38 SOLDIER AND SPORTSMAN 



Boers, as a whole, as I think I have seen it. I 

 turned my back gladly on this people, hastening 

 northwards to lands possessed I hope of equal 

 wealth, brighter prospects, reserved for more 

 worthy owners, entitled to happier destinies. I 

 rejoiced, after all I had seen in the Transvaal, 

 that the country and the people of the Matabele 

 and the Mashona had been rescued in the nick of 

 time owing to the genius of Mr Rhodes and the 

 tardy vigour of the British Government from the 

 mortal and withering grasp of the Boer." 



It was at Tuli, the first fort of the Mashonaland 

 Police, that I had the privilege of meeting Lord 

 Randolph Churchill, Mr Cecil Rhodes and Dr 

 Jameson. These three distinguished men had to 

 pass through remarkable vicissitudes of political 

 fortunes, and none lived to see complete realisation 

 of his schemes. All died comparatively young : 

 Cecil Rhodes was forty-nine. Lord Randolph 

 Churchill forty-six and Dr Jameson fifty years of 

 age. From all accounts they overtaxed their 

 strength, mentally and physically. The years lying 

 between forty and fifty ought to see the zenith of 

 a man's capabilities. Wellington and Napoleon 

 were forty-six, so were four of Napoleon's generals, 

 when the battle of Waterloo was fought. Historians 

 of that period suggest that Napoleon on that day 

 had lost the forceful energy and magnetic influence 



