CECIL RHODES'S IDEALS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17220, 10 August 1921, Page 11

CECIL RHODES'S IDEALS.

ANNUAL DINNER OF SCHOLARS. ME MASSEY AT OXTOED. (JTBOJI OCH OW.V CORRBSJOCTEST.) LONDON, June 16. Since 1914 the annual dinners of Rhodes Scholars in Oxford, for a number of obvious reasons, have been suspended. The occasion which marked their resumption last week was some-. thing more than a mere festivity among the speakers, and it was a fitting prologue to the Imperial Conference itself. The banquet was held in the Town Hall of Oxford, which was strikingly decorated for tho occasion; 248 students were present, the heads of a number of tho well-known colleges were guests, and twenty prominent men went down from London to tako part. Amongst these last mentioned were Viscount Milner (chairman of the Rhodes Trustees), who presided, Lieutenant-Colonel L. S. Amery (a trustee), General J. C. Smuts (Premier of tho Union of South Africa), Sir Thomas Smartt (a South African representative to the Conference), Lord Lovat, Sir Otto Beit, Mr W. C. Bridgemann, M.P., Sir E. W. M. Grigg, and Mr Massey. New Zealand students present were:—Messrs A. G. Marshall (1911), W. H. Jones (1914), A. C. Ponder (1917), H. G. Miller (1918), and N. H. Richmond U919). Of the 248 students, half of them were from the States of America, and the new American Ambassador was to have been one of the principal guests. Unfortunately, at the last moment, he found it impossible to attend, so that the circle of opinions on the ideals of the founder of the trust was not quite complete. • ' One so often hears what might be termed "British Empiro" speeches, that it was somewhat of a novelty to find the scope of the subject widened to the scope of tho subject widened to the English-speaking races. But even with this amplification a new complication arose, for, even excluding India, the British Empire is not all Englishspeaking. It was therefore left to General Smuts to uphold the ideals, of the late Cecil Rhodes in their broadest. sense. Rhodes looked forward to the co-operation of all the white races of the Western world for the furtherance of peace and culture, and although the Teutonic race and some others must be ruled out for the present, he said,, he took this larger view, that unity should be founded on the great ideal of human service. For in,the Empire there were deeper human forces than the mere bond of race. t Lord Milner, in proposing tne toast. "The Memory of the Founder," said he hoped these annual dinners would help to promote a common Rhodes scholar spirit which would endure throughout tho generations. The Spirit of New Zealand. N Lieutenant-Colonel L. S., Amery, who until recently was Under-Secretary tor the Colonies, was-particularly happy in proposing the toast "Our Guests. At the mention of the names of Mi j Massey and General Smuts the speaker j was "ruled out" for an interval. When j the enthusiastio applause at last subsided, Colonel Amery remarked: l gather that neither of them need touch of an introduction from me. .air Massey, he said, was the very embodiment of tho spirit of New Zealand, a spirit sturdy, self-reliant, and practical, and yet at the same time a spirit pas* eionately ideal in itß devotion to the conception of Imperial •unity—a devotion to which New Zealand had given ample testimony in the late war. Mr Massey was long in the confidence ot Ms fellow-citizens. In more recent years'lie (had won in the most complete measure the confidence and goodwill ot all his colleagues, from every part of tho Empire who have had, any dealings with him- General Srauts.had come to play a groat part in the great taste or •uniting the Empire at the Imperial Conference. It was a task of immense difficulty, a task of enabling a group of free-self-governing communities to arrive at a common policy, to safeguard tlißir own interests, and to pre-: serve the unity. of citizenship, of thought, of tradition., of ideals, which would Combine them together.. There ■were political theorists who maintained that that would not be possible, that Buch unity was impossible unless they had some direct common framework of constitutional sovereignty and legal authority to combine them together. They might bo right, but yet it eomer times seemed to him, in tihe world as jt was developing to-day, there were new forces which could combine and hold nations together aa well as the old framework they knew. They saw, in the physical world even, a power being transmitted by methods of which our ancestors (had no conception, and it might be, in the political developments of the.future, that independent communities might be synchronised in their action, not. by major votes on direct federal constitution, but by unity of thought and unity of ideal., It seemed to him that this unity could bo kept alive by intercourse. That was the underlying conception for tihe 6ake of which Rhodes founded'this Bcholajv ship, and was the underlying conception, of the meeting of the Imperial gathering for which their guesta liad assembled.' Mr Masaey's Views.

