1899] Chamberlain Forcing on War 2> 2 7 



quisition in the New Forest, and after that on my annual summer driv- 

 ing tour once more visiting St. Fagans, where, amongst others, I found 

 Lord Rowton and Sanderson, of the Foreign Office. 



" 21st Aug. — Both are good company, and we have had much 

 friendly discussion of politics. Rowton tells me that never with his 

 consent will Dizzy's Memoirs be published. He is light in hand and 

 eminently reasonable, full of amusing anecdotes, especially of his old 

 master, and of his lodging-house plans, an odd hobby, for it is not alto- 

 gether a charity, paying, he tells me, 4 per cent, on the capital, but it 

 doubtless does much good. Sanderson has talked freely on the Trans- 

 vaal quarrel, and expresses very moderate opinions. He believes in 

 a pacific arrangement. This in contradistinction to Windsor our host 

 who, though the quietest and most moderate of men on other topics, 

 takes fire about the Transvaal almost as a personal matter. 



" 2gth Aug. — Back at Fernycroft. Chamberlain has made another 

 violent speech, and it is clear now, as, indeed, it has been all through, 

 that he is forcing on a war with the Boers. The Liberal press is 

 childish, and there is practically no opposition. The Liberal party has 

 swallowed so many violences and so many diplomatic frauds in the 

 last twenty years that it may as well make up its mind to swallow this 

 too. I, as an enemy of Empire, shall say not a word. 



' 1st Sept. — Partridge shooting with Mark Napier and Terence 

 Bourke. I shot well, the first time since my illness, killing twelve 

 birds in as many shots, but I am no longer keen for sport of any kind, 

 and go out principally as an old custom and to justify the expense of 

 game preserving. My logic about shooting here in England is, that 

 it is the only way of preventing the destruction of wild animals. If 

 there was no shooting, no one would be at the expense of paying 

 gamekeepers, nor would it be possible to prevent the rag-tag and bob- 

 tail of the towns from snaring and netting. The abolition of the 

 game laws would mean the extinction not only of all game, but of the 

 small wild birds and beasts, too, which enjoy the peace of the protected 

 covers, while, if I did not go out shooting myself, my gamekeepers 

 would take no trouble to prevent poaching, so I kill my few brace of 

 partridges and pheasants, that the rest may live in peace. In Egypt, 

 where there are no game laws and no birdsnesting, I never fire a gun. 



" yd Sept. (Sunday). — I have written a long letter to Frederic Har- 

 rison about the Transvaal, apropos of his open letter to Lord Salisbury, 

 which has just been published. It is principally to explain to him that 

 he is mistaken if he really relies on Lord Salisbury to control Cham- 

 berlain, or to do anything to prevent a war which he and the Queen 

 desire. Also to let him know what Milner's position is in the affair. 



" nth Sept. — The world has gone mad over the verdict of guilty 

 given in the Dreyfus case. Of course it is abominable, but what did 



