strange, blunt way. Had the Dutch rallied round +him during the last war it is certain that he would have given himself up +body and soul to the task of trying to smooth over the difficulties which +gave such an obstinate character to the war. He would have induced the +English Government to grant to all rebel colonists who returned to their +allegiance a generous pardon and reinstatement into their former rights. + +Even while the war lasted it is a fact that, in a certain sense, Rhodes' +own party suspected him of betraying its interests. I feel almost sure +that Sir Alfred Milner did not trust him, but, nevertheless, he would have +liked Rhodes as a coadjutor. If the two men were never on sincerely +cordial terms with one another it was not the fault of the High +Commissioner, who, with that honesty of which he always and upon every +occasion gave proof, tried to secure the co-operation of the great South +African statesman in his difficult task. But Rhodes would not help Sir +Alfred. But neither, too, would he help the Dutch unless they were willing +to eat humble pie before him. In fact, it was this for which Rhodes had +been waiting ever since the Raid. He wanted people to ask his forgiveness +for the faults he himself had committed. He would have liked Sir Alfred +Milner to beg of him as a favour to take the direction of public affairs, +and he would have desired the whole of the Dutch party to come down _in +corpore_ to Groote Schuur, to implore him to become their leader and to +fight not only for them but also for the rights of President Kruger, whom +he professed to ridicule and despise, but to whom he had caused assurances +of sympathy to be conveyed. + +During the first period of the war, and especially during the siege, Cecil +Rhodes was in Kimberley. He had gone with the secret hope that he might be +able from that centre to retain a stronger hold on South African politics +than could have been the case at Groote Schuur, in which region the only +authority recognised by English and Dutch alike was that of Sir Alfred +Milner. He waited for a sign telling him that his ambition was about to be +realised in some way or other--and waited in vain. It is indisputable that +whilst he was shut up in the Diamond City Rhodes entered into secret +negotiations with some of the Dutch leaders. This, though it might have +been construed in the sense of treason against his own Motherland had it +reached the knowledge of the extreme Jingo party, was in reality the +sincere effort of a true patriot to put an end to a struggle which was +threatening to destroy the prosperity of a country for which he had +laboured for so many years. + +In judging Rhodes one must not forget that though a leading personality in +South Africa, and the chairman of a corporation which practically ruled +the whole of the Cape Colony and, in part, also the Transvaal, he was, +after all, at that time nothing but a private individual. He had the right +to put his personal influence at the service of the State and of his +country if he considered that by so doing he could bring to an end a war +which threatened to bring destruction on a land that was just beginning to +progress toward civilisation. It must be remembered that his was the only +great personality in South Africa capable of opposing President Kruger and +the other Dutch and Boer leaders. He was still popular among many +people--feared by some, worshipped by others. He could rally round him +many elements that would never coalesce with either Dutch or English +unless he provided the impetus of his authority and approval. If only he +had spoken frankly to the Boer leaders whom he had caused to be +approached, called them to his side instead of having messages conveyed to +them by people whom he could disavow later on and whom, in fact, he did +disavow; and if, on the other hand, Rhodes had placed himself at the +disposal of Sir Alfred Milner, and told him openly that he would try to +see what he could do to help him, the tenseness of the situation would +almost certainly have been eased. + +In a position as intermediary between two adversaries who required his +advice and influence to smooth the way toward a settlement of the terrible +South African question Rhodes could have done incalculable service and +added lustre to his name. But he did not, and it is not without interest +to seek the reason why the Colossus was not courageous enough to embark +upon such a course. Whether through fear of his actions being wrongly +interpreted, or else because he did not feel sure of his ground and was +apprehensive lest he might be induced to walk into a trap, Cecil Rhodes +never would pronounce himself upon one side or the other. He left to +well-wishers the task of reconciliation between himself and his enemies, +or, if not that, at least the possibility for both once more to take +common action for the solution of South African difficulties. The +unfortunate side of the whole affair lay in the fact that the Boer and +Bond leaders each remained under the impression that in the Raid affair it +was against their particular body that Rhodes had sinned, that it was +their cause which he had betrayed. Accordingly they expected him to +recognise this fact and to tell them of his regret. + +But this was not Rhodes' way: on the contrary, he looked to his +adversaries to consider that they had wronged him. Both parties adhered +firmly to their point of view; it was not an easy matter to persuade +either of them to take the initiative. Each very well knew and felt it was +an indispensable step, but each considered it should be taken by the +other. + +This brings me to make a remark which probably has never yet found its way +into print, though some have spoken about it in South Africa. It is that +Cecil Rhodes, whilst being essentially an Empire Maker, was not an Empire +Ruler. His conceptions were far too vast to allow him to take into +consideration the smaller details of everyday life which, in the +management of the affairs of the world, obliges one to consider possible +ramifications of every great enterprise. Rhodes wanted simply to sweep +away all obstacles without giving the slightest thought to the +consequences likely to follow on so offhand a manner of getting rid of +difficulties. + +In addition to this disregard of vital details, there was a tinge of +selfishness in everything which Rhodes undertook and which gave a personal +aspect to matters which ought to have been looked upon purely from the +objective. The acquisition of Rhodesia, for instance, was considered by +him as having been accomplished for the aggrandisement of the Empire and +also for his own benefit. He sincerely believed that he had had nothing +else in his mind when he founded the Chartered Company, than the desire to +conquer a new country and to give it to England; but he would certainly +have felt cruelly affronted if the British Government had ever taken its +administration into its own hands and not allowed Rhodes to do exactly +what he pleased there. He loved to go to Buluwayo, and would spend weeks +watching all that was being done in the way of agriculture and mining. In +particular, he showed considerable interest in the natives. + +The Colonial Office in London was treated by Cecil Rhodes with the utmost +disdain on the rare occasions when it tried to put in a word concerning +the establishment of British rule in the territories which he gloried in +having presented to the Queen. It was sufficient to mention in his +presence the possibility of the Charter being recalled to put Rhodes into +a passion. No king or tyrant of old, indeed, treated his subjects with the +severity which Rhodes showed in regard to the different civil officials +and military defenders of the Rhodesia he loved so much and so unwisely. + +It is curious that Rhodes never allowed speculation a free hand in +Rhodesia as he had done at Kimberley or at Johannesburg. He was most +careful that outsiders should not hear about what was going on, and took +endless precautions not to expose the companies that worked the old +dominions of poor King Lobengula, to the sharp criticism of the European +Stock Exchanges. Their shares remained in the hands of people on whose +discretion Rhodes believed that he could rely, and no one ever heard of +gambling in scrip exciting the minds of the inhabitants of Buluwayo or +Salisbury to anything like the degree stocks in Transvaal concerns did. + +In Rhodesia Rhodes believed himself on his own ground and free from the +criticisms which he guessed were constantly uttered in regard to him and +to his conduct. In the new land which bore his name Rhodes was surrounded +only by dependants, whilst in Cape Colony he now and then came across +someone who would tell him and, what was worse, who would make him feel +that, after all, he was not the only man in the world, and that he could +not always have everything his own way. Moreover, in Cape Town there was +the Governor, whose personality was more important than his own, and whom, +whether he liked it or not, he had to take into consideration, and to +whom, in a certain sense, he had to submit. And in Kimberley there was the +De Beers Board which, though composed of men who were entirely in +dependence upon him and whose careers he had made, yet had to be +consulted. He could not entirely brush them aside, the less so that a +whole army of shareholders stood behind them who, from time to time, were +impudent enough to wish to see what was being done with their money. + +Nothing in the way of hampering critics or circumscribing authorities +existed in Rhodesia. The Chartered Company, though administered by a +Board, was in reality left entirely in the hands and under the control of +Rhodes. Most of the directors were in England and came before public +notice only at the annual general meeting, which was always a success, +inasmuch as no one there had ever ventured to criticise, otherwise than in +a mild way, the work of the men who were supposed to watch over the +development of the resources of the country. Rhodes was master, and +probably his power would have even increased had he lived long enough to +see the completion of the Cape to Cairo Railway, which was his last hobby +and the absorbing interest of the closing years of his life. + +The Cape to Cairo Railway was one of those vast schemes that can be +ascribed to the same quality in his character as that which made him so +essentially an Empire Maker. It was a project of world-wide importance, +and destined to set the seal to the paramount influence of Great Britain +over the whole of Africa. It was a work which, without Rhodes, would never +have been accomplished. He was right to feel proud of having conceived it; +and England, too, ought to be proud of having counted among her sons a man +capable of starting such a vast enterprise and of going on with it despite +the violent opposition and the many misgivings with which it was received +by the general public. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +RHODES AND THE AFRIKANDER BOND + + +To return to the subject of the negotiations which undoubtedly took place +between Rhodes and the leaders of the Afrikander Bond during the war, I +must say that, so far as I know, they can rank among the most +disinterested actions of his life. For once there was no personal interest +or possible material gain connected with his desire to bring the Dutch +elements in South Africa to look upon the situation from the purely +patriotic point of view, as he did himself. + +It would have been most certainly to the advantage of everybody if, +instead of persisting in a resistance which was bound to collapse, no +matter how successful it might appear to have been at its start, the +Boers, together with the Dutch Afrikanders, had sent the olive branch to +Cape Town. There would then have been some hope of compromise or of coming +to terms with England before being crushed by her armies. It would have +been favourable to English interests also had the great bitterness, which +rendered the war such a long and such a rabid one, not had time to spread +all over the country. Rhodes' intervention, which Sir Alfred Milner could +not have refused had he offered it, backed by the Boers on one side and by +the English Progressive party in the Colony on the other, might have +brought about great results and saved many lives. + +No blame, therefore, ought to attach to Cecil Rhodes for wishing to +present the Boer side of the case. It would, indeed, have been wiser on +the part of Mr. Hofmeyr and other Bond leaders to have forgotten the past +and given a friendly hand to the one man capable of unravelling the +tangled skein of affairs. + +At that period, whilst the siege of Kimberley was in progress, it is +certain that serious consideration was given to this question of common +action on the part of Rhodes and of the two men who practically held the +destinies of the Transvaal in their hands--de Wet and General Botha, with +Mr. Hofmeyr as representative of the Afrikander Bond at their back. Why it +failed would for ever remain a mystery if one did not remember that +everywhere in South Africa lurked hidden motives of self-interest which +interfered with the best intentions. The fruits of the seed of distrust +sown by the Raid were not easy to eradicate. + +Perhaps if Mr. Rhodes had stood alone the attempt might have met with more +success than was actually the case. But it was felt by all the leading men +in the Transvaal that a peace concluded under his auspices would result in +the subjection of the Boers to the foreign and German-Jew millionaires. +This was the one thing they feared. + +The Boers attributed to the millionaires of the Rand all the misfortunes +which had fallen upon them, and consequently the magnates were bitterly +hated by the Boers. And not without reason. No reasonable Boer would have +seriously objected to a union with England, provided it had been effected +under conditions assuring them autonomy and a certain independence. But no +one wanted to have liberty and fortune left at the mercy of adventurers, +even though some of them had risen to reputation and renown, obtained +titles, and bought their way into Society. + +Unfortunately for him, Rhodes was supposed to represent the class of +people referred to, or, at any rate, to favour them. One thing is +certain--the great financial interests which Rhodes possessed in the Gold +Fields and other concerns of the same kind lent some credence to the idea. +All these circumstances prevented public opinion from expressing full +confidence in him, because no one could bring himself to believe what +nevertheless would have come true. + +In the question of restoring peace to South Africa Rhodes most certainly +would never have taken anyone's advice; he would have acted according to +his own impulse, and more so because Doctor Jameson was not with him +during the whole time Kimberley was besieged. Unfortunately for all the +parties concerned, Rhodes let slip the opportunity to resume his former +friendship with Mr. Hofmeyr, the only man in South Africa whose +intelligence could measure itself with his own. And in the absence of this +first step from Rhodes, a false pride--which was wounded vanity more than +anything else--prevented the Bond from seeking the help of Rhodes. This +attitude on the part of each man would simply have been ridiculous under +ordinary circumstances, but at a time when such grave interests were at +stake, and when the future of so many people was liable to be compromised, +it became criminal. + +In sharp contrast to it stood the conduct of Sir Alfred Milner, who was +never influenced by his personal feelings or by his vanity where the +interests of his country were engaged. During the few months which +preceded the war he was the object of virulent hatred on the part of most +of the white population of the Colony. When the first disillusions of the +war brought along with them their usual harvest of disappointments the +personality of the High Commissioner appeared at last in its true light, +and one began to realise that here was a man who possessed a singularly +clear view on matters of politics, and that all his actions were guided by +sound principles. His quiet determination not to allow himself to be +influenced by the gossip of Cape Town was also realised, and amid all the +spite shown it is to his honour that, instead of throwing up the sponge, +he persevered, until at last he succeeded in the aim which he had kept +before him from the day he had landed in Table Bay. He restored peace to +the dark continent where no one had welcomed him, but where everybody +mourned his departure when he bade it good-bye after the most anxious +years he had ever known. + +When Sir Alfred accepted the post of Governor of the Cape Colony and +English High Commissioner in South Africa, he had intended to study most +carefully the local conditions of the new country whither fate and his +duty were sending him, and then, after having gained the necessary +experience capable of guiding him in the different steps he aspired to +take, to proceed to the formidable task he had set for himself. His great +object was to bring about a reconciliation between the two great political +parties in the Colony--the South African League, with Rhodes as President, +and the Afrikander Bond, headed by Messrs. Hofmeyr (the one most in +popular favour with the Boer farmers), Sauer and Schreiner. + +In the gigantic task of welding together two materials which possessed +little affinity and no love for each other, Sir Alfred was unable to be +guided by his experience in the Motherland. In England a certain +constitutional policy was the basis of every party. At the Cape the +dominating factors were personal feelings, personal hatreds and +affections, while in the case of the League it was money and money alone. +I do not mean that every member of the League had been bought by De Beers +or the Chartered Company; but what I do maintain is that the majority of +its members had some financial or material reason to enrol themselves. + +In judging the politics of South Africa at the period of which I am +writing, one must not forget that the greater number of those who then +constituted the so-called Progressive party were men who had travelled to +the Cape through love of adventure and the desire to enrich themselves +quickly. It was only the first comers who had seen their hopes realised. +Those who came after them found things far more difficult, and had +perforce to make the best of what their predecessors left. On the other +hand, it was relatively easy for them to find employment in the service of +one or the other of the big companies that sprang up, and by whom most of +the mining and industrial concerns were owned. + +[Illustration: THE HON. J.H. HOFMEYR] + +When the influence of the De Beers increased after its amalgamation with +the other diamond companies around Kimberley, and when Rhodes made up his +mind that only a political career could help him to achieve his vast +plans, he struck upon the thought of using the money and the influence +which were at his disposal to transform De Beers into one of the most +formidable political instruments the world had ever seen. He succeeded in +doing so in what would have been a wonderful manner if one did not +remember the crowd of fortune-seeking men who were continually landing in +South Africa. These soon found that it would advantage them to enrol under +Rhodes' banner, for he was no ordinary millionaire. Here stood a man who +was perpetually discovering new treasures, annexing new continents, and +who had always at his disposal profitable posts to scatter among his +followers. + +The reflex action upon Rhodes was that unconsciously he drifted into the +conviction that every man could be bought, provided one knew what it was +he wanted. He understood perfectly well the art of speculating in his +neighbours' weaknesses, and thus liked to invite certain people to make +long stays at his house, not because he liked them, but because he knew, +if they did not, that they would soon discover that the mere fact of being +the guest of Mr. Rhodes procured for them the reputation of being in his +confidence. Being a guest at Groote Schuur endowed a man with a prestige +such as no one who has not lived in South Africa can realise, and, +furthermore, enabled him to catch here and there scraps of news respecting +the money markets of the world, a proper understanding and use of which +could be of considerable financial value. A cup of tea at Groote Schuur +was sufficient to bring about more than one political conversion. + +Once started the South African League soon became a power in the land, not +so strong by any means as the Afrikander Bond, but far more influential in +official, and especially in financial, circles. Created for the apparent +aim of supporting British government in Cape Colony, it found itself +almost from the very first in conflict with it, if not outwardly, at least +tacitly. After his rupture with the Bond consequent upon the Raid, Rhodes +brought considerable energy to bear upon the development of the League. He +caused it to exercise all over the Colony an occult power which more than +once defied constituted authority, and proved a source of embarrassment to +British representatives with greater frequency than they would have cared +to own. Sir Alfred Milner, so far as I have been able to see, when taking +the reins, had not reckoned upon meeting with this kind of government +within a government, and in doing so perhaps did not appreciate its +extent. But from the earliest days of his administration it confronted +him, at first timidly, afterwards with persistence, and at last with such +insolence that he found himself compelled to see what he could do to +reduce to impotence this organisation which sought to devour him. + +The problem which a situation of the character described thrust upon Sir +Alfred was easier to discuss than to solve. The League was a power so wide +that it was almost impossible to get rid of its influence in the country. +It was controlled by Rhodes, by De Beers, by the Chartered Company, by the +members in both Houses who were affiliated to it, by all the great +financial establishments throughout South Africa--with but a solitary +exception--by the principal industrial and agricultural enterprises in the +country. It comprised political men, landowners, doctors, merchants, +ship-owners, practically all the colonists in Rhodesia, and most of the +English residents of the Transvaal. It controlled elections, secured +votes, disposed of important posts, and when it advised the Governor the +Legislature had to take its remarks into consideration whether or not it +approved of them. Under the regime of the days when the League was formed +it had been able to develop itself with great facility, the dangers which +lurked behind its encroachment on the privileges of the Crown not being +suspected. But Sir Alfred Milner discovered the menace at once, and with +the quiet firmness and the tact which he always displayed in everything +that he undertook proceeded to cope with the organisation. + +Sir Alfred soon found himself confronted by the irritation of Rhodes, who +had relied on his support for the schemes which he had nursed in regard to +the Transvaal. I must here explain the reason why Rhodes had thrown his +glances toward the Rand. One must remember the peculiar conditions in +which he was placed in being always surrounded by creatures whom he could +only keep attached to his person and to his ambition by satisfying their +greed for gold. When he had annexed Matabeleland it had been principally +in the expectation that one would find there the rich gold-bearing strata +said to exist in that region. Unfortunately, this hope proved a fallacious +one. Although thousands of pounds were spent in sinking and research, the +results obtained were of so insignificant a nature, and the quantity of +ore extracted so entirely insufficient to justify systematic exploitation, +that the adventurers had perforce to turn their attention toward other +fields. + +It was after this disillusion that the idea took hold of Rhodes, which he +communicated to his friends, to acquire the gold fields of the Rand, and +to transform the rich Transvaal into a region where the Chartered Company +and the South African League would rule. Previous to this, if we are to +believe President Kruger, Rhodes had tried to conclude an alliance with +him, and once, upon his return from Beira to Cape Town, had stopped at +Pretoria, where he paid a visit to the old Boer statesman. + +It is quite likely that on this occasion Rhodes put in a word suggesting +that it would be an advantage to the Transvaal to become possessed of an +outlet on the sea-board, but I hardly think that Kruger wrote the truth in +his memoirs in stating that when mentioning Delagoa Bay Rhodes used the +words, "We must simply take it," thus associating himself with Kruger. +Cecil Rhodes was far too cute to do any such tiling, knowing that it would +be interpreted in a sense inimical to his plans. But I should not be +surprised if, when the President remarked that Delagoa was Portuguese, he +had replied, "It does not matter, and you must simply take it." This would +have been far more to the point, as it would have hinted to those who knew +how to read between the lines that England, which Rhodes was persuaded was +incarnated in himself, would not mind if the Transvaal did lay hands on +Delagoa Bay. Such an act would furnish the British Government with a +pretext for dabbling to some effect in the affairs of the Transvaal +Republic. + +Such a move as this would have been just one of these things which Rhodes +was fond of doing. He felt sometimes a kind of malicious pleasure in +whispering to others the very things likely to get them into trouble +should they be so foolish as to do them. In the case of President Kruger, +however, he had to deal with a mind which, though uncouth, yet possessed +all the "slimness" of which so many examples are to be found in South +Africa. + +Kruger wrote, "Rhodes represented capital, no matter how base and +contemptible, and whether by lying, bribery or treachery, all and every +means were welcome to him if they led to the attainment of his ambitious +desires." But Oom Paul was absolutely wrong in thinking that it was the +personage he was thus describing who practised all these abominations. He +ought to have remembered that it was his name only which was associated +with all these basenesses, and the man himself, if left to his better +self, would never have condescended to the many acts of doubtful morality +with which his memory will remain associated in history. + +I am firmly convinced that on his own impulse he would never, for +instance, have ventured on the Raid. But, unhappily, his habit, when +something "not quite" was mentioned to him, was to say nothing and to +trust to his good luck to avoid unpleasant consequences arising out of his +silence. Had he ventured to oppose the plans of his confederates they +would have immediately turned upon him, and ... There were, perhaps, past +facts which he did not wish the world to remember. His frequent fits of +raging temper arose from this irksome feeling, and was his way--a futile +way--of revenging himself on his jailors for the durance in which they +kept him. The man who believed himself to be omnipotent in South Africa, +and who was considered so powerful by the world at large, was in reality +in the hands of the very organisations he had helped to build. + +It was not Cecil John Rhodes' will which was paramount in the South +African League. Kruger spoke absolutely the truth when he asserted that it +was essential "to know something about the Chartered Company before it was +possible to realise the true perspective of the history of South Africa +during the closing years of the last century." Another of Kruger's +sweeping assertions--and one which he never backed by anything +tangible--was when he further wrote that Rhodes was "one of the most +unscrupulous characters that ever existed, whose motto was 'the end +justifies the means,' a motto that contains a creed which represents the +whole man." Rhodes by nature was not half so unscrupulous as Kruger +himself, but he was surrounded by unscrupulous people, whom he was too +indolent to repulse. He was constantly paying the price of his former +faults and errors in allowing his name to serve as a shield for the +ambitions of those who were in no way worthy of him and who constantly +abused his confidence. + +The habit became ingrained in the nature of Cecil Rhodes of always doing +what he chose without regard to the feelings and sentiments of others. It +persisted during the whole of the war, and would probably have proved a +serious impediment to the conclusion of peace had he lived until it became +accomplished. This characteristic led him, after all his intrigues with +the Dutch party and the Bond, to throw himself once more into the arms of +the English Progressive party and to start a campaign of his own against +the rebel Colonials and the Dutch inhabitants of the Transvaal. + +While the siege of Kimberley lasted, even while he was seeking to become +reconciled to the British element, Rhodes asserted himself in a strongly +offensive manner. He sent to Sir Alfred Milner in Cape Town reports of his +own as to the military authorities and dispositions, couched in such +alarming tones that the High Commissioner became most uneasy concerning +the possible fate of the Diamond City. These reports accused the officers +in charge of the town of failing in the performance of their duties, and +showing symptoms of abject fear in regard to the besieging Boer army. It +was only after an explanation from Sir Redvers Buller, and after the +latter had communicated to him the letters which he himself had received +from Colonel Kekewich, the