it--that of allowing him to execute all his
fancies and of giving way to all his resentments. Herein lies the reason
why so many of his schemes fell through. This unfortunate trait also
thrust him very often into the hands of those who were clever enough to
exploit it, and who, more often than proved good to Rhodes' renown,
suggested to him their own schemes and encouraged him to appropriate them
as his own. He had a very quick way of catching hold of any suggestions
that tallied with his sympathies or echoed any of his secret thoughts or
aspirations.

Yet withal Rhodes was a great soul, and had he only been left to himself,
or made longer sojourns in England, had he understood English political
life more clearly, had he had to grapple with the difficulties which
confront public existence in his Mother Country, he would most certainly
have done far greater things. He found matters far too easy for him at
first, and the obstacles which he encountered very often proved either of
a trivial or else of a removable nature--by fair means or methods less
commendable. A mining camp is not a school of morality, and just as
diamonds lose of their value in the estimation of those who continually
handle them, as is the case in Kimberley, so integrity and honour come to
be looked upon from a peculiar point of view according to the code of the
majority.

Then again, it must not be forgotten that the first opponents of Cecil
Rhodes were black men, of whom the European always has the conception that
they are not his equals. It is likely that if, instead of Lobengula, he
had found before him a European chief or monarch, Rhodes would have acted
differently than history credits him to have done toward the dusky
sovereign. It is impossible to judge of facts of which one has had no
occasion to watch the developments, or which have taken place in lands
where one has never been. Neither Fernando Cortez in Mexico nor Pizzaro
Gonzalo in Peru proved themselves merciful toward the populations whose
territory they conquered. The tragedy which sealed the fate of
Matabeleland was neither a darker nor a more terrible one than those of
which history speaks when relating to us the circumstances attending the
discovery of America. Such events must be judged objectively and forgiven
accordingly. When forming an opinion on the doings and achievements of
Cecil Rhodes one must make allowance for all the temptations which were
thrown in his way and remember