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Milner's definitive personal statement of his support for Serving the British Empire in Cairo, Milner maintained this imperial federation is his so-called "Credo", a document written view in 1890, telling colleagues that he had always been "for late in his life and not published until after his death in 1925 by strong unwavering masterful assertion of our power within the Times—then under the editorship of fellow Round Table reasonable limits" and had "no sympathy with the lust for member Geoffrey Dawson. The Credo expressed Milner's unlimited Empire". Noting the erosion of Britain's imperial thoughts about the British Empire that he had held since Oxford. footprint in China, for instance, Milner recommended against It was also an affirmation of Milner's belief in the inherent attempts to limit the expansionist aims of other imperial powers. superiority of the British people as a race and culture. The Credo "The true answer to them," Milner wrote to his former employer was also Milner's way of definitively identifying himself as Goschen in 1898, "is to strengthen our own position in quarters, British, effectively repudiating his German parentage. In the where we on our side, can be masters if we choose..."*! In a 1906 Credo, Milner declared himself a "British Race Patriot" and "a speech, he was more explicit: Nationalist and not a cosmopolitan". Milner, however, recognised Our object is not domination or aggrandisement. It is that Britain was "no longer a power in the world which it once consolidation and security... [W]e wish the kindred peoples was" and he expressed the hope that the Dominions could be under the British family to remain one united family "kept as an entity". He redefined the British forever.” state from a purely geographical unit to one Consolidation was Milner's aim, and based on race: wherever British people were imperial federation was a means to that end. in appreciable numbers should be considered In a piece praising Milner, written by one part of Britain.” of the Round Table's few American mem- For Milner, imperial federation was but an bers in 1915, it was claimed that he favoured end in itself—one that would preserve and "a genuinely democratic conception of gov- perpetuate British power in the guise of a ernment".** But, in reality, Milner was con- supranational state encompassing the United Milner's enthusiasm temptuous of democracy. Despite his earlier Kingdom and all its Dominions. He had . oT service to parliamentarians, his own political made this sentiment quite clear as early as for this state-socialist aspirations and his later service in Lloyd 1885 in a speech he delivered while cam- model stemmed from George's War Cabinet, he was scornful of paigning for Parliament. Milner's speech not ow apo: that "mob at Westminster". "I regard it as a only expressed views that he would retain his early faith Ina necessary evil," Milner wrote of democracy for the rest of his life—as revealed in his planned society in a letter to fellow Round Table member Lionel Curtis on 27 November 1915; "I accept it without enthusiasm, but with absolute loyalty, to make the best of it." Milner was also a socialist, though some observers suggest he adopted more of a Germanic or "Bismarckian state socialism" that favoured the appli- cation of political will or state planning rather than natural forces to achieve desired outcomes. According to Stokes, Milner sought to fit people into a "pre-arranged scheme of society"; the people were not to be involved in its creation. Milner's enthusiasm for this Credo—but also exposed his apparent conviction that imperial federation would hasten world peace. ...1 am no cosmopolitan... I think we can foresee a time when the great Anglo-Saxon Confederation throughout the world, with its members self-governing in their domestic concerns, but firmly unit - ed for the purposes of mutual pro - tection, will not only be the most splendid political union that the world has ever known, but also the best security for universal peace.” However, unlike Rhodes and Stead, conceived and ordered by the scientific intelligence". Milner was sceptical that an Anglo-American re-union was possi- state-socialist model stemmed from his "early faith in a planned ble. In fact, he was wary of American intentions and did not society conceived and ordered by the scientific intelligence". believe the division caused by the American Revolution could be Influenced by Otto von Bismarck's methods of uniting the so easily reversed. "No doubt a great many Americans are thor- Germanic people under one state, Milner had as his goal the con- oughly friendly to us," Milner was to write to a colleague in 1909, solidation of all the British people through an act of political will "but a great number are hostile. The best thing we can hope for is rather than through popular consent.** to keep on good terms with them. I neither anticipate nor desire Rhodes was no longer Prime Minister of the Cape Colony when anything more."** For Milner, preserving the British Empire in Milner arrived to take up his new posting, but he remained a some new form was the highest priority; the goal of recovering powerful and influential figure. That the two men dealt with each the US he regarded as an unrealistic distraction. other regularly is confirmed by most accounts, but they do not More importantly, Milner did not share Rhodes's obvious seem to have been too close. Milner claimed that he got on enthusiasm for enlarging the British Empire. In 1884, for exam- "capitally" with Rhodes and professed to admire his abilities as "a ple, Milner explained to the Secretary of the Oxford Liberal great developer", although he found the Colossus of Africa "too Association his conviction: self-willed, too violent, too sanguine, and always in too much of a I am not anxious to extend the bounds of an Empire already hurry". vast or to increase responsibilities already onerous. But if I There was also suspicion: despite his admiration for Rhodes, desire to limit the sphere of our actions abroad, it is in order Milner privately admitted to finding him "enormously that within this limited sphere we may be more and not less untrustworthy", and believed Rhodes would "give away" Milner vigorous, resolute & courageous.” or anybody else "to gain the least of [his] private ends". his "early faith in a planned society conceived and ordered by the scientific intelligence". 26 = NEXUS Milner's enthusiasm for this state-socialist model stemmed from www.nexusmagazine.com FEBRUARY — MARCH 2005