The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-03-26

cepted the treasury generalship in the Scan
| len ministry.
Mr.. Rhodes was the originator of the
! Cape Colony scheme and considered his great
| est achievement the keeping Of Bechuana-
| land In British hands, to the exclusion of the
| Beers He was treasurer general Of Cape
| Colony in 1884, deputy commissioner of
| Bechuanalanl in 1884-5 and managing direc-
| tor of the British South African Company,
whose charter was granted through his efforts
| in 1889. Afterward he became chairman OF
| the company, director of the De Beers mines,
| premier of Cape Colony QS9O-96), commits
! sioner of crown lands and minister of ma
| tive affairs and served in Matabeleland in
| 1896
| Mr.. Rhodes read chiefly the classics and
| was a collector Of old furniture china and
curios generally. He was a sportsman and
| good shot and owned whole menagerie
OF lions, etc. He remained in guarded re-
| tirement at Kimberley the first months of
the pending war, his capture by the Beers
| being threatened constantly.
Kruger Called Him Murderer.
Cecil Rhodes was once designated by an
enemy ''the evil genius of South Africa.
Whether or not this appellaton was just, the
developments Of an uncertain future alone
can tell. 1t Is a matter Of history that the
vortex of the bloody conflicts which have
marked the history of South Africa in the
last twenty years has followed his course
Wherever he went, both war and civilization
followed. To his activity in building Brit
ish empire in South Africa is attributed
! the present deadly struggle between Boer
freedom and the advance Of British power.
President Kruger called him murderer and
placed price on his head. EngliStmen have
denounced him as coward and criminal, and
clamored for his downfall, but his great per-
sonality continued to make history in South
Africa, and through success and defeat he
continued to stand forth -eninently the
greatest Englishman in South Africa.
The projects which have been carried out
by Cecil Rhodes were too great to be meas
| ured by the standards Of ordinary men. The
! methods he used were accordingly often in
violation of ordinary standards. great gen
eral both of finance and conquest, he used all
human agencies to accomplish his ends He
sacrificed lives and all else which stood in
his way, and the history Of conquest in South
Africa is history Of bloodshed and dis
honor, but it is also history of magnificent
achievement; of vast fortunes torn from q
molten soil; Of vast states wrested from
the rule of savages and given to the uses OF
civilization; Of the progress OF modern
civilization along the route from Cape to
Cairo, and the great figure in this history
was Cecil Rhodes.
Struggle for the ZambesI
The early operations of the Chartered COM
pany furnish heroic pages in South African
history. Hardly had the charter been issued
before President Kruger OWNED the object
of the company and tried to defeat 1t. The
race for the Zambesi over the traukess veldt
began. When the English arrived in the
chartered territory they found the Beers
there before them. Rhodes sent for troops.
The government furnished them and drove
off the encroaching Beers The struggle be-
tween Rhodes, the English genius, and Kru-
ger, the Boer patriot, began bloody strug-
gle. which still continues to-day between
their followers
The Boer trek was headed off. Boer expan-
sion wass topped the Transvaal republic was
cut off from the growth which was the hope
OF its future independence and greatness. All
this was done by stroke by Cecil Rhodes.
He accomplished 1t more by the power OF his
millions than by genius. In the height Of
his success he was made premier OF Cape
Colony.
Still holding his power In politics, Rhodes
continued the work of the Chartered compa-
ny. First, Matabeleland was conquered and
opened up by the Chartered company Be-
chuanaland was added to the British domain,
A bloody war was fought with the Matabe,e
| tribe and the British domain extended to the
ZambesE 1t passed the stream which had
once been the goal OF the race. Nyossaland
was added. and the British Central Africa
| colony was the result. The advance of the
Portuguese into the interior was stopped The