One winter day in February 1891 in London, three men were having a serious conversation. This conversation had consequences of the greatest importance for the British Empire and the world at large. For these people created a secret society, which was to become one of the most important forces of influence on the imperial and foreign policy of Britain for more than fifty years.
The three men involved in this business were already well known in England. The leader was Cecil Rhodes, a fabulously wealthy empire builder and the most important man in South Africa. The second was William T. Stead, the most famous and probably the most sensational journalist of the day. The third was Reginald Baliol Brett, who later became known as Lord Escher, friend and confidant of Queen Victoria, and later as the most influential adviser to Kings Edward VII and George V.
The details of this important conversation will be discussed later. At the present time, we can only point out that this troika has drawn up a plan for organizing their secret society and a list of its original members. The organization's plan included an inner circle known as the Society of the Chosen and an outer circle called the Association of Helpers. In a society of the elect, real power was to be exercised by the leader and the "junta of three." Rhodes was to be the leader, and Stead, Brett and Alfred Milner were to be the junta. In accordance with this decision, Milner was accepted into the community shortly after the meeting we described.
The creation of this secret society was not a matter of an instant. As we shall see, Rhodes has been planning this event for over seventeen years. Stead became familiar with this plan on April 4, 1889, and Brett was informed of it on February 3, 1890. The society founded in this way was not short-lived, for in a changed form it exists to this day. From 1891 to 1902, only a dozen people knew it. During this period, Rhodes was the leader and Stead was the most influential member. From 1902 to 1925, Milner was the leader, while Philip Kerr (Lord Lothian) and Lionel Curtis were probably the most important members. From 1925 to 1940, Kerr was the leader, and since his death in 1940, the role has probably been played by Robert Henry Brand (Lord Brand).
This society has existed for almost sixty years under a variety of names. For the first decade or so, it was called The Secret Society of Cecil Rhodes or The Cecil Rhodes Dream. In the second and third decades of its existence, it was known as Milner's Kindergarten (1901-1910) and as the Round Table Group (1910-1920). Since 1920, it has been called differently, depending on which stage of its activity was considered. It was called The Times Group, The Rhodes Group, The Chatham House Group, The All Souls Group, and the Cleveland Clique. All these terms are more or less inappropriate, because they focus attention only on a part of society or only on one type of its activity. Milner's Kindergarten and the Round Table Group, for example, are two different names for the Helper Association,and therefore they were only part of society, since the real center of the organization, the Society of the Chosen, continued to exist and recruited new members from the outer circle as needed. From 1920 onwards, this group was increasingly dominated by the associates of Viscount Astor. In the 1930s, the misnamed "Cleveland clique" was close to the center of society, but it would be completely unfair to believe that the connotations of flimsy and conspiracy commonly associated with the term "Cleveland clique" are a fair description of the Milner group as a whole. In fact, the Viscount Astor was, relatively speaking, a late addition to society, and society should have been portrayed as using Astor's money to advance its own ideals, rather than being used for any purpose by the Cleveden master.as the real center of the organization, the Society of the Chosen, continued to exist and recruited new members from the outer circle as needed. From 1920 onwards, this group was increasingly dominated by the associates of Viscount Astor. In the 1930s, the misnamed "Cleveland Clique" was close to the center of society, but it would be utterly unfair to believe that the connotations of flimsy and conspiracy commonly associated with the expression "The Cleveland Clique" are a fair description of the Milner group as a whole. In fact, the Viscount Astor was, relatively speaking, a late addition to society, and society should have been portrayed as using Astor's money to advance its own ideals, rather than being used for any purpose by the Cleveden master.as the real center of the organization, the Society of the Chosen, continued to exist and recruited new members from the outer circle as needed. From 1920 onwards, this group was increasingly dominated by the associates of Viscount Astor. In the 1930s, the misnamed "Cleveland Clique" was close to the center of society, but it would be utterly unfair to believe that the connotations of flimsy and conspiracy commonly associated with the expression "The Cleveland Clique" are a fair description of the Milner group as a whole. In fact, the Viscount Astor was, relatively speaking, a late addition to society, and society should have been portrayed as using Astor's money to advance its own ideals, rather than being used for any purpose by the Cleveden master.continued to exist and recruited new members from the outer circle as needed. From 1920 onwards, this