issue. Others asserted that his again taking up the reins of Government
would be considered by the Afrikander Bond--which was very powerful at the
time--as an unjustifiable provocation which would only further embitter
those who had never forgiven Rhodes for the Raid.

A member of the Upper House of Legislature, whom I used to see often, and
who was a strong partisan of Rhodes, determined to seek advice outside the
House, and went to see an important political personage in Cape Town, one
of those who frequented Groote Schuur and who posed as one of the
strongest advocates of Rhodes again becoming the head of the Government
presided over by Sir Alfred Milner. What was the surprise of my friend
when, instead of finding a sympathising auditor, he heard him say that he
considered that for the moment the return of Rhodes at the head of affairs
would only complicate matters; that it was still too soon after the Raid;
that his spirit of animosity in regard to certain people might not help to
smooth matters at such a critical juncture; and that, moreover, Rhodes had
grown very morose and tyrannical, and refused to brook any contradiction.
Coming from a man who had no reason to be friendly with Rhodes, the
remarks just reported would not have been important, but proceeding from a
personage who was continually flattering Rhodes, they struck me as showing
such considerable duplicity that I wrote warning Rhodes not to attach too
much importance to the protestations of devotion to his person that the
individual in question was perpetually pouring down upon him. The reply
which I received was absolutely characteristic: "Thanks for your letter.
Never mind what X---- says. He is a harmless donkey who can always make
himself useful when required to do so."

The foregoing incident is enlightening as to the real nature of Cecil
Rhodes. His great mistake was precisely in this conviction that he could
order men at will, and that men would never betray him or injure him by
their false interpretation of the directions which it pleased him to give
them. He considered himself so entirely superior to the rest of mankind
that it never struck him that inferior beings could turn upon him and rend
him, or forget the obedience to his orders which he expected them to
observe. He did not appreciate people with independence, though he admired
them in those rare moments when he would condescend to be sincere with
himself and with others; but he preferre