commander of the troops to whom had been +entrusted the defence of Kimberley, that Sir Alfred was reassured. + +The fact was that Rhodes became very impatient to find that his movements +were watched by the military authorities, and that sometimes even the +orders which he gave for what he considered the greater security of the +town, and gave with the superb assurance which distinguished him, were +cancelled by the responsible officials. Disgraceful scenes followed. +Rhodes was accused of wishing to come to an arrangement with Cronje, who +was in charge of the besieging troops, in order to bring the war to an end +by his own efforts. + +I never have been able to ascertain how much of real truth, if any, was in +the various accusations made against Cecil Rhodes by the English General +Officers, but they were embodied in the message which was alleged to have +been flashed across to Kimberley after the battle of Modder River by Lord +Methuen, but which was supposed by those whom it concerned to have been +inspired by the Commander-in-Chief: + +"Tell Mr. Rhodes," the heliograph ran, "that on my entry into Kimberley he +and his friends must take their immediate departure." + +Two years later, in November, 1902, Sir Redvers Buller, when speaking at +the annual dinner of the Devonians in London, remarked that he must +protest against the rumours which, during the siege of Kimberley, had been +spread by some of its residents that the Imperial authorities had been in +a perpetual state of "funk." The allusion was understood to refer to Mr. +Rhodes by his partisans, who protested against the speech. Rhodes, indeed, +during his whole life was never in greater disfavour with the English +Government than after the siege of Kimberley; perhaps because he had +always accused Whitehall of not understanding the real state of things in +South Africa. The result of that imperative telegram, and Rhodes' belief +as to its source, was bitter hatred against Sir Redvers Buller. It soon +found expression in vindictive attacks by the whole Rhodesian Press +against the strategy, the abilities, and even the personal honesty of Sir +Redvers Buller. + +Whether Rhodes, upon his arrival in London, attempted to hurt the General +I do not know, but it could be always taken for granted that Rhodes could +be a very bad enemy when he chose. + +Upon his return to Groote Schuur he seemed more dissatisfied than ever +with the Home Government. He was loud in his denunciations and unceasing +in his criticisms. Sir Alfred, however, like the wise man he was, +preferred to ignore these pinpricks, and invariably treated Rhodes with +the utmost courtesy and attention. He always showed himself glad to listen +to Rhodes and to discuss with him points which the Colossus thought it +worth while to talk over. At that time Rhodes was in the most equivocal +position he had ever been in his life. He could not return to Kimberley; +he did not care to go to Rhodesia; and in Cape Colony he was always +restive. + +At this period all kinds of discussions used to take place concerning the +ultimate results of the war and the influence which it would have on the +future development of affairs in the Transvaal. The financiers began to +realise that after the British flag had once been raised at Pretoria they +would not have such a good time of it as they had hoped at first, and now, +having done their best to hurry on the war, regretted it more than anybody +else. The fact was that everybody in South Africa, with the exception of +the Boers themselves, who knew very well their own resources, had believed +that the war would be over in three months, and that the Transvaal would +be transferred into a Crown Colony where adventurers and gold-seekers +would have a fine time. + +Rhodes himself had more than once expressed his conviction that the +destruction of the Boers would not take more than three months at the +most, and this assurance was accepted as gospel by most of the financiers +of Johannesburg. An exception was Mr. F. Eckstein, the general manager and +partner in the concern of Wernher, Beit & Co., and one of the ablest +financiers in that city. From the first he was quite pessimistic in regard +to the length of time the war would take. + +As the war dragged on without there seeming any chance of its being +brought to a rapid conclusion, it became evident that England, after all +the sacrifices which she was making, would never consent to leave the +leaders of the movement--the ostensible object of which had been to grant +to the Uitlanders certain privileges to which they had no right--as sole +and absolute masters of the situation. In fact, the difficulties of the +war made it evident that, once peace was proclaimed, public opinion at +home would demand that the Transvaal, together with the Orange Free State, +should be annexed to the British Empire in view of a future federation of +the whole of South Africa, about which the English Press was already +beginning to speak. + +That South Africa should not remain a sphere of exploitation sent shivers +down the spines of the financiers. The South African League was observed +to become quite active in discovering rebels. Their zeal in this direction +was felt all over Cape Colony. Their aim was to reduce the register in +order to bring about a considerable falling off of voters for the +Afrikander Bond, and thereby substantially influence the results of the +next election to the Cape Parliament. + +At this period certain overtures were made once again to the Bond party. +They proceeded apparently from men supposed to act on their own +initiative, but who were known to be in favour at Groote Schuur. These +advances met with no response, but when the rumour that they had been made +spread among the public owing to an indiscretion, Rhodes hastened to deny +that he had been a party to the plan--as was his wont when he failed to +achieve. All the same, it is a fact that members of the House of Assembly +belonging to the Afrikander party visited Groote Schuur in the course of +that last winter which Rhodes spent there, and were warmly welcomed. +Rhodes showed himself unusually gracious. He hoped these forerunners would +rally his former friends to his side once more. But Rhodes was expecting +too much, considering ail the circumstances. Faithful to his usual +tactics, even whilst his Afrikander guests were being persuaded to lend +themselves to an intrigue from which they had hoped to win something, +Rhodes was making himself responsible for another step likely to render +the always strong hatred even more acute than ever. More than that, he was +advocating, through certain underground channels, the suspension of the +Constitution in Cape Colony. + +[Illustration: THE RT. HON. SIR W.F. HELY-HUTCHINSON] + +The particulars of this incident were only disclosed after the war was +over. The whole thing was thrashed out in Parliament and its details +communicated to the public by Mr. David de Waal, one of the truest friends +Mr. Rhodes ever had. The discussion took place after Sir Alfred Milner had +been transferred to Johannesburg and Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson had taken +his place in Cape Town. The South African League had become more active +than ever, and was using all its influence to secure a majority for its +members at the next general election. The Bond, on its side, had numerous +adherents up country, and the stout Dutch farmers had remained faithful to +their old allegiance, so there was no hope that they would be induced, +even through the influence of money, to give their votes to the +Progressives. The only things which remained were: a redistribution of +seats, then a clearing out of the register, and, lastly, a suspension of +the Constitution, which would have allowed the Governor a "free" hand in +placing certain measures on the statute book. The most influential members +among the executive of the South African League met at Cotswold Chambers, +and Rhodes, who was present, drew up a petition which was to be presented +to the Prime Minister. Sir Gordon Sprigg, who filled that office, was a +man who, with all his defects, was absolutely incapable of lending himself +to any mean trick in order to remain in power. When Sir Gordon became +acquainted with the demands of the League he refused absolutely to take a +part in what he maintained would have been an everlasting blot on the +reputation of the Government. + +After Rhodes' death, when the question of the suspension of the +Constitution was raised by the Progressives in the House of Assembly, it +was discussed in all its details, and it was proved that the South African +League, in trying throughout the country to obtain signatures to a monster +petition on the matter, had resorted to some more than singular means to +obtain these signatures. Mr. Sauer, who was the leader of the Bond party +in the Chamber, revealed how the League had employed agents to induce +women and sometimes young children to sign the petition, and that at the +camp near Sea Point, a suburb of Cape Town, where soldiers were stationed +previous to their departure for England, these same agents were engaged in +getting them to sign it before they left under the inducement of a fixed +salary up to a certain amount and a large percentage after it had been +exceeded, according to the number of the names obtained in this way. When +trustworthy people of unimpeachable character wrote to the papers +denouncing this manoeuvre the subsidised papers in Cape Town, and the +Rhodesian Press, refused to publish the affidavits sworn on the subject, +but wrote columns of calumnies about the Dutch Colonials, and, as a +finishing stroke, clamoured for the suspension of the Constitution. + +The speech of Mr. Sauer gave rise to a heated debate, during which the +Progressive members indignantly denied his assertions. Then stepped in Mr. +David de Waal, that friend of Rhodes to whom I have already referred. He +rose to bring his testimony to the facts revealed by Mr. Sauer, who was +undoubtedly the most able leader which the Afrikander party possessed, +with the exception, perhaps, of Mr. Merriman. + +"In February, 1902," he said, "there was a meeting in Cotswold Chambers +consisting of the twenty-two members of the House of Assembly who went by +the name of 'Rhodes' group.' It was at first discussed and ultimately +decided to wait on the Prime Minister and to interview him concerning the +expenditure of the war, which had reached the sum of £200,000 monthly. +Then, after some further discussion, we came to the conclusion to meet +once more. This was done on February 17th. You must remember that war was +still raging at the time. At this second meeting it was agreed to +formulate a scheme to be submitted to the Government which proposed the +suspension of the Constitution in regard to five clauses. The first was to +be this very suspension, then a new registration of voters, a +redistribution of seats, the indemnity to be awarded to the faithful +English Colonials, and, finally, the reestablishment of the Constitution. +As to this last I must make a statement, and that is, that if I had known +that it was meant to withdraw the Constitution for more than one month I +would have objected to it, but I was told that it would be only a matter +of a few days." + +At this point Mr. de Waal was interrupted by a Progressive member, who +exclaimed that Dr. Jameson had denied that such a thing had ever been said +or mentioned. + +"I know he has done so," replied Mr. de Waal, "but I will make a +declaration on my oath. A committee was then appointed," he went on, +"which waited on the Prime Minister and presented to him this very same +petition. Sir Gordon Sprigg, however, said that he would not be ruled by +anyone, because they had a responsible Government. The Committee reported, +when it returned, that the Prime Minister was opposed to any movement +started on the basis of the petition which they had presented to him, and +that he would not move an inch from his declaration, saying energetically, +'Never! I shall never do it!' Sir Gordon Sprigg had further pointed out +that the result of such a step would be that the Cape would become a Crown +Colony and would find itself in the same position as Rhodesia." + +Perhaps this was what Rhodes and the South African League had wished, but +the publication of the details connected with this incident, especially +proceeding from a man who had never made a secret of the ties which had +bound him to Rhodes, and who, among the latter's Dutch friends, had been +the only one who had never failed him, drove the first nail into the +coffin of Rhodesian politics. + +It was common knowledge that de Waal had steadfastly stood by Rhodes even +during the terrible time of the Raid. Moreover, he was a man of high +integrity, who alone among those who had attached themselves to the +destinies of the Empire Maker had never taken part in the financial +schemes of a doubtful nature which marked the wonderful career of Rhodes. +This declaration opened the eyes of many persons who, to that day, had +denied the political intrigues which had been going on at Cotswold +Chambers. Afterwards it became relatively easy for Sir Alfred Milner to +clear the atmosphere in South Africa and to establish public life on +sounder principles than the pure love of gain. It cannot be sufficiently +regretted that he should not have done so before Rhodes' death and thus +have given Rhodes--and, incidentally, the country for which Rhodes had +done so much in the way of material development--the opportunity to shake +off his parasites and become a real factor in solidifying the great area +in which he was such an outstanding personality. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE INFLUENCE OF SIR ALFRED MILNER + + +The occult power exercised by the League on the inner politics of South +Africa could not fail to impress Sir Alfred Milner most unpleasantly. +Frank himself, it must have often been absolutely repulsive to him to have +to do with people whom he feared to trust and who believed that they could +bring into political life the laxities of the mining camp. Though not +aware of it, even before he landed in Cape Town the Progressives had made +up their minds to represent him as determined to sweep the Dutch off the +face of the earth. + +Believing Sir Alfred to be the confederate of Rhodes, the Boers, too, +would have nothing to do with him. Whilst the Bloemfontein Conference was +going on President Kruger, as well as the leaders of the Afrikander Bond, +were overwhelmed with covert warnings to distrust the High Commissioner. +Whence they emanated is not a matter of much doubt. Sir Alfred was accused +of wanting to lay a trap for the Boer plenipotentiaries, who were told to +beware of him as an accomplice of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, whose very name +produced at Pretoria the same effect as a red rag upon a bull. Under these +circumstances the Conference was bound to fail, and the High Commissioner +returned to Cape Town, very decidedly a sadder and most certainly a wiser +man. + +Now that years have passed since the Boer War it is possible to secure a +better perspective, in the light of which one can question whether it +would have been possible to avoid the conflict by an arrangement of some +kind with the Boer Republics, Personally, I believe that an understanding +was not out of the question if the strong financial interests had not +opposed its accomplishment; but at the same time a patched up affair would +not have been a happy event for either South Africa or for England. It +would have left matters in almost the same condition as they had been +before, and the millionaires, who were the real masters on the Rand, would +have found a dozen pretexts to provoke a new quarrel with the Transvaal +Government. Had the Boer Executive attempted to do away with the power of +the concerns which ruled the gold mines and diamond fields, it would have +courted a resistance with which it would have been next to impossible to +deal. The war would still have taken place, but it might have occurred at +a far less favourable moment. No arrangement with President Kruger, even +one most propitious to British interests, could have done away with the +corruption and the bribery which, from the first moment of the discovery +of the gold fields, invaded that portion of South Africa, and this +corruption would always have stood in the way of the establishment of the +South African Union. + +Sir Alfred Milner knew all this very well, and probably had an inward +conviction, notwithstanding his efforts to prevent the war, that a +conflict was the only means of breaking these chains of gold which +shackled the wheels of progress. At so critical a time the support of +Rhodes and his party would have been invaluable. And Sir Alfred would have +welcomed it. Cecil Rhodes, of course, had declared himself officially in +accord with the High Commissioner, and even praised him to a degree of +fulsomeness. But the ulterior motive was simply to excite the Dutch party +against him. The reputation of Sir Alfred Milner as a statesman and as a +politician was constantly challenged by the very people who ought to have +defended it. Rhodes himself had been persuaded that the Governor harboured +the most sinister designs against his person. The innuendo was one of the +most heinous untruths ever invented by his crowd of sycophants. + +An opportunity came my way, by which I was able to convince myself how +false was the belief nourished by Rhodes against Milner. During the course +of a conversation with Sir Alfred, I boldly asked him whether he was +really such an enemy of Rhodes as represented. I was surprised by the +moderate tone in which he replied to my, after all, impertinent question. +The remarks which we then exchanged filled me with the greatest admiration +for the man who so nobly, and so worthily, upheld British prestige in +South Africa under the most trying circumstances. Milner was an entirely +honest man--the rarest thing in the whole of Cape Town at that anxious +period--and after one had had the advantage of discussing with him the +political situation, one could only be filled with profound respect for +him and for his opinions, actions and conduct. Far from working against +Rhodes, as Sir Alfred had been represented to me as doing, I convinced +myself that he was keenly anxious to be on good and, what is more +important, on sincere terms with him. Sir Alfred had not the slightest +feeling of animosity against the Dutch. On the contrary, he would have +liked them to become persuaded of his desire to protect them against +possible aggression by the Jingoes, whose offensive conduct none more than +himself assessed at its true value. + +But what was the real situation? He found his every action misconstrued; +whatever he did was interpreted in a wrong sense, and those who should +have shared his aims were plotting against him. The position was truly +tragic from whatever side it was viewed, and a weaker or less honest man +would assuredly have given up the struggle. + +A few days after my conversation with Sir Alfred Milner, which took place +during the course of a dinner at Government House, I took opportunity to +mention it to Rhodes. I tried to clear his mind of the suspicions that I +knew he entertained in regard to the High Commissioner. Cecil Rhodes +listened to me with attention, then asked me in that sarcastic tone of +his, which was so intensely disagreeable and offensive, whether I was in +love with Sir Alfred, as I had so suddenly become his champion. Then he +ended, "You are trying to make me believe the impossible." I did not allow +him, however, to ruffle me, as evidently was his desire, but replied that +when one came to know better those whom one had only met occasionally, +without ever having talked with them seriously, it was natural to amend +one's opinion accordingly. I told him, too, that my earlier +misapprehension had been intensified by a certain lady who posed as +Rhodes' greatest friend, and who had been loud in her denunciations of the +High Commissioner, long before I had ever met him. But now, I added, I had +come to the conclusion that Sir Alfred had been terribly maligned. + +At this point Rhodes interrupted me with the remark: "So you think that he +is a paragon. Well, I won't contradict you, and, besides, you know that I +have always defended him; but still, with all his virtues, he has not yet +found out what he ought to do with me." + +"What can one do with you, Mr. Rhodes?" I asked with a smile. + +"Leave me alone," was the characteristic reply, in a tone which was +sufficient for me to follow the advice, as it meant that the man was +getting restive and might at any moment break out into one of those fits +of rage which he so often used as a means to bring to an end a +conversation in which he felt that he might not come out as victor. + +A few days later a rabid Rhodesian who happened to be staying at Groote +Schuur approached me. "You have been trying to convert Mr. Rhodes to Sir +Alfred," he remarked. + +"I have done nothing of the kind," I said. "I am not a preacher, but I +have been telling Mr. Rhodes that he was mistaken if he thought that he +had an enemy in the High Commissioner." + +"Had you any reason to suppose that he considered him one?" was the +unexpected question. + +"Well, from what I have seen it seemed to me that you have all been doing +your best to persuade him that such was the case," I retorted, "and why +you should have done so passes my comprehension." + +The conversation dropped, but the incident confirmed me in my opinion that +strong forces were at work to sow enmity between Rhodes and Sir Alfred +Milner for fear the influence of the High Commissioner might bring Rhodes +to look at things differently. As things stood at the moment, Rhodes was +persuaded that the High Commissioner hated him, was jealous of him, wanted +him out of his path, and never meant to allow him under any circumstances +whatever to have any say in the settlement of South African affairs. This +conviction, which was carefully nourished from the outside, evoked in his +mind an absurd and silly rage to which no man of common sense, unblinded +by vanity, could have fallen victim. I would not be so foolish as to deny +to the famous Life Governor of De Beers either abundant common sense or +outstanding intelligence, but here was a man gifted with genius who, under +the impulse of passion, could act and speak like a child. + +Rhodes looked upon the High Commissioner as a nuisance unfortunately not +to be set aside. What exasperated him, especially in regard to the High +Commissioner, was the fact that he knew quite well that Sir Alfred Milner +could assume the responsibility for concluding peace when that time +arrived. Rhodes always hoped that his personal influence on the English, +as well as among the Bond party, would enable him to persuade the leaders +of the rebel movement in Cape Colony to lay down their arms and to leave +their interests in his hands. Should such a thing have happened, Rhodes +thought that such a success as this would efface the bad impression left +by the Raid. He grudgingly admitted that that wild adventure had not +pleased people, but he always refused to acknowledge that it was the one +great and unredeemable mistake of his life. I remember once having quoted +to him the old French motto which in the Middle Ages was the creed of +every true knight: + + "Mon âme à Dieu, + Mon bras au roi, + Mon coeur aux dames, + L'honneur à moi!" + +"Ah, yes! In those times one could still think about such things," he +simply remarked, which proved to me that he had no comprehension of the +real sense of the beautiful words. The higher attributes of mind did not +trouble him either in the hours of his greatest triumphs or in the moments +when Fortune ceased to smile upon him. He thought he had something far +better: ambition, love of domination, the desire to eclipse everybody and +everything around him. I do not mention money, because Rhodes did not care +for money intrinsically. + +Yet the man was great in spite of all his defects. Particularly in the +rein he gave to his thoughts during nights spent in the solitude of the +karroo, when the stars were almost the only things which he could look +upon, their immensity the only companion worthy of himself. One could +almost believe Cecil Rhodes was possessed of a dual personality. At one +moment he lived in the skies in regard to his own future prospects and the +great deeds he wished to perform, about which he never ceased to think. +The next he was on this earth, dabbling in the meannesses of humanity, +taking a vicious pleasure in noticing the evil about him and too +frequently succeeding, somehow, in wounding the feelings of those who +liked him best, and then wondering how it happened that he had so few +friends. + +On account of these characteristics, notwithstanding all his wonderful +faculties, Cecil Rhodes will never remain an historical figure like the +Count of Egmont during the Revolt of the Netherlands, or Mirabeau at the +time of the French Revolution. Undoubtedly he achieved great things, but +nothing truly beautiful. I do not think that even the warmest of his +admirers can ever say that the organising and amalgamation of De Beers or +the conquest of Matabeleland had anything beautiful about them. Still, +they were triumphs which no one except himself could have achieved. He +undoubtedly erected an edifice the like of which had never been seen in +modern times, and he opened to the ambitions and to the greed of the world +new prospects, new sources of riches, which caused very many to look upon +him as truly the god of material success. + +Rhodes can be said to have revolutionised Society by bringing to the +social horizon people who, but for the riches he placed within reach of +their grasping fingers, would never have been able to emerge from their +uncultured obscurity. + +People have said to me, "How generous was Rhodes!" Yes, but always with a +shade of disdain in the giving which hurt the recipients of his charity. +One of the legends in the Cape is that half those whom Rhodes helped had +been his victims at one time or the other. + +It was no wonder that Cecil Rhodes was an embittered man when one reflects +how many curses must have been showered upon his head. The conquest of +Matabeleland had not gone by without evoking terrible enmities; and the +amalgamation of De Beers, in consequence of which so many people who had +spent thousands of pounds in acquiring plots of ground where they had +hoped to find diamonds, and who had later to part from them for a mere +song, were among the things never forgiven him by those whom the +speculations had ruined. Later on came the famous Bill which he caused to +be adopted in both Houses of Legislature concerning the illicit buying of +diamonds, the I.D.B. Act. + +The I.D.B. enactment destroyed one of the fundamental principles in +British legislature which always supposes a man to be innocent until he +has been proved guilty. It practically put the whole of Cape Colony under +the thumb of De Beers. The statute was not wisely framed. It could be +invoked to remove persons whose presence in Kimberley was inconvenient. +Therefore the I.D.B. Act drew on the head of Rhodes and of his colleagues +torrents of abuse. It is, unfortunately, certain that cases happened where +diamonds were hidden surreptitiously among the effects of certain persons +who had had the imprudence to say too loudly that they meant to expose the +state of things existing in Kimberley; and in consequence innocent men +were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. + +I heard one story in particular which, if true, throws a terrible light on +the state of affairs in the Diamond City. A young man of good connections, +who had arrived from England to seek his fortune in South Africa, was +engaged in Kimberley at a small salary by one of the big diamond mining +concerns. After about three or four months' sojourn he felt so disgusted +that he declared quite loudly that as soon as he could put by sufficient +money to pay his passage back to Europe he would do so, there to make it +the business of his life to enlighten his compatriots as to what was going +on in South Africa. He threatened, too, to warn his countrymen against +those who used to deluge England with prospectuses praising, in exalted +terms, the wonderful state of things existing in South Africa and dilating +upon the future prospects of Cape Colony. Old residents warned him he +would do better to restrain his wrath until he was out of reach of +interested parties; he did not listen to them, with the result that one +morning detectives appeared in the house where he lodged, searched his +room, and--found some diamonds hidden in a flower pot of geraniums which +was standing in his window and which the daughter of his landlady had +given him that very morning. No protestations of the unhappy young fellow +availed him. He was taken to Cape Town and condemned to seven years' +imprisonment, the end of which he did not live to see, as he died a few +months after he had been sentenced. + +The story was freely current in South Africa; and, true or not, it is +unquestionable that a large number of persons suffered in consequence of +the I.D.B. Act, no more serious proofs being offered that they had taken +or concealed diamonds than the fact that the stones had been found in +unlikely places in their rooms. Books without number have been written +about the I.D.B. Act, a great number evidently evincing hatred or revenge +against Mr. Rhodes and his lieutenants. + +The famous De Beers Company acquired a position of overwhelming strength +in the social, economical and political life of South Africa, where +practically it secured control of everything connected with finance and +industry. De Beers built cold storage rooms, a dynamite