e at the time of the Raid. His
Honour took an early opportunity to denounce Mr. Chamberlain to Mr.
J. B. Robinson and the manager of the then Government newspaper in
Pretoria. 'I would like Mr. Chamberlain to quote,' he said, 'any
instances of my failure to keep my promises, and I will know how to
answer him.' The challenge was published and Mr. Chamberlain
promptly cabled instructions to the British Agent to ask President
Kruger whether he had said this and if so whether he really did
desire a statement by Mr. Chamberlain of the character indicated. Mr.
Kruger took his own peculiar way out of the dilemma; he repudiated
the intermediaries, denounced the statement as untrue, and said
that he was not in the habit of conveying his requests through
irresponsible nobodies. The result was the immediate resignation of
the newspaper man and final rupture between the President and Mr.
Robinson. Thus were two more thick-and-thin supporters cast off at
convenience and without an instant's hesitation, and thus were
provided two more witnesses to the 'something for nothing' policy.
This incident was the immediate cause of the fusion of the Chambers.

It had all along been realized that while Lord Rosmead continued to
act as High Commissioner in South Africa there would be no
possibility of the Uitlanders' grievances being again taken up by her
Majesty's Government. The High Commissioner had committed himself to
the opinion that it would be unsuitable and indeed improper to make
any representations on the subject for a considerable time. Moreover,
his age and ill-health rendered him unfit for so arduous a task. Many
hard things have been said and written about the late High
Commissioner, but it must be admitted that with age and infirmity
weighing him down he was confronted by one of the most desperate
emergencies which have ever arisen to try the nerve of a proconsul.
It is true that the responsibilities of Government are not to be met
by excuses: the supports of the Empire must stand the strain or be
condemned. But it is also true that those who regard themselves as
victims may not lightly assume the functions of independent judges:
and thus it was that in a mood of sympathy and regret, with perhaps
some tinge of remorse, the news of Lord Rosmead's death was accepted
as evidence unanswerable of the burden which in the autumn of his
days he was called upon to bear.

When the name of Sir Alfred Milner was mentioned as the coming Hi