The Press. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1910. THE CELEBRATIONS AT CAPETOWN.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13879, 2 November 1910, Page 8

The Press. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1910. THE CELEBRATIONS AT CAPETOWN.

If it wero true —which one mai doubt—that the country that hai no history is to b© accounted happy, t nation that can produce a pageant sucl ;is is now bei_„ witnessed in C.apetowr nust be regarded as most unhappy. Foi these pageants largely depend for theii success on the vicissitudes of .history, NTeither New Zealand nor Australia :ould stage a series of scenes equal in htorost to Canada's pageant of two rears ago, or to the representations oi jventa now being enacted under the diadow of Table Mountain. Capetown, ' bartered oft from hand to hand," is i fit placo for such a pageant as has wen designed to mark tho most impornnt event in South African history— ho consummation of tbe Union. Tlie vholo country is rich in materia! for he pageant-maker, and Capetown has >een the gate through which most of he impulses that have influenced its u'story have flowed. No other of tho Empire's dominions has had such a hcquered career as South Africa, 'ortugueso, Dutch and English, havo eft their marks on it; its face has been earrod by war. and its body poisoned rith bitterness. Romance and tragedy aye walked baud iv hand through tlio irige.s of its story, and now lake their exits and entrances again in rock drama before an audience that jcks forward eagerly to a new era of eace and strength. Every one hopes hat for South Africa the future will ot be merely tho past entered by anther gate. The celebrations at Capeiwn are rich in promise of happier times. Enthusiasm is in the air; if appearnces go for anything, the past is uried, and tiie crowds who have leered the King's representative are etermincd that ckmth Africa shall iter on a new life. The events of the eek constitute the mo*t thrilling and ispiring manifestation of the British snius for Imperial rule that we have •en since every pert of the Empire iraiig to the Motherland's assistance even years ogo . That the con.erors should _ive the conquered selfjvernoient within a tew years of the -ring of the last shot was wonderful, but not so wonderful as that eight

years front tho signing of peace a member of tlio Itoyal Family should bo erected by shouting crowds when h« conies to open the first Parliament of United South Africa, an assemblage in which the leading figure is the man. who commanded tho enemy's forces in the _roat struggle. Well might Mr Balfour describe the Union as "the most -.yon- •• dcrful issue out of all those divisions, ■■'(Miiiiover.ies, battles and outbreaks — '• the devastation and horrors of war, ••' the difficulties of peace"—and sry that ho did not- believe- the world showed anything like it in its whole history. Of the Empire-making nations of the past, some may have rivalled us in the capacity to conquer, but none in such statesmanship and magnanimity as havo prepared the way for this week's e/ents at Capetown. Tlie foreign historian of the future may not understand our motives thoroughly, but ho will put this development to cur credit —indeed, ho may say it was tho finest achievement of our race in these times. Guarding against tho harbouring of "frantic boast and foolish word," a roan may to-day feel justifiably proud of his British blood.