group was increasingly dominated by the associates of Viscount Astor. In the 1930s, the misnamed "Cleveland clique" was close to the center of society, but it would be completely unfair to believe that the connotations of flimsy and conspiracy commonly associated with the term "Cleveland clique" are a fair description of the Milner group as a whole. In fact, the Viscount Astor was, relatively speaking, a late addition to society, and society should have been portrayed as using Astor's money to advance its own ideals, rather than being used for any purpose by the Cleveden master.continued to exist and recruited new members from the outer circle as needed. From 1920 onwards, this group was increasingly dominated by the associates of Viscount Astor. In the 1930s, the misnamed "Cleveland clique" was close to the center of society, but it would be completely unfair to believe that the connotations of flimsy and conspiracy commonly associated with the term "Cleveland clique" are a fair description of the Milner group as a whole. In fact, the Viscount Astor was, relatively speaking, a late addition to society, and society should have been portrayed as using Astor's money to advance its own ideals, rather than being used for any purpose by the Cleveden master. From 1920 onwards, this group was increasingly dominated by the associates of Viscount Astor. In the 1930s, the misnamed "Cleveland Clique" was close to the center of society, but it would be utterly unfair to believe that the connotations of flimsy and conspiracy commonly associated with the expression "The Cleveland Clique" are a fair description of the Milner group as a whole. In fact, the Viscount Astor was, relatively speaking, a late addition to society, and society should have been portrayed as using Astor's money to advance its own ideals, rather than being used for any purpose by the Cleveden master. From 1920 onwards, this group was increasingly dominated by the associates of Viscount Astor. In the 1930s, the misnamed "Cleveland Clique" was close to the center of society, but it would be utterly unfair to believe that the connotations of flimsy and conspiracy commonly associated with the expression "The Cleveland Clique" are a fair description of the Milner group as a whole. In fact, the Viscount Astor was, relatively speaking, a late addition to society, and society should have been portrayed as using Astor's money to advance its own ideals, rather than being used for any purpose by the Cleveden master.commonly associated with the term "The Cleveland clique," is a fair description of the Milner group as a whole. In fact, the Viscount Astor was, relatively speaking, a late addition to society, and society should have been portrayed as using Astor's money to advance its own ideals, rather than being used for any purpose by the Cleveden master.commonly associated with the term "The Cleveland clique," is a fair description of the Milner group as a whole. In fact, the Viscount Astor was, relatively speaking, a late addition to society, and society should have been portrayed as using Astor's money to advance its own ideals, rather than being used for any purpose by the Cleveden master.
Even the expression "The Secret Society of Rhodes," which would be perfectly accurate for the period 1891-1899, is hardly accurate for the period after 1899. The organization was so changed and expanded by Milner after Stead's departure in 1899, and especially after Rhodes' death in 1902, that it acquired a completely different structure and character, although it continued to pursue the same goals. To avoid these difficulties, we will refer to the organization as the "Secret Society of Rhodes" before 1901 and "Milner's Group" after that date, but it should be understood that both terms refer to the same organization.
This organization has managed to hide its existence quite successfully, and many of its most influential members, content with real rather than visible power, are unknown even to serious scholars of British history. This is even more surprising when we learn that one of the main methods of work of this group was propaganda. The group planned the Jameson raid in 1895; initiated the Boer War of 1899-1902; established and oversees the Rhodes Foundation; created the Union of South Africa in 1906-1910; created the South African periodical The State in 1908; founded the British Empire's periodical The Round Table in 1910, which remains the group's mouthpiece; has been the most powerful source of influence in the All Souls, Balliol and New Colleges of Oxford for more than a generation;controlled The Times for more than fifty years, excluding the three-year period 1919-1922; published the idea and the name "British Commonwealth of Nations" in the period 1908-1918; was the main factor of influence on the military administration of Lloyd George in 1917-1919 and controlled the British delegation at the 1919 peace conference; was directly related to the formation and management of the League of Nations and the system of mandates; founded the Royal Institute of International Affairs in 1919 and still controls it; was one of the main factors influencing British policy towards Ireland, Palestine and India in the period 1917-1945; had a very important influence on the policy of appeasement of Germany in 1920-1940;controlled and still very much controls the description of the history of the British Empire and its foreign policy since the time of the Boer War.
