DEATH OF CECIL RHODES

Otago Witness, Issue 2506, 2 April 1902, Page 21

DEATH OF CECIL RHODES

AN EMPIBE-BUILDER GONE. LARGE BEQUESTS FOR EDUCATION. LONDON, March 26. The Right Hon. Cecil Rhodes is dead. Mr Rhodes wi&lied to be bnried in Ith" Matoppo Hills. ! Sir Gordon Sprigg, the Cape Premier, lias, decided to accord a public fuceral service, which will be held at Capetown Cathedral. Warm tributes are paid by the newspapers to the empire-builder and his great ideal in regarding his fortune as si sacred trust for others. There is .widespread regret, but it .is recognised rthttt Mr Rhodes's death will not ninte-a-ially affect South African enterprise, inasmuch as the broad line of Imperialistic policy is firmly laid. The pro-Boer verdict of the Continent is that Mr Rhodes was a good sower hut not destined to reap the harvest. Some writers are virulent. Mr Rhodes slept quietly through the morning and afternoon. His breathing ;it 5 o'clock became difficult. He was conscious for a few minute*, and muttered faintly, farewelling hi* brother, Major Elmhurst Rhodes, and others at his bedside. His death, quiet and painless, came at 6 o'clock, and was due to extreme weakness resulting from two attacks of heart-failure. Mr Rhodes's admirers in London are preparing to hold a memorial service in Westminster 'Abbey. Vlr Rhodes's funeral will take place at Capetown on Wednesday. It is reported that he has left large provision for the development of Rhodesia and the completion of his Cape to Cairo projects. Continental newspapers consider that his death will immensely affect Britain'.s future in South Africa. Dr Jameson conveys Mr Rhodes's body for interment at Matoppo. Amongst Mr Rhodes's Last words were, " So little done, so much to do." The London Stock Exchange is not affected by the death. , March 28. Mr Rhodes bequeathed Grootschur to +he,-people of Capetown and large sums to charities. A po-t mortem disclosed extensive aneurism of the heart. The body will be accorded a State funeral. There are fcigiis of mourning in all the chief centres rf Sonth Africa. Resolutions of condolence have been carried by the public bodies. A memorial service will be held on Thursday in St. Paul's Cathedral. Members of the Stock Exchange have .sent cables to South Africa, expressing their sense of the Empire'? loss and their conviction that Mr Rhodes cannot be replaced. The Rai«er has telegraphed to the King his condolence* with the i-mpire in the loss of Mr Cecil Rhode*. March 29. The body of Mr Cecil Rhode- lies in statr in the vestibule of Farh.iment Hou^e until Thur'-.lay. The carriage of the "Long Cecil 2im will be u-ed to bear the reLMtns to the cathedral. -he Daily Mail that Mr Rhodes bequeathed the bulk of hi-, fortune to the Pan-Britannic .scheme for the education and intellectual betterment of the race, to enable the Cape to successfully rival otner nationalities. The scheme embraces every part of the Empire. March 50. Fifteen thousand persons, in. an uninterrupted stream lasting seven hours, passed by Cecil Rhodes's coffin, lying in the death chamber at Grootschur, on Saturday. March 31. The Daily Express states that Mr Rhodes has bequeathed £100,000 to Oriel College, Oxford, and leaves Oxford I nivfiisii^jr oy«r g million to develop his

great «cheme of Imperial education, pro- , viding many colonial scholarships. The Right Hon. Cecil Rhodes, D.C.L., M.A., fourth son of the Rev. F. Rhodes, Vicar of Bishop-Stortford, Hertfordshire, was born on July 5, 1853. The delicate state of his health as a boy induced his friends to send him to South Africa for *ts improvement, and m 1871 he joined his elder brother, Herbert, at Natal. He returned to England in the following year, and matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford ; but | his course of study was interrupted by his continual ill-health, his lungs having become I affected as the result of a chill, and he again , returned to South Africa, settling with his •j brother al Kimberley. The diamond mines j h..d bseu recently opened there, and they both I secured claims, and soon amassed a large fori tin c. Herbert Rhodes, however, left the mines j to enjoy travelling and hunting, appointing . CeciL in charge of his property. Mr Rhodes pr-r-c>ered in Ins work, and became very rich. At Kimbei.ey he mot Dt Jameson and Mr C. j R'Kld, and a close friendship was formed bej l-.iepn the -three men. There is very little | rloubt that while at work in the mines Mr ■ Rhode? was gradually maturing his plans for . thd absorption of tlie whole of the continent •"outh cf the Zambesi. He had frequently been heard to say. pomting to the map of Africa, and sweeping his hand fiom the Cape to the Zarubes.