DR JIM THE ELIZABETHAN.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 211, 18 May 1909, Page 2

DR JIM THE ELIZABETHAN.

Mr Seymour Fort has rendered senrce not only to Dr Jameson himself but to aU those who love to " praise famous men " in his recently published life of this Em-pire-builder. Great deeds, yes, but with one notable exception. Even in the case of the Raid, however, there were extenuating circumstances which careless criticism knows little of. It was plain that the day was going against the plans of the Johannesburgers; the abortive resolution "was fizzling out. If this were not stopped, the trump cards would be all in Kruger's hands, and he would use them to attack and undermine Rhodes political and Imperial position. In Dr Jameson's eyes this would be the blackest thing that could happen. An utterly unselfish man, with not a grain of concern for money, or food, [ or elothse, or comfort, he gave himself up I with all the unselfish gallantry of a mediaeval knight-errant or an Elizabethan hero to the fulfilment of Rhodes's Imperial plans. They were in danger of being blighted. Sudden and decisive action might save them. Everything seemed to be going wrong. The drunken fool told off to cut telegraph wires from Zeerust to Johannesburg, and prevent, news of the raid leaking out, had cut the wires of a- fence intead. A relay of horses had proved worse than useless. Still th© doctor believed in his lucky star, which seemed to have been in the ascendant for so long. That star went out in the black night. Then in those hours of utter darkness the greatness of the mau'6 character shone out afresh in taking endless thought for everyone but himself with the old courage that led him to face death again a-nd again in visits to Lobengula's rude Court, that enabled him to stroll carelesslj' about in the laager during the' hottest assaults of Lobengula's impi6, that enabled him to disperse Colonel Ferriera's raid or trek into Rhodesia — with that courage he faced the darkest period in j his career. The man who afterwards nursed in Ladysntith hiss fever-stricken servant night and <Jay until he himself contracted the disease, the mar. who, when broken health demanded rest and quiet, instantly obeyed his chief6 call and travelled ail those weary hundreds of leagues to Fort Salisbuiy, this embodiment of unselfishness forgot his own distress, so much greater than that of his comrades, in striving to undo th© effects of hi6 too optimistic and impulsive action. No- wonder that everybody who knows him, from Agents-General in London to Bond opponents in the Cape Parliament, feels the fascination of his personality, the driving force of his great will, the persuasive humor of his tongue. " I came to Parliament, meaning to hunt him," said a 6taunch Bondman, "but it looks as if I meant to follow him." "He will live as the great peacemaker," said an influential Dutch lady who had been one of .his bitterest foes. Some there are indeed who think that Dr Jameson conciliated the Boer in the country districts at the expense of the British in the ports. Mr Abe Bailey said as much last April. Thus they would account for his defeat at the last elections. The real cause for that defeat was the disunion among the Progressives and the lack of energy which allowed a perfectly safe 6eat in Bechuanaland to be captured by the Bond from sheer neglect to put up a Progressive sandidate. How much Dr Jameson did to soften racial animosities may be gauged from the fact that Mv Hofmeyr, the Bond leader, was indused . at last to 6ay : — We cannot be expected to sing your national songs with the same verve that you do, but we do say that ifc is a real and thorough interest that we have ' in the British Empire. The ex-Agent-General for Cape Colony once said that Dr Jameson was the hard-est-working Premier Cape Colony ever had. Instances of his self-forgetting zeal are as common as blackberries in Mr Fort's volume ; one example will do : One morning his doctor insisted upon performing at once a painful operation upon his side. Jameson immediately sent a message to the Colonial and Foreign. Offices, where he had appointments, asking them to postpone the inviews arranged for that morning till the afternoon. Scarcely was the wound bandaged than he was dressed, and within two hours, despite great pain, was pressing upon British officialdom the urgent need of prompt action. Like all other Empire j builders, he suffered not a little from "British officialdom," especially in 1093, when a Liberal Government tried to appropriate the fruits of tho victory over Lobengula, and to prevent British commerce being given a preference in Rhodeuia. We may be glad that thi6 Elizabethan of the twentieth centuary, who has ever pursued noble and Imperial ends with the "desperate patience of a brave desire," is still with us. England has no nobler son than "Dr Jim." — 'Evening Standard.'