factory, ice +houses, interested itself in agriculture, fruit-growing, farming and +cattle-breeding all over the Colony. It managed to acquire shares in all +the new mining enterprises whether in the Transvaal or in Rhodesia. +Politically it controlled the elections, and there were certain districts +in the Cape Colony where no candidate unsupported by De Beers could hope +to be elected to a seat in Parliament. The company had its own police, +while its secret service was one of the most remarkable in the world, +having among its archives a record of the private opinions of all the +people enjoying any kind of eminence in the country. In presence of De +Beers the Governor himself was overshadowed; indeed, I do not think that +if the Home Government had tried to oppose the organisation it would have +had much chance of coming out on top. + +Sir Alfred Milner was the first man who saw that it would be impossible +for England to have the last word in South Africa unless those who, both +in Cape Colony and in the Transvaal, were the real masters of the +situation were broken, and financial concerns persuaded to occupy +themselves solely with financial matters. Though Sir Alfred was wise +enough, and prudent enough, not to allow his feelings on the subject to +become public property, Rhodes was shrewd enough to guess that he would +encounter a resolute adversary in the person of the High Commissioner. +Perhaps had he kept his suspicions to himself instead of communicating +them to others he might have been persuaded in time to recognise that +there was a great deal in the opinions which Sir Alfred held as to the +participation of financial organisations in political matters. If only +each could have had a chance for a frank understanding, probably Milner +would not have objected to Rhodes continuing to control the vast machine +into which the diamond mines amalgamation had grown, so long as it +confined its operations to commerce. + +If Government is exercised by a single person it is possible for it to +possess the elements of justice and equity, and to be carried out with few +mistakes of such gravity as would compromise the whole system. But, +unfortunately, the South African autocracy meant an army of small +autocrats, and it was they who compromised Rhodes and then sheltered +themselves behind his gigantic personality from the unpopularity and +detestation which their actions aroused in the whole of South Africa. + +I feel personally convinced that if, during the period which immediately +followed upon the relief of Kimberley and of Lady smith, Rhodes had +approached Sir Alfred and frankly told him that he wanted to try his luck +with the Dutch party, and to see whether his former friends and colleagues +of the Afrikander Bond could not be induced to listen to reason, the High +Commissioner would have been only too glad to meet him and to explain his +views on the whole question. Instead of doing so, Rhodes, carried away as +he always was by this everlasting desire to be the first everywhere, did +not even give a thought to the wisdom of confiding to anyone the efforts +which he undoubtedly made to induce the Bond leaders to trust him again. + +There was a moment when things got very near to an understanding between +Rhodes and Sir Alfred. This was when Mr. Sauer himself entertained the +thought of letting Rhodes sway the future by making with the English +Government conditions of a peace which would not wound to the quick the +feelings of the Dutch part of the population of the Colony. + +A circumstance, apparently insignificant, destroyed all the hopes that had +been entertained by several who wished the Colossus well. Certain papers +were brought to Rhodes; these contained information likely to prove of use +to him as well as to the English Government. After he had read them he +asked that they should be left with him until the following day. The +person in charge of the documents had been asked not to part with them +even for a single hour, as it was important that no one should be able to +copy documents which might seriously compromise certain people. Therefore, +she refused. Rhodes thereupon flew into a terrible passion and demanded to +know the reason for the apparent distrust. When told that it was not so +much a question of distrust as the impossibility of breaking a promise +once given, he exclaimed that he would have nothing more to do with the +whole business, and started almost immediately afterwards his agitation +for the suspension of the Constitution in Cape Colony. But--and this is an +amusing detail to note--Rhodes used every possible effort to obtain +possession of the papers he had been allowed to see, going so far as to +have the house searched of the person who had refused to allow him to keep +the documents--a revenge which was as mean as it was useless, because the +papers in question had been at once returned to their rightful owners. + +The request made by Rhodes to keep these documents produced a very bad +impression on those who had begun to entertain hopes that he might be +induced to throw the weight of his personality into the scale of a +settlement. It confirmed the suspicions held by the Afrikander party ever +since the Raid. + +They say that everyone is afforded once the chance of one's lifetime. In +the case of Rhodes, he certainly missed by that action the one opportunity +of reinstating himself once again upon the pinnacle whence the adventure +of Doctor Jameson had caused him to fall. + +I remember that whilst these events were going on a political man, well +acquainted with all details of the endeavour to secure a reconciliation +between the Afrikander Bond and Rhodes, came to see me one evening. We +talked over the whole situation. He told me that there were people who +thought it would be a good thing to inform Sir Alfred Milner of what was +going on, in the hope that he might give Rhodes an inkling that he knew +that intrigue was rife at Groote Schuur, and at the same time express to +Rhodes with what satisfaction he personally would view the good offices of +the Colossus to influence both the South African League and the Afrikander +Bond. But we agreed that it was quite impossible. Such a course would not +inspire the High Commissioner with an exalted idea as to our morality in +matters of trust, and, besides, it would not be playing the game in regard +to Rhodes and his group. So the matter dropped; but Rhodes suspected, and +never forgave us or any of those whose thoughts ran on the same lines. + +Whether Sir Alfred Milner ever learned who had been trying to persuade the +master of Groote Schuur to seek his co-operation in what would have been +the noblest deed of Rhodes' life, I have not been able to ascertain to the +present day. To tell the truth, I never tried to do so, the matter having +lost all interest except as a matter of history. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE OPENING OF THE NEW CENTURY + + +Such were the preoccupations, the intrigues and the emotions which, all +through that monotonous winter of 1900-1901, agitated the inhabitants of +and the visitors to Groote Schuur. Rhodes himself seemed to be the one man +who thought the least about them. It is certain that he felt hurt in his +pride and in his consciousness that the good which he had wanted to do +failed to be appreciated by those whom he had intended to benefit. But +outwardly he made no sign that the matter interested him otherwise than +from a purely objective point of view, that of the statesman who thinks +that it is part of his duty to put his services at the disposal of his +country whenever required to do so. He felt also slightly surprised to +find, once he had expressed his willingness to use the experience of South +African affairs which he had acquired and which no one in the Cape +possessed with such thoroughness, that the people who had appealed to him, +and whom he had consented to meet half-way, would not give him the whole +of their confidence; indeed, they showed some apprehension that he would +use his knowledge to their detriment. + +When one reviews all the circumstances that cast such a tragic shade over +the history of these eventful months, one cannot help coming to the +conclusion that there was a good deal of misunderstanding on both sides +and a deplorable lack of confidence everywhere. Rhodes had entirely lost +ground among his former friends, and would not understand that it was more +difficult, even on the part of those who believed in his good intentions, +to efface the impression that he had been playing a double game ever since +the Raid had deprived him of the confidence and support which previously +were his all over Cape Colony. + +The whole situation, as the new century opened, was a game of cross +purposes. Sir Alfred Milner might have unravelled the skein, but he was +the one man whom no one interested in the business wished to ask for help. +And what added to the tragedy was the curious but undisputable fact that +even those who reviled Rhodes hoped he would return to power and assume +the Premiership in place of Sir Gordon Sprigg. + +In spite of the respect which Sir Gordon Sprigg inspired, and of the +esteem in which he was held by all parties, it was generally felt that if +Rhodes were once more at the helm he might return to a more reasonable +view of the whole situation. In such an office, too, it was believed that +Rhodes would give the Colony the benefit of his remarkable gifts of +statecraft, as well as wield the authority which he liked so much to +exercise, for the greater good of the country in general and of the +British Government in particular. I believe that if at that moment Cecil +Rhodes had become the head of the Cabinet not one voice, even among the +most fanatic of the Afrikander Bond, would have objected. Those most +averse to such a possibility were Rhodes' own supporters, a small group of +men whose names I shall refrain from mentioning. + +All true friends of Rhodes, however, must surely have felt a keen regret +that he wasted his talents and his energy on those entangled and, after +all, despicable Cape politics. The man was created for something better +and healthier than that. He was an Empire Maker by nature, one who might +have won for himself everlasting renown had he remained "King of +Rhodesia," as he liked to call himself. There, in the vast solitudes which +by his enterprise and foresight had become a part of the British Empire, +he ought to have gone on uninterruptedly in the glorious task of bringing +civilisation to that hitherto unknown land. For such work his big nature +and strange character were well fitted, and his wide-ranging mind +appreciated the extent of the task. As he used to say himself sometimes, +he was never so happy and never felt so free and so much at peace with the +world and with mankind as among the Matoppo Hills. + +The statesmanlike qualities which Cecil Rhodes undoubtedly possessed were +weakened by contact with inferior people. It is impossible to create real +politicians and sound ones at the same rapid pace as financial magnates +sprang up at the Cape as well as in the Transvaal. The class who entered +politics had as little real solidity about them as the houses and +dwellings which were built at a moment's notice from corrugated iron and a +few logs. They thought that they understood how to govern a nation because +they had thoroughly mastered the mysteries of bookkeeping in problematical +financial undertakings. + +I remember one afternoon when, talking with Rhodes in the grounds of +Groote Schuur, he took me to the summer-house which he had built for +himself, whence one had a beautiful view over the country toward Table +Mountain. He leaned on the parapet of the little observatory which +surmounted the summer-house and lost himself in a day dream which, though +long, I felt I had better not interrupt. I can see his face and expression +still as, with his arms crossed over his chest, he gazed into space, +thinking, thinking, and forgetting all else but the vision which he was +creating in that extraordinary brain of his. I am sure that he remained so +for over twenty minutes. Then he slowly turned round to me and said, with +an accent indescribable in its intensity and poignancy: + +"I have been looking at the North, at my own country--" + +"Why do you not always remain there?" I exclaimed almost involuntarily, so +painfully did the words strike me. + +"Because they will not let me," he replied. + +"They? Who?" I asked again. "Surely you can do what you like?" + +"You think so," he said, "but you do not know; there are so many things; +so many things. And they want me here too, and there is this place ..." + +He stopped, then relapsed once more into his deep meditation, leaving me +wondering what was holding back this man who was reputed to do only what +he chose. Surely there would have been a far better, far nobler work for +him to do there in that distant North which, after all, in spite of the +beauties of Groote Schuur, was the only place for which he really cared. +There he could lead that absolutely free and untrammelled life which he +loved; there his marvellous gifts could expand with the freedom necessary +for them to shine in their best light for the good of others as well as +for his own advantage. In Rhodesia he was at least free, to a certain +extent, from the parasites. + +How could one help pitying him and regretting that his indomitable will +did not extend to the courage of breaking from his past associations; that +he did not carry his determination far enough to make up his mind to +consecrate what was left of his life to the one task for which he was best +fitted, that of making Rhodesia one of the most glorious possessions of +the British crown. Rhodes had done so much, achieved so much, had +conceived such great things--as, for instance, the daring inception of the +Cape to Cairo Railway--that it surely could have been possible for him to +rise above the shackling weaknesses of his environment. + +So many years have passed since the death of Rhodes that, now, one can +judge him objectively. To me, knowing him so well as I did, it seem that +as his figure recedes into the background of history, it acquires more +greatness. He was a mystery to so many because few had been able to guess +what it was that he really meant, or believed in, or hoped for. Not a +religious man by any means, he yet possessed that religion of nature which +pervades the soul of anyone who has ever lived for long face to face with +grandeurs and solitudes where human passions have no entrance. It is the +adoration of the Greatness Who created the beauty which no touch can +defile, no tongue slander, and nobody destroy. Under the stars, to which +he confided so much of the thoughts which he had kept for himself in his +youth and early manhood, Rhodes became a different man. There in the +silence of the night or the dawn of early morning, when he started for +those long rides of which he was so fond, he became affectionate, kind, +thoughtful and tender. There he thought, he dreamt, he planned, and the +result of these wanderings of his mind into regions far beyond those where +the people around him could stray was that he revealed himself as God had +made him and such as man hardly ever saw him. + +Rhodes had always been a great reader; books, indeed, had a great +influence over his mind, his actions and opinions. He used to read slowly, +and what he had once assimilated he never forgot. Years after he would +remember a passage treating of some historical fact, or of some social +interest, and apply it to his own work. For instance, the idea of the Glen +Grey Act was suggested to him by the famous book of Mackenzie Wallace +dealing with Russia,[B] in which he described the conditions under which +Russian peasants then held their land. When Rhodes met the author of the +aforementioned volume at Sandringham, where both were staying with the +then Prince and Princess of Wales, he told him at once, with evident +pleasure at being able to do so, that it was his book which had suggested +that particular bit of legislation. + + [B] "Russia" (Cassell). + +Another occasion I remember when Rhodes spoke of the great impression +produced upon his opinions by a book called "The Martyrdom of Man,"[C] the +work of Winwood Reade, an author not very well known to the general +public. The essay was an unusually powerful negation of the Divinity. +Rhodes had, unfortunately for him, chanced across it just after he had +left the University, and during the first months following upon his +arrival in South Africa he read it in his moments of leisure between +looking for diamonds in the sandy plains of Kimberley. It completely upset +all the traditions in which he had been nurtured--it must be remembered +that he was the son of a clergyman--and caused a revolt against the +teachings of his former masters. + + [C] Published in the U.S.A., 1875. + +The adventurous young man who had left his native country well stocked +with principles which he was already beginning to find embarrassing, found +in this volume an excuse for becoming the personage with whom the world +was to become familiar later on, when he appeared on the horizon as an +Empire Maker. He always kept this momentous book beside him, and used to +read it when he wanted to strengthen himself in some hard resolution or +when he was expected to steel his mind to the performance of some task +against which his finest instincts revolted even whilst his sense of +necessity urged him onward. + +Talking with me on the occasion I have referred to above, in respect to +this volume which had left such weeds in his mind, he expressed to me his +great enthusiasm about the ideas it contained, and spoke with unmeasured +approval of its strong and powerful arguments against the existence of a +Deity, and then exclaimed, "You can imagine the impression which it +produced on me when I read it amid all the excitement of life at Kimberley +not long after leaving Oxford University." And he added in a solemn tone, +"That book has made me what I am." + +I think, however, that Rhodes exaggerated in attaching such influence to +Reade's essay. He was very interested in the supernatural, a feature which +more than once I have had occasion to observe in people who pretend that +they believe in nothing. I suspect that, had he been able to air the +doubts which must have assailed him sometimes when alone in the solitudes +of Rhodesia, one would have discovered that a great deal of carelessness, +of which he used to boast in regard to morality and to religion, was +nothing but affectation. He treated God in the same offhand way he handled +men, when, in order to terrify them, he exposed before their horrified +eyes abominable theories, to which his whole life gave the lie. But in his +inmost heart he knew very well that God existed. He would have felt quite +content to render homage to the Almighty if only this could have been done +incognito. In fact, he was quite ready to believe in God, but would have +felt extremely sorry had anyone suspected that such could be the case. The +ethical side of Cecil Rhodes' character remained all through his life in +an unfinished state. It might perhaps have been the most beautiful side of +his many-sided life had he not allowed too much of what was material, base +and common to rule him. Unwillingly, perhaps, but nevertheless certainly, +he gave the impression that his life was entirely dedicated to ignoble +purposes. Perhaps the punishment of his existence lay precisely in the +rapidity with which the words "Rhodesian finance" and "Rhodesian politics" +came to signify corruption and bribery. Even though he may not have been +actually guilty of either, he most certainly profited by both. He +instituted in South Africa an utter want of respect for one's neighbour's +property, which in time was a prime cause of the Transvaal War. Hated as +he was by some, distrusted as he remained by almost everybody, yet there +was nothing mean about Cecil Rhodes. Though one felt inclined to detest +him at times, yet one could not help liking and even loving him when he +allowed one to see the real man behind the veil of cynicism and irony +which he constantly assumed. + +With Rhodes' death the whole system of Rhodesian politics perished. It +then became relatively easy for Sir Alfred Milner to introduce the +necessary reforms into the government of South Africa. The financial +magnates who had ruled at Johannesburg and Kimberley ceased to interest +themselves politically in the management of the affairs of the Government. +They disappeared one after the other, bidding good-bye to a country which +they had always hated, most of them sinking into an obscurity where they +enjoy good dinners and forget the nightmare of the past. + +The Dutch and the English elements have become reconciled, and loyalty to +England, which seemed at the time of the Boer War, and during the years +that had preceded it, to have been confined to a small number of the +English, has become the rule. British Imperialism is no mere phantom: the +Union of South Africa has proved it to have a very virile body, and, what +is more important, a lofty and clear-visioned soul. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +AN ESTIMATE OF SIR ALFRED MILNER + + +The conditions under which Sir Alfred Milner found himself compelled to +shape his policy of conciliation were beset with obstacles and +difficulties. An understanding of these is indispensable to the one who +would read aright the history of that period of Imperial evolution. + +The question of the refugees who overwhelmed Cape Colony with their +lamentations, after they had been obliged to leave the Transvaal at +the beginning of the hostilities--the claims of the Rand +multi-millionaires--the indignation of the Dutch Colonists confined in +concentration camps by order of the military authorities--the Jingoes +who thought it would be only right to shoot down every Dutch +sympathiser in the country: these were among the things agitating the +South African public mind, and setting up conflicting claims +impossible of adjustment without bitter censure on one hand or the +other. The wonder is that, amid all these antagonistic elements, Sir +Alfred Milner contrived to fulfil the larger part of the tasks which +he had sketched out for himself before he left England. + +The programme which Sir Alfred planned to carry out proved, in the long +run, to have been thoroughly sound in conception and practice, because it +contained in embryo all the conditions under which South Africa became +united. It is remarkable, indeed, that such a very short time after a war +which seemed altogether to have compromised any hope of coalescing, the +Union of South Africa should have become an accomplished fact. + +Yet, strange as it may appear, it is certain that up to his retirement +from office Sir Alfred Milner was very little known in South Africa. He +had been so well compelled by force of circumstances to lead an isolated +life that very few had opportunity to study his character or gain insight +into his personality. In Cape Town he was judged by his policy. People +forgot that all the time he was at Government House, Cape Town, he was a +man as well as a politician: a man whose efforts and work in behalf of his +country deserved some kind of consideration even from his enemies. It is +useless to discuss whether Sir Alfred did or did not make mistakes before +the beginning of the war. Why waste words over events which cannot be +helped, and about which there will always be two opinions? Personally, I +think that his errors were essentially of the kind which could not have +been avoided, and that none of them ever compromised ultimately the great +work which he was to bring to a triumphant close. + +What I do think it is of value to point out is the calmness which he +contrived always to preserve under circumstances which must have been +particularly trying for him. Another outstanding characteristic was the +quiet dignity with which he withstood unjustifiable attacks when dealing +with not-to-be-foreseen difficulties which arose while carrying on his +gigantic task. Very few would have had the courage to remain silent and +undaunted whilst condemned or judged for things he had been unable to +alter or to banish. And yet this was precisely the attitude to which Sir +Alfred Milner faithfully adhered. It stands out among the many proofs +which the present Viscount Milner has given of his strong character as one +of its most characteristic features, for it affords a brilliant +illustration of what will, mastered by reason, can do. + +Since those perilous days I have heard many differing criticisms of Lord +Milner's administration as High Commissioner in South Africa. What those +who express opinions without understanding that which lies under the +surface of history fail to take into account is the peculiar, almost +invidious position and the loneliness in which Sir Alfred had to stand +from the very first day that he landed in Table Bay. He could not make +friends, dared not ask anyone's advice, was forced always to rely entirely +upon his own judgment. He would not have been human had he not sometimes +felt misgivings as to the wisdom of what he was doing. He never had the +help of a Ministry upon whom he could rely or with whom he could +sympathise. The Cabinet presided over by Sir Gordon Sprigg was composed of +very well-intentioned men. But, with perhaps one single exception, it did +not possess any strongly individualistic personage capable of assisting +Sir Alfred in framing a policy acceptable to all shades of public opinion +in the Colony, or even to discuss with him whether such a policy could +have been invented. As for the administration of which Mr. Schreiner was +the head, it was distinctly hostile to the policy inaugurated by Mr. +Joseph Chamberlain, which Sir Alfred represented. Its members, indeed, put +every obstacle in the Governor's way, and this fact becoming known +encouraged a certain spirit of rebellion among the Dutch section of the +population. Neither one Ministry nor the other was able to be of any +serious use to Milner, who, thus hampered, could neither frame a programme +which accorded with his own judgment nor show himself in his true light. + +[Illustration: VISCOUNT MILNER] + +All these circumstances were never taken into consideration by friends or +foes, and, in consequence, he was made responsible for blunders which he +could not help and for mistakes which he was probably the first to +deplore. The world forgot that Sir Alfred never really had a free hand, +was always thwarted, either openly or in secret, by some kind of +authority, be it civil or military, which was in conflict with his own. + +It was next to an impossibility to judge a man fairly under such +conditions. All that one could say was that he deserved a good deal of +praise for having, so successfully as he did, steered through the manifold +difficulties and delicate susceptibilities with which he had to contend in +unravelling a great tangle in the history of the British Empire. + +The Afrikander Bond hated him, that was a recognised fact, but this hatred +did Sir Alfred more good than anything else. The attacks directed against +him were so mean that they only won him friends among the very people to +whom his policy had not been acceptable. The abuse showered by certain +newspapers upon the High Commissioner not only strengthened his hands and +his authority, but transformed what ought to have remained a personal +question into one in which the dignity as well as the prestige of the +Empire was involved. To have recalled him after he had been subjected to +such treatment would have been equivalent to a confession that the State +was in the wrong. I have never been able to understand how men of such +undoubted perception as Mr. Sauer or Mr. Merriman, or other leaders of the +Bond, did not grasp this fact. Sir Alfred himself put the aspect very +cleverly before the public in an able and dignified speech which he made +at the lunch offered to Lord Roberts by the Mayor and Corporation of Cape +Town when he said, "To vilify her representative is a strange way to show +one's loyalty to the Queen." + +A feature in Sir Alfred Milner's character, which was little known outside +the extremely small circle of his personal friends, was that when he was +in the wrong he never hesitated to acknowledge the fact with +straightforward frankness. His judgments were sometimes hasty, but he was +always willing to amend an opinion on just grounds. There was a good deal +of dogged firmness in his character, but not a shred of stubbornness or +obstinacy. He never yielded one inch of his ground when he believed +himself to be in the right, but he was always amenable to reason, and he +never refused to allow himself to be convinced, even though it may be that +his natural sympathies were not on the side of those with whom he had got +to deal. Very few statesmen could boast of such qualities, and they surely +ought to weigh considerably in the balance of any judgment passed upon +Viscount Milner. + +The welfare of South Africa and the reputation of Sir Alfred would have +been substantially enhanced had he been able to assert his own authority +according to his own judgment, without overrulings from Whitehall, and +with absolute freedom as to choice of colleagues. His position was most +difficult, and though he showed no outward sign of this fact, it is +impossible to believe that he did not feel its crushing weight. Between +the Bond, Mr. Hofmeyr, the race hatred which the Dutch accused him of +fomenting, the question of the refugees, the clamours of the Jingo +Colonials, and the extreme seriousness of the military situation at one +time, it was perfectly marvellous that he did not break down. Instead, as +very few men could have done, he kept a clear-headed shrewdness, owing to +which the Empire most certainly