DR, JIM, THE ELIZABETHAN.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9440, 10 May 1909, Page 3

DR, JIM, THE ELIZABETHAN.

Mr Seymour Fort has rendered service not only to Dr. Jameson himself on 6 to all those who love to “praise famous men’’ in his recently published life of this Empire-builder. Great deeds, yes, but with one notable exception. Even in the case of the Raid, however, there wei ? extenuating ” circumstances \>hioh careless criticism knows little of. It was plain that the day was going against the plana of the Johannesburgtirs; the abortive resolution was fizzling oat. If this were not stopped the trump cards would be all in Kruger's harfds, and ho would use them to attack and undermine Rhodes’s 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 graiff of concern for money, or food, or clothes, or comfort, he gave himself np with all the unselfish gallantry of a mediaeval knight-errant or an Elizabethan hero to the fulfilment of Rhodes’ Imperial plans. They were in danger of being blighted. Sadden and decisive action might save them. Everything seemed to be going wrong. The drunken fool told off to out telegraph wires from Zerust to Johannesburg, and prevent news of the raid leaking out, had cut the wires of a fence instead. A relay of horses had proved worse than useless. Still the doctor believed in his lucky star, which seemed to have been in the ascendant for so long. -That star went out in the blackest night. Then in those hours of utter darkness the greatness of the man’s character shone out afresh in taking endless thought for everyone but himself with the old courage that led him to face death again and again in visits to Lobengula’s rude Court,that enabled him to stroll carelessly about in the laager£during the hottest assaults of Lobengnla’s impis, that enabled him to disperse. Colonel Ferriera’s raid or trek into Rhodesia—with that courage he faced the darkest period in his career, ;_The man who" afterwards nursed in Ladysmith hia feverstricken servant night and day until he himself contracted the disease, the man who when broken health demanded rest and quiet, instantly obeyed his chief’s call and travelled all those weary hundreds of leagues to Fort Salisbury, this embodiment of unselfishness forgot his own distress, so muoh greater than that of his comrades, In striving to undo the effects of his too optimistic and impulsive action. No wonder that everybody who knows him, from Ageuts-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 humour of hia tongue. “I came to Parliament, meaning to hunt him,’’ said a staunch Bondman, “bud it looks,ns 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 bis 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 seat in Beohuanaland to be captured by the Bond from sheer neglect to put up a Progressive candidate. How muoh Dr. Jameson did to soften racial animosities may be guaged from the fact that Mr Hofmeyer, the Bond leader, was induced at last to say: “We cannot he expected to sing your national Songs with the same verve that you do, but we do say that it is a real and thorough interest that we have in the British Empire.” The ex-Agent-General for Gape Colony once said that Dr, Jameson was the hardest-working Premier Cape Colony ever had. Instances of hia self-forgetting zeal are as common as blackberries in Mr Fort s volume; one example will do: “One morning nis 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 interviews arranged for that morning till the afternoon. Scarcely was the wound bandaged than he was dresssed, and within two hours, despite great ptain, was pressing upon British officialdom the urgent need of prompt action.” Like all other Empire-builders, he suffered not a little from British officialdom,” especially in 1898, when a Liberal Government tried to appropriate the fruits of the victory over Lobengula, and to prevent British commerce being given a preference in Rhodesia. . We may be glad that this Elizabethan of the twentieth century, 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.