The reply which I received was absolutely characteristic: "Thanks for your letter.
Never mind what X---- says.

He is a harmless donkey who can always make himself useful when required to do so." The foregoing incident is enlightening as to the real nature of Cecil Rhodes.

His great mistake was precisely in this conviction that he could order men at will, and that men would never betray him or injure him by their false interpretation of the directions which it pleased him to give them.

He considered himself so entirely superior to the rest of mankind that it never struck him that inferior beings could turn upon him and rend him, or forget the obedience to his orders which he expected them to observe.

He did not appreciate people with independence, though he admired them in those rare moments when he would condescend to be sincere with himself and with others; but he preferred a great deal the miserable creatures who always said "yes" to all his vagaries; who never dared to criticise any of his instructions or to differ from any opinions which he expressed.