contracted an immense debt of gratitude +toward him for not having allowed himself to yield to the temptation of +retaliating upon those who had made his task such a particularly hard one. +His forbearance ought never to be lost sight of in judging the +circumstances which brought about and attended the South African War. +Whilst the war was going on it was not realised that Sir Alfred Milner was +the only man who--when the time arrived--could allay the passions arising +from the conflict. But, without vanity, he knew, and could well afford to +wait for his reward until history rather than men had judged him. + +In the meanwhile Sir Alfred had to struggle against a sea of obstacles in +which he was probably the only man clever enough not to drown himself--a +danger which overtook others who had tried to plunge into the complicated +politics of South Africa. A succession of administrators at Government +House in Cape Town ended their political career there, and left, broken in +spirit, damaged in reputation. + +As for the local politicians, they were mostly honest mediocrities or +adventurous spirits, who used their influence for their personal +advantage. An exception was Mr. Hofmeyr. But he was far too absorbed in +securing the recognition of Dutch supremacy at the Cape to be able to work +on the milder plane necessary to bring about the one great result. The +popularity of Mr. Hofmeyr was immense and his influence indisputable; but +it was not a broad influence. He shuddered at the mere possibility of the +Transvaal falling into the hands of the British. + +Whilst touching upon the subject of the Transvaal, I may say a word +concerning the strangely mixed population, for the sake of whom, +officially, Britain went to war. The war was entirely the work of the +Uitlanders, as they called themselves with a certain pride, but very few +of whom possessed a drop of English blood. The British public at home was +told that it was necessary to fight President Kruger because Englishmen in +the Transvaal were being ill-treated and denied their legitimate rights. +In reality, this was one of those conventional reasons, lacking common +sense and veracity, upon which nations are so often fed. If we enter +closely into the details of existence in the Transvaal, and examine who +were those who shouted so loudly for the franchise, we find that the +majority were either foreigners or Jews hailing from Frankfurt or Hamburg. +Many of them had, to be sure, become naturalised British subjects, but I +doubt very much whether, among all the magnates of Johannesburg or of +Kimberley, more than one or two pure-blooded Englishmen could be found. +Rhodes, of course, was an exception, but one which confirmed the rule. +Those others whose names can still be conjured with in South Africa were +Jews, mostly of Teutonic descent, who pretended that they were Englishmen +or Colonials; nothing certain was known about their origin beyond the fact +that such or such small shops in Grahamstown, Durban or Cape Town had +witnessed their childish romps. The Beits, the Neumanns and the Wernhers +were German Jews; Barney Barnato was supposed to have been born under the +shade of a Portuguese synagogue, and considered the fact as being just as +glorious a one as would have been that of having in his veins "all the +blood of all the Howards." The Joels were Hebrews; the Rudds supposed to +belong to the same race through some remote ancestor; the Mosenthals, +Abrahams, Phillipps, and other notabilities of the Rand and Kimberley, +were Jews, and one among the so-called Reformers, associated with the +Jameson Raid, was an American engineer, John Hays Hammond. + +The war, which was supposed to win the franchise for Englishmen in the +Transvaal, was in reality fought for the advantage of foreigners. Most +people honestly believed that President Kruger was aiming at destroying +English prestige throughout the vast dark continent, and would have been +horrified had they known what was going on in that distant land. Fortunes +were made on the Rand in a few days, but very few Englishmen were among +the number of those who contrived to acquire millions. Englishmen, indeed, +were not congenial to the Transvaal, whilst foreigners, claiming to be +Englishmen because they murdered the English language, abounded and +prospered, and in time came sincerely to believe that they were British +subjects, owing to the fact that they continually kept repeating that +Britain ought to possess the Rand. + +When Britain came really to rule the Rand the adventurers found it did not +in the least secure the advantages which they had imagined would derive +from a war they fostered. This question of the Uitlanders was as +embarrassing for the English Government as it had been for that of the +Transvaal. These adventurers, who composed the mass of the motley +population which flourished on the Rand, would prove a source of annoyance +to any State in the world. On the other hand, the importance acquired by +the so-called financial magnates was daily becoming a public danger, +inasmuch as it tended to substitute the reign of a particular class of +individuals for the ruling of those responsible for the welfare of the +country. These persons individually believed that they each understood +better than the Government the conditions prevailing in South Africa, and +perpetually accused Downing Street of not realising and never protecting +British interests there. + +Amidst their recriminations and the publicity they could command from the +Press, it is no wonder that Sir Alfred Milner felt bewildered. It is to +his everlasting honour that he did not allow himself to be overpowered. He +was polite to everybody; listened carefully to all the many wonderful +tales that were being related to him, and, without compromising himself, +proceeded to a work of quiet mental elimination that very soon made him +thoroughly grasp the intricacies of any situation. He quickly came to the +conclusion that President Kruger was not the principal obstacle to a +peaceful development of British Imperialism in South Africa. If ever a +conflict was foisted on two countries for mercenary motives it was the +Transvaal War, and a shrewd and impartial mind like Milner's did not take +long to discover that such was the case. + +He was not, however, a man capable of lending himself meekly to schemes of +greed, however wilily they were cloaked. His was not the kind of nature +that for the sake of peace submits to things of which it does not approve. +This man, who was represented as an oppressor of the Dutch, was in reality +their best friend, and perhaps the one who believed the most in their +eventual loyalty to the English Crown. It is a thousand pities that when +the famous Bloemfontein Conference took place Sir Alfred Milner, as he +still was at that time, had not yet acquired the experience which later +became his concerning the true state of things in the Transvaal. Had he at +that time possessed the knowledge which he was later to gain, when the +beginning of hostilities obliged so many of the ruling spirits of +Johannesburg to migrate to the Cape, it is likely that he would have acted +differently. It was not easy for the High Commissioner to shake off the +influence of all that he heard, whether told with a good or bad intention, +and it was still harder for him in those first days of his office to +discern who was right or who was wrong among those who crowded their +advice upon him--and never forgave him when he did not follow their +ill-balanced counsels. + +Concerning the outstanding personality of Cecil Rhodes, the position of +Sir Alfred Milner was even more difficult and entangled than in regard to +anyone else. It is useless to deny that he had arrived at Cape Town with +considerable prejudice against Rhodes. He could not but look +interrogatively upon the political career of a man who at the very time he +occupied the position of Prime Minister had lent himself to a conspiracy +against the independence of another land. Moreover, Rhodes was supposed, +perhaps not without reason, to be continually intriguing to return to +power, and to be chafing in secret at the political inaction which had +been imposed upon him, and for which he was himself responsible more than +anyone else. The fact that after the Raid Rhodes had been abandoned by his +former friends harmed him considerably as a political man by destroying +his renown as a statesman to whom the destinies of an Empire might be +entrusted with safety. One can truly say, when writing the story of those +years, that it resolved _itself_, into the vain struggle of Rhodes to +recover his lost prestige. Sir Alfred was continually being made +responsible for things of which he had not only been innocent, but of +which, also, he had disapproved most emphatically. To mention only +one--the famous concentration camps. A great deal of fuss was made about +them at the time, and it was generally believed that they had been +instituted at the instigation of the High Commissioner. When consulted on +the subject Sir Alfred Milner had, on the contrary, not at all shared the +opinion of those who had believed that they were a necessity, although +ultimately, for lack of earlier steps, they became so. + +The Colony at that time found its effective government vested in the hands +of the military authorities, who not infrequently acted upon opinions +which were not based upon experience or upon any local conditions. They +believed, too, implicitly what they were told, and when they heard people +protest, with tears in their eyes, their devotion to the British Crown, +and lament over the leniency with which the Governor of Cape Colony looked +upon rebellion, they could not possibly think that they were listening to +a tissue of lies, told for a purpose, nor guess that they were being made +use of. Under such conditions the only wonder is the few mistakes which +were made. To come back to the Boers' concentration camps, Sir Alfred +Milner was not a sanguinary man by any means, and his character was far +too firm to use violence as a means of government. It is probable that, +left alone, he would have found some other means to secure strict +obedience from the refugees to orders which most never thought of +resisting. Unfortunately for everybody concerned, he could do nothing +beyond expressing his opinion, and the circumstance that, out of a feeling +of duty, he made no protestations against things of which he could not +approve was exploited against him, both by the Jingo English party and by +the Dutch, all over South Africa. At Groote Schuur especially, no secret +was made by the friends of Rhodes of their disgust at the state of things +prevailing in concentration camps, and it was adroitly brought to the +knowledge of all the partisans of the Boers that, had Rhodes been master +of the situation, such an outrage on individual liberty would never have +taken place. Sir Alfred Milner was subjected to unfair, ill-natured +criticisms which were as cunning as they were bitter. The concentration +camps afford only one instance of the secret antagonisms and injustices +which Sir Alfred Milner had to bear and combat. No wonder thoughts of his +days in South Africa are still, to him, a bitter memory! + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +CROSS CURRENTS + + +The intrigues which made Groote Schuur such a disagreeable place were +always a source of intense wonder to me. I could never understand their +necessity. Neither could I appreciate the kind of hypocrisy which induced +Rhodes continually to affirm that he did not care to return to power, +whilst in reality he longed to hold the reins again. It would have been +fatally easy for Rhodes, even after the hideous mistake of the Raid, to +regain his political popularity; a little sincerity and a little truth +were all that was needed. Unfortunately, both these qualities were wanting +in what was otherwise a really gifted nature. Rhodes, it seemed by his +ways, could not be sincere, and though he seldom lied in the material +sense of the word, yet he allowed others to think and act for him, even +when he knew them to be doing so in absolute contradiction to what he +ought to have done himself. He appeared to have insufficient energy to +enforce his will on those whom he despised, yet allowed to dictate to him +even in matters which he ought to have kept absolutely under his own +control. + +I shall always maintain that Rhodes, without his so-called friends, would +most certainly have been one of the greatest figures of his time and +generation. He had a big soul, vast conceptions, and when he was not +influenced by outward material details--upon which, unfortunately for +himself as well as for his reputation in history, he allowed his mind to +dwell too often--his thoughts were always directed toward some higher +subject which absorbed his attention, inspired him, and moved him +sometimes to actions that drew very near to the heroic. He might have gone +to his grave not only with an unsullied, but also with a great reputation +based on grounds that were noble and splendid had he shaken off the +companions of former times. Unhappily, an atmosphere of flattery and +adulation had become absolutely necessary to him, and he became so used to +it that he did not perceive that his sycophants never left him alone for a +moment. They watched over him like a policeman who took good care no +foreign influence should venture to approach. + +The end of all this was that Rhodes resented the truth when it was told +him, and detested any who showed independence of judgment or appreciation +in matters concerning his affairs and projects. A man supposed to have an +iron will, yet he was weak almost to childishness in regard to these +flattering satellites. It amused him to have always at his beck and call +people willing and ready to submit to his insults, to bear with his fits +of bad temper, and to accept every humiliation which he chose to offer. + +Cecil Rhodes never saw, or affected never to see, the disastrous influence +all this had on his life. + +I remember asking him how it came that he seldom showed the desire to go +away somewhere quite alone, if even for a day or two, so as to remain +really tête-à-tête with his own reflections. His reply was most +characteristic: "What should I do with myself? One must have people about +to play cards in the evening." I might have added "and to flatter one," +but refrained. This craving continually to have someone at hand to bully, +scold, or to make use of, was certainly one of the failings of Rhodes' +powerful mind. It also indicated in a way that thirst for power which +never left him until the last moment of his life. He had within him the +weakness of those dethroned kings who, in exile, still like to have a +Court about them and to travel in state. Rhodes had a court, and also +travelled with a suite who, under the pretence of being useful to him, +effectually barred access to any stranger. But for his entourage it is +likely that Rhodes might have outlived the odium of the Raid. But, as Mrs. +van Koopman said to me, "What is the use of trying to help Rhodes when one +is sure that he will never be allowed to perform all that he might +promise?" + +The winter which followed upon the relief of Kimberley Rhodes spent almost +entirely at Groote Schuur, going to Rhodesia only in spring. During these +months negotiations between him and certain leaders of the Bond party went +on almost uninterruptedly. These were either conducted openly by people +like Mr. David de Waal, or else through other channels when not entrusted +to persons whom it would be relatively easy later on to disavow. Once or +twice these negotiations seemed to take a favourable turn at several +points, but always at the last minute Rhodes withdrew under some pretext +or other. What he would have liked would have been to have, as it were, +the Dutch party, the Bond, the English Colonists, the South African +League, President Kruger, and the High Commissioner, all rolled into one, +fall at his feet and implore him to save South Africa. When he perceived +that all these believed that there existed a possibility for matters to be +settled without his intervention, he hated every man of them with a hatred +such as only very absolute natures can feel. To hear him express his +disgust with the military authorities, abuse in turns Lord Roberts, whom +he used to call an old man in his dotage, Lord Kitchener, who was a +particular antipathy, the High Commissioner, the Government at home, and +the Bond, was an education in itself. He never hesitated before making use +of an expression of a coarseness such as does not bear repeating, and in +his private conversations he hurled insults at the heads of all. It is +therefore no wonder that the freedom of speech which Rhodes exercised at +Groote Schuur added to the difficulties of a situation the brunt of which +not he, but Sir Alfred Milner, had to bear. + +More than once the High Commissioner caused a hint to be conveyed to Cecil +Rhodes that he had better betake himself to Rhodesia, and remain there +until there was a clearer sky in Cape Colony. These hints were always +given in the most delicate manner, but Rhodes chose to consider them in +the light of a personal affront, and poured down torrents of invective +upon the British Government for what he termed their ingratitude. The +truth of the matter was that he could not bring himself to understand that +he was not the person alone capable of bringing about a permanent +settlement of South Africa. The energy of his young days had left him, and +perhaps the chronic disease from which he was suffering added to his +constant state of irritation and obscured the clearness of his judgment in +these post-raid days. + +I hope that my readers will not imagine from my reference that I have a +grudge of any kind against Doctor Jameson.[D] On the contrary, truth +compels me to say that I have seldom met a more delightful creature than +this old friend and companion of Cecil Rhodes, and I do believe he held a +sincere affection for his chief. But Jameson, as well as Rhodes, was under +the influence of certain facts and of certain circumstances, and I do not +think that he was, at that particular moment about which I am writing, the +best adviser that Rhodes might have had. In one thing Doctor Jim was above +suspicion: he had never dirtied his hands with any of the financial +speculations which those about Rhodes indulged in, to the latter's +detriment much more than his own, considering the fact that it was he who +was considered as the father of their various "smart" schemes. Jameson +always kept aloof from every kind of shady transaction in so far as money +matters were concerned, and perhaps this was the reason why so many people +detested him and kept advising Rhodes to brush him aside, or, at all +events, not to keep him near him whilst the war was going on. His name was +to the Dutch as a red rag to a very fierce and more than furious bull, +while the Bond, as well as the burghers of the Transvaal, would rather +have had dealings with the Evil One himself than with Doctor Jim. Their +prejudices against him were not to be shaken. In reality others about +Rhodes were far more dangerous than Jameson could ever have proved on the +question of a South African settlement in which the rights of the Dutch +elements in the Cape and Orange Free State would be respected and +considered. + + [D] Dr. Jameson died November 26th, 1917. + +[Illustration: THE RT. HON. SIR LEANDER STARR JAMESON] + +Whatever might have been his faults, Doctor Jameson was neither a rogue +nor a fool. For Rhodes he had a sincere affection that made him keenly +alive to the dangers that might threaten the latter, and anxious to avert +them. But during those eventful months of the war the influence of the +Doctor also had been weakened by the peculiar circumstances which had +arisen in consequence of the length of the Boer resistance. Before the war +broke out it had been generally supposed that three months would see the +end of the Transvaal Republic, and Rhodes himself, more often than I care +to remember, had prophesied that a few weeks would be the utmost that the +struggle could last. That this did not turn out to be the case had been a +surprise to the world at large and an intense disappointment to Cecil +Rhodes. He had all along nourished a bitter animosity against Kruger, and +in regard to him, as well as Messrs. Schreiner, Merriman, Hofmeyr, Sauer +and other one-time colleagues, he carried his vindictiveness to an extent +so terrible that more than once it led him into some of the most +regrettable actions in his life. + +Cecil Rhodes possessed a curious shyness which gave to his character an +appearance the more misleading in that it hid in reality a will of iron +and a ruthlessness comparable to a _Condottiere_ of the Middle Ages. The +fact was that his soul was thirsting for power, and he was inordinately +jealous of successes which anyone but himself had or could achieve in +South Africa. I am persuaded that one of the reasons why he always tried +by inference to disparage Sir Alfred Milner was his annoyance at the +latter's calm way of going on with the task which he had mapped out for +himself without allowing his mind to be troubled by the outcries of a mob +whom he despised from the height of his great integrity, unsullied honour, +and consciousness of having his duty to perform. Neither could Rhodes ever +see in political matters the necessities of the moment often made it the +duty of a statesman to hurl certain facts into oblivion and to reconcile +himself to new circumstances. + +That he did disparage Sir Alfred Milner is unfortunately certain. I +sincerely believe that the war would never have dragged on so long had not +Rhodes contrived to convey to the principal Boer leaders the impression +that while Sir Alfred Milner remained in South Africa no settlement would +be arrived at with the British Government, because the High Commissioner +would always oppose any concessions that might bring it to a successful +and prompt issue. Of course Cecil Rhodes never said this in so many words, +but he allowed people to guess that such was his conviction, and it was +only after Sir Alfred had I left the Cape for Pretoria that, by a closer +contact with the Boers themselves, some of the latter's prejudices against +him vanished. + +At last did the sturdy Dutch farmers realise that if there was one man +devoid of animosity against them, and desirous of seeing the end of a +struggle which was ruining a continent, it was Sir Alfred Milner. They +also discovered another thing concerning his political views and +opinions--that he desired just as much as they did to destroy the power +and influence of those multi-millionaires who had so foolishly believed +that after the war's end they would have at their disposal the riches +which the Transvaal contained, so that, rather than becoming a part of the +British Empire, it would in reality be an annexe of the London and Paris +Stock Exchanges. + +As events turned out, by a just retribution of Providence, the magnates +who had let greedy ambition master them lost most of the advantages which +they had been able to snatch from President Kruger. Whether this would +have happened had Rhodes not died before the conclusion of peace remains +an open question. It is certain he would have objected to a limitation of +the political power of the concerns in which he had got such tremendous +interests; it is equally sure that it would have been for him a cruel +disappointment had his name not figured as the outstanding signature on +the treaty of peace. There were in this strange man moments when his +patriotism assumed an entirely personal shape, but, improbable as it may +appear to the reader, there was sincerity in the conviction which he had +that the only man who understood what South Africa required was himself, +and that in all that he had done he had been working for the benefit of +the Empire. There was in him something akin to the feeling which had +inspired the old Roman saying, "_Civis Romanum sum._" He understood far +better than any of the individuals by whom he was surrounded the true +meaning of the word Imperialism. Unfortunately, he was apt to apply it in +the personal sense, until, indeed, it got quite confused in his mind with +a selfish feeling which prompted him to put his huge personality before +everything else. If one may do so, a reading of his mind would show that +in his secret heart he felt he had not annexed Rhodesia to the Empire nor +amalgamated the Kimberley mines and organised De Beers for the benefit of +his native Britain, but in order to make himself the most powerful man in +South Africa, and yet at the same time shrewdly realised that he could not +be the king he wished to become unless England stood behind him to cover +with her flag his heroic actions as well as his misdeeds. + +That Rhodes' death occurred at an opportune moment cannot be denied. It is +a sad thing to say, but for South Africa true enough. It removed from the +path of Sir Alfred Milner the principal obstacle that had stood in his way +ever since his arrival at Cape Town. The Rhodesian party, deprived of its +chief, was entirely harmless. Rhodesian politics, too, lost their strength +when he was no longer there to impose them upon South Africa. + +One of the great secrets of the enormous influence which the Colossus had +acquired lay in the fact that he had never spared his money when it was a +question of thrusting his will in directions favourable to his interest. +None of those who aspired to take his place could follow him on that road, +because none were so superbly indifferent to wealth. Cecil Rhodes did not +care for riches for the personal enjoyments they can purchase. He was +frugal in his tastes, simple in his manners and belongings, and absolutely +careless as to the comforts of life. The waste in his household was +something fabulous, but it is a question whether he ever participated in +luxuries showered upon others. His one hobby had been the embellishment of +Groote Schuur, which he had really transformed into something absolutely +fairylike as regards its exterior beauties and the loveliness of its +grounds and gardens. Inside, too, the house, furnished after the old Dutch +style, struck one by its handsomeness, though it was neither homelike nor +comfortable. In its decoration he had followed the plans of a clever +architect, to whose artistic education he had generously contributed by +giving to him facilities to travel in Europe, but he had not lent anything +of his own personality to the interior arrangements of his home, which had +always kept the look of a show place, neither cared for nor properly +looked after. + +Rhodes himself felt happier and more at his ease when rambling in his +splendid park and gazing on Table Mountain from his stoep than amidst the +luxury of his richly furnished rooms. Sometimes he would sit for hours +looking at the landscape before him, lost in a meditation which but few +cared to disturb, and after which he invariably showed himself at his best +and in a softer mood than he had been before. Unfortunately, these moments +never lasted long, and he used to revenge himself on those who had +surprised him in such reveries by indulging in the most caustic and cruel +remarks which he could devise in order to goad them out of all patience. A +strange man with strange instincts; and it is no wonder that, once, a +person who knew him well, and who had known him in the days of his youth +when he had not yet developed his strength of character, had said of him +that "One could not help liking him and one could not avoid hating him; +and sometimes one hated him when one liked him most." + +Sir Alfred Milner had neither liked nor hated him, perhaps because his +mind was too well balanced to allow him to view him otherwise than with +impartiality and with a keen appreciation of his great qualities. He would +have liked to work with Rhodes, and would gladly have availed himself of +his experience of South Africa and of South African politicians. But Sir +Alfred refused to be drawn into any compromises with his own conscience or +to offend his own sense of right and wrong. He was always sincere, though +he was never given credit for being so in South Africa. Sir Alfred Milner +could not understand why Rhodes, instead of resolutely asserting that he +wanted to enter into negotiations with the Bond in order to win its +co-operation in the great work of organising the new existence of South +Africa on a sound and solid basis, preferred to cause promises to be made +to the Bond which he would never consent to acknowledge. + +These tortuous roads, which were so beloved by Rhodes, were absolutely +abhorrent to the High Commissioner. When Rhodes started the agitation for +the suspension of the Constitution, which occupied his thoughts during the +last months of his life--an agitation which he had inaugurated out of +spite against Mr. Sauer and Mr. Hofmeyr, who had refused to dance to +Rhodes' tune--Sir Alfred Milner had at once seen through the underlying +motives of the moment, and what he discerned had not increased his +admiration for Rhodes. Sir Alfred had not opposed the plans, but he had +never been sanguine as to their chance of success, and they were not in +accordance with his own convictions. Had he thought they had the least +chance of being adopted, most certainly he would have opposed them with +just as much energy as Sir Gordon Sprigg had done. He saw quite well that +it would not have been opportune or politic to put himself into open +opposition to Rhodes. Sir Alfred therefore did not contradict the rumours +which attributed to him the desire to reduce the Cape to the condition of +a Crown Colony, but bent his energy to the far more serious task of +negotiating a permanent peace with the leading men in the Transvaal, a +peace for which he did not want the protection of Rhodes, and to which an +association with Rhodes might have proved inimical to the end in view--the +ideal of a South African Federation which Rhodes had been the first to +visualise, but which Providence did not permit him to see accomplished. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS + + +It is impossible to speak or write about the South African War without +mentioning the Concentration Camps. A great deal of fuss was made about +them, not only abroad, where all the enemies of England took a particular +and most vicious pleasure in magnifying the so-called cruelties which were +supposed to take place, but also in the English Press, where long and +heartrending accounts appeared concerning the iniquities and injustices +practised by the military authorities on the unfortunate Boer families +assembled in the Camps. + +In recurring to this long-forgotten theme, I must first of all say that I +do not hold a brief for the English Government or for the administration +which had charge of British interests in South Africa. But pure and simple +justice compels me to protest, first against the use which was made for +party purposes of certain regrettable incidents, and, more strongly still, +against the totally malicious and ruthless way in which the incidents were +interpreted. + +It is necessary before passing a judgment on the Concentration Camps to +explain how it came about that these were organised. At the time of which +I am writing people imagined that by Lord Kitchener's orders Boer women, +children and old people were forcibly taken away from their homes and +confined, without any reason for such an arbitrary proceeding, in +unhealthy places where they were subjected to an existence of privation as +well as of humiliation and suffering. Nothing of the kind had taken place. + +The idea of the Camps originated at first from the Boers themselves in an +indirect way. When the English troops marched into the Orange Free State +and the Transvaal, most of the farmers who composed the bulk of the +population of the two Republics having taken to arms, there was no one +left in the homes they had abandoned save women, children and old men no +longer able to fight. These fled hurriedly as soon as English detachments +and patrols were in sight, but most of the time they did not know where +they could fly to, and generally assembled in camps somewhere on the +veldt, where they hoped that the British troops would not discover them. +There, however, they soon found their position intolerable owing to the +want of food and to the lack of hygienic precautions. + +The British authorities became aware of this state of things and could not +but try to remedy it. Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. To +come to the help of several thousands of people in a country where +absolutely no resources were to be found was a quite stupendous task, of a +nature which might well have caused the gravest anxieties to the men +responsible for the solution. It was then that the decision was reached to +organise upon a reasonable scale camps after the style of those which +already had been inaugurated by the Boers themselves. + +The idea, which was not a bad one, was carried out in an unfortunate +manner, which gave to the world at large the idea that the burgher +families who were confined in these camps were simply put into a prison +which they had done nothing to deserve. The Bond Press, always on the +alert to reproach England, seized hold of the establishment of the Camps +to transform into martyrs the persons who had been transferred to them, +and soon a wave of indignation swept over not only South Africa, but also +over Britain. This necessary act of human civilisation was twisted to +appear as an abuse of power on the part of Lord Roberts and especially of +Lord Kitchener, who, in this affair, became the scapegoat for many sins he +had never committed. The question of the Concentration Camps was made the +subject of interpellations in the House of Commons, and indignation +meetings were held in many parts of England. The Nonconformist Conscience +was deeply stirred at what was thought to be conduct which not even the +necessities of war could excuse. Torrents of ink were spilt to prove that +at the end of the nineteenth century measures and methods worthy of the +Inquisition were resorted to by British Government officials, who--so the +ready writers and ready-tongued averred--with a barbarity such as the +Middle Ages had not witnessed, wanted to be revenged on innocent women and +children for the resistance their husbands and fathers were making against +an aggression which in itself nothing could justify. + +So far as the Boers themselves were concerned, I think that a good many +among them viewed the subject with far more equanimity than the English +public. For one thing, the fact of their women and children being put in +places where at least they would not die of hunger must have come to them +rather in the light of a relief than anything else. Then, too, one must +not lose sight of the conditions under which the Boer burghers and farmers +used to exist in normal times. Cleanliness did not rank among their +virtues; and, as a rule, hygiene was an unknown science. They were mostly +dirty and neglected in their personal appearance, and their houses were +certainly neither built nor kept in accordance with those laws of +sanitation which in the civilised world have become a matter of course. +Water was scarce, and the long and torrid summers, during which every bit +of vegetation was dried up on the veldt, had inured the population to +certain privations which would have been intolerable to Europeans. These +things, and the unfortunate habits of the Boers, made it extremely +difficult, if not impossible, to realise in the Camps any approach to the +degree of cleanliness which was desirable. + +To say that the people in the Concentration Camps were happy would be a +gross exaggeration, but to say that they were martyrs would convey an +equally false idea. When judging of facts one ought always to remember the +local conditions under which these facts have developed. A Russian moujik +sent to Siberia does not find that his life there is very much different +from what it was at home, but a highly civilised, well-educated man, +condemned to banishment in those frozen solitudes, suffers acutely, being +deprived of all that had made existence sweet and tolerable to him. I feel +certain that an Englishman, confined in one of the Concentration Camps of +South Africa, would have wished himself dead ten times a day, whilst the +wife of a Boer farmer would not have suffered because of missing soap and +water and clean towels and nicely served food, though she might have felt +the place hot and unpleasant, and might have lamented over the loss of the +home in which she had lived for years. + +The Concentration Camps were a necessity, because without them thousands +of people, the whole white population of a country indeed, amounting to +something over sixty thousand people, would have died of hunger and cold. + +The only means of existence the country Boers had was the produce of their +farms. This taken away from them, they were left in the presence of +starvation, and starvation only. This population, deprived of every means +of subsistence, would have invaded Cape Colony, which already was overrun +with white refugees from Johannesburg and the Rand, who had proved a +prolific source of the greatest annoyance to the British Government. To +allow this mass of miserable humanity to wander all over the Colony would +have been inhuman, and I would like to know what those who, in England and +upon the Continent, were so indignant over the Concentration Camps would +have said had it turned out that some sixty thousand human creatures had +been allowed to starve. + +The British Government, owing to the local conditions under which the +South African War came to be fought, found itself in a dilemma, out of +which the only escape was to try to relieve wholesale misery in the most +practical manner possible. There was no time to plan out with deliberation +what ought to be done; some means had to be devised to keep a whole +population alive whom an administration would have been accused of +murdering had there been delay in feeding it. + +There was also another danger to be faced had the veldt been allowed to +become the scene of a long-continued migration of nations--that of +allowing the movements of the British troops to become known, thereby +lengthening a war of already intolerable length, to say nothing of +exposing uselessly the lives of English detachments, which, in this +guerrilla kind of warfare, would inevitably have occurred had the Boer +leaders remained in constant communication with their wandering +compatriots. + +Altogether the institution of the Concentration Camps was not such a bad +one originally. Unfortunately, they were not organised with the +seriousness which ought to have been brought to bear on such a delicate +matter, and their care was entrusted to people who succeeded, unwittingly +perhaps, in making life there less tolerable than it need have been. + +I visited some of the Concentration Camps, and looked into their interior +arrangements with great attention. The result of my personal observations +was invariably the same--that where English officials were in charge of +these Camps everything possible was done to lighten the lot of their +inmates. But where others were entrusted with surveillance, every kind of +annoyance, indignity and insult was offered to poor people obliged to +submit to their authority. + +In this question, as in many others connected with the Boer War, it was +the local Jingoes who harmed the British Government more than anything +else, and the Johannesburg Uitlanders, together with the various Volunteer +Corps and Scouts, brought into the conduct of the enterprises with which +they were entrusted an intolerance and a smallness of spirit which +destroyed British prestige far more than would have done a dozen +unfortunate wars. The very fact that one heard these unwise people openly +say that every Boer ought to be killed, and that even women and children +ought to be suppressed if one wanted to win the war, gave abroad the idea +that England was a nation thirsting for the blood of the unfortunate +Afrikanders. This mistaken licence furnished the Bond with the pretext to +persuade the Dutch Colonists to rebel, and the Boer leaders with that of +going on with their resistance until their last penny had been exhausted +and their last gun had been captured. + +Without these detestable Jingoes, who would have done so much harm not +only to South Africa, but also to their Mother Country, England, it is +certain that an arrangement, which would have brought about an honourable +peace for everybody, could have come much sooner than it did. A +significant fact worth remembering--that the Boers did not attempt to +destroy the mines on the Rand--goes far to prove that they were not at all +so determined to hurt British property, or to ruin British residents, or +to destroy the large shareholder concerns to which the Transvaal owed its +celebrity, as was credited to them. + +When the first rumours that terrible things were going on in the +Concentration Camps reached England there were found at once amateurs +willing to start for South Africa to investigate the truth of the +accusations. A great fuss was made over an appeal by Lady Maxwell, the +wife of the Military Governor of Pretoria, in which she entreated America +to assist her in raising a fund to provide warm clothing for the Boer +women and children. Conclusions were immediately drawn, saddling the +military authorities with responsibility for the destitution in which +these women and children found themselves. But in the name of common +sense, how could one expect that people who had run away before what they +believed to be an invasion of barbarians determined to burn down and +destroy all their belongings--how could one expect that these people in +their flight would have thought about taking with them their winter +clothes, which, in the hurry of a departure in a torrid summer, would only +have proved a source of embarrassment to them? More recently we have seen +in Belgium, France, Poland and the Balkans what occurred to the refugees +who fled before foreign invasion. The very fact of Lady Maxwell's appeal +proved the solicitude of the official English classes for the unfortunate +Boers and their desire to do something to provide them with the +necessaries of life. + +Everybody knows the amount of money which is required in cases of this +kind, and--in addition to America's unstinting response--public and +private charity in Britain flowed as generously as it always does upon +every occasion when an appeal is made to it in cases of real misfortune. +But when it comes to relieve the wants of about sixty-three thousand +people, of all ages and conditions, this is not so easy to do as persons +fond of criticising things which they do not understand are apt sweepingly +to declare. Very soon the question of the Concentration Camps became a +Party matter, and was made capital of for Party purposes without +discrimination or restraint. Sham philanthropists filled the newspapers +with their indignation, and a report was published in the form of a +pamphlet by Miss Hobhouse, which, it is to be feared, contained some +percentage of tales poured into her ears by people who were nurtured in +the general contempt for truth which at that time existed in South Africa. + +If the question of Concentration Camps had been examined seriously, it +would have been at once perceived what a tremendous burden the +responsibility of having to find food and shelter for thousands of enemy +people imposed on English officials. No one in Government circles +attempted or wished to deny, sorrowful as it was to have to recognise it, +that the condition of the Camps was not, and indeed could not be, nearly +what one would have wished or desired. On the other hand, the British +authorities were unremitting in their efforts to do everything which was +compatible with prudence to improve the condition of these Camps. +Notwithstanding, people were so excited in regard to the question, and it +was so entirely a case of "Give a dog a bad name," that even the +appointment of an Imperial Commission to report on the matter failed to +bring them to anything approaching an impartial survey. Miss Hobhouse's +report had excited an emotion only comparable to the publication of Mrs. +Beecher Stowe's famous novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin." + +Miss Hobhouse came to South Africa inspired by the most generous motives, +but her lack of knowledge of the conditions of existence common to +everyone in that country prevented her from forming a true opinion as to +the real hardship of what she was called upon to witness. Her own +interpretations of the difficulties and discomforts which she found +herself obliged to face proved that she had not realised what South Africa +really was. Her horror at the sight of a snake in one of the tents she +visited could only evoke a smile from those who had lived for some time in +that country, as a visitor of that particular kind was possible even in +the suburbs of Cape Town, and certainly offered nothing wonderful in a +tent on the high veldt. The same remark can be applied to the hotels, +which Miss Hobhouse described as something quite ghastly. Everyone who +knew what South Africa really was could only agree with her that the +miserable places there were anything but pleasant residences, but the fuss +which she made as to these trivial details could only make one sceptical +as to the genuineness of the other scenes which she described at such +length. No one who had had occasion to watch the development of the war or +the circumstances which had preceded it could bring himself to believe +with her that the British Government was guilty of premeditated cruelty. + +Of course, it was quite dreadful for those who had been taken to the +Concentration Camps to find themselves detained there against their will, +but at the same time, as I have already remarked, the question remains as +to what these people would have done had they been left absolutely +unprotected and unprovided for among the remnants of what had once been +their homes. It was certain that Miss Hobhouse's pamphlet revealed a +parlous state of things, but did she realise that wood, blankets, linen +and food were not things which could be transported with the quickness +that those responsible heartily desired? Did she remember that the British +troops also had to do without the most elementary comforts, in spite of +all the things which were constantly being sent from home for the benefit +of the field forces? Both had in South Africa two enemies in common that +could not be subdued--distance and difficulty of communication. With but a +single line of railway, which half the time was cut in one place or +another, it was but natural that the Concentration Camps were deprived of +a good many things which those who were compelled to live within their +limits would, under different circumstances or conditions, have had as a +matter of course. + +Miss Hobhouse had to own that she met with the utmost courtesy from the +authorities with whom she had to deal, a fact alone which proved that the +Government was only too glad to allow people to see what was being done +for the Boer women and children, and gratefully appreciated every useful +suggestion likely to lighten the sad lot of those in the Camps. + +It is no use denying, and indeed no one, Sir Alfred Milner least of all, +would have denied that some of the scenes witnessed by Miss Hobhouse, +which were afterwards described with such tremulous indignation, were of a +nature to shock public opinion both at home and abroad. But, at the same +time, it was not fair to circumstances or to people to have a false +sentimentality woven into what was written. Things ought to have been +looked upon through the eyes of common sense and not through the +refracting glasses of the indignation of the moment. It was a libel to +suggest that the British authorities rendered themselves guilty of +deliberate cruelty, because, on the contrary, they always and upon every +occasion did everything they could to lighten the lot of the enemy peoples +who had fallen into their hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE PRISONERS' CAMPS + + +I went myself very carefully into the details of whatever information I +was able to gather in regard to the treatment of Boer prisoners in the +various Camps, notably at Green Point near Cape Town, and I always had to +come to the conclusion that nothing could have been better. Is it likely +that, when such an amount of care was bestowed upon the men, the women and +children should have been made the objects of special persecution? No +impartial person could believe such a thing to have been possible, and I +feel persuaded that if the people who in England contributed to make the +position of the British Government more difficult than already it was, +could have glanced at some Prisoners' Camps, for instance, they would very +quickly have recognised that an unbalanced sentimentality had exaggerated +facts, and even in some cases distorted them. + +In Green Point the prisoners were housed in double-storied buildings which +had balconies running round them. Here they used to spend many hours of +the day, for not only could they see what was going on around the Camps +but also have a good view of the sea and passing ships. Each room held six +men, and there was besides a large mess-room downstairs in each building +which held about ninety people. Each Boer officer had a room for himself. +When, later on, the number of prisoners of war was increased, tents had to +be erected to accommodate them; but this could hardly be considered +hardship in the climate which prevails at the Cape, and cannot be compared +to what at the present moment the soldiers of the Allies are enduring in +the trenches. The tents were put in a line of twenty each, and each score +had a building attached for the men in that line to use as a dormitory if +they chose. Excellent bathrooms and shower-baths were provided, together +with a plentiful supply of water. The feeding of the prisoners of war was +on a substantial scale, the daily rations per man including: + + Bread 1¼ lb. + Meat (fresh) 1 lb. + Sugar 3 oz. + Coal (or) 1 lb. + Wood (or) 2 lb. + Coal and wood 1½ lb. + Vegetables ½ lb. + Jam ¼ lb., or 6 oz. of + vegetables in lieu. + +Coffee, milk and other items were also in like generous apportionments. + +The clothing issued to the prisoners, as asked for by them, to give the +month of June, 1901, as an instance, was: + + Boots 143 pairs + Braces 59 pairs + Hats 164 + Jackets 133 + Shirts 251 + Socks 222 pairs + Trousers 166 + Waistcoats 87 + +and other small sundries. + +At Green Point Camp ample hospital accommodation was provided for the +sick, and there was a medical staff thoroughly acquainted with the Dutch +language and Boer habits. There was electric light in every ward, as well +as all other comforts compatible with discipline. + +In the first six months of 1901 only five men died in the Camps, the +average daily strength of which was over 5,000 men. As for the sick, the +average rarely surpassed 1 per cent., amongst which were included wounded +men, the cripples, and the invalids left behind from the parties of war +prisoners sent oversea to St. Helena or other places. + +The hospital diet included, as a matter of course, many things not forming +part of the ordinary rations, such as extra milk, meat extracts, and +brandy. A suggestive fact in that respect was that though the medical +officers in charge of the Camps often appealed to Boer sympathisers to +send them eggs, milk and other comforts for the sick prisoners, they +hardly ever met with response; and in the rare cases when it happened, it +was mostly British officials or officers' wives who provided these +luxuries. + +The spiritual needs of the prisoners of war were looked after with +consideration; there was a recreation room, and, during the time that a +large number of very young Boers were in Camps, an excellent school, in +which the headmaster and assistant teachers held teachers' certificates. +Under the Orange River Colony this school was later transferred to the +Prisoners of War Camp at Simonstown, and in both places it did a +considerable amount of good. The younger Boers took very kindly and almost +immediately to English games such as football, cricket, tennis and quoits, +for which there was plenty of room, and the British authorities provided +recreation huts, and goal posts and other implements. The Boers also +amused themselves with amateur theatricals, club-swinging, and even formed +a minstrel troup called the "Green Point Spreemos." + +In the Camps there was a shop where the Boers could buy anything that they +required in reason at prices regulated by the Military Commandant. Beyond +this, relatives and friends were allowed to send them fruit or anything +else, with the exception of firearms. In the Boer laagers were coffee +shops run by speculative young Boers. The prisoners used to meet there in +order to drink coffee, eat pancakes and talk to heart's content. This +particular spot was generally called Pan Koek Straat, and the wildest +rumours concerning the war seemed to originate in it. + +Now as to the inner organisation of the Camps. The prisoners were allowed +to choose a corporal from their midst and also to select a captain for +each house. Over the whole Camp there reigned a Boer Commandant, assisted +by a Court of "Heemraden" consisting of exlandrosts and lawyers appointed +by the prisoners of war themselves. Any act of insubordination or +inattention to the regulations, sanitary or otherwise, was brought before +this court and the guilty party tried and sentenced. When the latter +refused to abide by the judgment of the Boer court he was brought before +the Military Commandant, but for this there was very seldom need. + +The prisoners of war had permission to correspond with their friends and +relatives, and were allowed newspapers and books. The former, however, +were rather too much censored, which fact constituted an annoyance which, +with the exertion of a little tact, might easily have been avoided. + +As will be seen from the details, the fate of the Boer prisoners of war +was not such a bad one after all. Nor, either, was life in the +Concentration Camps, and I have endeavoured to throw some new light on the +subject to rebut the old false rumours which, lately, the German +Government revived when taxed with harsh treatment of their own prisoners +of war, so as to draw comparisons advantageously to themselves. + +While adhering to my point, I quite realise that it would be foolish to +assert that all the Concentration Camps were organised and administered on +the model of the Green Point Camp, where its vicinity to Cape Town allowed +the English authorities to control everything that was going on. In the +interior of the country things could not be arranged upon such an +excellent scale, but had there not existed such a state of irritation all +over the whole of South Africa--an irritation for which the so-called +English loyalists must also share the blame--matters would not have grown +so sadly out of proportion to the truth, painful though the facts were in +some cases. + +This question of the Camps was admittedly a most difficult one. It was the +result of a method of warfare which was imposed upon England by +circumstances, but for which no individual Minister or General was solely +responsible. The matter was brought about by successive steps that turned +out to be necessary, though they were deplorable in every respect. Failing +the capture of the Boer commandoes, which was well-nigh impossible, the +British troops were driven to strip the country, and stripping the country +meant depriving not only the fighting men but also the women and children +of the means of subsistence. Concentration, therefore, followed +inevitably, and England found itself burdened with the immense +responsibility of feeding, housing and clothing some sixty thousand women +and children. + +In spite of the British officers in charge of the Concentration Camps +struggling manfully with this crushing burden of anxiety, and doing all +that lay within their power to alleviate the sufferings of this multitude, +cruel and painful things happened. The food, which was sufficient and +wholesome for soldiers, could not do for young people, and yet it was +impossible to procure any other for them. If the opinion of the military +had been allowed to be expressed openly, one would have found probably +that they thought England ought never to have assumed this responsibility, +but rather have chosen the lesser evil and left these people on their +farms, running the risk of the Boers provisioning themselves therefrom. +The risk would not, perhaps, have been so great as could have been +supposed at first sight, but then this ought to have been done from the +very beginning of the war, and the order to burn the Boer farms ought +never to have been given. But once the Boer farms had been deprived of +their military use to the enemy, these people could not be turned back to +starve on the veldt; the British had to feed them or earn the reproach of +having destroyed a nation by hunger. As things had developed it was +impossible for Great Britain to have followed any other policy--adopted, +perhaps, in a moment of rashness, but the consequences had to be accepted. +It only remained to do the best toward mitigating as far as possible the +sufferings of the mass of humanity gathered into the Camps, and this I +must maintain that the English Government did better than could have been +expected by any who knew South Africa and the immense difficulties which +beset the British authorities. + +It must not be forgotten that when the war began it was looked upon in the +light of a simple military promenade; and, who knows, it might have been +that had not the Boers been just as mistaken concerning the intentions of +England in respect of them as England was in regard to the Boer military +strength and power of resistance. One must take into account that for the +few years preceding the war, and especially since the fatal Jameson Raid, +the whole of the Dutch population of the Transvaal and of the Orange Free +State, as well as that of Cape Colony, was persuaded that England had made +up its mind to destroy it and to give up their country, as well as their +persons, into the absolute power of the millionaires who ruled the Rand. +On their side the millionaires openly declared that the mines were their +personal property, and that England was going to war to give the Rand to +them, and thereafter they were to rule this new possession without any +interference from anyone in the world, not even that of England. Such a +state of things was absolutely abnormal, and one can but wonder how ideas +of the kind could have obtained credence. But, strange as it may seem, it +is an indisputable fact that the opinion was prevalent all over South +Africa that the Rand was to be annexed to the British Empire just in the +same way as Rhodesia had been and under the same conditions. Everyone in +South Africa knew that the so-called conquest of the domain of King +Lobengula had been effected only because it had been supposed that it was +as rich in gold and diamonds as the Transvaal. + +When Rhodes had taken possession of the vast expanse of territory which +was to receive his name, the fortune-seekers who had followed in his +footsteps had high anticipations of speedy riches, and came in time to +consider that they had a right to obtain that which they