One would expect that a society that boasts such achievements would become a common topic of discussion among researchers studying history and social studies. But in this case, expectations are not met, partly because of the secrecy policy adopted by the group, partly because it itself is not tightly integrated, but rather looks like a series of intersecting circles or rings, partly hidden behind formal groups that have no obvious political significance.
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This group, held together by invisible bonds of friendship, personal communication and shared ideals, is so vague in its outlines (especially in recent years) that it is not always possible to tell who is a member and who is not. Indeed, there is no sharp line of demarcation between those who are members and those who are not, as “membership” has varying degrees that can change over time. Sir Alfred Zimmern, for example, although always close to the group, was in its inner circle only for a short period of 1910-1922, after which he began to slowly drift into the outer orbits of society. On the other hand, Lord Halifax, although close to the group since 1903, did not really become a member until after 1920. Viscount Astor, also close to society from the beginning (and much closer than Halifax),quickly moved to the center of the group after 1916, and especially after 1922, and in subsequent years acquired an increasingly decisive voice.
Although the composition of Milner's group has slowly changed over the years, the group still retains the traits inherited from its main leader, and, through him, Balliol's ideological orientation of the 1870s. Although the group did not actually exist until 1891, its history spans a much longer period as its origins date back to around 1873. This story can be divided into four periods, of which the first, from 1873 to 1891, which can be called preparatory, focuses on the figures of W. T. Stead and Alfred Milner. The second period, from 1891 to 1901, could be called the Rhodes period, although Stead was the main figure, as in most of them. The third period, from 1901 to 1922, centered around Alfred Milner, could be called the New College Oxford period. The fourth period,from about 1922 to the present, can be called the period of the College of All Souls. It was focused around Lord Lothian, Lord Brand, and Lionel Curtis. During these four periods, the group's strength and influence grew steadily until about 1939. After March 16, 1939, it split on the basis of the policy of appeasement and received a strong shake-up from the 1945 general election. Until 1939, however, the expansion of the group's power was fairly consistent. This growth was based on the members' possession of abilities, social connections, and wealth. It is impossible to separate the relationship of these three qualities - a common situation in England. During these four periods, the group's strength and influence grew steadily until about 1939. After March 16, 1939, it split on the basis of the policy of appeasement and received a strong shake-up from the 1945 general election. Until 1939, however, the expansion of the group's power was fairly consistent. This growth was based on the members' possession of abilities, social connections, and wealth. It is impossible to separate the relationship of these three qualities - a common situation in England. During these four periods, the group's strength and influence grew steadily until about 1939. After March 16, 1939, it split on the basis of the policy of appeasement and received a strong shake-up from the 1945 general elections. Until 1939, however, the expansion of the group's power was fairly consistent. This growth was based on the members' possession of abilities, social connections, and wealth. It is impossible to separate the relationship of these three qualities - a common situation in England. It is impossible to separate the relationship of these three qualities - a common situation in England. It is impossible to separate the relationship of these three qualities - a common situation in England.
Milner was able to dominate this group because he became the center, or rather the intersection of the three forces of influence. We'll call them the Toynbee Group, the Cecil Block, and the Rhodes Secret Society. Toynbee's group was a community of political intellectuals formed at Balliol College around 1873 under the direction of Arnold Toynbee and Milner himself. It was actually a group of Milner's personal friends. The Cecil Bloc was a web of political and social power formed by Lord Salisbury and extending from the realm of big education and advertising politics. In education, his influence was particularly noticeable at Eton and Harrow, and at Oxford College of All Souls. In the area of advertising, his influence was seen mainly in the Quarterly Review and The Times. The Rhodes Secret Society was a group of imperial federalists formed after 1889 that used South Africa's economic resources to expand and perpetuate the British Empire.
