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.—For general physical description see C. T. Jackson, Report on the Geological and Agricultural Survey of Rhode Island (Providence, 1840); N. S. Shaler, J. B. Woodworth, and A. F. Foerste, Geology of the Narragansett Basin (Washington, 1899); and T. Nelson Dale, The Chief Commercial Granites of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island (Ibid., 1908), being Bulletin 354 of the U.S. Geological Survey. Administration:—The charters of 1644 and 1663 and the constitution of 1842 are all given in F. N. Thorpe, Constitutions, Charters, and Organic Laws (Washington, 1909), vol. vi. See also the annual reports of the treasurer, the auditor, the commissioner of public schools, the board of education, and the board of state charities and corrections; W. H. Tolman, History of Higher Education in Rhode Island (Washington, 1894); Henry Phillips, Jr., Historical Sketches of the Paper Currency of the American Colonies (2 vols., Roxbury, Mass., 1865-1866); Thomas Durfee, Gleanings from the Judicial History of Rhode Island (Providence, 1883); and the works of Field, Richman and Mowry (see History, Bibliography).

History.—For many years the standard authority on the period before the ratification of the constitution was S. G. Arnold, History of Rhode Island, 1636-1790 (2 vols., New York, 1859-60, 4th ed., Providence, 1894). His work has, however, been partially superseded by T. B. Richman, Rhode Island: Its Making and Meaning, 1636-1683 (2 vols., 1902), and Rhode Island: A Study in Separatism (Boston and New York, 1905). Edward Field (Editor), State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation at the end of the Century: A History (3 vols., Boston, 1902), is valuable for the more recent history of the state. See also Adelos Gorton, The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton (Philadelphia, 1908); W. B. Weeden, Early Rhode Island: A Social History of the People (New York, 1910); F. G. Bates, Rhode Island and the Formation of the Union (New York, 1898); A. M. Mowry, The Dorr War; or the Constitutional Struggle in Rhode Island (Providence, 1901); Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation, 1636-1792 (10 vols., Providence, 1856-65); Rhode Island Historical Society, Collections (10 vols., to be continued, Providence, 1827-1902); Proceedings and Publications, 23 numbers (Providence, 1872-1902, to be continued). The Quarterly (8 vols., 1892-1901, discontinued); Rhode Island Historical Tracts, Series I., 20 vols. (Providence, 1877-1884), Series II., 5 vols. (Providence, 1880-96). For general bibliographies see J. R. Bartlett, Bibliography of Rhode Island (Providence, 1864); C. R. Brigham, in Field, III., pp. 651-81; and Richman, in A Study in Separatism, pp. 353-85.

 RHODES, CECIL JOHN (1833–1902), British colonial and Imperial statesman, was born on the 5th of July 1853, at Bishop Stortford, in Hertfordshire. His father was a clergyman, but he claimed descent from yeoman stock. Cecil John Rhodes was the fifth son in a large family of sons and daughters. At the time of his birth his father held the living of Bishop Stortford. The boy was educated at Bishop Stortford grammar school with the intention of preparing for the Church; but at the age of sixteen his health broke down, and in the latter part of 1870 he was sent to join an elder brother, then engaged in farming in Natal. In that year diamonds were discovered in the Kimberley fields. By the end of 1871 Mr Rhodes and his brother were among the successful diggers. The dry air of the interior restored Mr Rhodes's health, and before he was nineteen he found himself financially independent, physically strong and free to devote his life to any object which commended itself to his choice.

Rhodes has left behind him an interesting record of the manner in which he was affected by the situation. He determined to return to England, and to complete his education by reading for a degree at Oxford; but before doing so, he spent eight months in a solitary journey through the then little known parts of the country lying to the north of the Orange and Vaal rivers. He went through Bechuanaland to Mafeking, thence to Pretoria, Murchison, Middelburg and back through the Transvaal to Kimberley. The journey, made in an ox-wagon at a rate of progression of some 15 to 20 miles a day, represented a walking tour of eight months through the vast spaces of rolling veld which at that time filled those regions of Southern Africa. He saw one of the healthiest countries in the world barely occupied. He knew the agricultural possibilities of Natal. He knew its mineral wealth. The effect of the combined influences on his mind, in the circumstances in which he found himself, was profound. The idea took passionate possession of him that the fine country through which he moved ought to be secured for occupation by the British race, and that no power but Great Britain should be allowed to dominate in the administration of South Africa. When he brought his self-imposed pilgrimage to an end, he had found an object to which he proposed to devote his life. It was nothing less than the governance of the world by the British race. A will exists written in Mr Rhodes's own handwriting a couple of years later, when he was still only twenty-two, in which he states his reasons for accepting the aggrandizement and service of the British empire as his highest ideal of practical achievement. It ends with a single bequest of everything of which he might die possessed, for the furtherance of this great purpose. Five-and-twenty years later his final will carried out, with some difference of detail, the same intention.

The share which he allotted to himself in the general scheme was the extension of the area of British settlement in Africa, but he did not attempt to address himself immediately to public work. He returned, in accordance with his first resolve, to Oxford, where he matriculated at Oriel. In 1873 his health again failed, and he was sent back to South Africa under what was practically a death sentence. Years afterwards he saw the entry of his own case in the diary of the eminent physician whom he consulted, with a note, &ldquo;Not six months to live.&rdquo; South Africa again restored him to health. Three years later he was back at Oxford, and from 1876 to 1878 he kept his terms. During this period he spent the Long Vacation each year in South Africa, where his large financial interests were daily increasing in importance. He was a member of the Cape ministry when, after a further lapse of years, he kept his last term and took his degree. He did not read hard at Oxford, and was more than once remonstrated with in the earlier terms for non-attendance at lectures. But he passed his examinations; and though he was never a student in the university sense of the term, he was to the end of his life a keen devourer of books. He kept always a special liking for certain classic authors. Aristotle was the guide whom as a lad he followed in seeking the &ldquo;highest object&rdquo; on which to exercise the