Evening star., 1933-09-03
CECIL RHODES BY Sarah Gertrude Millin.

through all the intensely interesting pages
Of this biography of Cecil Rhodes This Is
no impugnment of the accuracy Of her
facts, which she seems to have gathered
with great care and regard for reliable
authority. But II Is doubtful If the author Of
Gods Stepchildren" and The Coming Of the
Lord" could have harnessed herself to the direct
narrative and chronological order Of an ordi-
nary biography. and readers will be glad that
she did not try to do So Ceci John Rhodes
was a figure Of high romance and demands
romantic treatment Always more or hess OF an
iinvalid going to South Africa in the first place,
at the age of l6, because he was a tubercuiar,
dying when he was only 49, he yet accomplished
more of good and bad than any hundred aver
sge men and much of his accomplishment was
of the seemingly impossible. His a con-
Trajectory personality, which would be difficult
to explain by any principles of either the old
the new psychology. He was from the be-
ginning to the end Of his life an idaalist, a
visionary: yet he was also an almost complete
cync. He early conceived the dream OF a world
empire under English rule-for the benefit and
peace of all humanity. His lesser dream of
oxford he made reality after a second trial
when, in 1884, he took his degree as an Oriel
man. At this time he already member
CT the Cape Parliament and had founded the
De Beers Mining Co. He had first matricula6ed
ct oxford in 1873 but had been sent back to
kimberley by doctor who made note in his
case book that Rhodes had not six months to
live. But Rhodes had determined to live. at
least for few years, and to 60 back to Oxford
When he left oxford he had learned 'D that
oxford great, CD that England was great"
This Rhodes the idealist. Rhodes the
cynic trusted few men 0but those few he trusted
oXtravagantly), believed that all men had their
price and did not hesitate to find out what it
was disliked women, apparently cared little for
his parents brothers and sisters, used what
ever methods he found useful in politics. treated
natives
program of empire
Mrs Millin. herself South African. begins
~ = life of Rhodes with his death, probably
because it furnishes such a dramatic opening
for her story: the instinct for literary effect is
C-iienced. The lonely man in disgrace since
- Jameson Raid. at his rebuilt house of
. cote Schuur the first house had been
lrned). on the mountain above Cape Town,
attended except by servants, wandering from
'cm to room trying to find air for his laooring
'Ggs. finally removed to a cottage by the
a. His colored prepared to take him to
Drakenstein farm but Rhodes, still in COM
md. decided to go to England, where it
,uld be cool April weather On the day the
at sailed. with his cabin fitted with oxygen
IS and electric fans, Rhodes died at Groote
muir On a special train his body was
-ried north to his Rhodesia. and there on a
l in the Matoppos was buried in tomb cut
the rock. A brass plate marks the tomb,
h the nnperious inscription dictated by him.
If: Here lie the remains of Cecil John
nodes In a near the tomb sits The
:'-eleton of Moselikatze, the Matabele chief who
..anaged to hold his lands and his royalty
during his life. His son. Lobengula, was de-
spoiled by Rhodes in the prosess Of empire
building.
Rhodes lived through and Was the dominat-
ing influence in all the early development of
South Africa and always he had before him
the goal of union. under England. For this
oJ ho hog ifofp To dn uha he
considered necessary. Hence the hatred felt
for him by Kruger. Hence also the Jameson
Raid. When Rhodes died the Boer War
nearing its end. He did not live to the
accomplishment Of his great nationahstic
bition, but he had not expected to live to
see It. For most of his life death had stalked
along beside him and he had kept just ahead
of his grisly companion much longer than he
had hoped Largely by his efforts Basutoland
was transferred to imperial CONTROL Bechuana-
land north and south, became, respectively,
British Protectorate and Crown Colony; the
Cape to Cairo Railway was conceived; Mata-
beleland was added to the growing Rhodesia,
and the warlike Matabele were finally reduced
to submission; British protectorate was pro-
claimed Uganda Tongaland was annexed
to the Cape, and kruger was many times out
witted. Jameson's raid on the Transvaal en-
couraged and assisted by Rhodes, was probably
the greatest mistake of Rhodes life Preced-
ing and becoming inextricably involved with
his program of empire were Rhodes financial
enterprises. Here it is all dazzling medley of
gold, diamonds, companies mining concessions,
stock issues and amalgamations. He died a
very wealthy man, how wealthy he probably
did not exactly know And in his last will he
founded the Rhodes Scholarships, one of his
many plans for making the world English.
Perhaps the feeling of George Meredith about
Rhodes quoted by Mrs. Millin, is that of even
handed justice: "I would crown him and then
scourage him with his crown still on him"
THE CAPITULAIORY REGIME OF TURKEY.
Its History, Origin and Nature. BY Nasim
Sousa Ph d Baltimore: The Johns Hon.