Page:Last Will and Testament of Cecil Rhodes.djvu/154

140 was true in good report and in ill. He tacked hither and thither, steering now to the north and now to the south; but he ever kept his goal in view. He did not navigate these crowded seas without a compass and chart. Short-sighted mortals, who have no other mete-wand by which to test the consistency of statesmen than their fidelity to the ephemeral combinations of parties, were bewildered and declared that there was no knowing what this man was after. But by those who watched his course afar off it was seen that his apparent divagations from the direct course were only those of the mariner whom long experience has taught that against an adverse wind the shortest way to your port is often the longest way about. Mr. Rhodes himself always maintained to those who knew him intimately and who could enter into his higher thoughts, that he had one object—namely, to promote by all the means in his power the union, the development, the extension of the English-speaking race. Empire with Mr. Rhodes meant many things, chiefly the maintenance of the union between the widely scattered communities which owe allegiance to the British Crown; secondly, the established authority of this race—peaceful, industrious and free—over the dark-skinned myriads of Africa and Asia; thirdly, the maintenance of an open door for the products of British manufactures to all the markets of the world.

These were Mr. Rhodes’s political objects. To attain these ends he devoted his life and dedicated the whole of his money, the acquisition of which some erroneously imagined to be the great object of his life. To achieve these ends he worked first with one set of men and then with another; but on the whole it will be found by reference to the speeches that for the most part he stood in with the Dutch.

Without further preface I will proceed to examine the book, and quote from the 912 pages of the speeches here collected some short and pithy extracts. It is impossible to read Mr. Rhodes’s speeches without feeling that “Vindex” had good reason for the faith that was within him. I always thought a great deal of Mr. Rhodes, but the perusal of these speeches led me to feel that I had never done justice to many sides of his singularly attractive character.

Take, for instance, the fascination which he undoubtedly