And Sir Alfred would have welcomed it.

Cecil Rhodes, of course, had declared himself officially in accord with the High Commissioner, and even praised him to a degree of fulsomeness.

But the ulterior motive was simply to excite the Dutch party against him.

The reputation of Sir Alfred Milner as a statesman and as a politician was constantly challenged by the very people who ought to have defended it.

Rhodes himself had been persuaded that the Governor harboured the most sinister designs against his person.