A good many things happened in the life of Rhodes between the time he left England in February, 1895, and the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899. There was the Johannesburg Raid, for instance; and there were all those strenuous preliminaries to the war in which Rhodes stood as the champion of what his imperial school considered the true rights of England.
Sixth Will, 1899.
In July, 1899, before the outbreak of the War, Rhodes recast and expanded the whole scheme of his Will and substituted, for that of 1893, a sixth document, which became his ‘Last Will and Testament’,[3] wherein he outlined and provided plans and detailed directions for establishing the scholarships which are now known as the Rhodes Scholarships. Each of the friends who became a Trustee doubtless had a share in the discussions and suggestions which gradually shaped and realized the Scholarship idea. Mr. Stead tried, without success, to persuade Rhodes to divide the scholarships between Oxford and Cambridge, also to open them to women; he was successful, however, in his suggestion which resulted in scholarships being granted to the States and Territories of the United States.
Rhodes rejected all propositions whereby the appointments were to be based solely upon Competitive Examinations. His own ideas upon this subject were expressed in the Codicil of October, 1901.[4]
Thus the form realized in the last Will and Testament was not the result of any hasty resolution to attempt some great innovation in the method of bequeathing wealth for educational purposes; it was not a philanthropic caprice; it was not a mere response to suggestions occurring to him while casting about, as so often happens, for an answer to the question, ‘How shall I leave my money?’ Both the substance and the letter of the document by which he left £2,000,000 for ‘an educational experiment’ were the result of living and thinking, suggesting and receiving suggestions, accepting and rejecting; and, finally, of careful decision. It represents conclusions; it is characteristic, moreover, of the mind of its author, combining practical judgement with the promptings of an imperial imagination; it represents unbroken confidence in the ideals which to him made life worth living.
Soon after the writing of this Will the Boer War broke out, and the political concord between Rhodes and Mr. Stead was at an end. Their friendship, however, continued, and each remained true to the same old ideal—although their opinions as to British rights in South Africa were in violent antithesis.
In the original Will Mr. Rhodes left the residue of his real and personal estate to the Earl of Rosebery, Earl Grey, Alfred Beit, William Thomas Stead, Lewis Lloyd Mitchell, and Bourchier Francis Hawksley, absolutely as joint tenants. The same persons were appointed his Executors and Trustees.
In a Codicil dated January, 1901, Rhodes directed that the name of W. T. Stead should be removed from the list of his Executors.[5] In October of the same year he added Lord Milner’s name to the list of Executors and joint heirs, and in March, 1902, on his death-bed, that of Dr. Jameson.
Before the month was out the great creative imperialist had passed from the scene of his successes. He died at Muizenberg, near Cape Town, on the 26th of March, 1902, in his forty-ninth year.