of conduct:  there were his supporters to be consulted, his so-called friends to pacify, the English Jingoes to satisfy, and, most difficult of all, the Bond and Dutch party to please.  Moreover, he had been indulging in various intrigues of his own, half of which had been conducted through others and half carried out alone, with what he believed was success.  In reality they proved to be more of these disappointments he had courted with a carelessness which would have appeared almost incredible if one did not know Cecil Rhodes.  The Rhodesians, who with intention had contrived to compromise him, never left him a moment to his own thoughts.  Without the flatterers who surrounded him Rhodes would undoubtedly have risen to the height of the situation and frankly and disinterestedly put himself at the disposal of the High Commissioner.  But they managed so to irritate him against the representative of the Queen, so to anger him against the Dutch party to which he had belonged formerly, and so to persuade him that everybody was jealous of his successes, his genius and his position in South Africa, that it became relatively easy with a man of Rhodes’ character to make him smart under the sense of non-appreciation.  Thus goaded, Rhodes acted often without premeditation.

In contrast to this impatience and the sense of unsatisfied vanity, the coolness and greatness of character of Sir Alfred Milner appeared in strong contrast, even though many friends of earlier days, such as W.T.  Stead, had turned their backs upon Sir Alfred, accusing him of being the cause of all the misfortunes which fell upon South Africa.  But those who thus condemned Sir Alfred did not understand the peculiar features of the situation.  He was credited with inspiring all the harsh measures which were employed on occasion by others, measures which he had stridently disapproved.  Rhodes, in his place, would have killed somebody or destroyed something; Sir Alfred went slowly on with his work, disdained praise as well as blame, and looked toward the future.  I leave it to the reader to decide which of the two showed himself the better patriot.

The refugees did not take kindly to the High Commissioner.  They had been full of illusions concerning the help they fondly imagined he would be glad to offer them, and when they discovered that, far from taking them to his bosom, he discouraged their intention of remaining in Cape Town until the end of the war, they grumbled and lied with freedom.  Sir Alfred gave them very distinctly to understand that they had better not rely on the British Government to feed and clothe them.  He said that they would be well advised to try to find some work which would allow them to keep themselves and their families.  But especially he recommended them to go back to Europe, which, he gravely assured the refugees, was the best place for them and their talents.  This did not please those refugees who posed as martyrs of their English patriotism and as victims of the hatred of Kruger and of the Dutch.  They expected to be petted and flattered as those looked up to as the saviours of the Empire.