OXFORD
AND THE
RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS
R. F. SCHOLZ S. K. HORNBECK
HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON, NEW YORK AND TORONTO
1907
OXFORD: HORACE HART
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
PREFACE
The primary object of this book is to present, in concise form, a large
variety of facts which have been and are, in one way or another, of value
or importance to those who are interested in the Rhodes Scholarships.
The frequency and the diversity of the inquiries which have been made,
both officially and unofficially, and especially the questions which have
been asked by and of Rhodes Scholars, have suggested the practicability
of an attempt to compile an elementary reference-book which shall contain
answers to many of these queries.
It must be clearly understood at the outset that this volume is _in no
way official_, having been in no way authorized or approved by the Rhodes
Trust or by Oxford University. For the fact of its appearance and for its
form and contents the authors (or, perhaps better, the ‘editors’ of the
material which it contains) must and do assume the sole responsibility.
Yet for the facts which it contains we have had recourse to official or
semi-official publications, and for accuracy we plead the authority of
these sources.
Inquiries have varied from such simple questions as ‘How many Rhodes
Scholars are there in Oxford?’ to, ‘How may a Rhodes Scholarship be
obtained; how does Oxford differ in system from an American University;
what courses of study can I pursue at Oxford?’ It is hoped that the
facts contained in the following chapters will answer a large number of
these questions, and that they may not only save much time and perplexity
for those who are especially interested in the Rhodes Scholarships, but
that they may be of considerable additional use in explaining many points
which are popularly misunderstood or overlooked with regard to the Rhodes
Scholarships and their relation to Oxford.
Our purpose to compile at once a short record and a working handbook
has made our task largely that of selection and arrangement. We have
drawn freely for information upon many sources. Thus, the first chapter
is based almost entirely upon facts set forth in Mr. W. T. Stead’s
_Last Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes_; the second chapter is
merely an arrangement from a copy of Rhodes’s Will; the third rests upon
information obtained from Dr. Parkin’s written statements, especially
from an article in the London _Times_ of October 13, 1904, and from an
address before the Royal Colonial Institute (December, 1904), and from
answers which have been given to direct questions; the fourth is based
on published ‘Memoranda’ of the Rhodes Trust; and the sixth represents a
condensation or rearrangement, with some personal comment, of information
from the official publications of the University of Oxford (see also
Bibliography, p. 169). The fifth and the seventh may be said to have more
of the personal colouring, but they, too, represent impressions gained
from various reading and comparison of opinions, as well as of those of
personal experience.
The division into Parts I and II has been determined by the fact that
the first four chapters (Part I) deal largely with matters outside
Oxford, while the remainder (Part II) deals rather with Oxford phases of
the question. In addition to the desire to present general information it
has been our constant purpose to meet the questions—first, of the person
who is considering whether he wishes a Rhodes Scholarship; second, of
the person who is an intending candidate; third, of the elected Rhodes
Scholar.
This motive has prompted the addition of considerable matter in the form
of an Appendix which contains: a List of the Rhodes Scholars up to date;
a List of the Committees of Selection; a set of questions illustrating
the qualifying examination; a list of the members of the Instructional
Staff of the University; a Lecture List illustrating the Oxford ‘Honour
School’ Lectures; a list of Affiliated and Privileged Universities; and
a Bibliography. We have endeavoured by means of a complete Index to make
it possible to find at once the information, so far as herein contained,
which one is seeking.
Although disclaiming all or any official authorization, and wishing to
involve no one in the responsibility for the appearance or the character
of these chapters, we feel that it would be misleading and ungrateful
not to acknowledge our indebtedness to those without whose assistance
much of the information could not have been obtained, or could only
have been obtained with great difficulty. We have occasion to thank,
for very material assistance and for many valuable suggestions, Dr. G.
R. Parkin, Mr. F. J. Wylie, and Mr. H. T. Gerrans. Dr. Parkin and Mr.
Wylie, as officially connected with the Rhodes Trust, have given us
access to Memoranda, and have given information on many points connected
with the Scholarship System. Mr. Gerrans, Fellow of Worcester College,
has explained and furnished information on many difficult points in the
Oxford system, and has otherwise considerably simplified the problem of
arrangement and publication. Our thanks are due also to Mr. L. Cecil Jane
of University College for very helpful suggestions. For whatever errors
or shortcomings may be discovered we alone are responsible.
Readers should also bear in mind that the ‘System’ of the Rhodes
Scholarships is still to some extent in its trial stages, and that
changes in its methods and machinery may still be expected.
Our sole incentive for the production of such a book _at this time_ lies
in a desire to meet what has seemed a present need for a collection of
information upon the Scholarships as they exist. We would only justify
this attempt in so far as it may accomplish this end.
R. F. S.
S. K. H.
OXFORD, _February, 1907_.