It is doubtful if Milner could have formed his group without the help of all three of these sources. Toynbee's group gave him the ideology and personal loyalty he needed; Cecil's block gave him the political clout without which his ideas could have easily died in the bud; and Rhodes' Secret Society gave him the economic resources to create his own group, independent of the Cecil Bloc. By 1902, with control of the Cecil Block leaving the dominant hands of Lord Salisbury into the rather indifferent hands of Arthur Balfour, and Rhodes dying, leaving Milner as general manager of his vast estate, Milner's group had already been formed and had a promising future. The long period of liberal rule that began in 1906 cast a temporary shadow over this future,but by 1916 the Milner group had entered the citadel of political power and steadily expanded their influence over the next twenty-three years, until by 1938 it had become the most powerful political force in Britain.
The original members of Milner's group came from well-to-do, wealthy, often titled families. At Oxford, they demonstrated intellectual ability and laid the foundation for the group. They later increased their titles and increased financial resources, partly by inheritance and partly through their ability to find new sources of titles and money. At first, their family fortunes were probably enough to satisfy their ambitions, but over time, funding was replenished with access to the All Souls, Rhodes Trust, Beit Trust funds, the fortunes of Sir Abe Bailey and Astor, some influential British banks (the main of which was "Lazard Brothers and Company"), and in recent years - to the money of the Nuffields.
Although the outlines of Milner's group began to appear long before 1891, the group did not fully form until that date. Earlier, Milner and Stead had become part of a group of neo-imperialists who justified the existence of the British Empire on moral, not economic or political reasons, and sought to translate this justification into reality, advocating self-government and federation within the Empire. This group formed at Oxford in the early 1870s and expanded in the early 1880s. At Balliol College, it included Milner, Arnold Toynbee, Thomas Reilly, Michael Glazebrook, Philip Littleton Gell, and George R. Parkin. Toynbee was Milner's closest friend. After his early death in 1883, Milner took an active part in the creation in his memory of Toynbee Hall, a settlement house in London. Milner was chairman of the board of this institution from 1911 until his death in 1925. In 1931, members of the Milner group unveiled plaques there in honor of Toynbee and Milner. In 1894, Milner delivered a funeral oration for his late friend at Toynbee Hall, and the following year published it as Arnold Toynbee: A Remembrance. He also wrote an article on Toynbee for the Dictionary of National Biography. This connection is important because it was she who gave Toynbee's nephew, Arnold J. Toynbee, access to public service in 1915 and to the Royal Institute of International Relations after the war.and published it the following year under the title Arnold Toynbee: A Remembrance. He also wrote an article on Toynbee for the Dictionary of National Biography. This connection is important because it was she who gave Toynbee's nephew, Arnold J. Toynbee, access to public service in 1915 and to the Royal Institute of International Relations after the war.and published it the following year under the title Arnold Toynbee: A Remembrance. He also wrote an article on Toynbee for the Dictionary of National Biography. This connection is important because it was she who gave Toynbee's nephew, Arnold J. Toynbee, access to public service in 1915 and to the Royal Institute of International Relations after the war.
George R. Parkin (later Sir George, 1846-1922) was a Canadian who spent only one year in England until 1889. But during that year (1873-1874) he was a member of the Milner circle in Balliola and became known as a fanatical supporter of the imperial federation. As a result, he became the founder of the Canadian branch of the Imperial Federation League in 1885, and four years later was sent by the League to New Zealand and Australia to try to inspire imperial sentiment. Upon his return, he toured England, giving speeches for the same purpose. This led him to close contacts with the Cecil bloc, especially George E. Buckle of The Times, GW Prothero, JR Seeley, Lord Rosebery, Sir Thomas (later Lord) Brassi, and Milner. For Buckle and in support of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, he gave an overview of Canada's resources and problems in 1892, which was published by Macmillan as The Great Dominion the following year. With a grant from Brassi and Rosebery, he wrote and published his most famous book, The Empire Federation, in 1892. Working as a propagandist for the Cecil bloc did not provide him with a decent livelihood, so on April 24, 1893, Milner proposed the formation of a group of imperialists who would finance this work of Parkin on a more stable basis. Therefore, Parkin, Milner and Brassi signed a contract on June 1, 1893, according to which Parkin was to receive 450 pounds sterling per year for three years. Throughout this period, he was supposed to propagandize as he deemed necessary for the unity of the empire. As a result of this agreement, Parkin began an ongoing correspondence with Milner, which continued until the end of his life.
