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310 independence and character who are well fitted to be pioneers and to carry West European culture to the furthermost regions of the earth. It is through British University life that the word "gentleman" has gained the superlative meaning which enables it to be accepted by all nations as a standard of culture so that one may say that the gentleman has conquered the entire civilized world. To-day the term gentleman represents the generally accepted standard of social worth, by which all people are measured. The standpoint of a gentleman has become part of the ethics of modern life, it is the "virtus" of to-day; the social manners of a gentleman represent the international "comment," to use a German student's expression. If I am rightly informed, Cecil Rhodes held this view when he became a leader of British Imperialism. He also recognized the compatibility of British and German political needs, he recognized that there was a place in the sun for both, and he was further convinced of the near relationship of British and German culture, I may say of their mutual completion. He thought that the Teutonic race on the foundation of Latin culture was fitted as was no other race to fulfil the mission of Western European civilization. He expressed this idea when he founded the scholarships to which we owe the presence here of many young Germans. Cecil Rhodes, it is true, was above everything an Englishman, but his political and philosophical views were not bound by national prejudices and narrow political limits, nor did he belong to those idealogues who, with mistaken humanitarianism and philanthropy, would give to all races of mankind the same political rights to assert themselves according to their own laws and desires. He was of opinion that in the case of the whole of mankind the law held good that the fittest will survive. He believed that mankind develops according to its law and not according to discretion.

I am of opinion, gentlemen, that the roots of political ethics are to be found in the recognition of this law, in the extension and the dominance of the most powerful and superior races, whose success must simultaneously benefit and improve the whole of mankind. Cecil Rhodes was of opinion that the whole of humanity would be best served if the Teutonic peoples were brought nearer together, and would join hands for the purpose of spreading their civilization to distant regions. In the presence of so many distinguished representatives of literature and its history I need not explain how deeply rooted with us in Germany is the admiration we feel for the