Beschreibung:

Sir Alfred Milner, Viscount Milner c.120 autograph letters signed, many of great length, to Lady Violet Cecil, covering twenty years of close friendship and ending shortly before their marriage, largely discussing public affairs, together with autograph notes for six speeches delivered by Milner between 1919 and 1921, twelve letters incomplete or unsigned, one typed, most signed with initials only, envelopes, Basutoland, Whitehall and elsewhere, 15 April 1898 to 28 August 1920, approximately 950 pages, 4to and 8vo
Alfred Milner (1854-1925) was a liberal imperialist who had a long career in public service; his correspondent, Violet, was the daughter of Admiral Frederick Augustus Maxse, and the wife of Edward Gascoyne-Cecil, fourth son of the Prime Minister Viscount Salisbury. Despite her marriage into the Conservative Hatfield House set, her strongly-held political views also centred on muscular imperialism. This important series of letters begins on 15 April 1898. Over 18 pages, Milner, then High Commissioner for South Africa, outlines his views both of Britain’s place in the world and his own position in South Africa, including the uncompromising policy towards the Boers that he had articulated in a widely reported speech at Graaf Reinet the previous month. Britain should be pursuing expansionist imperial policies with vigour; he wonders “when it will dawn on people generally, how immense has been the change in our position & prospects as a great power since 1885”. Conceding that “we threw the game away everywhere–in Egypt, S. Africa, &c &c during the melancholy “scuttle” era of the early eighties”, he declares it “perfectly marvellous that we have recovered to the extent we have”. Urging against complacency, he warns that Britain’s position is “still full of dangers [...] as long as we cannot or will not make allies, or rather an ally–Germany”. He defines his “own work here” as an exercise “mainly in marking time”, acknowledging that “in spite of all our huge resources–& the will to use them [...] our hands are full at present”, worrying that it is “not altogether easy” to stave off a “S. African row on top of all the others”, and attributing it “to the grace of heaven, that our enemies here are very stupid & have not found out the weakness of my hand”. The next fifteen letters are written between July 1889 and June 1900, so cover the lead up to the outbreak of war in South Africa and the early stages of the conflict. Violet’s husband was the second-in-command at the Siege of Mafeking, so that great drama naturally looms large in the correspondence. The war drew Milner and Lady Violet together, and it is likely that it was during these months that the two fell in love, but there are few traces of the burgeoning relationship in this correspondence – it seems almost certain that some letters were destroyed. A depth of feeling is, however, revealed when he writes in the days after the Boer assault on Mafeking: “Dear friend, I wish any support my affection could give you were rather better worth having. The support, so far, has been rather the other way, hasn’t it…” (16 May 1900)”. A few days later, Milner hears unconfirmed reports of the Relief of Mafeking: “If it is true, I never thought I could have been so happy again as I shall then be.” (19 May 1900). There are only about 15 letters in the series between 1900 and the outbreak of war in 1914. Milner was unmarried and Lady Violet lived apart from her husband, remaining in England whilst he was stationed in Egypt – it is likely that letters from this period have been lost or destroyed. Letters survive in much great numbers from the wartime period. In the opening weeks of the conflict, Violet received the devastating news that her 18-year-old son George had been killed in action. Milner investigated the circumstances of his death, with the assistance of mutual friends including Kipling, reporting to Violet the natural difficulty in establishing a clear and coherent narrative: “it is only natural that in a fierce & rather confused fight, which must have been at very close quarters – almost hand to hand – individual soldiers could only give a clear account of what was immediately around them” (10 December 1914). Many of the letters from 1914-15 refer to Kipling, including the death of his son in combat. Milner makes clear in his letters of 1915-16 his frustration at Asquith’s management of the war, and especially the reluctance of the government to adopt conscription, commenting at length on his relations with Kitchener and in one letter summarising the political scene as “all comedy–indeed screaming farce–before the footlights with deep tragedy behind” (30 December 1915). Milner’s position changed dramatically in December 1916 when he was appointed a member of Lloyd George’s five-man war council as Minister without Portfolio. One of his first tasks was to head an Allied Mission to Russia in January-February 1917 (the series includes three letters written from Petrograd and Moscow). Milner’s letters from 1917 provide substantial insight into subjects ranging from the collapse of the Eastern Front to Submarine Warfare, to advice over Lord Edward Cecil’s career, to Lloyd-George’s energetic but frequently duplicitous leadership. He wished that “more of our generals realised the supreme importance of saving life”, claiming that unless “we can win the positions we do win less expensively, the whole English race will be