When the Imperial Federation League disintegrated in 1894, Parkin became one of a group of propagandists known as the "Seeley Lecturers," named after Professor J. R. Seeley of Cambridge University, a prominent imperialist. However, Parkin still considered his income insufficient, although it came from various sources, mainly from The Times. In 1894 he went to the Ottawa Colonial Conference as the newspaper's special correspondent. The following year, when he was offered the position of director of Upper Canada College in Toronto, he consulted with Buckle and Moberly Bell, editors of The Times, hoping to secure a permanent position. There were no vacancies, so he accepted an academic position in Toronto, while also serving as Canadian correspondent for The Times. The connection with this newspaper continued even afterhow he became secretary of the Rhodes Trust in 1902. For example, in 1908 he was a correspondent for The Times for Quebec's 300th anniversary. Later, on behalf of the newspaper and with the permission of Marconi, he sent by radio the first press dispatch ever transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1902, Parkin became the first secretary of the Rhodes Foundation, and over the next twenty years he helped Milner develop the methods by which Rhodes scientists were selected. To this day, more than a quarter of a century after his death, his influence is still strong in Milner's group in Canada. His son-in-law, Vincent Massey, and his namesake, George Parkin de T. Glazebrook, are the leaders of the Milner group in the dominion. (2)
Another member of this 1875 Balliol group was Thomas Reilly (later Sir Thomas, 1850-1922), a close friend of Parkin and Milner, member of the council of All Souls (1876-1922), later secretary of the Privy Council (1896- 1899), legal member of the Viceroy of India Council (1899-1904) and member of the Council of India in London (1909-1913). Reilly's friendship with Milner was based not only on collaboration at Balliola, as he lived at Milner's home in Tübingen, Germany, when they both studied there until 1868.
Another student who briefly stayed in Balliola, but remained a close friend of Milner to the end of his life, was Philip Littleton Gell (1852-1926). Gell was a close friend of Milner's mother's family and studied with Milner at King's College London before they both moved to Balliol. Moreover, it is very likely that it was because of Gell, who was two years older, that Milner transferred to Balliol from London. Milner made Gell the first chairman of Toynbee Hall when it opened in 1884. Gell held this post for twelve years. He was still its chairman when Milner delivered his eulogy for Toynbee there in 1894. In 1899, Milner made Gell director of the British South African Company. He held this position for twenty-six years (three of them as president).
Another close friend with whom Milner spent most of his college vacations was Michael Glazebrook (1853-1926). Glazebrook was Toynbee's heir in the religious realm, as Milner was in the political. He became director of Clifton College (1891-1905) and canon of Ely Cathedral (1905-1926) and often clashed with his clerics because of his liberal views. In its most acute form after the publication of "The Faith of a Modern Churchman" in 1918. His younger brother, Arthur James Glazebrook, was the founder and chief executive officer of the Canada branch of the Milner Group until he was succeeded by Massey around 1935.
While Milner was at Balliol College, Cecil Rhodes was at Oriel, George Buckle was at New College, and His Excellency Egerton was at the Corps. It is unclear if Milner knew these young men at the time, but all three played important roles in Milner's group later. Among his peers in Balliola itself, we must list nine names, six of which later became members of All Souls: H. H. Asquith, St. John Brodrick, Charles Firth, W. P. Coer, Charles Lucas, Robert Mowbray, Roland E. Prothero, A. L. Smith and Charles A. Whitmore. Six of them later received titles from the grateful government, and they all went down in the history of the Milner group.