had come to look +for. These victims of money-hunger made Rhodes personally responsible for +the disappointments which their greed and unhealthy appetites encountered +when at last they were forced to the conclusion that Rhodesia was a land +barren of gold. In time, perhaps, and at enormous expense, it might be +developed for the purpose of cattle breeding, but gold and diamonds either +did not exist or could only be found in such small quantities that it was +not worth while looking for them. + +As a result of this realisation, Rhodes found himself confronted by all +these followers, who loudly clamoured around him their indignation at +having believed in his assertions. What wonder, therefore, that the +thoughts of these people turned toward the possibility of diverting the +treasures of the Transvaal into their own direction. Rhodes was brought +into contact with the idea that it was necessary to subdue President +Kruger. With a man of Rhodes' impulsive character to begin wishing for a +thing was sufficient to make him resort to every means at his disposal to +obtain it. The Boer War was the work of the Rhodesian party, and long +before it broke out it was expected, spoken of, and considered not only by +the Transvaal Government, but also by the Burghers, who, having many +opportunities of visiting the Cape as well as Rhodesia, had there heard +expression of the determination of the South African League, and of those +who called themselves followers and partisans of Rhodes, to get hold of +the Rand, at the head of which, as an inevitable necessity, should be the +Colossus himself. No denial of these plans ever came from Rhodes. By his +attitude, even when relations between London and Pretoria were excellent, +he gave encouragement to the people who were making all kinds of +speculations as to what should happen when the Transvaal became a Crown +Colony. + +The idea of a South African Federation had not at that time taken hold of +public opinion, and, if Rhodes became its partisan later on, it was only +after he had realised that the British Cabinet would never consent to put +Johannesburg on the same footing as Bulawayo and Bechuanaland. Too large +and important interests were at stake for Downing Street to look with +favourable eyes on the Rand becoming only one vast commercial concern. A +line had to be drawn, but, unfortunately, the precise demarcation was not +conveyed energetically enough from London. On the other hand, Cecil +Rhodes, as well as his friends and advisers, did not foresee that a war +would not put them in power at the Transvaal, but would give that country +to the Empire to rule, to use its riches and resources for the good of the +community at large. + +The saddest feature of the South African episode was its sordidness. This +robbed it of every dignity and destroyed every sympathy of those who +looked at it impartially or from another point of view than that of +pounds, shillings and pence. England has been cruelly abused for its +conduct in South Africa, and abused most unjustly. Had that feeling of +trust in the justice and in the straightforwardness of Great Britain only +existed in the Dark Continent, as it did in the other Colonies and +elsewhere, it would have proved the best solution to all the entangled +questions which divided the Transvaal Republic from the Mother Country by +reason of its manner of looking at the exploitation of the gold mines. On +its side too, perhaps, England might have been brought to consider the +Boers in a different light had she disbelieved a handful of people who had +every interest in the world to mislead her and to keep her badly informed +as to the truth of the situation. + +When war broke out it was not easy for the Command to come at once to a +sane appreciation of the situation, and, unfortunately for all the parties +concerned, the unjust prejudices which existed in South Africa against Sir +Alfred Milner had to a certain extent tinctured the minds of people at +home, exercising no small influence on the men who ought to have helped +the High Commissioner to carry through his plans for the settlement of the +situation subsequently to the war. The old saying, "Calumniate, +calumniate, something will always remain after it," was never truer than +in the case of this eminent statesman. + +It took some time for matters to be put on a sound footing, and before +this actually occurred many mistakes had been made, neither easy to +rectify nor possible to explain. Foremost among them was this question of +the Concentration Camps. Not even the protestations of the women who +subsequently went to the Cape and to the Transvaal to report officially on +the question were considered sufficient to dissipate the prejudices which +had arisen on this unfortunate question. The best reply that was made to +Miss Hobhouse, and to the lack of prudence which spoiled her good +intentions, was a letter which Mrs. Henry Fawcett addressed to the +_Westminster Gazette_. In clear, lucid diction this letter re-established +facts on their basis of reality, and explained with self-respect and +self-control the inner details of a situation which the malcontents had +not given themselves the trouble to examine. + +"First," says this forceful document, "I would note Miss Hobhouse's +frequent acknowledgments that the various authorities were doing their +best to make the conditions of Camp life as little intolerable as +possible. The opening sentence of her report is, 'January 22.--I had a +splendid truck given me at Cape Town through the kind co-operation of Sir +Alfred Milner--a large double-covered one, capable of holding twelve +tons.' In other places she refers to the help given to her by various +officials. The commandant at Aliwal North had ordered £150 worth of +clothing, and had distributed it; she undertook to forward some of it. At +Springfontein 'the commandant was a kind man, and willing to help both the +people and me as far as possible.' Other similar quotations might be made. +Miss Hobhouse acknowledges that the Government recognise that they are +responsible for providing clothes, and she appears rather to deprecate the +making and sending of further supplies from England. I will quote her +exact words on this point. The italics are mine. 'The demand for clothing +is so huge that it is hopeless to think that the private charity of +England and Colonial working parties combined can effectually cope with +it. _The Government recognise that they must provide necessary clothes,_ +and I think we all agree that, having brought these people into this +position, it is their duty to do so. _It is, of course, a question for +English folk to decide how long they like to go on making and sending +clothes._ There is no doubt they are immensely appreciated; besides, they +are mostly made up, which the Government clothing won't be.' Miss Hobhouse +says that many of the women in the Camp at Aliwal North had brought their +sewing machines. If they were set to work to make clothes it might serve a +double purpose of giving them occupation and the power of earning a little +money, and it would also ensure the clothes being made sufficiently large. +Miss Hobhouse says people in England have very incorrect notions of the +magnificent proportions of the Boer women. Blouses which were sent from +England intended for women could only be worn by girls of twelve and +fourteen; they were much too small for the well-developed Boer maiden, who +is really a fine creature. Could a woman's out-out size be procured? It +must be remembered that when Miss Hobhouse saw the Camps for the first +time it was in January, the hottest month in the South African year; the +difficulty of getting supplies along a single line of rail, often broken +by the enemy, was very great. The worst of the Camps she saw was at +Bloemfontein, and the worst features of this worst Camp were: + +"1. Water supply was bad. + +"2. Fuel was very scarce. + +"3. Milk was very scarce. + +"4. Soap was not to be had. + +"5. Insufficient supply of trained nurses. + +"6. Insufficient supply of civilian doctors. + +"7. No ministers of religion. + +"8. No schools for children. + +"9. Exorbitant prices were demanded in the shops. + +"10. Parents had been separated from their children. + +"Within the Report itself, either in footnotes or in the main body of the +Report, Miss Hobhouse mentions that active steps had already been taken to +remedy these evils. Tanks had been ordered to boil all the water. She left +money to buy another, and supplied every family with a pan to hold boiled +water. Soap was given out with the rations. 'Moreover, the Dutch are so +very full of resources and so clever they can make their own soap with fat +and soda.' The milk supply was augmented; during the drought fifty cows +only yielded four buckets of milk daily. 'After the rains the milk supply +was better.' An additional supply of nurses were on their way. 'The Sister +had done splendid work in her domain battling against incessant +difficulties ... and to crown the work she has had the task of training +Boer girls to nurse under her guidance.' + +"Ministers of religion are in residence, and schools under Mr. E.B. +Sargant, the Educational Commissioner, are open for boys and girls. +Children have been reunited to parents, except that some girls, through +Miss Hobhouse's kind efforts, have been moved away from the Camps +altogether into boarding schools. Even in this Bloemfontein Camp, +notwithstanding all that Miss Hobhouse says of the absence of soap and the +scarcity of water, she is able to write: 'All the tents I have been in are +exquisitely neat and clean, except two, and they are ordinary.' Another +important admission about this Camp is to be found in the last sentence of +the account of Miss Hobhouse's second visit to Bloemfontein. She describes +the iron huts which have been erected there at a cost of £2,500, and says: +'It is so strange to think that every tent contains a family, and every +family is in trouble--loss behind, poverty in front, privation and death +in the present--but they have agreed to be cheerful and make the best of +it all.' + +"There can be no doubt that the sweeping together of about 68,000 men, +women and children into these Camps must have been attended by great +suffering and misery, and if they are courageously borne it is greatly to +the credit of the sufferers. The questions the public will ask, and will +be justified in asking, are: + +"1. Was the creation of these Camps necessary from the military point of +view? + +"2. Are our officials exerting themselves to make the conditions of the +Camps as little oppressive as possible? + +"3. Ought the public at home to supplement the efforts of the officials, +and supply additional comforts and luxuries? + +"The reply to the first question can only be given by the military +authorities, and they have answered it in the affirmative. Put briefly, +their statement is that the farms on the veldt were being used by small +commandoes of the enemy as storehouses for food, arms and ammunition; and, +above all, they have been centres for supplying false information to our +men about the movements of the enemy, and correct information to the enemy +about the movements of the British. No one blames the Boer women on the +farms for this; they have taken an active part on behalf of their own +people in the war, and they glory in the fact. But no one can take part in +war without sharing in its risks, and the formation of the Concentration +Camps is part of the fortune of war. In this spirit 'they have agreed,' as +Miss Hobhouse says, 'to be cheerful and make the best of it.' + +"The second question--'Are our officials exerting themselves to make the +Camps as little oppressive as possible?'--can also be answered in the +affirmative, judging from the evidence supplied by Miss Hobhouse herself. +This does not imply that at the date of Miss Hobhouse's visit, or at any +time, there were not matters capable of improvement. But it is confessed +even by hostile witnesses that the Government had a very difficult task, +and that its officials were applying themselves to grapple with it with +energy, kindness and goodwill. Miss Hobhouse complains again and again of +the difficulty of procuring soap. May I quote, as throwing light upon the +fact that the Boer women were no worse off than the English themselves, +that Miss Brooke-Hunt, who was in Pretoria to organise soldiers' +institutes a few months earlier than Miss Hobhouse was at Bloemfontein, +says in her interesting book, 'A Woman's Memories of the War': 'Captain +---- presented me with a piece of Sunlight soap, an act of generosity I +did not fully appreciate till I found that soap could not be bought for +love or money in the town.' A Boer woman of the working-class said to Miss +Brooke-Hunt: 'You English are different from what I thought. They told us +that if your soldiers got inside Pretoria they would rob us of everything, +burn our houses, and treat us cruelly; but they have all been kind and +respectable. It seems a pity we did not know this before.' Miss Hobhouse +supplies some rather similar testimony. In her Report she says: 'The +Mafeking Camp folk were very surprised to hear that English women cared a +rap about them or their suffering. It has done them a lot of good to hear +that real sympathy is felt for them at home, and I am so glad I fought my +way here, if only for that reason.' + +"In what particular way Miss Hobhouse had to fight her way to the Camps +does not appear, for she acknowledges the kindness of Lord Kitchener and +Lord Milner in enabling her to visit them; we must therefore suppose that +they provided her with a pass. But the sentence just quoted is enough in +itself to furnish the answer to the third question--'Is it right for the +public at home to supplement by gifts of additional comforts and luxuries +the efforts of our officials to make Camp life as little intolerable as +possible?' All kinds of fables have been told to the Boer men and women of +the brutality and ferocity of the British. Let them learn by practical +experience, as many of them have learnt already, that the British soldier +is gentle and generous, and that his women-folk at home are ready to do +all in their power to alleviate the sufferings of the innocent victims of +the war. I know it will be said, 'Let us attend to the suffering loyalists +first.' It is a very proper sentiment, and if British generosity were +limited to the gift of a certain definite amount in money or in kind, I +would be the first to say, 'Charity begins at home, and our people must +come first.' But British generosity is not of this strictly measured kind. +By all means let us help the loyal sufferers by the war; but let us also +help the women and children of those who have fought against us, not with +any ulterior political motive, but simply because they have suffered and +are bound to suffer much, and wounded hearts are soothed and healed by +kindness. + +"Mr. Rowntree has spoken quite publicly of the deep impression made on the +Boer women by the kindness shown them by our men. One said she would be +always glad to shake hands with a British soldier; it was because of the +kindly devices they had invented to make over their own rations to the +women and children during the long journey when all were suffering from +severe privations. Another Boer girl, referring to an act of kindness +shown her by a British officer, remarked quietly: 'When there is so much +to make the heart ache it is well to remember deeds of kindness.' The more +we multiply deeds of kindness between Boer and Briton in South Africa, the +better for the future of the two races, who, we hope, will one day fuse +into a united nation under the British flag." + +I hope the reader will forgive me for having quoted in such abundance from +Mrs. Fawcett's letter, but it has seemed to me that this plain, +unprejudiced and unsophisticated report, on a subject which could not but +have been viewed with deep sorrow by every enlightened person in England, +goes far to remove the doubts that might still linger in the minds of +certain people ignorant of the real conditions of existence in South +Africa. + +A point insufficiently realised in regard to South African affairs is the +manner in which individuals comparatively devoid of education, and with +only a hazy notion of politics, contrived to be taken into serious +consideration not only by those who visited South Africa, but by a certain +section of English society at home, and also in a more restricted measure +by people at the Cape and in the Transvaal who had risen. These people +professed to understand local politics better than the British +authorities, and expected the officials, as well as public opinion in +Great Britain, to adopt their advice, and to recognise their right to +bring forward claims which they were always eager to prosecute. +Unfortunately they had friends everywhere, to whom they confided their +regrets that the British Government understood so very little the +necessities of the moment. As these malcontents were just back from the +Rand, there were plenty of people in Cape Town, and especially in Port +Elizabeth, Grahamstown, and other English cities in Cape Colony, ready to +listen to them, and to be influenced by the energetic tone in which they +declared that the Boers were being helped all along by Dutch Colonials who +were doing their best to betray the British. + +In reality, matters were absolutely different, and those who harmed +England the most at that time were precisely the people who proclaimed +that they, and they alone, were loyal to her, and knew what was necessary +and essential to her interests and to her future at the Cape of Good Hope +and the Rand. Foremost amongst them were the adherents of Rhodes, and this +fact will always cling to his memory--most unfortunately and most +unjustly, I hasten to say, because had he been left absolutely free to do +what he liked, it is probable he would have been the first to get rid of +these encumbrances, whose interferences could only sow animosity where +kindness and good will ought to have been put forward. Cecil Rhodes wanted +to have the last and definite word to say in the matter of a settlement of +the South African difficulties, and as no one seemed willing to allow him +to utter it, he thought that he would contrive to attain his wishes on the +subject by seeming to support the exaggerations of his followers. Yet, at +the same time, he had the leaders of the Dutch party approached with a +view of inducing them to appeal to him to put himself at their head. + +This double game, which while it lasted constituted one of the most +curious episodes in a series of events of which every detail was +interesting, I shall refer to later in more detail, but before doing so +must touch upon another, and perhaps just as instructive, question--the +so-called refugees, whose misfortunes and subsequent arrogance caused so +many anxious hours to Sir Alfred Milner during his tenure of office at the +Cape and later on in Pretoria. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +IN FLIGHT FROM THE RAND + + +One of the greatest difficulties with which the Imperial Government found +themselves confronted when relations between Great Britain and the +Transvaal became strained was the influx of refugees who at the first hint +of impending trouble left Johannesburg and the Rand, and flocked to Cape +Town. + +The greater number were aliens. From Russia in particular they had flocked +to the Transvaal when they heard of its treasures. Adventurers from other +parts of Europe, with a sprinkling of remittance men, also deserted +Johannesburg. Only the few were real English residents who, from the time +the Rand had begun to develop, had been living and toiling there in order +to win sufficient for the maintenance of their families. All this mass of +humanity, which passed unnoticed when scattered over wide areas in the +vicinity of Pretoria or Johannesburg, had lived for many years in the +expectation of the day when the power of the Transvaal Republic would be +broken. They had discounted it perhaps more than they should have done had +the dictates of prudence been allowed to take the lead against the wishes +of their hearts. + +When war became imminent the big mining houses considered it wiser to +close their offices and mines, and for these unfortunate beings, deprived +of their means of existence, the position became truly a lamentable one. +They could not very well remain where they were, because the Burghers, who +had never taken kindly to them, made no secret of their hostility, and +gave them to understand very clearly that as soon as war had been declared +they would simply turn them out without warning and confiscate their +property. Prudence advised no delay, and the consequence was that, +beginning with the month of August, and, indeed, the very first days which +followed upon the failure of the Bloemfontein Conference, a stream of +people from the Transvaal began migrating toward Cape Colony, which was +supposed to be the place where their sufferings would find a measure of +relief that they vainly imagined would prove adequate to their needs. At +the Cape, strangely enough, no one had ever given a thought to the +possibility of such a thing happening. In consequence, the public were +surprised by this persisting stream of humanity which was being poured +into the Colony; the authorities, too, began to feel a despair as to what +could be done. It is no exaggeration to say that for months many hundreds +of people arrived daily from the north, and that so long as communications +were kept open they continued to do so. + +At first the refugees inundated the lodging-houses in Cape Town, but these +soon being full to overflowing, some other means had to be devised to +house and feed them. Committees were formed, with whom the Government +officials in the Colony worked with great zeal and considerable success +toward alleviating the misery with which they found themselves confronted +in such an unexpected manner. The Municipal Council, the various religious +communities, the Medical men--one and all applied themselves to relief +measures, even though they could not comprehend the reason of the blind +rush to the Cape. Nor, in the main, could the refugees explain more +lucidly than the one phrase which could, be heard on all sides, no matter +what might have been the social position: "We had to go away because we +did not feel safe on the Rand." In many cases it would have been far +nearer to the truth to say that they had to go because they could no +longer lead the happy-go-lucky existence they had been used to. + +The most to be pitied among these people were most certainly the Polish +Jews, who originally had been expelled from Russia, and had come to seek +their fortunes at Johannesburg. They had absolutely no one to whom they +could apply, and, what was sadder still, no claim on anyone; on the +English Government least of all. One could see them huddling together on +the platform of Cape Town railway station, surrounded by bundles of rags +which constituted the whole of their earthly belongings, not knowing at +all what to do, or where to go to. Of course they were looked after, +because English charity has never stopped before differences of race and +creed, but still it was impossible to deny that their constantly +increasing number added considerably to the difficulties of the situation. + +A Jewish Committee headed by the Chief Rabbi of Cape Town, the Rev. Dr. +Bender, worked indefatigably toward the relief of these unfortunate +creatures, and did wonders. A considerable number were sent to Europe, but +a good many elected to remain where they were, and had to be provided for +in some way till work could be found for them, which would at least allow +them to exist without being entirely dependent on public charity. Among +the aliens who showed a desire to remain in South Africa were many in +possession of resources of their own; but they carefully concealed the +fact, as, upon whatever it amounted to, they counted to rebuild their +fortunes when Britain became sole and absolute mistress on the Rand. + +The most dangerous element in the situation was that group of easygoing +loafers who lived on the fringe of finance and picked up a living by doing +the odd things needed by the bigger speculators. When things began to be +critical, these idlers were unable to make money without working, and +while prating of their patriotism, made the British Government responsible +for their present state of penury. These men had some kind of instruction, +if not education, and pretended they understood all about politics, the +government of nations, and last, but not least, the conduct of the war. +Their free talk, inflamed with an enthusiasm got up for the occasion, gave +to the stranger an entirely incorrect idea of the position, and was +calculated to give rise to sharp and absolutely undeserved criticisms +concerning the conduct of the administration at home, and of the +authorities in the Colony. They also fomented hatred and spite between the +English and the Dutch. + +The harm done by these people, at a moment when the efforts of the whole +community ought to have been directed toward allaying race hatred, and +smoothing down the differences which had arisen between the two white +sections of the population, is almost impossible of realisation for one +who was not in South Africa at the time, and who could not watch the slow +and gradual growth of the atmosphere of lies and calumny which gradually +divided like a crevasse the very people who, in unison, might have +contributed more than anything else to bring the war to a close. One must +not forget that among these refugees who poisoned the minds of their +neighbours with foundationless tales of horror, there were people who one +might have expected to display sound judgment in their appreciation of the +situation, and whose relatively long sojourn in South Africa entitled them +to be heard by those who found themselves for the first time in that +country. They were mostly men who could talk well, even eloquently; and +they discussed with such apparent knowledge all the circumstances which, +according to them, had brought about the war, that it was next to +impossible for the new-comers not to be impressed by their language--it +seemed bubbling over with the most intense patriotism. + +The observer must take into account that among these people there happened +to be a good many who, as the war went on, enrolled themselves in the +various Volunteer Corps which were formed. These gave the benefit of their +experience to the British officers, who relied on the knowledge and +perception of their informants because of themselves, especially during +the first months which followed upon their landing, they could not come to +a clearly focused, impartial judgment of the difficulties with which they +found their efforts confronted. One must also remember that these officers +were mostly quite young men, full of enthusiasm, who flamed up whenever +the word rebellion was mentioned in their presence, and who, having +arrived in South Africa with the firm determination to win the war at all +costs, must not be blamed if in some cases they allowed their minds to be +poisoned by those who painted the plight of the country in such a +lugubrious tint. If, therefore, acts of what appeared to be cruelty were +committed by these officers, it would be very wrong to make them alone +responsible, because they were mostly done out of a spirit of self-defence +against an enemy whom they believed to be totally different from what he +was in reality, and who if only he had not been exasperated, would have +proved of better and healthier stuff than, superficially, his acts seemed +to indicate. + +There was still another class of refugee, composed of what I would call +the rich elements of the Rand: the financiers, directors of companies; +managers and engineers of the different concerns to which Kimberley and +Johannesburg owed their celebrity. From the very first these rightly +weighed up the situation, and had been determined to secure all the +advantages which it held for anyone who gave himself the trouble to +examine it rationally. They came to Cape Town under the pretence of +putting their families out of harm's way, but in reality because they +wanted to be able to watch the development of the situation at its centre. +They hired houses at exorbitant prices in Cape Town itself, or the +suburbs, and lived the same kind of hospitable existence which had been +theirs in Johannesburg. Their intention was to be at hand at the +settlement, to put in their word when the question of the different +financial interests with which they were connected would crop up--as it +was bound to do. + +The well-to-do executive class forming the last group had the greatest +cause to feel alarmed at the consequences which might follow upon the war. +Although they hoped that they would be able to maintain themselves on the +Rand in the same important positions which they had occupied previous to +the war, yet they had enough common sense to understand that they would +not be allowed under a British administration the same free hand that +President Kruger had given, or which they had been able to obtain from him +by means of "refreshers" administered in some shape or other. It is true +that they had always the alternative of retiring from South Africa to Park +Lane, whence they would be able to astonish Society, but they preferred to +wait, in case the crash were still delayed for some little time. + +The big houses, such as Wernher, Beit and Co.