- Cecil Rhodes
It was June during the middle stage of the Anglo-Boer War when it had resolved into a gigantic guerilla campaign of such huge dimension as the world had never known. When Cronjé surrendered at Paardeburg and the Colonial troops of Great Britain from Canada, Australia, India, Cape Colony, combined with the regular “Tommy Atkins,” entered the Capitals of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal under Lord Roberts, the backbone of organized warfare was supposed to have been broken and the Chief Command handed over to Lord Kitchener of Khartoum.
How little did the British public, their ministers and military advisers understand the Boer; his stubbornness, mobility, strategic keenness and preparedness.
Even Cecil Rhodes was blind to the situation, notwithstanding his great knowledge of the South Africa that was saturated with a corruption of adventurers and politicians delving into Rands and illicit diamond dealing; a country teaming with Barnatos, Joels, Werners, Beits, and the great group of cut-throat money-mads, who were all feverish and intoxicated with rapid wealth far beyond the dreams of Monte Cristo; the sensational raid under Dr. (Jim) Jameson of Johannesburg with but a handful of men officered by a party of notables including John Hays Hammond, Earl Grey and Sir John Willoughby; their capture by Piet Cronjé, and their sentence to death—a sentence commuted by Paul Kruger to a heavy fine and perpetual banishment from the Transvaal. In this sentence, Rhodes, although not an actual participant, was included; and from that time he never set foot on Transvaal soil, nor lived to see his most treasured dream realized of painting the continent of Africa “red,” of which the Boer Republics were the first stepping stones to the goal of his ambition.
Conscious almost to the moment of dissolution, his last words were “So much to do, so little done.”
At the close of the war troops were pouring by thousands into Cape Town; all branches of the British Military Empire were represented; and as fast as transports could arrive, officers and men were embarked and sailed to their various destinations. During that time the “Tommy Atkins’ ” on one and three (30c.) per day were placed in camp at Green Bay, Camp’s Bay, the Castle and other places, while the officers and the Colonial soldiers receiving five bob ($1.25) per day took advantage of hotel freedom. To swell the throng, Boer prisoners were coming in from Simons Town, Stellenbosch, and Wynberg to take the oath of allegiance. [End Page 103]
In the midst of the congested influx to Cape Town, I arrived to meet General Ben J. Viljoen (Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Boer forces), Colonel Blake of the Irish Brigade; General Kretzinger, and Commandants Malan, Fouche and Joubert, who were all to meet in Johannesburg and join me in Cape Town to take ship for Europe.
Everybody had money in Cape Town, the hotels, saloons with attractive bar-maids, and gambling rooms all working at high pressure.
Of the hotels, there were two in particular that appealed to the American and Colonial: the Hotel Royal and the American Bar with a faro game and roulette wheels under the direction of J. Hildebrand of Chicago, who was a friend to any American in trouble.
On one particular evening at the American Bar in company with Sir John M____, Colonel D____ and Mr. F. H.____, the proprietor of the largest livery stable and owner of practically every hansom cab, buggy, landau, etc., in Cape Town, the subject of Cecil Rhodes came up and the consensus of opinion was that, although a great man, he was a hard man with little feeling. After many varied opinions our friend of the livery stable spoke up and gave the following story of his own personal relations with Rhodes.
“Rhodes had in his employ for a number of years a groom at Groote Scheur, Rondebosch, his estate ten miles from Cape Town; the groom was steady and attentive to his duties, but his prospects showed very little signs of improving; and being married, with a large family, his anxieties increased. Finally he determined to branch out in a small...