In 1890 Rhodes became Premier of Cape Colony. During his six years of office he gave special attention to his old policy of amalga mation between Dutch and British ; he succeeded in winning the confidence of the former by his strong advocacy of full local government for Cape Colony, which he considered quite con sistent with, and indeed, essential for, the scheme of imperial federation. It is this belief in a federal union of locally autonomous com monwealths that explains his gift of f10,000 to the funds of the Irish Home Rule party in 1888. In his treatment of the native races of Cape Colony, Rhodes maintained the impossibility of granting them equal rights with the white pop ulation, but at the same time held it necessary to protect them by law against the temptations of civilization and exploitation by the whites. In Rhodesia a formidable outbreak of the Mata bele in 1893 ended, after a bitter conflict, in their utter defeat and the absorption of their territory by the Chartered Company. Success ful everywhere, however, Rhodes was destined to fall before his old opponent, Kruger, of the Transvaal. The Jameson raid in 1895 destroyed Rhodes' personal power, although subsequent events fully vindicated his policy. Though the full truth of the Jameson affair may not perhaps be known, it is established that Rhodes, who was a large holder of mines in the Rand,lotted with other leaders of the Uitlanders in Johan nesburg for the subversion of the Transvaal overnment; that a revolution was prepared in Johannesburg, and that Rhodes stationed Cap tain Jameson with several hundred men of the Rhodesian mounted police on the western bor der of the Transvaal to co-operate when neces sary with the leaders in the mining town; and though it is also established that Jameson in vaded the Transvaal without Rhodes' orders, the results of that unhappy affair were not altogether unjustly reckoned up against the Premier of Cape Colony who abused the powers of his office to plot the downfall of a nation, when conservative methods interfered with his dominating ideas for imperial advancement (see JAMESON, LEANDER STARR). A committee of
the House of Commons acquitted Rhodes of responsibility for the raid, but censured his con duct as Minister and director of the Chartered Company. Rhodes resigned the premiership on the last day of 1895 and thenceforth devoted himself to the interests of Rhodesia. A second war with the Matabele in 1896 was terminated by Rhodes' intrepid courage; the building of the trans-continental railway was rapidly pushed forward, and in connection with this undertak ing Rhodes visited Europe in 1898-1900, carry ing on negotiations with Mr. Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary, and with the German em peror. During the Boer War, in its outcome the triumph and realization of his policy, Rhodes was besieged in Kimberley and took part in its defense. His health, however, gave way, and in spite of a trip to Egypt, his old disease finally conquered. In his lifetime Rhodes was the subject of infinite execration, as well as un limited applause. Looked upon by different men as a statesman or a land grabber, a builder of empires or an unscrupulous speculator, he was all of these and more; and the anomaly of his character may, perhaps, be best explained if he be regarded as a man of great aims who let nothing stand in the way of their achievement He bequeathed the bulk of his great fortune for the endowment of a large number of scholarships at Oxford University, with the hi tendon to bring about the complete union of the English speaking races for the peace, enlight enment and uplift of humankind (see RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS, THE). Consult Fuller, G. E., 'Cecil John Rhodes) (New York 1910) • Hens man H'Cecil Rhodes: A Study of a Lareer) (Edinburgh 1901) ; Jourdan, P., 'Cecil Rhodes: His Private Life> New York 1911) ; Le Sueur, H., 'Life of Cecil Rhodes) (New York 1913) ; Michell, L., (The Life and Times of the Right Honourable Cecil John Rhodes) (2 vols., New York 1910) ; Radziwill, Princess Catherine, (Cecil Rhodes: Man and Empire Maker) (New York 1918) ; Stead, W. T., 'Cecil Rhodes) (in Review of Reviews, London, May 1902) ; Windex,* (Cecil Rhodes: His Political Life and Speeches> (London 1900).