Dictionary of National Biography, the obituary in The Times (May 1925), and the
obituary in The Round Table (June 1925, XV, 427-430). His own point of view must be
sought in his speeches and essays. Of these, the chief collections are The Nation and the
Empire (Boston, 1913) and Questions of the flour (London, 1923). Unfortunately, the
speeches after 1913 and all the essays which appeared in periodicals are still uncollected.
This neglect of one of the most important figures of the twentieth century is probably
deliberate, part of the policy of secrecy practiced by the Milner Group.
Chapter 2
1. A. C. Johnson, Viscount Halifax (New York, 1941), 54. Inasmuch as Lord Halifax
assisted the author of this biography and gave to him previously unpublished material to
insert in it, we are justified in considering this an "authorized" biography and giving its
statements considerable weight. The author is aware of the existence of the Milner Group
and attributes much of Lord Halifax's spectacular career to his connection with the
Croup.
2. H. H. Henson, Retrospect of an Unimportant Life (2 vols., London, 1942-1943), II,
66.
3. C. Hobhouse, Oxford as It Was and as It Is Today (London, 1939), 18.
4. On the role of Charles Hardinge in foreign policy, see A. L. Kennedy, "Lord
Hardinge of Penshurst," in The Quarterly Review (January 1945), CCLXXXIII, 97-104,
and Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst, Old Diplomacy; Reminiscences
(London, 1947). Although not mentioned again in this work, A. I.. Kennedy appears to be
a member of the Milner Group.
5. Lord Ernle, Whippingham to Westminster (London, 1938), 248.
6. Lionel Curtis, Dyarchy (Oxford, 1920), 54.
7. Another exception was "Bron" Lucas (Auberon Herbert, Lord Lucas and Dingwall),
son of Auberon Herbert, the brother of Lord Carnavon. "Bron" went from Balliol to
South Africa as a Times correspondent in the Boer War and lost a leg from overzealous
devotion to the task. A close friend of John Buchan and Raymond Asquith, he became a
Liberal M.P. through the latter's influence but had to go to the Upper l louse in 1905,
when he inherited two titles from his mother's brother. He was subsequently private
secretary to Haldane (1908), Under Secretary for War (1908-1911), Under Secretary for
the Colonies (1911), Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture (1911-1914),
and President of the Board of Agriculture (1914-1915). He thus became a member of the
Cabinet while only thirty-eight years old. He resigned to join the Royal Flying Corps and
was killed in 1916, about the same time as Raymond Asquith. Both of these, had they
lived, would probably have become members of the Milner Group. Asquith was already a
Fellow of All Souls (1901-1916). On "Bron" Lucas, see the autobiographies of Lords
Asquith and Tweedsmuir and the article in the memorial volume to Balliol's dead in the
First World War.
8. On these clubs, see Lord Oxford and Asquith, Memories and Reflections (2 vols.,
Boston, 1928), 1, 311-325.
9. The chief published references to the existence of the Milner Group from the pens
of members will be found in the obituary notes on deceased members in The Round Table
and in the sketches in the Dictionary of National Biography. In the former, see the notes
on Milner, Hickens, Lord Lothian, A. J. Glazebrook, Sir Thomas Bavin, Sir Patrick
Duncan, Sir Abe Bailey, etc. See also the references in the published works of Lionel
Curtis, John Buchan (Lord Tweedsmuir), John Dove, etc. Quotations to this effect from
John Buchan and from Lord Asquith will be found at the end of Chapter 3 below. The
best published reference to the Milner Group is in M. S. Geen, The Making of the Union
of South Africa (London, 1946), 150-152. The best account originating in the Group itself
is in the article "Twenty-five Years' in The Round Table for September 1935, XV, 653-
659.
Chapter 3
1. This section is based on W. T. Stead, The Last Will and Testament of Cecil John
Rhodes (London, 1902); Sir Francis Wylie's three articles in the American Oxonian
(April 1944), XXXI, 65-69; July 1944), XXXI, 129-138; and January 1945), XXXII, 1-
11; F. Aydelotte, The American Rhodes Scholars (Princeton, 1946); and the biographies
and memoirs of the men mentioned.
2. No such claim is made by Sir Francis Wylie, from whose articles Dr. Aydelotte
derived most of the material for his first chapter. Sir Francis merely mentions the secret
society in connection with the early wills and then drops the whole subject.
3. W. T. Stead, The Last Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes (London, 1902),
110-111. The statement of 1896 to Brett is in Journals and Letters of Reginald, Viscount
Esher (4 vols., London, 1934-1938), 1, 197.
4. Dr. Aydelotte quotes at length from a letter which Rhodes sent to Stead in 1891, but
he does not quote the statements which Stead made about it when he published it in 1902.
In this letter he spoke about the project of federal union with the United States and said,
"The only feasible [way] to carry this idea out is a secret one (society) gradually
absorbing the wealth of the world to be devoted to such an object." At the end of this
document Stead wrote: "Mr. Rhodes has never to my knowledge said a word nor has he
ever written a syllable, that justifies the suggestion that he surrendered the aspirations
which were expressed in this letter of 1891. So far from this being the case, in the long
discussions which took place between us in the last years of his life, he reaffirmed as
emphatically as at first his unshaken conviction as to the dream—if you like to call it
so—a vision, which had ever been the guiding star of his life." See W. T. Stead, The Last
Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes (London, 1902), 73-77.
5. Sir John Willison, Sir George Parkin (London, 1929), 234.
6. This paragraph and the two preceding it are from Sir Frederick Whyte, The Life of
W. T. Stead (2 vols., Boston 1925), 270-272 and 39.
7. See Journals and Letters of Reginald, Viscount Esher (4 vols., London, 1938), 1,
149-150. It should be noted that the excision in the entry for 3 February marked by three
points (. . .) was made by Lord Esher's son when he edited the journals for publication.
8. See F. Whyte, Life of W. T. Stead (2 vols., Boston, 1925), 199-212.
9. No mention of the secret society is to be found in either Sir Harry Johnston, The
Story of My Life (London, 1923), or in Alex. Johnston, Life and Letters of Sir Harry
Johnston (London, 1929). The former work does contain an account of Johnston's break
with Rhodes on page 497. More details are on pages 145-148 of the later work, including
a record of Rhodes's saying, "I will smash you Johnston, for this." Johnston was
convinced that it was a result of this enmity that Milner rather than he was chosen to be