Toynbee dominated Milner's own small circle in Balliola. Despite his early death in 1883, Toynbee's ideas and views continue to influence Milner's group to this day. As Milner said in 1894, "There are many people nowadays actively involved in public life, and some of them, whose best work is probably still to come, are simply developing the ideas he inspired them." As for the influence of Toynbee on Milner himself, the latter, speaking of his first meeting with Toynbee in 1873, said twenty-one years later: "I was immediately fascinated by him and always felt his charm." None of those who do not know about the existence of Milner's group can see the true meaning of these quotes, and as a result, thousands of people,who read these statements in the introduction to Toynbee's famous lectures on the industrial revolution were slightly perplexed by Milner's insistence on the importance of a man who died so early and so long ago. Most readers simply considered these statements to be sentimentality due to personal affection, although it is known that Alfred Milner was the last person in the world to show sentimentality, or at least sensitivity.
Among the ideas of Toynbee that influenced Milner's group, three should be mentioned: a) the conviction that the history of the British Empire represents the deployment of a great moral idea - the idea of freedom - and that the unity of the empire is best preserved on the basis of this idea; b) the conviction that the first step is to call for a sense of duty and obligation to serve the state; (c) a sense of the need to engage in social work (especially educational) among the working classes of English society. (3) These ideas were adopted by most of the people whose names we have already mentioned, and later became the dominant principles of the Milner group. Toynbee can also be considered the founder of the method used by the group later, especially in the Round Table and at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. As Benjamin Jowitt, Master of Balliola wrote,in his preface to Toynbee's publication of the 1884 Industrial Revolution Lectures, the method was as follows: “He gathered his friends around him; they created an organization; for some time they worked quietly, some in Oxford, some in London; they prepared on different parts of the same topic until they were ready to strike publicly. " In the foreword to the same edition, Toynbee's widow wrote: “This was all edited by my husband's friend, Mr. Alfred Milner, without whose help the book would have been much more imperfect. Their intellectual lives were closely intertwined, and their friendship was too close and strong to be expressed in words of gratitude. " After Milner published his memoirs of Arnold Toynbee, they were reprinted in subsequent editions of the Industrial Revolution as a memoir, replacing Jowitt's.
After graduating from Oxford in 1877, Milner studied law for several years, but continued to remain in close contact with his friends through a club organized by Toynbee. The group, which met in the Temple area of London as well as in Oxford, worked closely with the renowned social reformer and curate of St. Jude's Whitechapel, Samuel A. Barnett. The group lectured to workers in Whitechapel, Milner gave a lecture course on "The State and the Responsibilities of Rulers" in 1880, and another on "Socialism" in 1882. The last issue was published by Lady Milner in the National Review in 1931.
Toynbee's group also included Albert Gray (later Earl Gray, 1851-1917), who became an ardent supporter of the imperial federation. Later, as we shall see, being a staunch supporter of Milner, he remained a member of the group until his death. Another member of the group, Ernest Ivan-Muller, attended King's College London with Milner and Gell and New College while Milner studied at Balliola. A close friend of Milner's, he became a journalist, was with Milner in South Africa during the Boer War, and wrote an important work about this experience called Lord Milner in South Africa (1903). Milner reciprocated by writing an article about him in the Dictionary of National Biography when he died in 1910.
In late 1881, Milner decided to abandon jurisprudence and devote himself to work of great public benefit. On December 16, he wrote in his diary: “You cannot have everything. I am a poor man and have to choose between public good and personal happiness. I choose the first, or rather the desire for it."
The opportunity to realize this goal was presented to him thanks to his social work with Barnett, since it was through this connection that he met George J. (later Lord) Goshen, Member of Parliament and Director of the Bank of England, who for three years (1880-1883) resigned from office Viceroy of India, Secretary of State for Military Affairs and Speaker of the House of Commons. Goshen became, as we shall see, one of the instruments with which Milner gained political influence. For one year (1884-1885), Milner served as Goshen's personal secretary, leaving the post only because he himself ran for parliament in 1885.