The scholarship scheme of CJeefl Rhodes, said Mr Massoy, was a great conception, and could- only have-origi-nated from one to whose heart the Empire was nearer and dearer than anything else. These scholarships were intended to encourage not only tho acquisition of knowledge and education, but also the nobler qualities of truth, honour, and courage, and the fondness for national sports which in times oi difficulty had brought out some of the very beet characteristics of our race* From New Zealand, twenty-one good specimens of younf' manhood had been awarded the scholarships. Of these, eleven volunteered for active service during tho war, four made the supremo sacrifice, while nearly all tho others occupied responsible positions in different parts of the world, and there had not been one failure. (Cheers;) Cecil Rhodes was a great Englishman, but he was also a great British citizen, one who looked forward and: outward, and saw the. possibility of benefiting humanity by increasing the strength and influence of the British Empire, not for purposes of aggrandisement or-gaining territory, but for the purpose of promoting peace oh earth and" goodwill between men, so that smaller nations desirous of selfrgovernment, and which could be trusted with the necessary power with advantage to themselves, and without injury to others, should have the opportunity to which they aspired. (Cheers.) Rhodes looked forward to the time when war would cease, but ho had sufficient knowledge of human nature to know that there ware hundreds of millions of people in the world who could only be kept within their own boundaries or from injuring others by the strong hand of just and at the same time more powerful nations. Hence his idea of a- combiifation of n&tions to keep peace and prevent war. To this end he suggested that Britain and America should come together, and if it had been poasibla to give effect to his ideal, many millions of lives would have been spared and untold misery prevented during the last seven years. Gathering of British Clans, Had Rhodes been alive to-day be would have been invaluable in assisting to solve some of the difficulties which were now before us. flow he would have gloried to have eeen, when it be*

came oertaia that war was inevitable. British citizens from every corner or the earth rushing to the soene of operations, resolved to protect the Jun-. pire or—as many of them did—dio in the attempt. One of the greatest compliments paid to any nation was the willingness of our native races to take part in the war. India, where attempt after attempt- had been made to spread sedition, Africa, tjw Islands of the West Indies, the Islands of the Pacific, the aboriginal natives of Isew Zealand, and ma-nv a- little-heard ot territoryall sent their contingents. It- was a gathering of the British clans such as the world had never seen, and probably would never see again. . Speaking of tho business which brought the members of the Imperial Conference together ou the present occasion, Mr Massey said ho was very •strongly of the opinion that there were greater opportunities for British Imperial statesmen to-day than at any other time in our history, and he trusted that these opportunities would not be missed. He hoped that the Conference would bo able to do something of substantial benefit to the Empire and its citizen*; that it would be able to define tho position of its nations in relation to each other, and especially in their relation to the heart of tho Empire. "I am strongly in favour of tho principle of partnership as between the nations of the Empire," ho continued, "but even partnership has its duties and responsibilities, as well as its rights and privileges. Tho system which baa been brought into operation is by no means perfect, but 1 hope that we shall be able to improve it as time goes on. In any case, it is quite certain that a nation cannot stand still; it mnet either, go forward or fall behind; and I trust that for the benefit of the Empire, its nations, and humanity in general, we shall forge steadily ahead, following tho example of those who have preceded us. In regard to our system of-conferences, there is one serious weakness in the present arrangement. During the war period, and, in fact, right up to the signing of the Peace Treaty, the Imperial War Cabinet did magnificent work. Representatives of all the Dominions were included on it, and thus when important questions were discussed and recommendations made to tho Sovereign, the decisions arrived at were those of the whole Empire- But *>ince tho War Cabinet has ceased to exist, the £k>miniong have no longer definite representation in matters of Empiro government. This is not satisfactory to loyalists ovorseas, and, in my opinion, it ought to be.put right. lam not going to enlarge upon the part played by the overseas countries of the Empire during war period. We endeavoiired t 0 do our duty as part of the Empire, and there is nothing more to be said; but I want to see such arrangements made and such an understanding arrived at as will tend to keep tho British stock and tho native races, who so loyally stood by ue, united in such a way that it will be impossible to break up the great organisation known as the -British Empire." (Cheers.) The targer View.