--the head of which, at +Johannesburg, was Mr. Fred Eckstein, a man of decided ability, who perhaps +was one of those in South Africa who had judged the situation with +accuracy--would have preferred to see the crisis delayed. Mr. Eckstein and +other leading people knew very well that sooner or later the Transvaal was +bound to fall to England, and they would have felt quite content to wait +quietly until this event had been accomplished as a matter of course, by +the force of circumstances, without violence. President Kruger was such an +old man that one could, in a certain sense, discuss the consequences which +his demise was bound to bring to South Africa. There was no real necessity +to hurry on events, nor would they have been hurried had it not been for +the efforts of the Rhodesians, whose complaints had had more than anything +else to do with the failure of the Bloemfontein Conference, and all that +followed upon that regrettable incident. It was the Rhodesians, and not +the big houses of the Rand, who were most eager for the war. + +The exploitation of Rhodesia, the principal aim of which was the +foundation of another Kimberley, had turned out to be a disappointment in +that respect, and there remained nothing but making the best of it, +particularly as countless companies had been formed all with a distinctly +mineral character to their prospectuses. Now, if the Rand, with all its +wealth and its still unexplored treasures, became an appanage of +Kimberley, it would be relatively easy to effect an amalgamation between +gold and diamond mines, which existed there, and the Rhodesian companies. +Under these conditions it was but natural that despite an intelligent +comprehension of the situation, Sir Alfred Milner was nevertheless unable +to push forward his own plans in regard to the Transvaal and its aged +President, Mr. Kruger. + +The misfortune of the whole situation, as I have already pointed out, was +that the men who had attempted to play a high game of politics, in reality +understood very little about them, and that instead of thinking of the +interests of the Empire to which they professed themselves to be so deeply +attached, they thought in terms of their personal outlook. Rhodes alone of +those not in official position saw the ultimate aim of all these entangled +politics. But unfortunately, though he had the capacities and experience +of a statesman, he was not a patient man; indeed, throughout his life he +had acted like a big spoiled child, to whom must be given at once whatever +he desires. Too often he acted in the present, marring the future by +thinking only of the immediate success of his plans, and brutally starting +to work, regardless of consequences and of his personal reputation. Though +his soul was essentially that of a financier and he would ride rough-shod +over those who conducted their business affairs by gentler methods, yet at +the same time, by a kind of curious contrast, he was always ready, nay, +eager, to come to the material help of his neighbour--maybe out of +affection for him; maybe out of that special sort of contempt which makes +one sometimes throw a bone to a starving dog one has never seen before. +The greatest misfortune in Rhodes' life was his faculty, too often applied +upon occasions when it were best suppressed, of seeing the mean and sordid +aspects of an action, and of imagining that every man could be bought, +provided one knew the price. He was so entirely convinced of this latter +fact that it always caused him a kind of impatience he did not even give +himself the trouble to dissimulate, to find that he had been mistaken. +This happened to him once or twice in the course of his career. + +The English party in the Colony regretted until the end of Rhodes' life +the strange aberration that allowed the Raid, and made him sacrifice his +reputation for the sake of hastening an event which, without his +interference, would almost surely soon have come to pass. The salient +feature of the Raid was its terrible stupidity; in that respect it was +worse than a crime, for crime is forgotten, but nothing can efface from +the memory of the world or the condemnation of history a colossally stupid +political blunder. + +After the foolish attempt to seize hold of their country, the Boers +distrusted British honour and British integrity; and doubting the word or +promises of England, they made her responsible for this mistake of Cecil +Rhodes. Rhodes, however, refused to recognise the sad fact. The big +magnates of Johannesburg said that the wisest thing Rhodes could have done +at this critical juncture would have been to go to Europe, there to remain +until after the war, thus dissociating himself from the whole question of +the settlement, instead of intriguing to be entrusted with it. + +The fact of Cecil Rhodes' absence would have cleared the whole situation, +relieved Sir Alfred Milner, and given to the Boers a kind of political and +financial security that peace would not be subject to the ambitions and +prejudices of their enemies, but concluded with a view to the general +interests of the country. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +DEALING WITH THE REFUGEES + + +The refugees were a continual worry and annoyance to the English community +at the Cape. As time went on it became extremely difficult to conciliate +the differing interests which divided them, and to prevent them from +committing foolish or rash acts likely to compromise British prestige in +Africa. The refugees were for the most boisterous people. They insisted +upon being heard, and expected the whole world to agree with their +conclusions, however unstable these might be. It was absolutely useless to +talk reason to a refugee; he refused to listen to you, but considered +that, as he had been--as he would put it--compelled to leave that modern +paradise, the Rand, and to settle at Cape Town, it became the +responsibility of the inhabitants of Cape Town to maintain him. Table +Mountain echoed with the sounds of their vain talk. They considered that +they were the only people who knew anything about what the English +Government ought to do, and who criticised it the most, threatening at +every moment that they would write to their influential friends--even the +poorest and most obscure had "influential friends"--revealing the +abominable way in which English interests were neglected in Cape Colony, +where the Government, according to them, only helped the rebels, and +considered their wants and requirements in preference to those of their +own people. + +At first, when they were not known as they deserved to be, some persons +fresh from the Mother Country, to whom South African morals and intrigues +were unknown, took to heart the position as well as the complaints of +those refugees. Hearing them continually mention cases in which rebel +Dutch had, in this way or that, shown their want of allegiance to the +British Government, conclusions were jumped at that there must exist a +reason for these recriminations and allegations, and that British +officials were in reality too anxious to conciliate the anti-English +elements in the Colony, to the detriment of the loyalists, whose feelings +of patriotism they considered, as a matter of course, required no reward +and scarcely any encouragement. These people, unequipped with the truth, +took up with a warmth which it certainly did not deserve the cause of +these loyalists, sought their advice, and formed a totally wrong and even +absurd opinion both as to South African politics and the conduct of the +representatives of the Queen in Cape Town. + +All the misrepresentation and misunderstanding which took place +increasingly, led to animosity on the part of the Dutch. Rightly or +wrongly, it was taken as a matter of course that Rhodes favoured the idea +of a total annihilation of the Cape Dutch. And as he was considered a kind +of demigod by so many the idea was widely circulated, and became at last +deeply rooted in the minds of most of the white population of South +Africa, who, without being able to say why, considered it in consequence a +part of its duty to exaggerate in the direction of advocating severity +toward the Dutch. This did not contribute to smoothen matters, and it grew +into a very real danger, inimical to the conclusion of an honourable and +permanent peace. Federation, which at one time had been ardently wished +for almost everywhere, became a new cause for anxiety as soon as it was +known that Rhodes was in favour of it. People fancied that his ambitions +lay in the direction of a kind of dictatorship exercised by himself over +the whole of South Africa, a dictatorship which would make him in effect +master of the country. + +This, however, was the last thing which the financiers on the Rand wished. +Indeed, they became quite alarmed at the thought that it might become +possible, and hastened to explain to Sir Alfred Milner the peril which +such a thing, if it ever happened, would constitute for the community at +large. Their constant attendance upon Sir Alfred, however, gave rise to +the idea that these financiers wanted to have it all their own way with +him and with the Cabinet at home, and that they meant to confiscate the +Transvaal to their own profit. + +The presence of the moneyed class at the Cape had also another drawback: +it exasperated the poorer refugees, who could not forgive those who, too, +had fled the Rand, for having so successfully saved their own belongings +from the general ruin and remained rich, when so many of those who had +directly or indirectly helped them to acquire their wealth were starving +at their door. In reality the magnates of the Rand spent huge sums in the +relief of their poorer brethren in misfortune. I know from personal +experience, having often solicited them in favour of, say, some +unfortunate Russian Jew or a destitute Englishman who had lost all his +earthly belongings through the war. These millionaires, popularly accused +of being so hardhearted, were always ready with their purses to help those +who appealed to their charity. But the fact that they were able to live in +large and luxurious houses whilst so many others were starving in hovels, +that their wives wore diamonds and pearls, and that they seemed still to +be able to gratify their every desire, exasperated the multitude of +envious souls congregated at the Cape. + +A general feeling of uneasiness and of unpleasantness began to weigh on +the whole atmosphere, and as it was hardly possible for anyone to attack +openly those who had inexhaustible purses, it became the fashion to say +that the Dutch were responsible for the general misfortune, and to +discover means of causing them unpleasantness. + +On the other hand, as the war went on and showed no signs of subsiding, +the resources of those who, with perfect confidence in its short duration, +had left the Rand at a moment's notice, began to dwindle the more quickly +insomuch as they had not properly economised in the beginning, when the +general idea was prevalent that the English army would enter Pretoria for +the Christmas following upon the beginning of the war, and that an era of +unlimited prosperity was about to dawn in the Transvaal. I do believe that +among certain circles the idea was rooted that once President Kruger had +been expelled from the Rand its mines would become a sort of public +property accessible to the whole community at large, and controlled by all +those who showed any inclination for doing so. + +The mine owners themselves looked upon the situation from a totally +different point of view. They had gathered far too much experience +concerning the state of things in South Africa to nurse illusions as to +the results of a war which was bound to put an end to the corruption of +the Transvaal Republic. They would have preferred infinitely to let things +remain in the condition into which they had drifted since the Raid, +because they understood that a strong British Government would be +interested in putting an end to the abuses which had transformed the Rand +into an annexe of the Stock Exchange of almost every European capital. +But, as the war had broken out, they preferred that it should end, in the +establishment of a regular administration which could neither be bought +nor persuaded to serve interests in preference to the public. They did not +relish the possible triumph of a single man, backed by a powerful +financial company, with whom they had never lived upon particularly +affectionate terms. + +Rather than see South Africa continue under the influence which had +hitherto held it in grip, the magnates preferred to associate themselves +with Sir Alfred Milner to bring about as soon as possible a Federation of +the different South African States, where there would be no place for the +ambition of a single individual, and where the domination of one financial +company would become an impossibility. These magnates were reasonable +people after all, quite content, after they had taken the cream, to allow +others to drink. The fever for gold had left them. The fact was that these +people were not at all anxious to remain at Johannesburg; they preferred +to gather dividends in London rather than to toil in South Africa; the +merry, merry days of the Rand had come to an end. + +Altogether, indeed, things were beginning to slow down at Johannesburg, in +spite of the fictitious agitation by the Rhodesian party. The war had come +as a relief to everybody, and afforded the magnates the opportunity which +they had been longing for, to enforce order and economy upon a stringent +scale in their mines and to begin modelling their concerns after a +European fashion, closing the door upon adventurers and cutting off the +"financial fringe." The times when new fields of exploitation were +discovered every day were at an end; the treasures which the Transvaal +contained in the way of precious metals and stones had all been located; +and very few surprises could be expected in that direction. It was time +for the pioneers to retire upon their laurels and to give to themselves, +as well as to their fortunes, the sedate appearance which they required in +order to be able to take a place amid the most elegant and exclusive +society of Europe. Had Rhodes remained alive he would have proved the one +great obstacle which the magnates of the Rand would have to take into +consideration, the disturbing element in a situation that required calm +and quiet. + +If Cecil Rhodes had been allowed to decide alone as to the best course of +action to pursue he also might have come to the same conclusion as these +magnates. During those moments when he was alone with his own thoughts and +impulses he would have realised his duty toward his country. He was +conscious, if others were not, of how utterly he had lost ground in South +Africa, and he understood that any settlement of the South African +difficulties could only become permanent if his name were not associated +with it. This, though undeniable, was a great misfortune, because Rhodes +understood so perfectly the art of making the best of every situation, and +using the resources to hand, that there is no doubt he would have brought +forward a practical solution of the problems which had cropped up on every +side. He might have proved of infinite use to Sir Alfred Milner by his +thorough knowledge of the Dutch character and of the leaders of the Dutch +party with whom he had worked. But Rhodes was not permitted to decide +alone his line of conduct: there were his supporters to be consulted, his +so-called friends to pacify, the English Jingoes to satisfy, and, most +difficult of all, the Bond and Dutch party to please. Moreover, he had +been indulging in various intrigues of his own, half of which had been +conducted through others and half carried out alone, with what he believed +was success. In reality they proved to be more of these disappointments he +had courted with a carelessness which would have appeared almost +incredible if one did not know Cecil Rhodes. The Rhodesians, who with +intention had contrived to compromise him, never left him a moment to his +own thoughts. Without the flatterers who surrounded him Rhodes would +undoubtedly have risen to the height of the situation and frankly and +disinterestedly put himself at the disposal of the High Commissioner. But +they managed so to irritate him against the representative of the Queen, +so to anger him against the Dutch party to which he had belonged formerly, +and so to persuade him that everybody was jealous of his successes, his +genius and his position in South Africa, that it became relatively easy +with a man of Rhodes' character to make him smart under the sense of +non-appreciation. Thus goaded, Rhodes acted often without premeditation. + +In contrast to this impatience and the sense of unsatisfied vanity, the +coolness and greatness of character of Sir Alfred Milner appeared in +strong contrast, even though many friends of earlier days, such as W.T. +Stead, had turned their backs upon Sir Alfred, accusing him of being the +cause of all the misfortunes which fell upon South Africa. But those who +thus condemned Sir Alfred did not understand the peculiar features of the +situation. He was credited with inspiring all the harsh measures which +were employed on occasion by others, measures which he had stridently +disapproved. Rhodes, in his place, would have killed somebody or destroyed +something; Sir Alfred went slowly on with his work, disdained praise as +well as blame, and looked toward the future. I leave it to the reader to +decide which of the two showed himself the better patriot. + +The refugees did not take kindly to the High Commissioner. They had been +full of illusions concerning the help they fondly imagined he would be +glad to offer them, and when they discovered that, far from taking them to +his bosom, he discouraged their intention of remaining in Cape Town until +the end of the war, they grumbled and lied with freedom. Sir Alfred gave +them very distinctly to understand that they had better not rely on the +British Government to feed and clothe them. He said that they would be +well advised to try to find some work which would allow them to keep +themselves and their families. But especially he recommended them to go +back to Europe, which, he gravely assured the refugees, was the best place +for them and their talents. This did not please those refugees who posed +as martyrs of their English patriotism and as victims of the hatred of +Kruger and of the Dutch. They expected to be petted and flattered as those +looked up to as the saviours of the Empire. + +All the foregoing applies to the middle-class section of the refugees. The +poorer ones grumbled also, but in a different manner, and their irritation +was rather directed towards the military authorities. As for the +millionaires, with a few exceptions they also did not care for the High +Commissioner for reasons elaborated in earlier pages of this volume. They +even considered that it would be prejudicial to their interests to allow +Rhodes to be upon too intimate terms with Sir Alfred Milner, so they kept +a faithful watch at Government House as well as at Groote Schuur, and in +doing so added to the tension which, up to the last moment of Sir Alfred's +tenure of office at Cape Town, existed between him and Cecil Rhodes. Too +courteous to tell his redoubtable adversary that he had better mind his +own business, convinced, on the other hand, of the latter's great +capacities and great patriotism, Sir Alfred was constantly doing all that +he could do in reason to pacify him. Cecil Rhodes used to make most bitter +and untrue remarks as to the stupidity of the Imperial Government at home +and the incapacity of the men in charge of its armies in South Africa. All +this was repeated right and left with the usual exaggeration, and reached, +as perhaps was intended, those whom it concerned. The result was that +Rhodes found himself tabooed at Pretoria. This he said was due to the +great fear which his influence over public opinion in South Africa +inspired among those in command there. + +The big trouble with Rhodes was that he would never own himself in the +wrong. He quibbled, he hesitated, he postponed replies to questions +submitted for his consideration. He wearied everybody around him with his +constant prevarications in regard to facts he ought to have accepted +without flinching if he wanted to regain some of his lost prestige. +Unfortunately for himself and for the cause of peace in South Africa, +Rhodes fancied himself immensely clever at "biding his time," as he used +to say. He had ever lurking somewhere in his brain the conviction that one +day the whole situation at Cape Town and Pretoria would become so +entangled that they would have to send for him to beg him as a favour to +step round and by his magic touch unravel all difficulties. His curious +shyness, his ambition and his vanity battled with each other so long that +those in authority at last came to the sad conclusion that it was far +better to look elsewhere for support in their honest efforts at this +important moment in the existence of the African Continent. + +One last attempt was made. It was backed up by people in London, among +others by Stead. Stead liked the Great Imperialist as well as one man can +like another, and had a great and justified confidence in Rhodes' good +heart as well as in that indefinable nobility which manifested itself at +times in his strange, wayward nature. Moreover, being gifted with a keen +sense of intuition, the famous journalist realised quite well the immense +work that might have been done by England through Rhodes had the latter +consented to sweep away those men around him who were self-interested. + +But Rhodes preferred to maintain his waiting attitude, whilst trying at +the same time to accumulate as many proofs as possible that people wanted +him to assert himself at last. It was the fact that these proofs were +denied to him at the very minute when he imagined he held them already in +his hands which led to his suddenly turning once more against the persons +he had been almost on the point of propitiating. It led him to begin the +movement for the suspension of the Constitution in Cape Colony, out of +which he expected so much and which he intended to use as his principal +weapon against the enemies whom he suspected. That was the last great +political venture in his life; it failed, but merciful Providence allowed +him not to see the utter collapse of his latest house of cards. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +UNDER MARTIAL LAW + + +It may be useful, or at any rate of interest, before I lay my pen aside, +to refer to several things which, at the time they occurred, caused +torrents of ink to flow both in England and in South Africa. + +The most important, perhaps, was the application of martial law in Cape +Colony. I must repeat that I hold no brief for England. My affection and +admiration for her does not go to the extent of remaining absolutely blind +to faults she has made in the past, and perhaps is making in the present. +I will not deny that martial law, which, unfortunately, is a necessity in +wartime, was sometimes applied with severity in South Africa. But the +odium rests principally on the loyalists; their spiteful information in +many cases induced British officers to treat as rebels people who had +never even dreamt of rebellion. + +It must not be forgotten that those to whom was entrusted the application +of martial law had perforce to rely on local residents, whom they could +not possibly suspect of using these officers to satisfy private +animosities of further private interests. These British officers had never +been used to see suspicion reign as master, or to watch a perfectly +conscious twisting of the truth in order to condemn, or even destroy, +innocent people. A young and probably inexperienced officer sent into a +small place like Aliwal North or Uitenhage, for instance, found himself +obliged to rely for information as to the loyalty of the inhabitants on +some adventurer who, through capitalist influence, had obtained an +executive post of some kind. How can one wonder, therefore, that many +regrettable incidents occurred and were immediately made capital of by the +Bond party further to embitter the feelings of the Dutch Colonists? + +Many illegal acts were performed under martial law; of some a mention was +made in the Cape Town Parliament; these, therefore, do not admit of doubt. +For instance, as Mr. Neethling said in the Legislative Council, a man of +seventy was sent down from Paarl to Beaufort West without being allowed to +say good-bye to his wife, who was left behind without means of support. +Their house was searched for papers, but without result, and the man--a +member of the Afrikander Bond--was sent back, after eighteen months' +deportation, without any charge having been made against him. He was an +auctioneer and shipping agent, and during his absence his business was +annexed by a rival. One British Colonial, who held office at Stellenbosch, +said to one family, without even making an inquiry as to their conduct, +"You are rebels and I will take your mules"--which was done. The mules +were afterwards sold to the Commissariat Department by the man who had +commandeered them. Is it a matter of astonishment, therefore, that many +people felt sore and bitter at all that they had undergone and were going +through? + +The administration of martial law in the country districts was absolutely +deplorable; but when one examines minutely the circumstances of the cases +of injustice about which one could have no doubt, it always emerged that +these never proceeded from British officers, who, on the contrary, +wherever they found themselves in command, invariably acted with humanity. +The great mistake of the military authorities was that they had far too +much confidence in the Volunteer Corps and those members of it who were +only anxious to make money out of existing circumstances. Unfortunately, +certain officers in command of the different corps were extreme Jingoes, +and this distorted their whole outlook. People said at the time of the war +that some districts of Cape Colony had been turned into hells; some +things, in truth, called for strong comment. No words could be energetic +enough to describe the manner in which martial law had been +administered--in the district of Graaf Reinet, for instance. The +commandants--this justice must be rendered to them--generally meant well, +but, unfortunately, they were assisted by men of less stable character as +intelligence officers. These, in their turn, unwisely without due inquiry, +engaged subordinates, upon whom they relied for their information. Graaf +Reinet people had had to put up with something akin to the Spanish +Inquisition. Men there were afraid to speak for fear of espionage, the +most innocent remarks were distorted by spies recruited from an uncertain +section of the community. A cattle inspector was deported without trial; +in consequence, the Secretary for Agriculture decided not to employ him +again; at Graaf Reinet a Colonial intelligence officer constantly declared +in public that it was his intention to drive the people into rebellion; +and so instances could be multiplied. + +The rebellion was not due to martial law. In Graaf Reinet the prison was +frequently so crowded, often by men who did not in the least know why, +that no more sleeping accommodation could be found in it. People were in +durance vile because they would not join the town guard or defence force. +So overcrowded the prison became that many persons contracted disease +during their incarceration. + +For these sad occurrences the Cape Government was not initially to blame; +more than once they had remonstrated with the local military authorities, +but reports concerning their conduct were not allowed to reach the ears of +Lord Roberts or of Lord Kitchener. Very often a Hottentot informed against +respectable citizens to the intelligence officer, and by virtue of that +they were imprisoned as long as the military authorities deemed fit. When +released, a man would sometimes find that his house had been sacked and +his most valuable property carried away. Persons were deported at an +hour's notice without reasons being given, and thereafter scouts took +possession of their farms and plundered and destroyed everything. Four +wagon-loads of men, women and children were deported from their homes at +Beaufort West. In vain did they ask what they had done. Everybody of the +name of Van Zyl in the district of Graaf Reinet was deported! not a single +person was left on their farms except those who had driven them out of +them. And after these had done their work the victims were told, "Now you +can return home." Some had to walk back many miles to their farms, to find +only ruin left. Many white people were imprisoned on the mere evidence of +coloured persons, the reputation for veracity of whom was well known all +over South Africa, and whose evidence against a white man would never have +been admitted in any court of law previous to the war. + +In Uitenhage the same kind of thing occurred. It was sufficient for a Boer +column to pass near the farm of an Afrikander for the latter to be taken +to prison without the slightest investigation. No one knew where the fines +paid went, and certainly a good many of those which were imposed by the +commanders of the scouts and volunteer corps never reached the coffers of +the Government. + +At Cradock, Somerset East, Graaf Reinet and Middelburg people were +compelled to eradicate prickly pears and do other hard labour simply +because they had remained quietly at home, according to the proclamation +issued by Sir Alfred Milner, and refused to join a volunteer corps of some +sort or other. Many magistrates, acting on instructions, forced guiltless +people to walk a four to six hours' drive under the pretence of subduing +their spirits. + +One case especially was of such a flagrant nature that it illustrates how +far the malice of these so-called loyalists went and the harm which their +conduct did to the British Government. The act which