It was probably as a result of Goshen's influence that Milner entered journalism, writing for the Pall Mall Gazette in 1881. In this newspaper, he established a number of personal relationships that played a role later. John Morley was the editor at the time, and William T. Stead was his assistant. After being assistant editor from 1880-1883, Stead became an editor and worked as an editor from 1883-1890. In the last year, he founded the Review of Reviews. A convinced imperialist, and at the same time an ardent reformer in internal affairs, he was "one of the strongest apologists in England for Cecil Rhodes." He introduced Albert Gray to Rhodes, and as a result, Gray became one of the first directors of the British South Africa Company when it was founded by the Royal Charter in 1889. Gray became the administrator of Rhodesia,when Dr. Jameson was forced to resign in 1896 following his famous raid in the Transvaal. He was Governor General of Canada from 1904-1911 and opened the Rhodes Memorial in South Africa in 1912. As a liberal member of the House of Commons from 1880 to 1886, he lost as a unionist at the end of his term. In 1894 he entered the House of Lords as the fourth Earl of Gray, inheriting the title and 17,600 acres of land from his uncle. During this entire period, he was close to Milner and was later very helpful, sharing practical experience with various members of Milner's group. His son, the future 5th Earl of Gray, married the daughter of the second Earl of Selborne, a member of the Milner group. As a liberal member of the House of Commons from 1880 to 1886, he lost as a unionist at the end of his term. In 1894 he entered the House of Lords as the fourth Earl of Gray, inheriting the title and 17,600 acres of land from his uncle. During this entire period, he was close to Milner and was later very helpful, sharing practical experience with various members of Milner's group. His son, the future 5th Earl of Gray, married the daughter of the second Earl of Selborne, a member of the Milner group. As a liberal member of the House of Commons from 1880 to 1886, he lost as a unionist at the end of his term. In 1894 he entered the House of Lords as the fourth Earl of Gray, inheriting the title and 17,600 acres of land from his uncle. During this entire period, he was close to Milner and was later very helpful, sharing practical experience with various members of Milner's group. His son, the future 5th Earl of Gray, married the daughter of the second Earl of Selborne, a member of the Milner group.member of Milner's group.member of Milner's group.
During his time at the Pall Mall Gazette, Milner met three important people. One of them was Edward T. Cook (later Sir Edward, 1857-1919), who became a member of the Toynbee-Milner circle in 1879 while still a student at New College. Milner became a member of the New College council in 1878 and held this position until he was elected rector of the university in 1925. With Edward Cook, he began a practice that he later repeated many times in his life. That is, as a member of the board of the New College, he got acquainted with students, whom he later put in promising and responsible positions, in order to test their abilities. Cook was appointed Secretary of the London Society for the Expansion of University Teaching (1882) and invited to the Pall Mall Gazette. He succeeded Milner as assistant editor in 1885 and became editor instead of Stead in 1890. He left his post of editor in 1892, when Waldorf Astor bought the newspaper and founded the Westminister Gazette, of which Cook was editor for three years (1893-1896). After being editor of the Daily News for five years (1896-1901), he lost this post due to objections by the newspaper owners to his unconditional support for Rhodes, Milner and the Boer War. For the rest of his life (1901-1919) he wrote editorials for the Daily Chronicle, edited thirty-eight volumes of Ruskin, described Ruskin's biography and the life of John Delan, the great editor of The Times.of which Cook was editor for three years (1893-1896). After being editor of the Daily News for five years (1896-1901), he lost this post due to objections from the newspaper owners against his unconditional support for Rhodes, Milner and the Boer War. For the rest of his life (1901-1919) he wrote editorials for the Daily Chronicle, edited thirty-eight volumes of Ruskin, described Ruskin's biography and the life of John Delan, the great editor of The Times.of which Cook was editor for three years (1893-1896). After being editor of the Daily News for five years (1896-1901), he lost this post due to objections from the newspaper owners against his unconditional support for Rhodes, Milner and the Boer War. For the rest of his life (1901-1919) he wrote editorials for the Daily Chronicle, edited thirty-eight volumes of Ruskin, described Ruskin's biography and the life of John Delan, the great editor of The Times.edited Ruskin's works in thirty-eight volumes, described Ruskin's biography and the life of John Delan, the great editor of The Times.edited Ruskin's works in thirty-eight volumes, described Ruskin's biography and the life of John Delan, the great editor of The Times.
