THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, JULY 8, 1902. THE LATE CECIL RHODES.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 226, 8 July 1902, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, JULY 8, 1902. THE LATE CECIL RHODES.

It is doubtful whether the great event of the Coronation excited as much reminiscence or occupied as much space in magazine literature as did the doings, sayings and longings of the late Cecil Rhodes, one of the few (if not the first) of the world's millionaires who worked from the beginning without the love of gold, for its own sake, as his chiefest thought. In the space of one article it i* hardly possible to do more than indicate the aim of the man whose indomitable energy has done so much towards securing :our vast South African dominions* He recognised the vast powers for good that could be cultivated in the Anglo-Saxon race; be recognised that they must have a field for expansion, and he looked to South Africa as the largest tract of land still virtually un« cla i med. He was an altruist—ona who earnestly desired the better* ment of the human race—and his mighty brain and his life were consecrated to furthering his ideas'of the manner in which that betterment was to take place. Alone on his diamond fields, riding over the Yeldt, or camped among the savage tribes who re* garded him almost as a Deity, tbf man of one giant purpose kept it before him and allowed its details to possess his waking and often his sleeping hours. The primary idea was to form a society which should embrace the most intellectual of the world, tssisted by the money of the wealthy—a great civic church, where men and women would bring to bear on public affairs the labour thej expended on parochial and evan» gelistio work. That is, simply, a purging of our politics, a determination of eaoh and everyone to be honest in his or her desire to make the world a little better than they found it and help on that great day when the nations might meet one another in nni|y of purpose. To do this, of cwrrtt an organ for disseminating the new cult was necessary. It was in 1890 that Mr Rhodes met Mr W. Stead, who, whatever his opinion on the Boer war, is a great juuwliat; the Coloisu*

found that here was a man to whom hia ideas were not mere rapouringa, and a lasting friendship sprang up between the two. The result was that in January, 1891, the Review of Reviews was launched upon the world as a practical step towards the realisation of Mr Rhodes' idea—the reunion of the English-speak-ing world through a central organ served in every part of the world by affiliated helpers. That this idea haa not been altogether sustained was inevitable, and the Review, though a great power, is much on the lines of other journals of its class. Mr Rhodes made five wills, first leaving his property to various friends, but later his great idea crystallised and took shape, with the result that the last will embodied his contribution towards detetmininur the destiny of the English-speaking i\ic;. Students from all the colonic;* and America, chosen by literary, physical and moral excellences, are to receive three years' educition ah Oxford College, s > that on returning to their homes they ni iy he the leaven that will leave the whole lump. That in oriefis Mr Rhodes' method in part of the scheme, and a very great part it is. The rest of it and his own life must bo reserved for future treatment.