, 1908-06-17

were. to fuftl0f LI6 COHSOlluhGlOn OF the
British Empire and the restoration Of Anglo
Saxon unity; and to prevent wars and pro-
mote tho welfare of mankind. Slowly but
surely the plan took frmer shape. The
final and sanest step toward it's attainment
was taken in 1899, when, just before the
Boer war began, Cecil Rhodes made his
sixth and last will, establishing the Rhodes
scholarships. It was at this ~iuncture that
Mr.. Stead as q trustee pat three Questions
to Cecil Rhodes.
will You divide the scholarships between
Oxford and Cambridge2'"No."" Will you open
the scholarships equally tomen and women?"
ono 'fWill you extend the scholarships to
each state and territory of the United Stq'es?'
A pause, a smile, then the decisive. Eyes"
We may think of Rhodes as a man of az
fairs, and such he was. But he was even
more conspicuously a lover of learning and
a disciple of the ideal. During his college
career, though hampered by ill-health, his
studies we're resolutely, even if internationally
pursued. Imagine if you will, an American
student constrained by his doctor to spend
his winters in the Philippines, yet comirg
back to Yale during the sumner term to
complete his education, leaving behind i'll
the hands of other persons, his invested
millions. This virtually Rhodes did. For
eight years he went back and forth between
UIlS t1tti1)ul utIllS vi OOIt All ca AHA va u
College, Oxford, till finally he stepped before
the Vice Chancellor in 1881 to be made both
Bachelor and Master of rts. What energyt
What concentration Of purpose What intel,
lectual idealism!
From Oxford, Rhodes took with HIM
at least Que great truth, "Vlrtue is
the highest activity Of the soul, liv-
ing for the highest object is q per-
feet life" This, which he then adopted from
Aristotle, became the Leading principle, the
pole star of his life. To be true, be then
went into business, aud his power in manage
ing men, his skill in meeting crises, his tact
in reconciling conflicting interests, soon made
the De Beers consolidated mines, at once the
best organized, the wealthiest mining corpo-
ration in the void. But even whe1 the
stress of business was heaviest, he sank net
into materialism, for Cecil John Rhodes was
saved by his Oxford ideal. The imaginative
lame that was kiniled in his soul at Oxford.
the intellectual enthusiasm that he acquired
from his study, never once smouldered dur
ing the accumulation of wealth, but ~continu-
ed to glow throughout the shifting scenes
of his life. Money for moneys sake was no
motto of Cecil Rhodes. This wealthy Eng
lishman eschowed luxury, despised ostenta-
ton, and looked upon his fortune only as an
instrument to further his ideals.
Neither was Rhodes less idealistic in his
official rule. Contrast with him, if you will, Pie
sident Kruger. He aimed to establish Dutch
rule with the Beers as masters, and both
the English and natives alike, as vassals.
Rhodes aimed to unite Ditch and English
with equal rights and liberties, at the same
time subjectiag the natives to humane reg
~ulations, which to them should be an up
lifting and an emancipation. What palmer.
evid ence need we than his Glen Grey Act
of 1890, prohibiting the sale of intoxicants
among the Kefirs? This sympathy for
natives of Africa was openly avowed. DR.,
Jameson writes, Cecil Rhodes most prom
inent characteristic was q liking for natives
of Africa. He trusted them, and they VI
mired sand trusted him, He provided
carefully for their comfort ----
was absolutely free from contempt
for the black man, and treated linn as q
fellow man, differing only in his lower level
of development" True, not without spot,
not without blemish, not without fault, was
the course of his official career but, if
Cecil Rhodes lost q true sense of perspec-
tive at one crucial period of his administra-
ton as Governor of Cape Colony, when the
Jameson raid occurred, he fell with his
face toward his ideal he died servinr his