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SHORT HISTORY ROUND TABLE THE A confidante of Cecil Rhodes, Alfred Milner was another supporter of imperial federation, which he saw as but a means to perpetuate British power in the guise of a supranational state encompassing the UK and all its Dominions. Part 2 of 4 aving such considerable political and economic power at his disposal, Cecil Rhodes had the luxury of being able to delegate responsibility for realising his vision to other figures within the British Establishment; of these, Alfred Milner was to become his principal representative. Of English and German parentage, Milner spent his early years in Germany before moving to England in 1869. He attended Oxford as an undergraduate from 1872 to 1876, becoming one of its more distinguished students. He was president of the Oxford Union in 1875 and later achieved first-class honours. Although at Oxford at the same time as Rhodes, and even in the same clubs, remarkably there is no evidence that they actually knew each other at that time. His post-Oxford career also followed a somewhat different path to that of Rhodes. In 1881 Milner became a journalist for the Pall Mall Gazette, working with William Stead and eventually rising to the position of assistant editor. In the mid-1880s he dabbled in politics, making an unsuccessful run for Parliament in 1885. Milner then moved into the public service, attaining a number of senior positions befitting an Oxford-educated man, including: private secretary to George Goschen, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Undersecretary to the Egyptian Ministry of Finance from 1889 to 1892; and, on his return to England, Chairman of the Internal Revenue Board. In February 1897 he was appointed High Commissioner for South Africa and Governor of the Cape Colony, a dual appoint- ment that was to prove to be one of the highlights of his Government career."' Unlike Rhodes's, Milner's exposure to the idea of imperial federation can be definitively traced to individuals he met while studying at Oxford. The primary source of this inspira- tion was prominent Canadian author George Parkin, who visited Oxford in 1873. Parkin had impressed and inspired Milner at an Oxford Union debate where he had argued for "a closer union between England and her colonies" in the form of an "Imperial Federation".” They subsequently became lifelong friends, and Parkin's vigorous advocacy of imperial federation had a strong influence on Milner. Just before taking up his post in South Africa in 1897, Milner wrote to Parkin telling him that he had been "greatly influenced" by his ideas and that in his new position he would feel "more than ever" a need for Parkin's “enthusiasm and broad hopeful view of the Imperial future". Milner also alluded to Parkin's influence in his book The British Commonwealth (1919), noting that it was at Oxford where he had been "first stirred by a new vision of the future of the British Empire". In his Parkin-inspired vision, the Empire became a " world- encircling group of related nations...united on a basis of equality and partnership, and...by moral and spiritual bonds". Post-Oxford, Milner's support for imperial federation received further reinforcement during his time as assistant editor at the Pall Mall Gazette. As we saw in part one, William Stead, the Gazette's editor and later friend of Rhodes, was an enthusiastic sup- porter of reforming the British Empire and of a much closer Anglo-American relationship. This was reflected in the Gazette's "Gospel", a lengthy document which endorsed the "political union" of all the "English-speaking states" on the pessimistic grounds that: "The Federation of the British Empire is the condition of its survival. As an Empire we must federate or perish." The "Gospel" also stated that "inevitable destiny" would compel Britain and the US to "coalesce". When he left the Gazette, Milner remained on good terms with Stead and in frequent contact, even while posted to Egypt, with imperial unity often the topic of their communications.* by Will Banyan © December 2004 Email: banyan007@rediffmail.com NEXUS * 25 ALFRED MILNER: SERVANT OF EMPIRE FEBRUARY — MARCH 2005 www.nexusmagazine.com