CONTENTS
PART I
CHAP. PAGE
I. SOURCE, ORIGIN, AND PURPOSE 1
II. THE SIXTH AND LAST WILL OF CECIL JOHN RHODES 8
III. FROM PROVISION TO PRACTICE, 1902-1906: THE MEASURES AND STEPS
BY WHICH THE SCHOLARSHIP SYSTEM HAS BEEN ORGANIZED 21
IV. THE APPOINTMENT: ELIGIBILITY—REQUIREMENTS—QUALIFICATIONS—
EXAMINATION—METHODS OF SELECTION—METHODS OF PROCEDURE
AND INSTRUCTION 31
PART II
V. OXFORD AS IT IS—OR AS IT HAS SEEMED TO A RHODES SCHOLAR 44
VI. THE OXFORD SYSTEM: UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE GOVERNMENT, METHODS
OF INSTRUCTION, COURSES OF STUDY, AND DEGREES 61
VII. EXPENSES 95
VIII. OPPORTUNITIES: THE VALUE OF A RHODES SCHOLARSHIP—
QUALIFICATIONS—CHOICE OF A COLLEGE—CHOICE OF WORK—ADVANTAGES 106
APPENDICES
I. LIST OF RHODES SCHOLARS 118
II. LIST OF COMMITTEES OF SELECTION 128
III. COPY OF EXAMINATION PAPERS FOR JANUARY, 1907 136
IV. LIST OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS AND LECTURERS 143
V. LIST OF HONOUR LECTURES, 1906 151
VI. LIST OF AFFILIATED UNIVERSITIES 168
VII. LIST OF BOOKS FOR REFERENCE 169
TABLES
1. RHODES SCHOLARS: LIST CONTAINING THE NUMBER OF APPOINTMENTS TO
JANUARY, 1907 29
2. COLLEGES OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY 60
3. EXAMINATIONS FOR THE B.A. DEGREE 77
4. EXPENSES 103, 105
INDEX 171
PART I
CHAPTER I
SOURCE, ORIGIN, AND PURPOSE
Cecil Rhodes left to the world a Will whose provisions have caused more
comment than those of any other Will of modern times. A simple paraphrase
of its chief provision would be ‘I Cecil John Rhodes leave £2,000,000 for
the foundation of between 150 and 200 perpetual scholarships at Oxford
University.’ To stop, however, with such a summary is to know nothing
of the real character of the Will. Aside from being a legal document
disposing of property, the Will is an excellent commentary upon Rhodes’s
life and thought and a record of certain of his conclusions. Its value to
our present subject, however, is rather prospective than retrospective.
Rhodes provided not _only_ the money for the foundation, but a detailed
memorandum of the principles which he wished his Trustees and Executors
to keep in mind in establishing the Rhodes Scholarships.
The first essential, then, to an understanding of the Rhodes Scholarships
is to be familiar with the clauses of the Will which are the foundation
upon which they rest, and which determine the general shape of their
structure.
It may be well, however, and a considerable aid to an understanding of
the Will, to remind ourselves first of a few important incidents in the
life of Rhodes—incidents which go far to explain his motives and methods.
Rhodes entered Oriel College, Oxford, in 1873. A few months later, being
in bad health, he was sent by his physician to South Africa. This forced
trip spelled Opportunity in large letters before him. Keen perception,
ingenuity, and careful application forged the links between opportunity
and wealth. But wealth was not a goal; it became an instrument for the
realization of ideals. Coincident with the success of his business
schemes, and intimately correlated with his practical thinking, was the
development of a personal and political philosophy which shaped his ideas
of the value and proper function of wealth.
Rhodes had not been a brilliant student; but he was a persistent and a
logical thinker. Long before he finished his College course he had set
himself certain problems such as seldom occur to the ordinary man, and
whose solution is rarely attempted even by extraordinary men. What was
most important, he met his problems squarely, carried his thinking to
conclusions, and his conclusions into practice.
Throughout his life he cherished a fond memory of his student days
and a deep reverence for his University. His high respect for Oxford
grew not alone from the happy impressions of early and careless years.
He matriculated when twenty years old. For the next eight years he
alternated between winters spent in South Africa amid the influences of
frontier life, and summers spent in the social and academic atmosphere
of Oxford. When, after eight years, he took his degrees, B.A. and M.A.
together (1881), he was already a successful business man, well on his
way to maturity (_b._ 1853). Thus he had been an Oxford undergraduate
both as a youth and as a man, and had learned the theories and practices
of Oxford side-by-side with the practical experiences of business life
during the impressionable years of early manhood.
During these undergraduate days he had been deeply impressed by a passage
from Aristotle—‘Virtue is the highest activity of the soul living for the
highest object in a perfect life.’ He appreciated Aristotle’s emphasis
upon the necessity for having a high ideal and for struggling toward
that ideal. He revolved in his mind while in Oxford and in Africa, as he
went and came, and during his summers here and his winters there, many
problems as to the end and object of existence. What is the end of the
process of evolution? Is it man? For what end does man exist? Why do I
exist? What does my existence demand of me? Is there a God? If so, what
does he wish man to do? What would he have me do? What can I do best?
