Soon after this period Hobson was recruited by the editor of the newspaper The Manchester Guardian to be their South-African correspondent. During his coverage of the Second Boer War, Hobson began to form the idea that imperialism was the direct result of the expanding forces of modern capitalism. He believed the mine owners, with Cecil Rhodes, who wanted control of the Transvaal, in the vanguard, were manipulating the British into fighting the Boers so that they could maximize their profits from mining.[4] His return to England was marked by his strong condemnation of the conflict.