New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-05
RHODES'!S WILL.

The will ef Cecil Rhodes is eminently char-
acteristic of its maker. 1t is. too Striking COT
roboration of various stories of him which some
have assumed TO regard as apocrypnal Inc
most epigrammatic and exalted of his utteranceS
as reported by friends and biographers IAN
short of the literal terms of his Will Inc most
rsndiose of mis- schemes in life are fully rvalled
bv that which he leaves for posthumous eAecu-
ton.
As was expected by those most famlllar Win
the man and his ideals. he has left fortune Tor
educational purposes. He provides for the estap-
lishment and perpetual maintenance OF large
number Of scholarships at his alma mater, oA
ford Some of these are to be hlled from the
British colonies That is in prosecution OF
his desire for the imperial federation of all Brit
jsh possessions Five of them are 10 be filed
with students of German birth, TO be nominated
by the German Emperor. and-most striking OF
all-about a hundred are to be filed in the
United States TO wit, TWO for each CT the exist
ing States and Territories of this Union 1hese
German and American scholarships, he eN-
plained in codicil telegraphed from South
Africa are founded because. in his BELIEF a
good understanding between England Ger
many and the United States VIII secure Inc
peace of the world and educational relations
form the strongest tie Those are memorable
words. and the idea which they express and the
end at which they aim are among the most
practical and the most noble Of our time.
Worthy of association herewith is his bequeSl
of vast landed estates for the promotion of edu-
cation in Rhodesfa and so is his gift of his sub
urban home near Cape Town, with a fine en-
dowment, to the state
In all this there is a revelation Of a side of
this extraordinary man which has long been
known TO those who have famillarzed them
selves with him. but which many of his critics
have ignored or have affected TO ignore. Years
ago. speaking to the Afrikander Bund. of which
he was at that time the champion and hero, he
preached the subject as one dear to his heart.
of a great South African university, which
should receive young men from the Cape. from
Natal, from Rhodesia from the Transvaal and
from the Orange State and by educating them
together should inspire them with community
of thought and thus powerfully conduce TO the
harmony and unifcation Of South Africa. 1t is
well known that had his life been spared little
| longer he would have entered upon the reallza-
ton of that plan. 1t was easy TO sheer at MIN
for a sordid money grubber, and TO say that he
put forward these fine schemes only to bllnd
people to his real character. But here Is his
last will and testament. concretely demonstrate
ing his earnestness and his sincerity in such
things.
We have said that he made a great and In
delible mark upon the political and commercial
man Of the world. and mark that was in the
main for good. In his princely gifts TO the
cause of education and TO the cause Of peace
and good will among the greatest NATIONS of the
world he has left still nobler memorial. What
ever NAV be remembered or forgotten of the
Diamond King" of the conqueror of Loben-
gula and of the Cape to Cairo" promoter, the
man who opened the doors of Oxford freely and
forever to a hundred young Americans will not
be forgotten or regarded with ingratitude.