— " 'that's ray dream — al! English." 1 He did not neglect Ins studies, however, and during 1876 he entered the Inner Temple, for a short period becoming a law student ; he also j found tune between, his journeys to Africa to ' complete his residential terms at Oxford, where I he took the degrees of B.A. and M.A. in 1881. j He did not confine his attention at Kimberley entirely to diamonds, but financed and managed many undertakings for the improvement of j the condition of life and the means of transit lin those pioneer days. He never cared for money for itself, the one dominant idea of all ! hi 3 financial schemes being the expansion ' and consolidation of Great Britain jn South ! Africa. Speaking of himself, he has said, " I I saw that expansion was everything, and that i the world's surface being limited, the great object of present humanity should be to take as much of the world as it possibly could." i Mr Rhodes, in the early eighties, entered the | Cape Parliament for Barkly West, and about that time met General Gordon. They were thrown much together, and many mteresting J anecdotes have been recorded of the relations iof these two men. Gordon bad formed a very j high opinion of Rhodes, and when he decided to go to Khartoum he telegraphed to him ask- ! ing h»m lo join his expedition . but Rhodes j decided lo retrain at the Cape. He was ap- \ pointed Tii asmer-^eneral of the Cape in the I Scanlan Admmistiation, but in the Assembly he chiefly devoted himself to his schemes of I expansion to the north, receiving very little ! encouragement. During 1883 Mr Rhodes was sent by the Cape Government to deal with the i question of the delimitation of Griqualand West, and at the same time he obtained from i Mar.koioane, the ruling chef, a cession of a j laree portion of Bechuanland, which the Cape ! Coiorry lefused to take over. He thereupon applied to the Home Government, asking them | to administer the country, and in 1884 an I Imperial Protectorate was established over the I territory m question. About that time the 1 London Convention with Mr Kruger was drawn up, and the Boer President began a rival com- , petition with Mr Rhodes for native territories, u'timatplv securing a large part of Zululand, Stallaland. and Goschen. Mr Rhodes was then j appointed Deputy Commissioner for Bechuanai land, and by a fiim policy was enabled to keep the Boers out of, and to checkmate the designs of Mr Kruger upon, that portion of South Africa. The extraordinary fertility of the diamond mines at Kimberley led to a great influx of settles there, the ie=ult being the formation of a larsc number of small companies. Mr I Rhodes "geing the desirability of limiting the «upp'y of cj.amonds, <=et himself the task of j banding iooc-ther a number of the companies j >nto enc, and thus the De Beers Consolidated Mines sprang existence. In that company all the iiVipn ta\t properties were an:si!gainated. Dm ing 1886 pnld mine" »eie discovered in the Transvaal, and. with the aid of Mr Rudd, he formed the company known as the Goldfie'.ds of South Africa, which has had a most prosperous career. As time went on it became ' wore ap-1 n ire evident to Mr Rhodes that neither the Home ror the Cane Government? , had grasped the situation in South Africa, ar>d i to prevent the absorption by the Boer Re-public 1 of a vast reaion, which he hoped to <=cc urdei British rule, he determined to form a company large gpcu^li to be .ibie la ac.n.nicter any I airount of territory Botli Mi Beit ard Mr I Rothschild fa\oured the scheme, and the Bruish South Afiica Company was 'o-med Mr < Kruger now became aUrmed. and sent emis- . =anes into Matabeleland. When tins »si i known to Mr Rhodes he urcccl upon Sir Hercu ea Robinson the neces=i»v of obtaining corcessions from Lobengu'a, to whom a mi">on was at once despatched, with the result that tha Moffat Treaty, which amounted in fact to a right of pre-emDtion over Matabr-lclar.d, was signed in 1358. In that year Mr Rhode- enme to London and secured lar^o mterc-'s in tlie African Lake Comoany, which cnnh>d him t" obtain a free hand in the matter of rxuai'sinn north of the Zambesi River He ;u-,o h ou^ht the De Beers Company into the Eriti-h Pou'h ' Africa- Company, and secured ,i rov^l chaiter. This charter conferred large administrn 4 ye powers upon the company, and authorised it to

