The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1902-03-29
AN ESTIMATE OF THE MAN.
John Hays Hammond Speaks of Him as He
Found Him.

IA
New York, March 27.-John Hays
New York, March 26.-John Hays
Hammond, who was for many years
and up to the time of the death of
Cecil Rhodes intimately associated
with him in the development of South
Africa, was consulting engineer of
the British South Africa Chartered
Co. and the Consolidated Gold Fields
of South Africa, in which Mr.. Rhodes
held important interests, had this to
say Of Mr.. Rhodes:
mr.. Rhodes, whose sun went down
when 1t was yet day, died in the filth year
of his age. He leaves no posterity, but
leaves his name on the map of Africa
(Rhodesia). a sponsor for a
states. Had he lived he would have de-
voted the remaining years of his life and
would have spent every dollar of his for
tune in eQuipping that monWe
unfortunately, his character has been
misunderstood in America. judged by
American standards Mr.. Rhodes was tru-
ly a great man. He was not only a great
empire builder, but also a captain of in
dustry. He is oftener represented as a
shifty, INSCRIPTIONS tinancier, in league
with capitalists to coax the Transvaal
into a hopeless war in order to steal the
mines of the country. He is also repre-
scented as giving his entire life to the
amassing of large wealth and ready to
employ the most u~nscrupulous methods
to that end. But by even the most bitter
of his enemies, conversant with the facts,
such allegations are repudiated.
1.-The truth is that Rhodes cared little
for money beyond the power 1t gave him
to assist In the development of South At
RIGA. From a most intimate connection
with him in his business enterprises, l
am able to state that his methods of
finance were not only scrupulously honor-
able, but were characterized by unusual
generosity, and one on whom they could
depend for the furtherance or any de-
serving local enterprise or worthy char
PERSONALLY Mr.. Rhodes was democratic
in his tastes and colonial in his political
and social bias. He was fond of the sim
pier and better pleasures of life, devoted
especially to out-of-door life on the veldt:
and had a contempt for and dislike Oh
of innate refinement and culture, and a
graduate of oxford. Rhodes had an in
domitable spirit and dogged perseverance
visionary. He was built on broad lines
and he abhored petty politics, which ne
contemptuously designated as the. poll
tics of the parish pump" and he depre,
Gated quite as strongly what he termed
men.
POLITICALLY he was a great admirer OF
democratic institutions, but at the same
time he was a local i~mperialist.
''Rhodes had his defects and faults, but
these will not obscure the glory of his
name. Great men, It is said. are made OF
faults. OF one thing there can De nc
doubt, that Rhodes ideals were pure and
lofty. and | believe that history will deal
rather with his ideals than with his
achievements and methods, and that he
will therefore rank high among the great
men of the 10th century.
Cecil Rhodes found in the m~editations
of Marcus Aurelius many aspirations fol
his own career. -,
Until the unfortunate Jameson raid
for which he has received far more blame
than he deserved, as history will prove
he was very popular with the Dutch oil
"Within a very short time there woule
have been a revolution of feeling, and
strange as it may sound to-day, Rhode'
would have been able to re-establish nj;
influence with the Dutch. and he woule
have been quick to take or th'
situation and would have. passed INFO ms.
tory as the great pacihcator or Souti
Africa. This estimate of Rhodes Is shared
even to-day by many of the progressive
Dutchmen in the country