ce of England's greatest
empire-builder, I caught something of the man's kindling vision and
realized his ripe grasp of international events.

_Groote Schuur_ is one of the best-known estates in the world. Cecil
Rhodes in his will left it to the Union as the permanent residence of
the Prime Minister. Ever since I read the various lives of Rhodes I had
had an impatient desire to see this shrine of achievement. Here Rhodes
came to live upon his accession to the Premiership of the Cape Colony;
here he fashioned the British South Africa Company which did for
Rhodesia what the East India Company did for India; here came prince and
potentate to pay him honour; here he dreamed his dreams of conquest
looking out at mountain and sea; here lived Jameson and Kipling; here
his remains lay in state when at forty-nine the fires of his restless
ambition had ceased.

_Groote Schuur_, which in Dutch means "Great Granary," was originally
built as a residence and store-house for one of the early Dutch
Governors of the Cape. It is a beautiful example of the Dutch
architecture that you will find throughout the Colony and which is not
surpassed in grace or comfort anywhere. When Rhodes acquired it in the
eighties the grounds were comparatively limited. As his power and
fortune increased he bought up all the surrounding country until today
you can ride for nine miles across the estate. You find no neat lawns
and dainty flower-beds. On the place, as in the house itself, you get
the sense of bigness and simplicity which were the keynotes of the
Rhodes character.

One reason why Rhodes acquired _Groote Schuur_ was that behind it rose
the great bulk of Table Mountain. He loved it for its vastness and its
solitude. On the back _stoep_, which is the Dutch word for porch, he sat
for hours gazing at this mountain which like the man himself was
invested with a spirit of immensity.

It was a memorable experience to be at _Groote Schuur_ with Smuts, who
has lived to see the realization of the hope of Union which thrilled
always in the heart of Cecil Rhodes. I remember that on the first night
I went out the Prime Minister took me through the house himself. It has
been contended by Smuts' enemies that he was a "creature of Rhodes." I
discovered that Smuts, with the exception of having made a speech of
welcome when Rhodes visited the school that he attended as a boy, had
never even met the Englishman who left his impress upon a whole land.

_Groote S