Rhodes Scholars, Oxford, and the Creation of an American Elite. Thomas J. Schaeper
in the 1870s with what one writer has called Rhodes' long series of “weird” wills.28 Another author has called them his “spiritual autobiography.”29 Rhodes wrote the first when he was 18 years old and the eighth and final one at age 46.30 There is no need here to discuss the intricate twists and turns that occurred from one will to the next. All of them had in common a general vision. Rhodes believed that the English-speaking “race” was best suited to lead the world toward greater prosperity, happiness, and peace. He thus wished to promote union, or at least closer relations, among all English-speakers in order to foster this goal. The means to achieve this changed from one will to the next, but the underlying ideals remained constant.
Even while an undergraduate at Oxford Rhodes conceived himself to be a man of destiny. In 1877 he composed a revealing document called his “Confession of Faith.” In it he said that his goal in life would be to render himself useful to his country. He then explained that:
I have felt that at the present day we are actually limiting our children and perhaps bringing into the world half the human beings we might owing to the lack of country for them to inhabit, that if we had retained America there would at the present moment be many millions more of English living. I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimen of human beings, what an alteration there would be in them if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence.31
This confession, which Rotberg characterizes as a “jejune effervescence,” was largely incorporated into Rhodes' second will.32 In this same will Rhodes boldly expounded on his aims in these words:
The extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom and of colonization by British subjects of all lands wherein the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, The Holy Land, the valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire, the consolidation of the whole Empire, the inauguration of a system of Colonial Representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire, and finally the foundation of so great a power as to hereafter render wars impossible and promote the best interests of humanity.33
The United States and vast stretches of the rest of the globe would not become colonies but rather independent members of a federal empire. To accomplish this task, Rhodes would leave all his wealth in the hands of a clandestine society made up of intelligent, energetic men who shared his vision. This secret club would be modeled on the Jesuits and the network of Masonic lodges. He hoped it would be “a church for the extension of the British Empire.”34
Over the next fifteen years Rhodes continued to tinker with his plan, thereby creating new wills. The government officials or trusted friends whom he named as trustees also changed slightly from one document to the next. As his thinking evolved, the expansion of the British Empire gradually subsided in importance while the establishment of world peace grew. He came to believe that education was the best means for changing and improving the world. In 1891 he announced plans to establish a great new teaching residential university in the Cape Colony. Dutch and English students there would not only receive an education but would mix together socially; their friendships would contribute to greater harmony among the leaders of a united South Africa. In letters and speeches of the late 1880s and early 1890s he expressed doubts about the practicality of a secret society for furthering his aims. His sixth will, dated 1892, contains no mention of such a group.
The Jameson Raid and Rhodes' fall from power ended any hope for his South African university. By 1895, however, he had already concluded that such an institution would be too limited in scope-as it would affect only South Africa. Rhodes wanted to change the world. Already in his seventh will, in 1893, he had decided to establish Oxford scholarships for students from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and other parts of the Empire. In doing this he was in all probability greatly influenced by the writings of two contemporaries: J. Astley Cooper, editor of a London weekly magazine, and Sir Thomas Hudson Beare, a South Australian who held academic posts both in London and Edinburgh. Borrowing ideas from them he asserted:
I consider that the education of young colonists at one of the Universities in Great Britain is of great advantage to them for giving breadth to their views, for their instruction in life and manners, and for instilling into their minds the advantages to the colonies as well as to England of the retention of the unity of the Empire.35
The young scholars selected were to be all-round men, studious but also fond of outdoor sports. Moreover, they were to be chosen on the basis of moral character and leadership potential. This will marked a great turning point in Rhodes' thinking. There was no mention of a secret society or of any indoctrination of the students while they were in Oxford. Rhodes still believed in the virtues of unity among English-speaking peoples, but this did not necessarily have to come through any rigid, powerful imperial framework.
In 1899 he dictated his eighth and final will. There were to be two scholars from each state in the United States and twenty “colonials,” as he called them (three from Canada, six from Australia, five from South Africa, three from Rhodesia, and one each from New Zealand, Bermuda, and Jamaica.)36 In a codicil of 1901 Rhodes added five annual scholarships for Germany. He considered the Germans to be a nordic, Anglo-Saxon race akin to the English. Rhodes also liked the Kaiser personally. Moreover, Wilhelm II had recently ordered English to be taught in all German schools. Given this token of friendship, plus the fact that Germany was nearly equal to Britain and the United States in economic and military power, Rhodes thought it best to join Germans with English-speakers in his great enterprise for world harmony. All of these students would be expected to remain in Oxford for three years, the normal span required to complete a B.A. degree.
The final will remains the basic document guiding the scholarship system. Whenever there is a question about how the program should be administered or how scholars should be chosen, everyone turns to the will to see what it says explicitly or to speculate about Rhodes' intentions.
The total value of Rhodes' estate was set at about £5 million, netting slightly under £4 million after death duties were deducted. At that time sterling was worth many times what it is today. (In 1997 the Trust's assets were worth approximately £150 million). Rhodes was wealthy, but his estate was modest compared to those of John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and other American “robber barons.” Undoubtedly the size of his bequest would have been much larger if not for other factors. In the last dozen years of his life he devoted his attentions as much to politics as to private business affairs. He died too young to gain any returns on the vast amounts he invested in developing Rhodesia.
To oversee all the prescriptions of the will, Rhodes created what has come to be called the Rhodes Trust. The initial trustees whom he selected included distinguished elder statesmen, one of his closest business partners, his friend Jameson, his banker, and his lawyer. The Rhodes Trust continues to operate today. Over the decades it has included prominent politicians, academics, writers (including Rudyard Kipling), and persons from a variety of other professions.
Though the scholarships constitute the most famous part of the will, Rhodes also made other bequests. For example, he donated his stately residence at Groote Schuur (outside Cape Town) to the government of South Africa as an official residence for future prime ministers. He allocated £100,000 for Oriel College. That was a small part of his total estate but sufficient to raise faculty salaries and construct the formidable Rhodes Building that today still looms on Oxford's main street, “The High.” Rhodes would be pleased to see it. Far above the central doorway is a large statue of Rhodes himself looking benevolently downward. Below him, to his left and right, are statues of King George V and King Edward VII.
The will gave great leeway to the trustees in the discretionary disbursement of any excess funds not needed for the scholarships. Over