mineral and other concessions in the region

north of Cape Colony. The total area administered by the company embraces marly a million square miles, and includes Rhodeu'a (Mashonaland and Matabeleland), Bechuanaland, and British Central Africa. Effective occupation was first begun in Mashonaland after a good deal of trouble, as Lobengula at first strongly objected to the pioneer force passing through his country. However, Dr Jameson undertook a mission to the Matabele King, and stayed three, months in his kraal at Butuwayo. All difficulties having been removed, Mr Selous was directed to make a load into Mashonaland in advance of the expedition. Dr Jameson now gave up hii medical practice at Kimberley, and settled at Fort Salisbury, as the representative of Mr Rhodes, at whose instance, in 1891, he was appointed adnimistutor of the company. Upon the defeat of the Spngg Ministry in 1890 Mr Rhodes became Piei..±«.r of the Cape, ond formed an alliance ■Kith Air Hofmeyr and the Afrikander Bond, thus securing a solid Dutch vote. During 1391 he gave £10,000 in suppers of the cause of Home Rule for Ireland. For two or three years the development of the Chartered Company's territories procesdedrveTy satisfactorily, but during 1893 the Matabele became troublesome, and constantly raided and massacred the Masiionas, a- more- peaceable tribe. Mr Rhodes,' though directed to avoid, aggression, jsrepsred for war, and when, in September, Lobengula placed himself at the head of his army, Mi Rhodes went to Fort Salisbury to direct operations against him. After considerable fighting, in which the Matabele suffered severely, peace was restored, and, upon the death by fever of Lobengula in January, 1894, a general submission by the natives was made. Upon his return to Capetown Mr Rhodes was entertairied at a public banquet, and great satisfaction was expressed with his conduct. In a speech at he time he outlined his policy with regard to the natives, and also his plans for railway communication, tariffs, law, and coinage. About this time he sent three of Lobengula's son-s to Capetown to be educated at his own expense. In company with Dr Jameson he came "to England in November, 1894, and made several speeches dealing with Cape politics and a " United South Africa " on federal princioles. He .was sworn a member of the Privy Council in February, 1895. Early in the following year Mr Rhodes resigned the Premiership of the Cape, and also his position at a director of the British South Africa Company, owing to his alleged complicity with the laid into the Transvaal. He was chiefly accused of directing Jameson to move to Johannesburg, but this was emphatically denied by Dr Jameson in a letter to The Times in the following May. His connection with the reform movement and agitation amongst the English residents at Johannesburg was freely admitted before the Select Committee appointed by the House of Commons to inquire into the cause of the incursion into the Transvaal. One of the consequences of the Jameson raid, mainly owing to a loss of prestige, was a second revolt of the Matabele. Many of the native police joined the rebels, taking their rifles with them, and a general masacre of white settlers was contemplated. Mr Rhodes at once formed a fighting column at Salisbury, and afterwards inflicted a severe defeat upon the Matabele at Gwelo, thus breaking the back of the insurrection. In August, 1896, accompanied by Dr Saver and Mr J. Colenbrander, he went to the Matoppo Hills to meet the native chiefs, and entered the stronghold of the Matabele alone and unarmed. This greatly impressed them, and they evertua'ly surrendered unconditionally. In January, 1897, Mr Rhodes came to England, receiving a popular oration. He was summoi.cd to appear before the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the Jameson