The Topeka state journal., 1899-10-25
THE BOGIE MAN
OF The BOERS.
How Cecil Rhodes Came Into Power
in South Africa and the Remark
able Political Steps Which he is
now Taking in England.

/ QOn statesman with data IOf MS great
1 fight with the Beers.
| Rhodes owns Transvaa1 properties,
| quantities of it; yet, according to the
| Transvaal laws, he can not become
| citizen and can, consequently, have not
| a word to say about the government.
/ He must see his vast interests taxed
| and ruled according to BOer law rms
| is, the Beers say, the cause OF all the
| TransvaaI trouble. With Rhodes out
| of the way the trouble with England
| would quiet down.
| Cecil Rhodes, the TransvaaPs arch
| enemy is one of those men who, by
| the fierce force of their all-compelling
! energy, mount upon the shoulders Oh
| their fellows and dominate them BODY
| and soul. None are so loved reared
and hated as they.
Cecil Rhodes was about twenty-five
! years of age when he went to South
Africa from England, twenty-one years
ago He was a slim, pale young
! fellow, whom the doctors said was on
| the verge of consumption. At Oxford
| University, where he was when MS
health failed, he was known only 9s
a hard student whose passion it was
to be the leader in everything he un-
dertOOk. He was poor in those days,
for he was one of that numerous class,
the younger sons" of English gentle
men, whose family fortune is INSULT
cient for their maintenance at home,
and who therefore are shipped of to
the colonies, where they either fight
their way to fame and fortune or else
are claimed by death in some of the
| many forms it takes in those wild
lands.
From the moment that Cecil Rhodes
set foot on African soil, with a few
pounds in his pocket, he seemed to be
gifted with the touch of Midas, for his
handful of sOvereigns multiplied with
marvellous rapidity, and in less than
five years reached the astonishing sum
of a million pounds. Perhaps If Rhodes
had settled in New York instead of
Kimberley he would have become King
of Wall Street instead of the Diamond
King. For it was on the Stock Ex-
change of that little African city that
he won his first thousands of pounds
Then his financial genius, his talent
for organizing and controlling men, be-
gan to develop. He knew that, if he
could acquire vast wealth, with 1t the
attainment of political power would be
easy.
Hist first move was the organizing
of all the gold and diamond mines OF
South Africa into gigantic syndicate,
of which ne, of course, was the head.
This was known as the Consolidated
De Beers Mines. For one of his part
ners Rhodes had Barney BarnatO, the
"Kaffir King" who afterwards COM
mitted suicide.
The stock of the new company was
at par on the day of its birth, but be-
fore it was a month old it had doubled
in market value, and Cecil Rhodes
name was on every tongue. A little
later came the news of discovery
which then seemed like stroke of
fabulous good fortune, the discovery of
new and rich gold fields in the Trans
Vaal Republic. Rhodes and his aSSO-
ciates sent more than half hundred
different companies Immediately into
this new territory to locate and seize
upon-in perfectly legal way, of
cOurse-al the best and richest of it.
Millions more poured into their treas !
ury.
maturing and beginning to carry out |
his political plans. His first taste of |
this sort of power was when he was |
elected member of the Cape Parliament |
from Kimberley To adequately ap- |
preciate his success as a statesman it |
will be necessary to observe that then |
the Cape Parliament consisted of two |
bitterly opposed factions, one of which |
was jealous of even the slight control |
of England and wished to be entirely |
independent, while the other was as |
strong in its allegiance to the nome |
government and to her whom their /
opponents named as the Widow of |
Windsor" No man could have been |
popular with both these hostile parties !
had he not been a diplomatist of the |
first rank, secret, self-reliant and mas
terful.
Finally his views became settled and
he declared that the Cape was able to
govern itself without aid or advice
from London. His views were hailed
with acclaim by a vast majority, and
from that day Cecil Rhodes has been |
the most popular and powerful man IN
that part of the world He became a
member of the Cape Ministry in 1854,
and six years Eater reached the highest
Office he could hope to attain in a
colonial dependency, that of Prime
Minister.
such was the beginning and growth
of Cecil Rhodes ambitious dream,
which has not yet been realized-the
forming of an Independent federation
of South African States, of which he
should be the undisputed leader.
In appearance, Cecil Rhodes is
big man-tall, brOad-ShOuldered and
muscular. He is not handsome, but
there is a look of bulldog tenacity and
strength about his mouth, half hidden
by a cIOSe-clipped muStache, and in his
keen eyes that to women, as well as
men is more admira BILE than the best
of good looks He has a high fore
head and a rather forid complexion
His deep-Set eyes are blue, ana IKE
his voice, never betray any telltale
emotions of the mind that lie back Of
them.
ability to throw himself down, even
when the greatest affairs are in sus-
pense, and Immediately fall asleep at
will, rising refreshed after short nap.
Despite the tremendous amount of
work he does, he is never troubled with
insomnia. He rises very early IN the
morning and begins work at g.
A mans private life is generally sup
posed to be one of the best guides to
forming an opinion as to his character.
but Cecil Rhodes seems to have really
no private life. OF ambition toward
social distinction he seems to have not
an atom. He used to be very demo-
cratic and approachable man, a fre-
quenter of the hard-drinking and high
playing clubs that abound in South
Africa, but since reaching his political
pinnacle he has, of course, been COM
PEELED to drop much of this sort of
thing.
He lives just outside of Cape Town,
in a large mansion which was once
the summer home of the English gov
ernors. 1t is magnificently furnished, |
one feature of its adornment being
probably the finest collection of South
African weapons and curioSities in ex-
Stence. He is unmarried, and a pecu-
liar thing about his household is that
he has no maidservants-au are men.