Churchill knew Joseph Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary, quite well having met him first at Lady Jeune’s house party along the Thames in July. Before sailing for South Africa he went to Whitehall to talk with him. Churchill wrote that “Mr Chamberlain was most optimistic about the probable course of the war. ‘Buller’ said Chamberlain ‘may well be too late. He would have been wiser to have gone out earlier. Now, if the Boers invade Natal, Sir George White with his 16,000 men may easily settle the whole thing’”. Churchill added his opinion: “Always remember, however sure you are that you can easily win, that there would not be a war if the other man did not think he also had a chance”. This contact came in useful when he requested a letter of introduction to Sir Alfred Milner, the British High Commissioner at the Cape. While Chamberlain would not give a letter of introduction to a newspaper correspondent, he would be “most happy to give one as a private friend”.