The second instalment of Lord Ripon's diary covers the period from March to September 1879, months when he was rapidly recovering his influence within the top levels of the Liberal leadership. With the Afghan war drawing to what appeared to be a successful conclusion, Ripon continued to serve as a valuable adviser to the party leaders on what Liberal policy should be toward post-war Afghanistan. The outbreak of yet another colonial conflict, this time in South Africa, the so-called Zulu war, deeply offended Ripon's sense of justice. But he possessed neither the interest nor the expertise in this area that he had in Afghanistan, and as a result his influence on Liberal policy on this question was negligible. Like most of his fellow-Liberals, Ripon believed that the British High Commissioner in South Africa, Sir Bartle Frere, the man responsible for initiating this war, should be recalled and censured. But otherwise Ripon had little to add in a constructive vein to a solution of British problems in South Africa. His diary contains none of the penetrating observations on the Zulu conflict that characterized his analysis of the Afghan war.