As a result Johnston ceased to be an active member of the society. Lord Grey's efforts to
heal the breach were only nominally successful.(9)
Stead was also eliminated in an informal fashion in the period 1899-1904, at first by
Rhodes's removing him from his trusteeship and later by Milner's refusal to use him,
confide in him, or even see him, although continuing to protest his personal affection for
him. Since Milner was the real leader of the society after 1902, this had the effect of
eliminating Stead from the society. (10)
Of the others mentioned, there is no evidence that Cardinal Manning or the Booths
were ever informed of the scheme. All three were friends of Stead and would hardly be
acceptable to the rising power of Milner. Cardinal Manning died in 1892. As for
"General" Booth and his son, they were busily engaged in directing the Salvation Army
from 1878 to 1929 and played no discernible role in the history of the Group.
Of the others who were mentioned, Brett, Grey, and Balfour can safely be regarded as
members of the society, Brett because of the documentary evidence and the other two
because of their lifelong cooperation with and assistance to Milner and the other
members of the Group.
Brett, who succeeded his father as Viscount Esher in 1899, is one of the most
influential and one of the least-known men in British politics in the last two generations.
His importance could be judged better by the positions he refused than by those he held
during his long life (1852-1930). Educated at Eton and Cambridge, he was a lifelong and
intimate friend of Arthur Balfour, Albert Grey, Lord Rosebery, and Alfred Lyttelton. He
was private secretary to the Marquess of Hartington (Duke of Devonshire) in 1878-1885
and a Liberal M.P. in 1880-1885. In the last year he was defeated in an attempt to capture
the seat for Plymouth, and retired from public life to his country house near Windsor at
the advanced age of thirty-three years. That he emerged from this retirement a decade
later may well be attributed to his membership in the Rhodes secret society. He met Stead
while still in public life and by virtue of his confidential position with the future Duke of
Devonshire was able to relay to Stead much valuable information. These messages were
sent over the signature "XIII."
This assistance was so highly esteemed by Stead that he regarded Brett as an
important part of the Pall Mall Gazette organization. Writing in 1902 of Milner and Brett,
Stead spoke of them, without mentioning their names, as 'two friends, now members of
the Upper House, who were thoroughly in sympathy with the gospel according to the Pall
Mall Gazette and who had been as my right and left hands during my editorship of the
paper." In return Stead informed Brett of Rhodes's secret schemes as early as February
1890 and brought him into the society when it was organized the following year.
The official positions held by Brett in the period after 1895 were secretary of the
Office of Works (1895-1902), Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Windsor Castle
(1901-1930), member of the Royal Commission on the South African War (1902-1903),
permanent member of the Committee of Imperial Defence (1905-1930), chairman and
later president of the London County Territorial Force Association (1909-1921), and
chief British member of the Temporary Mixed Commission on Disarmament of the
League of Nations (1922-1923). Although some of these posts, especially the one on the
Committee of Imperial Defence, play an important role in the history of the Milner
Group, none of them gives any indication of the significant position which Esher held in
British political life. The same thing could be said of the positions which he refused,
although they, if accepted, would have made him one of the greatest names in recent
British history. Among the positions which he refused we might mention the following:
Permanent Under Secretary in the Colonial Office (1899), Governor of Cape Colony
(1900), Permanent Under Secretary in the War Office (1900), Secretary of State for War
(1903), Director of The Times (1908), Viceroy of India (1908), and an earldom (date
unknown). Esher's reasons for refusing these positions were twofold: he wanted to work
behind the scenes rather than in the public view, and his work in secret was so important
and so influential that any public post would have meant a reduction in his power. When
he refused the exalted position of viceroy in 1908, he wrote frankly that, with his
opportunity of influencing vital decisions at the center, India for him "would be (it sounds
vain, but it isn't) parochial."(11) This opportunity for influencing decisions at the center
came from his relationship to the monarchy. For at least twenty-five years (from 1895 to
after 1920) Esher was probably the most important adviser on political matters to Queen
Victoria, King Edward VII, and King George V. This position arose originally from his
personal friendship with Victoria, established in the period 1885-1887, and was solidified
later when, as secretary to the Office of Works and Lieutenant Governor of Windsor
Castle, he was in charge of the physical properties of all the royal residences. These
opportunities were not neglected. He organized the Diamond Jubilee of 1897, the royal
funeral of 1901, and the coronation of the same year. In the latter case he proved to be
indispensable, for in the sixty-four years without a coronation the precedents had been
forgotten. In this way Esher reached a point where he was the chief unofficial
representative of the King and the "liaison between King and ministers." As an example
of the former role, we might mention that in 1908, when a purchaser known only as "X"
acquired control of The Times, Esher visited Lord Northcliffe on behalf of "a very high
quarter" to seek assurance that the policy of the paper would not be changed. Northcliffe,
who was "X," hastened to give the necessary assurances, according to the official History of The Times. Northcliffe and the historian of The Times regarded Esher on this occasion
as the emissary of King Edward, but we, who know of his relationship with the Rhodes
secret society, are justified in asking if he were not equally the agent of the Milner Group,
since it was as vital to the Group as to the King that the policy of The Times remain
unchanged. As we shall see in a later chapter, when Northcliffe did adopt a policy
contrary to that of the Group, in the period 1917-1919, the Group broke with him
personally and within three years bought his controlling interest in the paper.
Certain other persons were probably taken into"The Society of the Elect" in the next
few years. Hawksley, Rhodes's lawyer, was one. He obviously knew about the secret
society, since he drew up the wills in which it was mentioned. This, combined with the
fact that he was an intimate confidant of Rhodes in all the activities of the society and
was made a trustee of the last three wills (1892), makes it probable that he should be
regarded as an initiate.
Likewise it is almost certain that Milner brought in Sir Thomas Brassey (later Lord
Brassey), the wealthy naval enthusiast whose name is preserved in Brassey's Naval
Annual. Brassey was treasurer and most active figure in the Imperial Federation League
during its ten years’ existence. In 1889, as we have mentioned, he hired George Parkin to