Also associated with Milner during this period was Edmund Garrett (1865-1907), who was Stead and Cook's assistant in the Pall Mall Gazette for several years (1887-1892) and transferred with Cook to the Westminister Gazette (1893 -1895). In 1889 he was sent by Stead to South Africa for health reasons and became a great friend of Cecil Rhodes. He wrote a series of articles for the newspaper, which was published as a book in 1891, entitled In Afrikanderland and the Land of Ophir. He returned to South Africa in 1895 as editor of the Cape Times, the most important English-language newspaper in South Africa. As an editor (1895-1900) and later as a member of the Cape Parliament (1898-1902), he strongly supported Rhodes and Milner and strongly advocated the unification of all of South Africa. His health was completely destroyed in 1900,but he wrote Rhodes' character analysis for Contemporary Review (June 1902) and a chapter entitled Rhodes and Milner for The Empire and the Century (1905). Edward Cook wrote a complete biography of Garrett in 1909, while Milner wrote an article about Garrett in the Dictionary of National Biography, citing "as his main memorable title" his defense of "a united South Africa, completely autonomous in its own affairs. but the remaining part of the British Empire. "citing "as his main commemorative title" his defense of "a united South Africa, completely autonomous in its own affairs, but remaining part of the British Empire."citing "as his main commemorative title" his defense of "a united South Africa, completely autonomous in its own affairs, but remaining part of the British Empire."
During Milner's assistant editorial at a newspaper, his roommate was Henry Berchenow (later Sir Henry, 1853-1937). Berchenow entered the silk business, but his potential for fame came mainly from his contacts with Milner. In 1903 he became British Special Trade Representative for South Africa, in 1905 he became director of the British South Africa Company (president in 1925), and in 1920 he was Trustee of the Beit Foundation. During World War I, he was a member of various government committees dealing with issues of particular interest to Milner. After the war, he was Chairman of the Committee on Textiles of the Council of Commerce, Chairman of the Royal Commission on Paper,Chairman of the Empire Cotton Growing Committee; and Chairman of the Advisory Council under the Ministry of Reconstruction.
In 1885, as a result of contacts with such prominent liberals as Goshen, Morley and Stead, and at the direct invitation of Michael Glazebrook, Milner ran for parliament, but was defeated. The following year, he supported the Unionists in the decisive elections for self-government in Ireland and became the head of the new party's "Literary Committee". Goshen made him his private secretary when he himself became Chancellor of the Exchequer in the government of Lord Salisbury in 1887. The two were similar in many ways: both were educated in Germany and both had a mathematical mindset. It was Goshen's influence that gave Milner the opportunity to form Milner's group, because it was Goshen who introduced him to the Cecil bloc. While Milner was Goshen's private secretary, Sir Robert Mowbray was his parliamentary private secretary. Milner's senior associate at Balliola and member of the All Souls council for forty-six years (1873-1919).
Thanks to the influence of Goshen, Milner was successively appointed Deputy Minister of Finance in Egypt (1887-1892), Chairman of the Internal Revenue Council (1892-1897) and High Commissioner for South Africa (1897-1905). With the last position, he combined several others, in particular, the governor of the Cape of Good Hope (1897-1901), the governor of the Transvaal and the Orange River colony (1901-1905). But Goshen's influence on Milner was not limited to this, both in specific issues and in general. In particular, as rector of Oxford University in succession to Lord Salisbury (1903-1907) and as a close friend of All Souls rector Sir William Anson, Goshen facilitated the unification of Milner's group with All Souls. But more importantly, between 1886 and 1905, Goshen brought Milner into the extraordinary circle that revolved around the Cecil family.
Translation of the first chapter of the book "The Anglo-American Establishment"