raid, and during his examination he admitted that he had assisted the movement in Johannesburg with his purse and influence, as he believed that the persistently unfriendly attitude of the Government of the South African Republic towards Cape Colony viap the f»roat obstacle to common action for practical puiposes arrong the various States of South Afnca With reference to the raid, he said Dr Jame-son went m without his authority. II i» al°-o stated that in all his actions he was greatly influenced by the belief that Ahe policy or the Transvaal Government was to introduce the influence of another foreign Power into the already complicated system of South Africa, and thereby i order more d'rn«-ul* the e!o=er union of the different States The comm ttpo in their report to the House" of Commons pxoressed their ationg disapproval of Mi Rhodps's conduct thioughout the Tiansvaal cri<-is, and the part he had taken in furnishing aid to the Refoim Committee nt Johannesburg, and they also stated that his policy had involved him in grave breaches of duty to those to whom lip owed allegiance. In the thscu=siou which followed the preser.lat 0.-' of the report, Mr Chamberlain said, " Although Mr Rhodes had committed as great a fault as * st. # ite»mar or a oo'itician could commit, nothing had been proven, and there existed rothing against his personal character as a man of honour." In June, 1897. Mr Rhodes returned to South Africa, and in company with Earl Grey went to Buluwayo to negotiate with aomp r.atue chiefs in order lo stop the fighting ™hi<-h was .= ti!l go.ng on in various parts of MT-honaland. In November Sir Alfred Milner rppned the railway running between Kunber1"\ ai d. Buluwayo, and at the banquet which fonoved he paid a warm tribute to the energy •iiul foresight of Mr Rhode 3, who had acted as managing directoi o' the line and as the prime mover in its construet'on. The election foi the LijiisUuve Coauul qx the Cju^c took lilace ia (

March, 1838, and was won by the Progressive party, led and inspired by Mr Rhodes, on a policy of free food products, compulsory education, railway development, and restricted tale of liquor to natives, as to internal affairs; coupled with the larger policy of the fedeiation of the Cape, Natal, and Char'erland under the British flag. The elections for the Assembly, later in the year, weie very closely fought, and Mr Rhodes was returned for both Barkly West and Namaqualand, but he elected to sit for the former, his o!d constituency. When all the papers were collected, it was found that there were 40 Bond candidates aid 3D Progressives. Sir Gordon bpngg, who had succeeded Mr Rhodes in the Premiership, thereupon resigned. Mr Rhodes's connection with the Jp meson raid and the Outlander agitation hi>d shaken the faith of a large number of Dutch voters, hence the secession of many of his former supporters. In April, IS9S, he came to London to confer vith the directors of the Chartered CompaiiV respecting the reconstitute n of the bcurd nnH the fuliue administration of llhodesia. His scheme for an increase of capital by one and ahalf millions was approved, and at the same time he was unanimously re-elected by the shareholders as a director of the company. Since that date he has devoted himself almost entirely to the development of tho Chartered territories, but early m 1899 he again visited England in order to secure a Government guarantee for the section of the railway which hu intended to lay between Buluwayo and Lake Tanganyika. Perhaps the greatest of his projects is the scheme for the connection of Capetown «nd Cairo by a railway and by telegraph. He went to Egypt in March to confer with Lord Kitchener as to the section of the railway to run through Egypt and the Soudan. The only obstacle now remaining in the way of a trans-African railway is the permission to take the line cither through German East Africa or the Congj Frea State. But as Mr Rhodes had been honoured by two interviews with the Gorman Kmperor, who has a great admiration for Cecil Rhodes and his projects, it is almost certain that the line will go through German territory. The German Government has also decided to guarantee the interest on the capital invested in it. Mr Rhodes's chief delight i 3 in farming, which he greatly encourages among the settlers ; he also keeps a large menagerie at Table Mountain, and he allows the zebras, ostriches, and buck of all kinds to run wild in huge enclosed tracts on the mountain side. He is famoiis as a collector of books, curios, etc., and has caused many of the Greek aud Roman classics to be specially translated for his perrsal lie received the D.C.L. degree at the Encnpma at Oxford in June, 18SP, pnd was most enlhusiaslici' lly welcomed on that occasion.