He became conscious of a desire for power—effective, creative power, the
power which ‘does things.’ He early decided, and he never changed his
opinion, that the ‘open sesame’ to the realm of power was money. The
opportunity for making money lay before him; the ability and the business
capacity lay within him; money was his. Yet wealth was not his end; he
never made money an end; it was always a means.
His self-interrogation did not cease. He decided that his first great
duty was to his country. What is this duty?—he asked himself. Naturally,
to further her interests. Her interests are?—Those of the British Empire.
And those are?—To advance civilization and the cause of universal peace.
What could he do? He decided that he would ‘paint as much as possible
of the map of South Africa British red’. But patriotism should not be
selfish—nor should it be narrow. He looked beyond the boundaries of
the Empire. ‘What race can do, is doing, and will do most to advance
civilization?’ He answered himself that the Anglo-Saxon race was the race
of the Present and of the Future—the instrument of Destiny. Therefore, he
would devote himself to the ideas which the Anglo-Saxon race represents.
These conclusions were recorded in a ‘draft of some of my ideas’ which
Rhodes put upon paper while in Kimberley, when he was about twenty-four
years of age (1877). He continued with a consideration of how his ideas
might be made effective. His fancy suggested the formation of a kind of
secular church which should have its members in all parts of the Empire,
especially at the Universities, and whose common interest should be the
extension of the Empire. He sketched the kind of men upon whom he could
depend, the method by which they might be recruited, keeping ever in mind
‘the closer union of England and her Colonies’.
[Sidenote: First Will, 1877.]
That same year he wrote a Will in which he directed that all his estates
and effects of every kind should be administered to promote British
rule; to perfect a system of emigration from the United Kingdom to
the Colonies; to further the consolidation of the British Empire; to
assist towards the restoration of Anglo-Saxon unity; towards securing
the representation of the Colonies in Parliament, and the foundation of
a Power so great as to render wars impossible and to promote the best
interests of humanity.
At that early period, then, we find—not the idea of the Rhodes
Scholarships—but the ideas which dominated Rhodes’s subsequent imperial
theories, the soil which was ready to receive the suggestion which seems
later to have come spontaneously, of founding and defining a scholarship
system.
[Sidenote: Second Will, 1882.]
[Sidenote: Third Will, 1888.]
This Will of 1877 was suspended in 1882 by a very informal Will written
on a single sheet of note-paper, and that in turn was revoked and
replaced by a third in 1888.
In 1889 Rhodes met Mr. W. T. Stead, then editor of the _Pall Mall
Gazette_, and the two men discovered a remarkable coincidence in their
ideas, especially on the subjects of an English-speaking reunion and a
society for the promotion of world welfare and peace.[1] Mr. Rhodes set
forth a number of his political ideals at considerable length.
His earlier devotion to the idea of British ascendancy, while not lost,
had become but a part of his larger idea of Anglo-Saxon supremacy. So
unbiased had he become that in 1891 he expressed himself as so desirous
of seeing an English-speaking union that he would be willing that the
English monarchical system and isolated imperial existence be sacrificed,
if necessary, to its achievement.[2]
[Sidenote: Fourth Will, 1891.]
In 1891 he signed his fourth Will, making over his real and personal
property to two persons, one of whom was ‘W. T. Stead of the Review of
Reviews’.
[Sidenote: Fifth Will, 1893.]
The fifth Will was drafted in 1892 and signed by Mr. Rhodes in 1893. The
name of Mr. Hawksley was added as one of the Executors, and joint-heir.
It was understood that Mr. Stead was the ‘custodian of the Rhodesian
ideas’, and the other two Executors were to direct necessary financial
and legal measures.
In January, 1895, Rhodes first announced to Mr. Stead his intention of
founding a number of scholarships. He said that while on the Red Sea in
1893 the thought had struck him of creating a number of scholarships at
a residential English University to be open to various British Colonies.
His proposition at that time was to provide for twelve scholarships
at Oxford each year, each tenable for three years, of a value of £250
per year. A codicil was added to the fifth Will providing for these
scholarships for Canada, the Australian Colonies, including Western
Australia and Tasmania, and for Cape Colony.
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.
[Sidenote: 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.
In his constructive fancy he had known no ordinary limits. ‘I would
annex the planets if I could.’[6] He had measured by more than the span
of a single life or a few generations; he had built for to-morrow as
well as for to-day. ‘I find I am human, but should like to live after my
death.’[7] He frequently wished ‘that he might return to earth to see
how his ideas were prospering, and what was being done with the fortune
which he had dedicated to the service of posterity’. His Will expresses
in concrete form what were his purposes and what the plans which he left
as a sacred Trust to the care and guardianship of his chosen friends.