1899] The Boer War Imminent 331 



Boer war. I notice that Harry, who was quite moderate about it when 

 he first came home from Australia, has now imbibed all the violent 

 Liberal-Unionist views regarding it. His eldest son is ordered to the 

 war, and the younger ones talked loudly about ' exterminating the 

 Boers.' We expect hourly now to hear of guns gone off on the 

 frontier. 



" 2nd Oct. — Back to Newbuildings. The ' Chronicle ' is running 

 a new red herring to-day, and has proposed sending the Duke of Devon- 

 shire out to South Africa, of all men in the world, to arrange a peace. 

 They are ready, however, to follow every false scent thrown in their 

 way. The Government's present plan is to try and make people think 

 they don't want war, and don't want to wipe out Majuba, and don't 

 want to annex the Transvaal. We shall see when it is over. If, after 

 a successful campaign, the Transvaal is not annexed, and Milner is not 

 made a peer, they may claim not to have intended it ; but both these 

 things will happen. 



" yth Oct. — We have been expecting the Boers to advance on Natal 

 all the week, but something has delayed them. Perhaps the abortive 

 attempt by the Queen of Holland to intervene with our Queen. The 

 Boers seem to be losing their chance by this delay, but I fancy old 

 Kruger knows what he is about. He has, I think, to consult his friends 

 in Europe, at Berlin and elsewhere, before each important move. He 

 has managed to get the whole sympathy of the Continent with him, 

 indeed, of the whole world except ourselves and the Americans. These 

 last are backing us, as we backed them in their iniquity against the 

 Filipinos. The Transvaal Committee, too, in Manchester, has been 

 telegraphing absurd messages to Kruger, telling him that the Duke of 

 Devonshire may be trusted. If this has at all influenced the old man, 

 the Transvaal Committee deserves hanging, for the delay of the week 

 may cost him dear. 



" gth Oct. — The men at the Clubs now mock at Kruger, saying he 

 won't fight, never meant to fight, and the rest. Reginald Carew, whom 

 I met at the Travellers, talked in this sense. He leaves for South 

 Africa with Buller's staff on Saturday, but I told him not to be dis- 

 couraged, that the Boers would certainly not cave in. He thinks they 

 have lost what chance they had by waiting. Perhaps so. Still they 

 will fight." [N.B. This was General Pole Carew, who went on Bull- 

 er's Staff. I remember him lamenting his bad luck in the belief he had 

 that what little fighting there might be would have been over long be- 

 fore Buller's arrival. He distinguished himself during the war prin- 

 cipally, I think, as being the first to burn down the Boer farms. He 

 is a connection of mine through the Glanvilles. I have known him in 

 India when he was Lytton's A.D.C. It had been arranged at that time 

 that he was to go with me as representing Lytton on the journey we 



