Cecil Rhodes never cared for money for itself, to hoard it or to spend it in luxury or ostentation. His wants remained perfectly simple, and the possession of riches did not make him change his mode of life or spend more upon himself. At first he cared for money making because he enjoyed the excitement of success, as a marksman enjoys bringing down a difficult shot, or a fox hunter enjoys taking a stiff fence; but gradually his financial schemes all centered round and were undertaken to advance his one dominant idea, the expansion and consolidation of Greater Britain in South Africa, the occupation for England of the seemingly illimitable and unexplored regions to the north up to and beyond the Zambesi. This one paramount idea which had at an early date begun to possess the mind of young Cecil Rhodes is certainly to be found unmistakably behind all his great financial schemes. Little did his fellow-miners think as they passed the dreamy Rhodes's parayouth with impassive face gazing into vacancy, that the building mount idea of an empire, the occupation of the last unoccupied continent, was gradually assuming form under the shaping power of that youthful diamond digger's imagination. The paramount idea in his mind the expansion of our empire and its supremacy in South Africa was of course developed, and gained shape and consistency under the influence of the study of history and the experience of life. An enlightened patriotism has gradually become the one paramount sentiment of the great South African's life; and putting one's self in his place and looking with his eyes upon the world, one can understand his far-reaching saying that territory is everything,—that is to say, territory fit to support and breed a fine race of men. He sees with his mind's eye the vicious weaklings of our overcrowded English cities, and compares with them the magnificent race of Englishmen that might be reared on the fertile soil and in the fine air of the uplands of Rhodesia, and, as he reflects, the great need for England seems to be territory. England can supply the men in ever-increasing numbers to colonize it, but suitable land for them to colonize is strictly limited, and therefore to Future generations will appreciate his work 326. The constitution of the British Empire League ce England such territory for her expansion is all-important. Having read the histories of other countries," to quote Rhodes upon himself, "I saw that expansion was everything, and that the world's surface being limited, the great object of present humanity should be to take as much of the world as it possibly could." To the judgment of the future Cecil Rhodes may appeal with the certainty that it will applaud the unrivaled achievements of his energy and estimate justly the whole patriotic purpose of his life. The expansion of which he will be the acknowledged author will then be seen to have been not only an expansion of the empire but an expansion of the race, an expansion of English ideas and English principles. Men of that time who stand on the verge of the twenty-first century, as we on the verge of the twentieth, will wonder at the shortsighted judgment and narrow spirit that failed to recognize the greatness and the patriotism of the statesman, and the man that caviled at his methods and lightly esteemed the value of his accomplished work. Section 92. Imperial Federation For a long time after the adoption of free trade in Great Britain it was believed by a large number of the leading statesmen that each of the English-speaking colonies should be allowed to go its own way, making its own laws and regulating its own commerce, and ultimately, perhaps, becoming entirely independent. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, however, since the new means of rapid communication have bound all parts of the empire closely together, a movement designed to form a closer union has developed and led to the formation, in 1895, of a British Empire League, the objects of which are set forth in its constitution. 1. The Association to be called The British Empire League. 2. It shall be the primary object of the League to secure the permanent unity of the empire. 3. The following to be among the other principal objects of the League: (a) To promote trade between the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and India, and to advocate the holding of periodical meetings of representatives from all parts of the empire for the discussion of matters of general commercial interest, and the consideration of the best means of expanding the national trade. (b) To consider how far it may be possible to modify any laws or treaties which impede the freedom of action in the making of reciprocal trade arrangements between the United Kingdom and the colonies, or between two or more British colonies or possessions. (c) To promote closer intercourse between the different portions of the empire by the establishment of cheaper and, where required, more direct steam, postal, and telegraphic communication, preference being given to routes not traversing foreign territory. (d) To develop the principles on which all parts of the empire may best share in its general defense; endeavoring to bring into harmony public opinion at home and in the colonies on this subject, and to devise a more perfect coöperation of the military and naval forces of the empire with a special view to the due protection of the trade routes. (e) To assimilate as far as local circumstances permit the laws relating to copyright, patents, legitimacy, and bankruptcy throughout the empire. 4. The League shall use every constitutional means to bring about the objects for which it is established, and shall invite the support of men of all shades of political opinion throughout the empire. 5. The League shall advocate the establishment of periodical conferences to deal with such questions as may appear ripe for consideration, on the lines of the London Conference of 1887 and the Ottawa Conference of 1894. 27. Alex CHAPTER XXVIII THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Section 93. Reigns of Alexander I and Nicholas I Alexander I, who ruled the Russian Empire during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, had received a most liberal education in his youth; and during the early years of his reign he devoted his attention to devising numerous plans of reform for his people. His character and the leading reforms which he cherished are described in the Memoirs of the distinguished Polish prince, Adam Czartoryski (1770-1861), from which the following passages are taken. Czartoryski knew Alexander as a young man, and thus describes his ideals before his accession to the throne. As soon as I came in the Grand Duke Alexander took me nder I and by the hand and proposed that we should go into the garden. ›r reforms We walked about in every direction for three hours, keeping up condensed) an animated conversation all the time. He declared that he is plans did not in any way share the ideas and doctrines of the cabinet and the court; and that he was far from approving the policy and conduct of his grandmother, whose principles he condemned. He had wished for the success of Poland in her glorious struggle and had deplored her fall. Kosciuszko, he said, was, in his eyes, a man who was great by his virtues as well as owing to the cause which he had defended, — the cause of humanity and of justice. He added that he detested despotism everywhere, no matter in what way it was exercised; that he loved liberty, to which all men had a right; that he had taken 338 the strongest interest in the French Revolution, and that while condemning its terrible excesses, he wished the French Republic success and rejoiced at its establishment. I was deeply moved, and could hardly believe my ears. That Alexan a Russian prince, Catherine II's successor, her grandson and her lover o favorite child, whom she would have wished to see reigning after her instead of her son, and of whom it was said that he would continue her reign, should disavow and detest his grandmother's principles, should repel the odious policy of Russia, should be a passionate lover of justice and liberty, should pity Poland and wish to see her happy, all this seemed incredible. And that such noble ideas and great virtues should be able to grow and flourish in such an atmosphere and with such surroundings was surely little less than a miracle. in Eur courts It should be remembered that at that time so-called liberal Libera opinions were much less prevalent than they are now, and had not po not yet penetrated into all the classes of society or even into the cabinets of sovereigns. On the contrary, everything that had the appearance of liberalism was anathematized in the courts and salons of most of the European capitals, and especially in Russia and at St. Petersburg, where all the convictions of the old French régime were grafted in an exaggerated form on Russian despotism and servility. heredit monar Alexander's opinions were indeed those of one brought up Alexa in the ideas of 1789, who wishes to see republics everywhere, declare and looks upon that form of government as the only one in conformity with the wishes and the rights of humanity. He absurd held, among other things, that hereditary monarchy was an unjust and absurd institution, and that the supreme authority should be granted not through the accident of birth but by the votes of the nation, which would best know who is most capable of governing it. I represented to him the arguments against this view, the difficulty and the risks of an election, what Poland had suffered from such an institution, and how little Russia was adapted to or prepared for it. I added that now, at any rate, Puccio would not gain anything by the change as she would |