I am going to relate +would never have been committed by any genuine English officer, no matter +under what provocation. There is also a detail which must be noticed: by a +strange coincidence all the victims of oppression were, with but few +exceptions, men of means, whom, therefore, it was worth while to plunder. +The story is that a certain Mr. Schoeman, a man of wealth and position +residing on Vlakteplaats, a farm in the division of Oudtshoorn, received, +on August 28th, 1901, a message through his son from the military scouts +who were stationed at De Jaeger's farm in the neighbourhood, instructing +him to hand over his horses to their care. No written order from the +Commandant was exhibited to Mr. Schoeman, either at that time or on his +request, nor was any evidence adduced at his trial later on to prove that +such an order had really been given by an officer administering martial +law in the district. Nevertheless, Mr. Schoeman obeyed the order, and on +the same afternoon sent his horses, three in number, to De Jaeger. The +scouts refused to take his horses, and told them to bring them on the +following morning, Thursday, August 29th. This Schoeman did; on coming to +the place with them he found that the scouts had left, and was obliged to +take the animals again back to his farm. On the afternoon of that same day +he received a message from the scouts, and in reply told them to come and +see him. He had meanwhile, for safety's sake, sent two horses to be +concealed away from his stable, and kept one, a stallion, at the +homestead. + +The next day, Friday, Boers appeared early in the afternoon. They took the +stallion, and the following day they returned and asked where the other +horses were. Mr. Schoeman declined to give any information, but they +discovered and seized them. Immediately after the Boers had left, Mr. +Schoeman dispatched one of his farm boys named Barry to De Jaeger, the +nearest military post, to report the occurrence. The scouts had, however, +disappeared, and he learned from De Jaeger that before leaving they had +received a report of the presence of the Boers. On the return of Barry, +Mr. Schoeman endeavoured to obtain another messenger. Owing to the state +of the country, which was infested with the enemy, his efforts proved +unavailing. + +During the next week Mr. Schoeman, with a considerable number of his +neighbours, was ordered to Oudtshoorn. On his arrival he was arrested, +without any charge or warrant, and confined for some three months, bail +being refused. No preliminary examination was held as provided in the +instructions on martial law issued May 1st, 1901. On Sunday, December 1st, +it was notified to Mr. Schoeman that he would be tried on the following +day, and the charges were for the first time communicated to him. On +December 2nd the court assembled and Mr. Schoeman was charged with three +offences: + +1. For not having handed his horses over to the proper military +authorities, whereby they fell into the hands of the enemy. + +2. For having been on friendly terms with the enemy. + +3. For having failed to report the presence of the enemy. + +He was found guilty on the first and last charges and not guilty on the +second count, being sentenced to six months' hard labour and to pay a fine +of £500, or to suffer a further term of twelve months' hard labour in lieu +of the fine. The sentence was confirmed, the fine was paid by Mr. +Schoeman, and he underwent the imprisonment for one month with hard labour +and for five months without hard labour, which was remitted upon order +from Lord Kitchener, who, without even being fully instructed as to the +circumstances of the case, of his own accord lightened the terrible +sentence passed upon Mr. Schoeman. + +Later on Mr. Schoeman was cleared of the calumnies that had been the cause +of his suffering. In this case, as in many others, the victim was the +object of the private vengeance of a man who had had a grudge against him, +and repaid it in that abominable manner. + +One of the worst mistakes among the many committed during the South +African War was to allow residents to be invested with what was nothing +less than unlimited authority over their fellow-citizens. The British +Government, which was made responsible for these acts, would never have +given its sanction to any one of them; mostly, it was unaware of the +original facts. The English military authorities dealt in absolute good +faith, which makes the more shameful the conduct of those who wilfully led +them into error. Their one fault was not to realise that certain +individuals were not fit to administer martial law. In one particular +district the man in authority seemed to have as the single aim of his life +the punishment of anyone with Dutch sympathies or of Dutch blood. It was +useless to appeal to him, because whenever a complaint was brought by an +inhabitant of the district he simply refused to listen to it, and poured a +torrent of abuse at the head of the bringer. One of his most notorious +actions was the treatment which, by his orders, was inflicted on an old +man who enjoyed the general esteem of both the English and the Dutch +community, a former member of the House of Assembly. His house was +searched, the floors were taken up, and the whole garden was dug out of +recognition in a search for documents that might have proved that his son, +or himself, or any other member of his family had been in correspondence +with the two Republics. All this kind of thing was done on hearsay +evidence, behind which lay personal motives. Had the settlement of the +country been left entirely in the hands of Lord Kitchener, nothing +approaching what I have related could have occurred. Unfortunately for all +concerned, this was precisely the thing which the Rhodesian and other +interests opposed. Much of the loyalty, about which such a fuss was made +at the Cape, was loyalty to the sovereign in the pocket, and not loyalty +to the Sovereign on the throne. This concern for wealth was seen in many +aspects of life in South Africa, and occasionally invaded drastically the +realm of social well-being. A case in point was the opposition by the +financial interests to a tax on brandy. In South Africa drunkenness was +one of the worst evils, especially among the coloured race, yet the +restrictive influence of a tax was withheld. The underlying motive was +nothing but the desire to avoid the tax on diamonds, which every +reasonable person claimed and considered to be a source of revenue of +which the Government had no right to deprive itself. While Rhodes lived +the legislation introduced and maintained by his powerful personality +revealed the policy of compromise which he always pursued. He was +eminently practical and businesslike. He said to the members of the Bond, +"Don't you tax diamonds and I won't tax dop," as the Cape brandy is +called. The compact was made and kept in his lifetime. + +When Rhodes was dead and a big democratic British element had come into +the country after the war, those in power began wondering how it was that +diamonds, which kept in luxury people who did not live in the country and +consequently had no interest whatever in its prosperity, were not taxed. +The Ministry presided over by Sir Gordon Sprigg shared this feeling, and +in consequence found itself suddenly forsaken by its adherents of the day +before, and the Rhodesian Press in full cry against the Government. Sir +Gordon Sprigg was stigmatised as a tool of the Bond and as disloyal to the +Empire after the fifty years he had worked for it, with rare +disinterestedness and great integrity. Nevertheless, the Ministry declared +that, as there existed an absolute necessity for finding new resources to +liquidate the expenses contingent on the war, it would propose a tax on +diamonds and another one on dop. + +The exasperation of the Rhodesian party, which was thus roused, was the +principal reason why the agitation for the suspension of the Constitution +in Cape Colony was started and pursued so vigorously in spite of the small +chance it had to succeed. His support of this agitation may be called the +death-bed effort of Rhodes. When he was no longer alive to lend them his +strong hand, the Rhodesian party was bound to disperse. They tried in vain +to continue his policy, but all their efforts to do so failed, because +there was nothing really tangible for them to work upon. + +With Cecil Rhodes came to an end also what can be called the romantic +period of the history of South Africa, that period during which fortunes +were made and lost in a few days; when new lands were discovered and +conquered with a facility and a recklessness that reminded one of the +Middle Ages. The war established an equilibrium which but for it would +have taken years to be reached. It sealed the past and heralded the dawn +of a new day when civilisation was to assert itself, to brush away many +abuses, much cruelty and more injustice. The race hatred which the +personality of Rhodes had done so much to keep alive, collapsed very +quickly after his death, and as time went on the work done with such +unselfishness and such quiet resolution by Sir Alfred Milner began to bear +fruit. It came gradually to be understood that the future would justify +his aims. + +[Illustration: THE RT. HON. SIR JOHN GORDON SPRIGG] + +The war was one of those colossal crises which shake the foundations of a +country and change the feelings of a whole generation of men and women in +regard to each other. Whilst it lasted it roused the worst passions and +showed up the worst aspects of the character of the people who played a +part in it; but once it was over the false fabric upon which the +animosities of the day before had been built fell. A serious and more +enlightened appreciation of the events that had brought about the +cataclysm which had cleared the air took the place of the furious outburst +of hatred that had preceded it. People began to realise that it was not +possible, on a continent where Europeans constituted but a small minority, +that they could give the coloured races a terrible example of disunion and +strife and still maintain dominance. Both the English and Dutch had at +last recognised the necessity for working together at the great task of a +Federation of the South African States, which would allow the whole of the +vast Southern Continent to develop itself on a plane of higher progress +under the protection of the British flag. This Union was conceived many, +many years earlier by Cecil Rhodes. It was his great spirit that thought +of making into one great nation the agglomeration of small nationalities, +white and black, that lay over the veldt and impenetrable forests of South +and Central Africa. For a long space of years Cecil Rhodes was South +Africa. + +So long as Rhodes lived it would have been impossible for South Africa +to escape the influence of his brain, which was always plotting and +planning for the future whilst forgetting more often than was healthy or +wise the preoccupations of the present. After the Queen's flag had been +hoisted at Pretoria, Cecil Rhodes alive would have proved an anomaly in +South Africa. Cecil Rhodes dead would still retain his position as a +dreamer and a thinker, a man who always pushed forward without heeding the +obstacles, forgetful of aught else but the end he was pursuing, the +country which he loved so well, and, what he cared for even more, his own +ambition. Men like Rhodes--with all their mistakes to mar their dazzling +successes--cannot be replaced; it is just as difficult to take up their +work as it is to fill the gap caused by their disappearance. + + + + +CONCLUSION + + +I have come to the end of what I intended at first to be a book of +recollections but which has resolved itself into one of impressions. A +more competent pen than mine will one day write the inner history of this +South African War, which by an anomaly of destiny had quite different +results from those expected. So many things have occurred since it +happened that the whole sequence of events, including the war, is now +looked upon by many people as a simple incident in a long story. + +In reality the episode was something more than that. It was a +manifestation of the great strength of the British Empire and of the +wonderful spirit of vitality which has carried England triumphantly +through crises that would have wrecked any other nation. The incidents +which followed the war proved the generosity that lies at the bottom of +the English character and the grandeur that comes out of it in those grave +moments when the welfare of a nation appears to be at stake and its rulers +are unable to apply to a succession of evils and dangers the right remedy +to bring about peace and contentment. No other nations possess this +remarkable and distinctive feature. England very wisely refused to notice +the bitterness which still persisted in the early days after the +conclusion of peace, and devoted her energies to the one immense and +immediate work of Federation. + +The colossal work of Union had been conceived in the shape which it was +eventually to assume by Sir Alfred Milner, who, after having laid the +foundations, was patriot enough to allow others to achieve its +consummation, because he feared the unjust estimate of his character, +disseminated by interested persons, might compromise the desired object +and far-reaching possibilities of an enterprise which the most sanguine +had never imagined could be accomplished within so short a space of time. +He had toiled courageously toward the founding of a new State where the +rights of every white as well as of every coloured man should be respected +and taken into account, and where it would be impossible for a handful of +rich men by the mere power of riches to control the lives and consciences +of others. + +The time of Sir Alfred Milner's administration was the transitory period +between the primitive and the civilised that no nation escapes, and this +period Sir Alfred used in working toward the establishment of a strong and +wise government. Whether the one which started its course of existence on +the day when the Federation of South Africa became an accomplished fact +was strong and wise it is not for me to say. At least it was a patriotic +government, one which worked sincerely at the abolition of the race hatred +which the war had not entirely killed, and also one which recognised that +after all it was the principle of Imperial government that alone could +bring back prosperity and security to unfortunate and bleeding South +Africa. + +The war gave to the Empire the loyal support and co-operation of the Dutch +population at the Cape and also in the Transvaal, and the fidelity with +which General Botha fulfilled his duty toward the Mother Country in the +difficult moments of 1914 proved the strong link forged in 1902 between +the British Empire and South Africa. Now that years have passed it is +possible to look with a less passionate eye upon the past and upon the men +who took a leading part in the events which gave to the British Empire +another fair dominion. They appear to us as they really were, and we can +more justly accord them their proper valuation. The personality of Cecil +Rhodes will always remain a great one; his merits and his defects will be +reduced to their proper relative proportions, and the atmosphere of +adulation or antagonism which, as the occasion suited, was poured upon +him, be dissipated by time's clarifying influences. His real work +consisted in the opening of new sources of wealth and new spheres of +activity to a whole multitude of his fellow-countrymen, and of giving his +native land an extension of its dominions in regions it had never +penetrated before Cecil Rhodes' enterprising spirit of adventure and of +conquest sent him into the wilderness of Africa to open a new and +radiating centre of activity and development for his country. The +conception of the Cape to Cairo Railway was one of those projects for +which his country will ever remain grateful. + +Yes! Rhodes was a great Englishman in spite of his faults, and perhaps on +account of his faults. Beside the genius of a Darwin or of a Pasteur, the +talent of a Shakespeare or of a Milton, the science of a Newton or of a +Lister, his figure seems a small one indeed, and it is absurd to raise him +to the same level as these truly wonderful men. The fact that the activity +of Cecil Rhodes lay in quite a different direction does not, however, +diminish the real importance of the work which he did, nor of the services +which he rendered to his country. The mistake is to judge him as a +universal genius. His genius had a particular bent; it was always directed +toward one point and one only, that of material advantages to be acquired +for the nation to which he belonged and of which he was so proud to be the +son. Without him South Africa would possibly have been lost for the +British Empire, which owes him most certainly a great debt in that +respect. + +The years which have gone by since his death have proved that in many +things Rhodes had been absolutely mistaken. Always he was an attractive, +and at times even a lovable, personality; a noble character marred by +small acts, a generous man and an unscrupulous foe; violent in temper, +unjust in his view of facts that displeased him, understanding chiefly his +personal interests, true to those whom he considered his friends, but +implacable toward the people whom he himself had wronged. He was a living +enigma to which no one had ever found a solution; because he presented +constantly new and unexpected sides that appeared suddenly and shattered +the conclusion to which one had previously arrived. + +In Europe Rhodes would not only have been impossible, but he would never +have found the opportunity to give full rein to his faculties of +organisation and of conquest. He knew no obstacles and would admit none in +his way; he was of the type of Pizarro and of Fernando Cortez, with fewer +prejudices, far more knowledge, and that clear sense of civilisation which +only an Englishman born and bred amid the traditions of liberty can +possess. But he was lacking in the fine political conception of government +which Sir Alfred Milner possessed, and whilst refusing to admit the +thought of compromise in matters where a little yielding to the wishes and +desires of others might have secured him considerable advantage, he yet +allowed himself to become entangled in intrigues which he denied as soon +as he perceived that they could not be successful, but for which the world +always condemned and never forgave, and even in some cases despised him. + +Notwithstanding the great brilliance of his intelligence and the strength +of his mind, Cecil Rhodes will always be found inferior to the present +Viscount Milner as a statesman. Rhodes could not and would not wait. +Milner spent his whole existence in waiting, and waited so successfully +that he lived to see the realisation of the plans which he had made and +which so many, even among his friends, had declared to be quite impossible +for him to realise. Milner, about whose tact and mental greatness so many +false notions existed in South Africa as well as elsewhere, had been the +one man who had seen clearly the consequences of the war. As he told me +one day when we were talking about the regrettable race-hatred which lent +such animosity to the struggle: "It will cease sooner than one thinks." + +The wise administrator, who had studied human nature so closely as he had +done politics, had based his judgments on the knowledge which he had +acquired of the spirit of colonisation which makes Great Britain so +superior to any other nation in the world, and his belief that her +marvellous spirit of adaptation was bound to make itself felt in South +Africa as it had elsewhere. Sir Alfred Milner knew that as time went on +the Afrikanders would realise that their erstwhile enemies had given them +the position to which they had always aspired, a position which entitled +them to take a place among the other great nations of the world. He knew, +too, that their natural spirit of pride and of vanity would make them +cherish the Empire that had allowed them to realise their ambitions of the +past. Until the war they had been proud of their gold and of their +diamonds; after the war they would be proud of their country. And by the +consciousness which would gradually come to them of the advantages which +their Federation under the British flag had brought to them they would +become also ardent British patriots--blessing the day when, in a passing +fit of insanity, goaded into it by people who had never seen clearly the +situation, President Kruger had declared war on England. + + + + +INDEX + + +Africa, South, charm of, 22 + conquest of, 1 + drunkenness in, 223 + English colonists, 14 + prior to Boer War, 6 + Union of (_see_ Union) + +Afrikander Bond, 86, 99 + and Rhodes, 73, 82, 84 + and Sir A. Milner, 134 + +Afrikander party compel Rhodes' resignation, 50 +Aliwal North concentration camp, 182 +America's response to concentration camp appeal, 165 + + + B + +Barkly West, Rhodes elected for, 28 +Barnato, Barney, 24, 137 + his awe of Rhodes, 60 +Beit, Alfred, 24 +Bender, Rev. Dr., Chief Rabbi of Cape Town, 194 +Bloemfontein, concentration camp at, 182, 184 +Bloemfontein Conference, the, 13, 16, 140 + failure of, 67, 104 +Boer War, concentration camps, 157 _et seq._ + not a war of annihilation, 3 + prime cause of, 128, 137, 139, 178 + Rhodes' prophecy, 67 +Boers, the, mistrust of England after the Raid, 200 + pre-war hygienic conditions of, 160 (_Cf. also_ Dutch) +Botha, General, 83 + imperialism of, xii, 229 +British Empire, South Africa added to, 3 +British Government, the, a missed opportunity, 41 + and Boer concentration camps, 162 +British South Africa Company, constitution of, 44 + (_See also_ Chartered Company) +Brooke-Hunt, Miss, in Pretoria, 186 +Buller, Sir Redvers, and siege of Kimberley, 94, 95 + + + C + +Cape Colony, diamond fields, 3 + loyalty to England, 129 + martial law in, 214 _et seq._ + mutiny of Dutch in, 8 + overcrowded prisons, 217 + Rhodes as Premier, 30, 43, 44 + Sir Gordon Sprigg as Premier, 99, 121 +Cape to Cairo Railway, 81, 124, 229 +Cape Town, influx of refugees, 191 _et seq._ +Chamberlain, Joseph, 104 + policy of, 133 +Chartered Company of South Africa, 25, 26, 78, 80 + sinister rumours, 45 +Concentration camps, 141, 142, 157 + hygienic conditions of, 160 + inner organisation, 173 + Miss Hobhouse's charges, and Mrs. Henry Fawcett's reply to, 165, 181 + necessity for, 161 + rations, 171 +Cronje, General, 94 + + + D + +De Beers Consolidated Mines, 24, 80, 112 + power of Company, 114 +Delagoa Bay, 91 +Dop tax, the, 223 +Dutch, the, and Dr. Jameson, 149 + and Sir A. Milner, 151 + enmity with English, 11 + mutiny in Cape Colony, 8 + popularity of Rhodes with, 30, 43, 73 + reconciliation with English, 129 (_Cf. also_ Boers) + + + E + +Eckstein, F., 97, 197 +England acquires the Transvaal, 1 + the question of concentration camps, 159 +English, the + as colonists, 14, 15 + enmity with the Dutch, 11 + reconciliation with the Dutch, 129 + + + F + +Fawcett, Mrs. Henry, reply to Miss Hobhouse, 181 +Frenchman, a, and a Johannesburg mining property, 64 + + + G + +Glen Grey Act, the, 126 +Graaf Reinet, martial law in, 216 +Green Point (Cape Town) concentration camp, 170 +Groote Schuur, the house and gardens, 153 + + + H + +Hammond, John Hays, 138 +Hely-Hutchinson, Sir W.F., 99 +Hobhouse, Miss, pamphlet on concentration camps, 165 _et seq._ +Hofmeyr, Mr., 38, 43, 83, 84, 86, 135, 150, 155 + popularity of, 136 + + + I + +I.D.B. Act, the, unwisdom of, 113 +Imperial Commission report on concentration camps, 166 + + + J + +Jameson, Dr., affection for Rhodes, 72, 148 + becomes Prime Minister, 73 + death of, 148 (note) + enters Transvaal territory, 47 (_see_ Jameson Raid) + political aspirations of, 56 + Progressive leader, 72 + relations with Rhodes after the raid, 54 + rumours of his forthcoming raid, 45 + the Dutch and, 149 +Jameson Raid, the, 9, 30 + a colossal blunder, 200 + aftermath of, 69 + its aim, 53 + tacitly encouraged by Rhodes, 51, 67 +Jews, Polish, plight of, 193 +Jingoes, the, 69, 107, 130, 135, 142, 163, 216 +Joel, S., 24 +Johannesburg, a shady operation in, 63 + flight from, 191 + goldfields of, 24 + + + K + +Kekewich, Colonel, entrusted with defence of Kimberley, 94 +Kimberley, diamond mines in, 17, 24, 87 + relief of, 116 + Rhodes' purchase of plots in, 21 + Rhodes' secret negotiations, 76 + siege of, 75, 83, 94 + the I.D.B. Act in operation, 113 +Kitchener, Lord, and Boer concentration camps, 159 + intervenes in the Schoeman case, 221 + Rhodes and, 147 +Koopman, Mrs. van, author's admiration for, 48 + disillusionment of, 47, 74, 146 + her alarm at raid rumours, 45 + intimacy with Rhodes, 40 + Rhodes denies raid projected, 46 + under police supervision, 48 +Kruger, President, 30, 53, 198 + and Mrs. van Koopman, 40 + candid criticisms of Rhodes, 92, 93 + death sentence for Reformers, 51 + "refreshers" for, 197 + Rhodes attempts alliance with, 90 + Rhodes' _bête-noire_, 150 + Rhodes' duplicity, 74 + warned against Sir A. Milner, 104 + + + L + +Ladysmith, relief of, 116 +Lobengula, King, 36 + and Rhodesia, 25 + Cecil Rhodes and, 19 + his son becomes one of Rhodes' gardeners, 37 +Loyalists and concentration camps, 174 + + + M + +Mafeking concentration camp, 186 +Majuba, defeat of British at, 73 +Martial law in Cape Colony, 214 _et seq._ +"Martyrdom of Man" (Reade's), its influence on Rhodes, 126 +Matabele Rebellion, the, Rhodes' courage in, 43 +Matabeleland, 19 + acquired by the Chartered Company, 26, 90, 112 +Matoppo Hills, an historic meeting, 43 + Rhodes' burial-place, 72 +Maxwell, Lady, an appeal by, 164 +Merriman, Mr., 134, 150 + severs relations with Rhodes, 73 +Methuen, Lord, mandate to Rhodes, 95 +Milner, Sir (Viscount) Alfred, 4, 58 + a hint to Rhodes, 147 + and the Boers, 12, 85, 132 + and Rhodes, 74, 140, 148 + and the De Beers Company, 115 + appointed Governor of Cape Colony, 8, 85 + dignified speech, 134 + efforts for peace, 156 + his great object, 86 + influence of, 104 + misunderstood and misjudged 7, 12, 85, 104, 107, 108, 180, 228 + overruled from Whitehall, 135 + policy of conciliation, 130 + reports from Rhodes on defence of Kimberley, 94 + Rhodes' distrust of, 13, 75 + the refugees and, 210 + the South African League, 90 + transferred to Johannesburg, 99 + + + N + +Napoleon, Pius VII. on, 35 +Neethling, Mr., and martial law in Cape Colony, 215 + + + O + +Orange Free State, flight of the populace, 158 + illusions of the Dutch in, 176 + resources of, 8 + + + P + +Pius VII., Pope, on Napoleon, 35 +Polish Jews, plight of, 193 +Pretoria, British flag hoisted at, 226 + Rhodes tabooed at, 211 + Rhodes visits Kruger at, 91 + soldiers' institutes at, 186 + + + R + +Radziwill, Princess Catherine, and Rhodes, 110, 146 + and Rhodes' suspicions of Sir A. Milner, 107 + conversations with Sir A. Milner, 106, 232 + Rhodes' characteristic note to, 59 + talks with Rhodes on Reade's "Martyrdom of Man," 127 + visits concentration camps, 163 +Rand, the, Downing Street and, 179 + Dutch illusions as to Britain's intentions, 177 + flight from, 191 _et seq._ + gold fields of, 90 + magnates of, 137 _el seq._, 197 +Reade, Winwood, influence of his + "Martyrdom of Man" on Rhodes, 126 +Rhodes, Cecil, agitates for suspension of constitution, 118, 155, 213, 224 + beginning of his fortune, 21 + created a Privy Councillor, 43 + death, 129, 153, 224 + end of his political career, 47, 50, 57, 73 + enters political life, 28 + patriotism of, 10,17, 31, 76, 82, 152, 230 +Rhodes, Herbert (brother of Cecil Rhodes), 20 +Rhodesia, annexation of, 24, 25, 28, 35, 36, 78 + exploitation of, 198 + question of its mineral wealth, 177 + Rhodes as "King" of, 122 +Roberts, Lord, complimentary lunch to, 134 + Rhodes' abuse of, 147 +Rowntree, Mr., and the concentration camps, 187 +Russia, Wallace's work on, 126 + + + S + +Sandringham, Rhodes at, 126 +Sargent, E.B., 183 +Sauer, Mr., 86, 117, 134, 150, 155, + and Rhodes, 73 + leader of Bond party, 100 +Schoeman, Mr., illegal arrest of, and Lord Kitchener's + intervention, 200, 201 +Schoeman, Mr., and Loyalists, 219 +Schreiner, Mr., 38, 86, 133, 150 + confidence in Rhodes, 32 + indignation with Rhodes, 50, 73 + questions Rhodes, 45 + Rhodes and, 23, 74 +Schreiner, Olive, on annexation of Rhodesia, 36 + Rhodes and, 33 +Simonstown, camp for prisoners of war at, 172 +Smuts, General, Imperialism of, xii +Sonnenberg, Mr., and Rhodes, 26 +South Africa (_see_ Africa, South) +South African League, 86, 88, 97, 99 + a petition to Sir Gordon Sprigg, 99, 102 + and Sir A. Milner, 90 +Southern Cross, the, 22 +Sprigg, Sir Gordon, and the South African League, 99 + diamond and dop taxes, 224 + Premier of Cape Colony, 99, 121, 132 +Stead, W.T., admiration of Rhodes, 212 + and Sir A. Milner, 209 +Steyn, President, and Mrs. van Koopman, 40 + + + T + +Transvaal, the, flight of Boer inhabitants, 158 + gold mines, 1, 3, 17 + loyalty to England, 129 + object of Jameson Raid, 53 + racial qualifications, 137 +Transvaal Republic, intrigues in, 1 + + + U + +Uitenhage, martial law in, 218 +Uitlanders, the, and concentration camps, 163 + quarrel with, 30 + their part in the Boer War, 16, 97, 137, 139 +Union of South Africa, 228 + an accomplished fact, 131, 228 + magnates' views, 207 + organisation of, 2 + Sir A. Milner's part in constitution, 14 + united effort for, 225 + + + W + +Wall, David de, 99, 101, 146 +Wales, Prince of (Edward VII.), 126 +Wallace, Mackenzie, meets Rhodes, 126 +Wernher, Beit and Company, 97, 197 +Wet, De, 83 +_Westminster Gazette,_ Mrs. Fawcett's reply to Miss Hobhouse in, 181 + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CECIL RHODES*** + + +******* This file should be named 16600-8.txt or 16600-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/6/0/16600 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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