LORD MILNER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 191, 2 May 1918, Page 5

LORD MILNER

BRITAIN'S NEW WAR MINISTER FROM JOURNALISM TO DIPLOMACY It is in his new capacity as Minister for War that thoso qualities of strength of purposo and courage which havo distinguished Lord Milner in tho course of a long career of service to tho Empire will bo tested to the utmost. For, what-ever-his faults, ho is essentially a strong mnn. This ho proved incontestably in South Africa, in tho critical days preceding tho Boer War, and particularly in his famous meeting with President Xrugor at Bloemfontein, when Milner exhibited the resolute firmness of ono who knew his own mind, and was able to resist any attempt that might bo made to forco him to gp one stop further than he was prepared to go. Tho story of that conference, of course, is a classic of history—Milner conciliatory, and yet firm as a rock; Kruger, on his part, absolutely unyielding. There could have been only one end to the meeting—war! The best evidonco of Miner's strength ■was furnished at that time, and later, in the bitterness of the attacks directed against his administration in South Africa. The 'man is not weak who has enemies', and Milner has had plenty of these. _ That thero wero blots upon his 'iufminisl ration is not denied, for it is not given to any human being to" attain perfection. The admission of Chinese labour into South Africa was the gravest error a statesman could havo made. But even this disastrous legacy cannot obliterate tho memory of the illustrious services ho has Tendered to Great Britain in his eight years' rule in that part of the- world, in repatriating tho Boers' after 'the war, and in reorganising the Government and re-establishing the finances of the country upon a secure foundation, or the memory of his valued -work before that in Egypt, where he was Lord Cromer's right-hand man for several years. Illustrious- Sponsors. Lord Milner, from the first, seemed marked for distinction, beginning with the days of his brilliant university career. And he has had illustrious sponsors! It was his unique experience to have been a scholar under Jowett, to have studied journalism under John Morley, to havo been introduced to official life by Goschen, to havo learned the practice_ of administration under Lord Cromer in the country of Cromer's triumph, nnd to have been given tho opportunity to perfect this experience when, in his turn, tho rule of another great Dominion was entrusted to his chargo in the most 'eventful period of* its history. After leaving Oxford, he turned not to the law —for he was admitted to the Bar in 1881—but to journalism, joining the staff of the old "Pall Mall Gazette," then a Radical paper, with John Morley as editor. .When.Morlcy went into Parliament, W. T. Stead succeeded him as editor, and for three years Milner was Stead's associate. It was not only hia brillTancy which impressed Stead, but, incidentally the fact that Milner'a copy, 5s lie saul afterwards, "was the most untidy that I ever had to do with. He sprawled all over tho paper, making erasures, and never running his lines straight by any chance at all." Then one night, after he had made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the House of Commons, Milner met Goschen. This was at a dinner at the Oxfqrd Palmerston Club. Goschen came down to speak as a guest, and heard, as he afterwards put it, "an under-graduate talking like a stateman." He was so impressed with the speech that he offered Milner a secretaryship, and thus opened for him tho path to an apprenticeship in finance under one of the most astute of masters, for this was during tho three years when Goschen, after the ' Home Rule . split, was Chancellor of tho Exchequer in Lord Salisbury's second Administration. •■

This training proved of inestimable .Value when, a few years later, he went out to assist lord Cromer. As UnderSecretary for Finance in Egypt Milner further illustrated his remarkable qualities, for his eharo in the success of British administration that country is •unquestioned. Work in South Africa. All this 1 preparation was to lead to his big field of activity. .The after results of the Jameson Raid had left South Africa in a state of political disquietude and under the strain the health of the High Commissioner, Lord Itosinead (better remembered as Sir Hercules Robinson) gave way. Mr. Joseph Chamberlain saw only one man for the vacant position—Lord Milner—and he was appointed Governor of the Cape un February 13, 1897 ; Ho took up this complex duty as one' animated by Imperialist ideals, holding himself aloof from party, and striving to hold the balance fairly between the races. His opponents say -that he failed in this aspiration; but whether this bo so or not, even they admit tho sincerity of his motives, nnd the integrity and unsparing zeal with which he fulfilled the task which lay at his hand. Early in the day ho warned tho Colonial 'Office, and through it the people <if Britain, that to suppose there was only one ground of difference with President Kruger was incorrect; that, on the contrary, there were'a number of grounds, and thaj; it was imperative that these should be settled, whatever tho cost. v Strong and purposeful in public life, without the slightest uncertainty as to his aims as a statesman, Lord Milner personally is described as a man cf singular gentleness of manner, tolerant to a degree, and inspired by an old-world chivalry which at once disarms hostility. It has been aptly said that many a man who is-wielding pow.er over his fellows, in storm ami 6tress, has the secret longing in his .heart to get- out of the limelight, that ho may, in some quiet corner of the earth's surface, potter about in a garden, cultivating potatoes or growing pumpkins. Lord'Milner has theso fugitive ambitions. He has said that lie will never roach the height of his hopos till ho leads a country life, with a horse, a, boat, and some nooks. Much opportunity ho will havo to indulge these tastes, now that he is Minister for War! Is He an Autocrat? Lord Milner has not hesitated upon occasion to describe himself as a benevolent autocrat. His •pponenls, refusing to believe that there is any benevolence in his administration, have asserted that this element of autocracy hampered his work as a ruler of tho mixed races of South Africa, where, after the conquest of the Boers, he was obliged to face a task of supremo difficulty—a task which shattered his health, because he, in his devotion to duty, .omaincd at his post long after other men would have fcit themselves compelled to seek relief from the burden. But just as he was trusted in perilous days in South Africa, it is proposed to trust him in still more perilous days now. The European war lias revolutionised political systems, and scattered to the four quarters of the compass many cherished beliefs. Changes which would have been stubbornly resisted in a time of peace aro now accepted readily—nay, eagerly. And so it may be that Lord Milner, even if an antocrat, will provo to be tho man of the hour. Certain it is that with his broad oatlook upon vital questions, far beyond tho range of tho narrow vision of moa who busy themselves in mere party struggles, he now obtains a chance greater than any that has yet fallen to his lot, to provo his capacity as an Ew-•pire-buildor.