The Irish standard., 1899-11-04
SKETCH OF CECIL RHODES.
The Man Responsible for the War in
South Africa.

though he is after both With all the ter
vor OF an intense nature. A man oil
kruecr's strength can hate FL hours a
day and have some lett to lap over on
the next week. and he may allow it to
warp his Judgment TO a certain extent.
There is good reason ior the Bocr dis
like OF this cntcrprising Briton. for
there is no doubt that this one man is
more responsible for the present war
than all other combined causes.
When Kruger can bring himself to
speak OF Rhodes at all he invariably
calls him that murderer with choke
OF passion and slight twitcll OF his
muscular fingers. as ii he could not re-
press a desire to choke him then and
there ii lie but had the diamond king
within reach. Next to his religious fer
vor there is no sentiment so strong i'll
Ike breast OF the powerful Dutch Prcsi
dent as lis hatred oil the giant o! Eng
land. These two are the cyclopean
figures OF the closing century, and the
battle between Briton and Bocr is
nothing more nor less than combat
between these two sclf-conhdcnt giants.
Rhodes has perhaps made the mistake
oil his lie in settling himself in KIM
bcrley on the very eve oi the conflict,
for by this act alone he has made KIM
bcrlcy the objective center OF the war.
Already the Beers campaign is directed
against this place, which has strong
stragetic inducements for its military
occupation aside from the TACT that it is
the residence OF the diamond king, the
gold king. the railroad king, the king OF
multi-millionaires, the odd lion whose
escape Kruger bcwaled when jameson
and his band were caught and charac-
tcrized as only the cubs" All these
dctested pcrsonages are bound up i'll
one stalwart body, and the name OF that
body is Rhodes, who possibly does not
realize how completely he incarnatcs to
the Boor mind everything that cXcites
its aninosity towards England, and he
may also put too strong faith in the
dciensblcncss OF the place he is said to
have pronounced as safe as Piccadilly."
Ii the price set upon the head OF the
Colossus should lead to his capture
alive there is no doubt whatever about
his ultimate fate, Tor he would have the
benefit OF an immediate military trial,
and ii he should be lucky enough to be
shot instead OF hanged that would be
the best he would get
Twenty-eight years ago Rhodes was
a lanky, thin-iaccd boy OF IS, whom his
doctor declared could not live six
months, even in the milder climate OF
South Africa, making a footnotc OF this
prediction i'll his memorandum book.
Today Tor relentless force and sheer
personal power lie is counted states
man second to none, since the death OF
Gladstone, in all the vast British do
minions.
He was youth OF big ideas, with a
will power that dominated even his
physical nature, and he needed limit
less fortune to carry out his dreams OF
power. That was his dominant idea
from the moment he set foot on the
Dark Continent. The rounding OF his
physique into its present sturdy form
was but all incident, a matter he at
tended to as being a necessary detail OF
his career His one dream was to
found an enormous United States OF
Africa, like the American Union, with
himself, OF course, as its president. In
every act Of which he has been the ma
ripulator this has been the dominant
idea and his continued cries of mo
taxation without representation" "No
rule OF an oligarchial ring!' were so in
sstent throughout South Africa that
they at last eliminated in the throwing
down OF the gauntlet by that other
mighty power, Dom Paul Kruger.
One hundred million dollars probably
expresses the wealth Rhodes has ac-
cumulated by the most brilliant manipu-
lations of modern finance. During the
period when success first perched upon
his Golfers he was fond OF money for the
sake OF possession, and used often, it is
said, to fill pail full OF diamonds from
the Kimberley mines, pouring out the
glittering heap again and again with al
most childish pleasure. Today money
to him is but tool with which he ex-
poets to carve his way to higher ambi-
tons, whose high-topping summit per-
haps he himself cannot clearly see.
His greatest reproach against himself
is that of all ambitious men whose rest
less energy resents any moment snatched
for rest or recreation He calls him
self lazy! Yet he has fought many
fierce wars with natives, he has built
railroads and telegraph lines, he has
conducted vast and successful enter
prises, and has founded an empire. And
he is but 46 years old.
1t is impossible to conceive that this
heavy, muscular man, six feet one in his
shoes, was ever a weakling sent abroad
to die. His appetite is wonder. Chief
Lobengula called him "the man who
eats a whole country for his dinner"