The sea coast echo., 1900-02-17
SOUTH AFRICAN CESAR.
CAREER OF CECIL RHODES WHOM
PAUL KRUGER HATES.

Rhodes influenced him when he flung
his ultimatum in England's face and
practically declared war just when all
things seemed making hopefully for
peace When a man as strong as Dom
Paul hates he does it with an lnten-
sitv which, even more than he sus-
poets, may bend awry the usual even,
true lines of his judgment and lead
him to acts his natural, cold wisdom
would not indorse.
That murderer" is Dom Paul's
gentlest word in speaking of Rhodes,
when, indeed, he can so far overcome
his loathing for the man as to refer to
him at all. Next to religious fervor
the predominating sentiment IN Dom
Paul's mind is hatred for this Eng
lishman who towers as Colossus
among his countrymen in South AT
rica. lust as Dom Paul himself towers
a master-spirit among the Beers there.
They are two giant figures IN the
world in these closing months OF the
century-giants locked now IN death
grapple in which either one or the
other must go down with crash never
to rise again. One OF the trst acts OF
the Boer campaign was to put price
on Cecil Rhodes head; about the first
concerted strategic move was against
the place where he was intrenched.
When in 1871 Cecil Rhodes health
gave wav and he was obliged to leave
college, he consulted a physician, who
told him he must go to a mllder eli
mate. He was methodical old doc
tor, and in his private memorandum
of the case he wrote as a foot note,
Cannot live six months. He was
thin-faced, lanky lad of eighteen then,
with dull eyes. His countenance did
not suggest Intelligence and lndlcat-
ed nothing of force. That was only
twenty eight years ago. Now he is
the diamond king, the gold king, the
railroad builder, the multi millionaire
among multi millionalres III his prl-
vate humdrum capacity. In his public
capacity he is the founder OF vast
empire, a statesman who III Glad
stones time was counted second only
to the grand old man himself; since
Gladstone's death counted second to
none in all the vast british domlnlons
for relentless force and sheer weight
of personal power.
1t naturally would be a good deal
of man who could make hatred for
himself the one oyershadowlng pas
sion of a character so broad and full
OF force as that of Kruger. 1t Is I'M
possible to think of the Transvaal
leader indulging himself in real hatred
for anything smaller than giant.
1T is no use for us to have big
ideals" said Rhodes once in CONVEX
sation with his friend, Chinese Cor
don, ''unless we have money to carry
them out"
That sentiment was the keynote of
his early career in South Africa. He
had big ideals and he needed a colos-
sal fortune TO carry them out. SO he
went and got the colossal fortune, Just
as a carpenter would go and get his
tools to do a piece of work. His one
ideal, around which all other ideals
centred, was vast United States of
South Africa. His dream was COM
pact federated nation like the United
States of America He stood first and
above all things for the right of the
governed to a voice in the govern
ment. No taxation without repre-
sentation! No rule of an oligarchical
ring! are the cries with which he has
made South Africa ring until they cul-
minated in the demands for represen-
tation which made Dom Paul throw
down the gauntlet. How thoroughly
he is imbued with American ideas he
is constantly showing in his utter
ances, private and public. When the
home rule agitation was going on IN
England he exclaimed impatiently:
why don't they go and read the
Constitution of the United States in
stead of specializing on this and
doubling about that? There is no
speculation or doubt about it. Home
rale is not an experiment. 1t has
been worked out and solved in the
United States for more than a hundred
years.
Another time, commenting on the
villifcation that was being poured IN
the English papers on South African
ambitions and on him personally, he
said:
"That is the sort of talk that led to
Bunker Hill. I am loyal. The Cape
is loyal. But continued injustice and
Misrepresentation will ALLEVIATE the
most loyal. If England interferes with
us-well, the United States of South
Africa is not an ill-sounding name.
AS to his wealth, it is up somewhere
among those prodigious figures where
a million or so does not matter either
way. Some place it at $75, 600, 600
and some at $50, 900, 900, and fig
ure between the two is probably about
right. In his money getting days he
was money getter and fond of money
and that which represented money.
The story is told in Kimberley that he
filled pail full of amonds, all his
own, aud poured out the glitterlng
heap again and again with almost
childish pleasure.
But that epoch quickly passed, and
he turned to graver things.
He would now no more think OF
boarding money! said an acqualnt-
ance of his re emily, "than party
leader would thihk of boarding votes
TO him milliontpounds simply means
a lever, an instr hment of power.
It is impossible for those who see
him now to think of him as ever nav
'ag been a wfakling sent abroad t.: to
shoes and hea} + and mus uIar in I2:s3 pro
portion. Hig appetite is a marvel.
chief Lobe 1gula called him 'tne ne: m 1;n N
who eats s(whole country for his DIN
ner." 49,
"HoIad the face of a Caesar, the
ami Mion of aIovola and the wealth
Of sMr sus. says one writer
81 gray eyes, somewhat sunken eI.n IN
hakE oroits, have an almost melan. t
c5a WV expression, in curious .'o contrast n4hsr
i'd bsE the bold reso ution OF t the le oras' oras
hnH