exterminated before we get to the Meuse, much less to the Rhine”. He provides extraordinary comments on tensions between the military and the civilian government: “…9 times out of 10 we do as the soldiers bid us – often against our better judgment. If 1 in 10 times we won’t do it, they instantly go away & begin to poison the Press against us… Personally I think there is a great deal to be said for a military dictatorship. The soldiers have, from the nature of the case, so much power already, that it might be better if they had all the power…” (11 September 1917) By the beginning of 1918 the dynamics of the war had changed: “This morning L.G. has had another, very severe, attack of Bolshevism [...] lost in admiration of Trotsky & [with…] the insane idea that the ruffian can still be made us of by us against the Bosches” (2 January 1918). Milner was a strong supporter of the crucial appointment of Foch as Supreme Allied Commander, but his letters from March-April 1918 were, however, dominated by the German Spring Offensive (“…The force of the blow was beyond all precedent, even in this war, & beyond expectation…”, 24 March 1918). He gives a typically sombre account of the situation on 13 April 1918: “...The strain has been tremendous. As the great tragedy steadily develops from day to day, the whole being of anyone directly involved in it becomes absorbed...There is no doubt the attack is of an overwhelming character. We are outnumbered everywhere. Still ‘no battle is ever lost till it is won’ & the Germans haven't won yet on a big scale. 100,000 British prisoners sounds enormous & one shudders to think of the amount of suffering it involves. But in a battle of this vast scale the loss is really not more than that of two or three thousand in of the big battles of the past. The whole question is whether our men can endure the physical strain & continue to fight, as they are fighting now. In that case, even if we lose many men & much ground the Germans will not succeed in destroying our army, & nothing less can pay them for the supreme effort they are making. Well. It is all inconceivably anxious, but I keep well & should be ashamed to lose heart or slacken effort in view of the marvellous courage & endurance being shown by hundreds of thousands of one's humblest countrymen, who are suffering such hardship & dangers, while we sit here in safety & comfort, however deep our anxiety...' A week after penning this letter, Milner was made Secretary of State for War. Working closely with Lloyd-George made Milner ever more conscious of his strengths and weaknesses (“…Altogether my experience of L.G. as of Rhodes, of Kitchener, of other ‘great men’ is giving me a new Philosophy of History…”). Milner writes to Violet about progress on the different fronts through 1918, including in Italy, Palestine and Syria, and Mesopotamia. He writes frequently of Clemenceau, who had been a long-standing friend of Lady Violet’s father. Milner is open about the tensions between the leaders (“…Wilson & L.G. have gone off to Paris. As you know, I have spent three months trying to keep L.G. & Clemenceau apart, & it was better so. But just now they are seeing more ‘eye to eye’ again…”, 6 October 1918). These tensions came more to the fore by late October, as it was clear that Germany was on the verge of collapse: “...I had two long talks with Clemenceau to-day. He in excellent form. He of course asked after you...On the big pending questions we got on very well. I should be quite prepared myself to let him settle the conditions of armistice for the lot of us. Unfortunately this is not possible, as with national & personal jealousies on both sides of the Atlantic so many too many people have a finger in the pie. Au fond there is no real difference between him & L.G. as to the immediately necessary decisions. They are both practical, & certainly devoid of [President] Wilson's idealistic tosh. But by some sort of ill luck they keep on getting across one another over points of secondary importance...' (25 October 1918) Milner was appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies in December 1918, and it was in this capacity that he attended the Paris Peace Conference. He writes at length about Clemenceau’s quick recovery after an attempted assassination attempt in February 1919, but his relationship with Lloyd George continued to deteriorate (“…The last thing I expected or wished was that L.G. should hop off & leave me to take his place in the British Delegation. It is, of course, not exactly his place either. I attend the "conversations", wh. really are the Conference, with Balfour, who as a permanent member takes the lead. Perfectly easy to get on with Balfour, & of course he really leaves me to take the decisions. Meanwhile everything has been left at sixes & sevens...”, 10 February 1919).  The contours of the personal relationship between Milner and Lady Vilolet also changed with the death of her husband of tuberculosis in December 1918. There was nothing now to prevent their marriage. On 9 January 1920 Milner writes just before his retirement from public office and marriage to Violet: she is now “Most Dear” and he signs off as “your loving AM”. Nonetheless, the letters are dominated by politics: he discusses the mine and rail strike and confesses that he is the only member of the cabinet to sympathise with the miners’ objections to denationalisation.
PROVENANCE:Sotheby’s, London, 22 July 1985, lot 423