—" Men and Women of the Time ' IN MEMORIAM CECIL RHODES. Peace whilst the war is raging — for ono sweet moment, peace ; In holy prayer engaging, lot all cur anger cease. A space for contemplation Let friend and foeman spend — The friend of every nation j Is every nation's friend. | He came to do the bidding of a Supreme Corn- | mand That knows r.o people — ridding the serfdom from the land. " Behold the devastation, ' You. murmur, "that he yields'" For goldon visitation We watch the haivest fields That we have torn asundei, unheeding flowers that br Forever hidden under'— l= Rhodes les^ just than we -" His harvest fie'd^ am greater, Mor3 precious it the seed He sows therein, that Inter The centuries muy not ii"eel. Arid we levere the spreading of seed for such increase, Nor 10-e him less for treading the glory paths of peace. Lo' here the brands aie- shaken, War trembles on the sod' Tin- path that he li.ith taken Is known alone to God. Peace tt hib f-oldier spirit, peace to us sons of men This fctnfe that we mLeiit leads on to peace. Air.en. John- Mac lexx vx. Dm. dn\ Mjl-cli '23, 1002. CECIL RHODES. ' How are the mighty fallen " "So little (loit\ c o much to do " The sad last v\ords he breathed, — That vi'-ioped soul, that patriot true, Who Empire has bequeathed. Among the fruitful Butish realms, In Afric's wide domain, The =ha-Jow grim his heart o'erwLelms, And stills his fertile brain. Another champion of our race. Is cut down in his pri.ne; Asunder taken from his place In life's most useful time. A miphtr man in Israel's gone — lliphty of heart and mind , 'Twill be long ere the d?.y dawn Wit; we his equal find. Yet f'l foe* within our gate, A"d c i n,,r 3 \\ it'iout. Th-'ir malignant joy al ate — Withhold the bod'^tiul ilicut

Th' Almighty Worker shall fulfil With British instruments His own n:o a t high Imperial Will To its accomplishment. -A. IT. P. Dunedin, March 31. At the Congregational Church on Sunday evening the pulpit was occupied by the Rev. E. Tremayne Dunstan, of Pitt street Congregational Church, Sydney. In a prelude to his sermon he made rrforence to t!ie death of tlie Right Hon. Cecil Rhodes, and baid that the new* came to him with a painful shock, though he had been to ftoms extent prepared for it. Ho had known Mr Rhodis before he bocame distinguished, as a statesman and an empire-builder. Twenty years ago a friand gave him an introduction to Mr Rhodes as the latter stepped from a post cart in Grahamstown, S.A., and when they turned away after a brief conversation his friend .'aid, " You will hear more of that man." He (Mr Dun3tan) felt certain at the time that the estimate was a true one, though Mr Rhodes was tbren simply a member of Parliament, and had not 3-ot come to the front. Ho was a. man possessed by marvellous energy, and this was evidenced by the fact that he returned to Oxford after pending same time on the diamondfields. that he might qualify himself for his Arts degree. A friend of his (Mr Dunstan's) had seen him on a po3t-cart studying" a- book which turned out to be the Rook of" Common Prayer, and when questioned concerning^ the strangeness of a man. of affairs busying himself with such a book, he replied: "You know. I am going Home for my final at Oxford, and I will be expected to know something about the- 39 Articles, so. I am cramming them up." A man #'10 would study the 39 Articles ou a. poet-cart was capable of anything. No man in South Africa had been more maligned than Mr Rhodes, but there were few men who had done more to promote the highest interests of, that part of the Empire, and though he had not been left to se-D the fulfilment of his dream, which was a red line — all British from the Cape to Cairo — there could be little doubt that it would be in time fulfilled. The Empire mourned his loss, and would have reason to mourn.