Sir Alfred Milner has defined his attitude towards his critics
in a very sensible letter addressed to a Huddersfield Magistrate. He points out that if he were to attempt to deny all the lies or to correct all the misrepresentations of which be is the subject, he would practically have no time to do anything else, "and the public interest would suffer greatly." In these circumstances he thinks it much better to take no notice of this campaign of calumny at all, since his detractors, were he to nail one lie to the counter, would at once assume that having specifically denied one accusation he had admitted all the rest. "Against attacks which are not bond-fide, as most of those made against me are not, it is useless to contend by bond-fide explanations. It is better to neglect them altogether, to go ahead with one's work, and to leave time and the ultimate good-sense of Englishmen, in which I have the greatest confidence, to put things right in the end." Of Sir Alfred Milner's ability and integrity none but extreme partisans have ever entertained the smallest doubt. It is satisfactory to find him cultivating the equanimity, born of a good conscience, which so materially enhances the efficiency of a great public servant.
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