General Smuts, who followed, said that Mr Rhodes was a young man. His •faults wore those of a ydung man, and a meeting like that of young mon of that University was especially proper t 0 commemorate the memory of his fife and of his work. Lord Milneir had referred to him as having certain great dominant ideas, which he carried out, or did his best to carry out, in his life, tiino. That described very accurately the difference between a real statesman and tho man who was ordinarily called a politician. The politician was a man who worked simply from day to day. The result was that in his own day he might Beem to secure great success, and achieve groat results, yet in after years the work seemed futile. At a gathering liko that they could not forget that they represented' ono of the great ideals of Rhodes. There wa 3 a racial side to these great ideals. That does not appeal to me," said General Snrats. "I have always felt, and have often said, that the mere bonds of race, the British bonds, the AngloSaxon bonds which are supposed to hold the British Empire together, do not appeal to me. I tako a larger view, —that there are greater at work, deeper human forces in this Empire— (Cheers)—and on that platform of great ideals or great conceptions of human service it is possible for lis. to whatever nationality in the i British Empire we may happen £,**»& aU to unite. Mr Rhodes felt that the only way to realise these great ideals was t© bring the young men of the great peoples together. IS was not only the peoplea of the British .Empire he wanted to bring together in that way; he wanted to bring America into it-the oldest British Dominion, the first British Dominion-Slaughter ana cheers)—whom wo. were always prowl and grateful to claim as one of ourselvel: She has gone her way on tiio great pathways of history, we feel in our heart of hearts that she K ono of us, and whenever m the future we came to tho narrow passages. *° ™f difficult corners, whenever human destiny will really he at stake the years to come, we feel that America, whatever her ordinary politics nught be, wiU be with us, and will stand with us. It was Mr. Rhodes's jdoa to bring the young men of all these peoples together. Rhodes had.a very far-distant, vision m those distant times, which seem now so far distant that theymight almost .have^ been before the Flood. In his- day he.felt the Teutonio or GermanK, peoples might be represented m th>s great brotherhood of human service, and that was the original conception of the aTodes Trust and tfce Ehodes Scholsav Union of WMte Baces.

great tides hava swept over some oflfchodes's, ideas, ana for the present they .are submerged, but I feel that the vision of Cecil Rhodes was the right,vision, and ttte day will come—it nughit ho far Or near, that depends very much .on the: immediate future before we will see his was the right vision, and that in the union of all tho. great white races and forces operating in the world alone can we feel a true guarantee of Western civilisation m the future. 'lt was for them in that University, and for all the young-men in the great States to mako-Bhodes's visKura reality to prove through the realisation of the vision of Rhodes tibat. there Was a future for tho Western civilisation, in the years to eome. He remembered. W, the early nineties, when he was an undergraduate, that it seemed that science was going to and bet ter the human race. . What had become of that dream. Science •so far from, beinc an instrument of human happiness and betterment, had become an instrument for destruction, or almost the destruction, of Western civilisation, and no wonder to-day there was pessimism. It was for the young men of the present time to rc-build the hopes that were shattered; "You are mission-, aries," concluded General Smuts, ; as vou sit here to-night you are missionaries in a great cause, and Rhodes has pledged you to carry out his great idea."