For a good many years he had chosen his best friends among Dutchmen of influence in the Cape Colony and in the Transvaal.  He flattered, courted and praised them until he quite persuaded them that nowhere else would they find such a staunch supporter of their rights and of their claims.  Men like Mr. Schreiner,[A] for instance, trusted him absolutely, and believed quite sincerely that in time he would be able to establish firm and friendly relations between the Cape Government and that of the Transvaal.  Though the latter country had been, as it were, sequestrated by friends of Rhodes—­much to their own profit—­Mr. Schreiner felt convinced that the Colossus had never encouraged any plans which these people might have made against the independence of the Transvaal Republic.  Rhodes had so completely fascinated him that even on the eve of the day when Jameson crossed the Border, Mr. Schreiner, when questioned by one of his friends about the rumours which had reached Cape Town concerning a projected invasion of the Transvaal by people connected with the Chartered Company, repudiated them with energy.  Mr. Schreiner, indeed, declared that so long as Mr. Rhodes was Prime Minister nothing of the kind could or would happen, as neither Jameson nor any of his lieutenants would dare to risk such an adventure without the sanction of their Chief, and that it was more to the latter’s interest than to that of anyone else to preserve the independence of the Transvaal Republic.

    [A] Now High Commissioner for the Union of South Africa.

[Illustration:  The RT.  Hon.  W.G.  Schreiner.]

Talking of Mr. Schreiner reminds me of his sister, the famous Olive Schreiner, the author of so many books which most certainly will long rank among the English classics.  Olive Schreiner was once upon terms of great friendship with Mr. Rhodes, who extremely admired her great talents.  She was an ardent Afrikander patriot, Dutch by sympathy and origin, gifted with singular intelligence and possessed of wide views, which strongly appealed to the soul and to the spirit of the man who at that time was considered as the greatest figure in South Africa.

It is not remarkable, therefore, that Rhodes should fall into the habit of confiding in Miss Schreiner, whom he found was “miles above” the people about him.  He used to hold long conversations with her and to initiate her into many of his plans for the future, plans in which the interests and the welfare of the Cape Dutch, as well as the Transvaalers, used always to play the principal part.  His friendship with her, however, was viewed with great displeasure by many who held watch around him.  Circumstances—­intentionally brought about, some maintain—­conspired to cause a cooling of the friendship between the two most remarkable personalities in South Africa.  Later on, Miss Schreiner, who was an ardent patriot, having discovered what she termed and considered to be the duplicity of the man in whom she had so absolutely trusted, refused to meet Cecil Rhodes again.  Her famous book, “Trooper Peter Halkett of Mashonaland,” was the culminating point in their quarrel, and the break became complete.