Page:Last Will and Testament of Cecil Rhodes.djvu/158

144 Therein Mr. Rhodes laid his finger upon the great secret of his success—that which differentiated him from the ruck of the people by whom he was surrounded. He had not only imagination, but he had sympathy.

It would be difficult to find any speeches so instinct with the spirit of true Colonial self-government, and the assertion of the fundamental principles which military Imperialism tramples under foot, than those which meet us on almost every page of this book. One of the best speeches which Mr. Rhodes ever delivered was that which he addressed to the Congress of the Afrikander Bond in 1891. We are told constantly that the Afrikander Bond is a treasonable association.

But in 1891 Mr. Rhodes stood up to propose the toast of the Afrikander Bond. He had just returned from England, where he had received, as he said, “the highest consideration from the politicians of England,” and Her Majesty had invited him to dine with her. Fresh from these tokens of confidence at Downing Street and at Windsor, he hastened to Africa to propose the toast of the Afrikander Bond, and to declare that he

“felt most completely and entirely that the object and aspirations of the Afrikander Bond were in complete touch and concert with a fervent loyalty to Her Majesty the Queen.” “I come here,” said Mr. Rhodes, ‘‘because I wish to show that there is no antagonism between the aspirations of the people of this country and of their kindred in the mother country. But,” Mr. Rhodes added significantly, ‘‘provided always that the Old Country recognises that the whole idea of the colonies and of the colonial people is that the principle of self-government must be preserved to the full, and that the capacity of the colony must be admitted to deal with every internal matter that may arise in this country. The principle must be recognised in the Old Country that the people born and bred in this colony, and descended from those who existed in this country many