marked by three points (. . .) was made by Cook. Cook was a protege of Milner's, found
in New College, invited to contribute to the
staff as an editor in August 1883, when Milner was acting as editor-in-chief, during the
absence of Morley and Stead. See F. Whyte,
1925), I, 94. Cook remained close to Milner for many years. On 4 October 1899 Lord
Esher wrote to his son a letter in which he said: "Cook is the Editor of the
and is in close touch with Milner and his friends"—
13. F. Whyte,
next paragraph is from the same place.
14. As an example of this and an example of the way in which the secret society
functioned in the early period, see the following passage from the
went to London on Friday and called on Rhodes. He had asked me to do so.... Rhodes
asked for the Government carriage of his telegraph poles and 200 Sikhs at Blantyre. Then
he will make the telegraph. He would like a gunboat on Tanganyika. I stayed there to
lunch. Then saw Rosebery. He was in good spirits." From Sir Harry Johnston's
autobiography, it is clear that the 200 Sikhs were for him.
15. S. G. Millen,
16. In the House of Commons, Maguire was a supporter of Parnell, acting on orders
from Rhodes, who had given £10,000 to Parnell's cause in 1888. Rhodes's own
explanation of why he supported Parnell is a typical Milner Group statement. He said that
he gave the money "since in Mr. Parnell's cause.... I believe he's the key to the Federal
System, on the basis of perfect Home Rule in every part of the Empire." This quotation is
from S. G. Millin,
17. The first quotation is from Edmund Garrett, "Milner and Rhodes," in
May 1925, Rhodes repeated these sentiments in different words on his deathbed, 26
March 1902. The statement to Stead will be found in W. T. Stead,
18. See Cecil Headlam, ed.,
1933),11,412-413; the unpublished material is at New College, Oxford, in Milner Papers,
XXXVIII, ii, 200.
Chapter 4
1. The obituary of Patrick Duncan in
303-305, reads in part: "Duncan became the
young men, who were nicknamed . . . The Kindergarten,' then in the first flush of
youthful enthusiasm. It is a fast ageing and dwindling band now; but it has played a part
in the Union of South Africa colonies, and it is responsible for the foundation and
conduct of
have allowed, it has kept together; and always, while looking up to Lord Milner and to
his successor in South Africa, the late Lord Selborne, as its political Chief, has revered
Patrick Duncan as the Captain of the band." According to R. H. Brand, ed.,
as late was 1932.
2. The above list of eighteen names does not contain all the members of the
Kindergarten. A complete list would include: (1) Harry Wilson (Sir Harry after 1908),
who was a "Seeley lecturer" with Parkin in the 1890s; was chief private secretary to
Joseph Chamberlain in 1895-1897; was legal adviser to the Colonial Office and to Milner
in 1897-1901; was Secretary and Colonial Secretary to the Orange River Colony in 1901-
1907; was a member of the Intercolonial Council and of the Railway Committee in 1903-
1907. (2) E. B. Sargant, who organized the school system of South Africa for Milner in
1900-1904 and was Director of Education for both the Transvaal and the Orange River
Colony in 1902-1904; he wrote a chapter for
Gerard Craig Sellar, who died in 1929, and on whom no information is available. There
was a Craig-Sellar Fellowship in his honor at Balliol in 1946. (4) Oscar Ferris Watkins, a
Bible Clerk at All Souls at the end of the nineteenth century, received a M.A. from this
college in 1910; he was in the South African Constabulary in 1902-1904, was in the