By 1919 they began to think in terms of balance of power and of the need to reconstruct
Germany against the dangers of "bolshevism" on one hand and of "French militarism" on
the other, and they felt that if Germany were made democratic and treated in a friendly
fashion she could be incorporated into the British world system as well as the Cape Boers
had been. The intellectual climate of the Milner Group early in 1919 has been described
by a man who was, at this time, close to the Group, Harold Nicolson, in his volume
This point of view was never thoroughly thought out by the Group. It was apparently
based on the belief that if Germany were treated in a conciliatory fashion she could be
won from her aggressive attitudes and become a civilized member of the British world
system. This may have been possible, but, if so, the plan was very badly executed,
because the aggressive elements in Germany were not eliminated and the conciliatory
elements were not encouraged in a concrete fashion. This failure, however, was partly
caused by the pressure of public opinion, by the refusal of the French to accept this
concept as an adequate goal of foreign policy, and by the failure to analyze the methods
of the policy in a sound and adequate fashion. The first step toward this policy was made
by Milner himself as early as October 1918, when he issued a warning not to denounce
"the whole German nation as monsters of iniquity" or to carry out a policy of punishment
and reprisal against them." The outburst of public indignation at this sentiment was so
great that "the whole band of men who had learned under him in South Africa to
appreciate his patriotism united to testify to him their affectionate respect." This
quotation from one of the band, Basil Williams, refers to a testimonial given by the
Group to their leader in 1918.
Another evidence of this feeling will be found in a volume of Alfred Zimmern's,
published in 1922 under the title
Britain's postwar policies and especially the election of 1918. Strangely enough,
Zimmern, although most articulate in this volume, was basically more anti-German than
the other members of the Group and did not share their rather naive belief that the
Germans could be redeemed merely by the victors tossing away the advantages of
victory. Zimmern had a greater degree of sympathy for the French idea that the Germans
should give more concrete examples of a reformed spirit before they were allowed to run
freely in civilized society.(3) Halifax, on the other hand, was considerably more
influenced by popular feeling in 1918 and years later. He shared the public hysteria
against Germany in 1918 to a degree which he later wished to forget, just as in 1937 he
shared the appeasement policy toward Germany to a degree he would now doubtless
want to forget. Both of these men, however were not of the inner circle of the Milner
Group. The sentiments of that inner circle, men like Kerr, Brand, and Dawson, can be
found in the speeches of the first, The Times editorials of the last, and the articles of The
Round Table. They can also be seen in the letters of John Dove. The latter, writing to
Brand, 4 October 1923, stated: "It seems to me that the most disastrous affect of
Poincare's policy would be the final collapse of democracy in Germany, the risk of which
has been pointed out in The Round Table. The irony of the whole situation is that if the
Junkers should capture the Reich again, the same old antagonisms will revive and we
shall find ourselves, willy-nilly, lined up again with France to avert a danger which
French action has again called into being.... Even if Smuts follows up his fine speech, the
situation may have changed so much before the Imperial Conference is over that people
who think like him and us may find themselves baffled.... I doubt if we shall again have
as good a chance of getting a peaceful democracy set up in Germany."
Chapter 9—Creation of the Commonwealth
The evolution of the British Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations is to a very
great extent a result of the activities of the Milner Group. To be sure, the ultimate goal of
the Group was quite different from the present system, since they wanted a federation of
the Empire, but this was a long-run goal, and en route they accepted the present system as
a temporary way station. However, the strength of colonial and Dominion feeling, which
made the ideal of federation admittedly remote at all times, has succeeded in making this
way-station a permanent terminal and thus had eliminated, apparently forever, the hope
for federation. With the exception of a few diehards (of whom Milner and Curtis were the
leaders), the Group has accepted the solution of imperial cooperation and "parallelism" as
an alternative to federation. This was definitely stated in