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it were, the pale for any loyalist. [which crossed out] They would be in [strategic crossed out] strict
military hands, no one being allowed to reside there without a
military permit. My impression is that a policy of this
kind would compel Sien [sic] Feiners to realise that they must nego-
tiate reasonably for terms - if they want any - and if not
would be a fairly safe solution for ourselves. In any
case I am altogether against wild plans of conquest, block-houses
etc, which I believe would fail, and would almost certainly
divide the British people as well.

Yours ever,

Robert Cecil

Colonel John Buchan,
Elsfield Manor.
Oxford.