The Opelousas courier., 1901-10-05
SOUTH AFRICAN CESAR.
CAREER OF CECIL RHODES WHOM
PAUL KRUGER HATES.

$1,000 . LAG PoisoAal natfeQ Tor Cecil
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 inten-
sity which, even more than he sus-
poets, may bend awry the usual even,
true lines of his Judgment and lead
hin 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
hshman who towers as q Colossus
among his c~ountrymen in South At
RIGA, just as Dom Paul himself towers
q 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 a death
grapple- in which either one or the
other must go down with a crash never
to rise again. One of the first acts of
the Boer campaign vas to put a price
on Cecil Rhodes head; aboutthe first
concerted strategic move was against
the place where he was intrenched.
When in 1871 Cecil Rhodes health
gave way and he was obliged to leave
college, he consulted a physician, who
told him he must go to a milder cli-
mate. He was a methodical old doc
tor, and in his private memorandum
Of the case he wrote as g foot note,
Cannot live six mouths" He was a
thin-faced, lanky lad of eighteen then,
with dull eyes. His countenance did
not suggest Intelligence and indicat-
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-millionaires in his pri-
yate humdrum capacity. In his public
capacity he is the founder of a vast
empire, q statesman who in 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 dominions
for relentless force and sheer weight
OF personal power.
It naturally would be a good deal
OF a man who could make hatred for
himself the one overshadowing pas
| sion of q character SO broad and full
of force as that of Kruger. It is inn
possible to think of the Transvaal
leader indulgiug himself in real hatred
/ for anything smaller than a giant.
sIt is no use for us to have big
ideals, " said Rhodes once in CONVEX
sation with his friend, Chinese Cor
don, ''unIess 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 q carpenter would so and get his
tools to do q piece of work. His one
ideal, around which all other ideals
centred, was q vast United States Of
South Africa. His dream was o COM
pact federated nation like the United
States of America. He stood first and
above ell things for the right of the
governed to a voice in the govern
ment. No taxation without repre-
sentationi No rule of an oligarchical
tingl are the cries with whichh has
made South Africa ring until they cul-
minated in the demands for represen-
ktation 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:
aWhy 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
rule is not an experiment. It has
been worked out and solved in the
United States for more than a hundred
years"
Another time, commenting on the
%yillifcation that was being poured in
the English papers on South African
ambitions and on him personally, he
said:
ssThat is the sort Of talk that led to
Bunker Hill. T am loyal. The Cape
IS loyal. But continued injustice and
Misrepresentation will ALLEVIATE the
most loyal. If England interferes will,
Ius-well. the United States of South
Africa is not an astounding name.
As to his wealth, it is up somewhere
among those prodigious figures where
4 million or SO does not matter either
way. Some place it at $75, 600, 600
and some at $3.50, 600, 900, and q fig
IRE between the two is probably about
Eight. In his money-getting days he
was q money-getter and fond o money
and that which represented money.
The story is told in Kimberley that he
filled a pail full Of diamonds, all his
own, and poured ont the glitterlng
heap again and again with almost
childish pleasure. !,
But that epoch quickly passed, and
he turned to gravsr things. ].
aHe would now no more think OF
boarding money" said an acquaint-
ance Of his recently, .sthan Q party
leader would think of boarding votes.
70 him q million pounds simply means
a lever, an instrument of power.
1t is impossible for those who see
him now to think of him as ever haV-
Ing been q weakling sent abroad to
u. -. q feat inch tall IN his