ewed Mankoroane, the Bechuana chief, and Van Niekerk, the head of
the new settlement, and by sheer personal magnetism persuaded them both
to accept British control. When the Cape Parliament refused the
responsibility, he referred to the Colonial Office in London, and by the
help of Sir Hercules Robinson, the High Commissioner, he carried his
point. When the new Governor, who was appointed by the Colonial Office,
quarrelled with the Boers, it was Rhodes who made up the quarrel, and
when in 1885 the Transvaal Dutch interfered and provoked our home
Government into sending out an overpowering force under Sir Charles
Warren, it was Rhodes once more who acted as the reconciler, and
effected a settlement between Dutch and British. When the indignant
Delarey,[64] provoked by English blundering, said ominously that 'blood
must flow', Rhodes replied, 'No, give me my breakfast, and then we can
talk about blood'. He stayed with Delarey a week, came to terms on the
points at issue, and even became godfather to Delarey's grandchild. He
was never the man to resort to force when persuasion could be employed,
and he usually won his end by his own means.

[Note 64: General Jacobus Delarey, one of the most successful
commanders in the Great Boer War of 1899-1902.]

While his great work in 1883-5 was on the northern frontier he was
growing to be a familiar figure among politicians at Cape Town. We have
an impression of him as he appeared on his entrance into politics. 'He
was tall, broad-shouldered, with face and figure of somewhat loose
formation. His hair was auburn, carelessly flung over his forehead, his
eyes of bluish grey, dreamy but kindly. But the mouth--aye, that was the
unruly member of his face--with deep lines following the curve of the
moustache, it had a determined, masterful, and sometimes scornful
expression.... His style of speaking was straight and to the point. He
was not a hard hitter in debate--rather a persuader, reasoning and
pleading in a conversational way as one more anxious to convince an
opponent than to expose his weakness. He used little gesture: what there
was, was most expressive, his hands held behind him, or thrust out,
sometimes passed over his brow.'[65] Such success as he had in
Parliament he owed less to art than to nature, less to oratorical gifts
than to force of character; but this brought him rapidly to the front.
As early as 1884 he was in the Ministry, and despite his long absences
over his nort