Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-01-07
CECIL RHODES. CAREER.
His Rapid Rise In the South Of
Africa.

Cecil Rhodes, who has Just resigned as
premier of the Cape Colony, says a writer
IN the New York Herald, Is one of those
few men whose name and fame are "a
miliar to the entire civilized world
He does not write well; he is ar iuliu-r-
ent speaker on the public platform. he is
devoid of conversational gift; IIt he thinks
and he acts. He has the brain 10 conceive
vast projects and the practical genius re-
quired to work them out in actual detail
His great object in South African politics
has bee& to increase the influence and
empire of Great Britain. To him and to
BIN alone is due the fact that it ia now pos
sible to journey from CapeTown to the great
lakes without crossing any territory that
does not own the supremacy Of Great Brit
ain. He conceived Napoleonic plan and
carried 1t into execution.
. When, after leaving Oxford, he went to
South Africa in search Of health he first
tried his hand at farming. He soon laid
that occupation aside. drifted off to the dia-
mo1d fields, learned the business of dia-
mond mining and became interested in a
mining company Mr. Rhodes determined
to consolidate the mining interests, to con-
troll them all. He accomplished his pur-
pose. The amalgamation made Mr.. Rhodes
the most famous and the most popular man
in South Africa He want into politics, and
In 1890, on the fall of the Spriggs ministry,
ne became prime mlnlSref,s an ONCE which
he has held since.
Having realized a vast fortune he ad-
dressed himself to developing the political
and commercial possibilities of South At
RIGA He organized the British South Afri-
can Company and obtained for it q charter
from the crown.
The company's territory is 1000 miles
long and 500 miles broad, and stocked with
minerals from end to end. There is gold;
there are immense stores of coal and iron,
side by side; there are rich deposits of cop
per; the agricultural and pastoral capabili-
ties of the country are sufficient to feed all
Europe; there are /, 400 miles of telegraph
lines built and working; there are already
two railways, and they pay four per cent
there are magistrates courts through the
whole of the territory; there are five or
six civilized towns: there are 10000 mining
claims registered along 1000 miles Of min
eralized quartz. The cost Of the admin
fstration of the country already very near
ly pays for itself. The expenditure is about
$4,000 annually, and the revenue $3.50. 700.
Mr.. Rhodes Is Of athletic frame and of
gigantic stature; ruddy-faced, strong hand
ed, deliberate in action, almost sauntering
In step, with rather full, but dreamy, in
Prospective gray eyes, and the jaw and
chin of a bulldog. There is no one more
direct and resolute of speech. II don't
want a single redcoat," he said when the
trouble with Lobengula began. wen lick
the Matabele off the earth without bother
ing the British taxpayer" Commenting on
the viiifcation of him with which a portion
of the British press Is teeming. he said.
That's the sort of stuff that led to Bunker
Hill 1 am loyal. The Cape's loyal. But
continued injustice and Misrepresentation
will at last ALLEVIATE the most loyal"
Lovers of coincidence will observe some
curious parallels between the careers of
Mr., Rhodes and his successor. Sir John
Gordon Sprigg. The former is the son of
a clergyman, the latter is the son of a
Baptist minister. Both went to the Cape in
ill health and both renewed their strength
in its salubrious air. But Sir John Is much
the older of the two. Mr.. Rhodes is about
forty-two. while the new premier is nearly
SiXty-SiX