BOTHA'S TASK THE HERTZOG CONFLICT GENERAL ELECTION

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 77, 29 September 1915, Page 11

BOTHA'S TASK THE HERTZOG CONFLICT GENERAL ELECTION

BOTHA'S SUCCESS ASSURED. (By R. W. Eeid.) Botha's task ! When the career of General Botha is studied, from the time he obtained some degree of prominence in the Transvaal Raad, through the perilous days of the South African War, down to the present time, it will be discovered that he has been strenuously engaged upon a succession of tasks. No sooner has one task, been completed than another has called for the immediate engagement of his energies. His five years as Pime Minister of the -Union have been marked, as by milestones, with difficulties of the gravest kind : strikes followed by armed resistance, bloodshed, and deportations ; crises, educational, social, and political; the uprising of Hertzogism. and the recrudescence of racial animosities ; the defection of Maritz, Beyers, and De Wet, and 'the consequent rebellion among disaffected burghers; the intriguing of Berlin in South Africa, and the expulsion of Germany from South-west Africa ; and, now, he has returned from his brilliant campaign in the west to take part 'in the turmoil of a general election. NO ORDINARY ELECTION. The coming political contest within the Union is of no ordinary character. For the nrst time in the history of South Africa, a General Election will be fought on one definite and acknowledged issue. The immediate and superficial question to be decided is whether General Botha or Mr. Hertzog-is to be Prime Minister of "the Union. But behind that apparently harmless alternative lies the tremendously important decision between South Africa being governed by a'Ministry that in sentiment and aspirations is British, or by one that is openly, defiantly anti-British. At the first General Election within the Union, in September, 1910, there were numerous small lines of cleavage, with no lack of divergence in the political tenets of candidates. But party distinctions were yet obscure, and among the British and the moderate Dutch racialism was almost entirely effaced. A considerable section of the Dutch electors, hovjever, voted for Nationalist or Dutch candidates for the sole reason that said candidates were Dutch. During the first two years of Union, sundry movements were apparent among members of the Legislative Assembly; forces w-ere at work—due to the political questions of the day — which tended to the formation 'of groups, after the stylo of the French. Nor was this characteristic confined to' the larger body which had been responsible for the success of the somewhat variegated Nationalists. The Opposition was divided into the- Young Unionists and the Unionists. When the Hertzog embroglio was acute, i.he likelihood of a General Election was discussed, and at that time the Nationalists were split into no fewer than four sections. The Johannesburg Leader estimated the probable strength of the different sections at 37 Bothaites, 16 Merrimanites, 1-i Hertzogites, and 7 Nafal Nationalists. The opposite benches were occupied by Unionists, Young Unionists, Labour members, and Independents. THE NEED FOR A HERTZOG. Some of the more sanguine' of South Africaai politicians declare that South Africa had need for a Hertzog. Political parties were in a state of solution, without the motive force of reaching permanent party distinctions. Mr. Hertzog was as the requisite element thrown into the chemical solution which caused immediate crystallisation. Where, five years ago, was something akin to political chaos, is now found two parties, distinguished from each other by personal predilections, by party policy, and by national aims. General Botha, with his trustworthy supporters, and the purely British part of the South African community, know to-day the real strength and quality of the reactionary party which would fain dominate South Africa under Mr. Hertzog. Posing as a Dutch patriot, Mr. Hertzog, considering his near German ancestry, would create misgivings touching his good faith among any people, save the more ignorant, prejudiced, and credulous Boers of the Free State. He assuredly does his utmost, by his anti-British speeches, as by His bitter jibes at General Botha, to justify his position as self-appointed leader of the reactionaries. But the Dutch reactionary element did not seek Mr. Hertzog. That gentleman was the seeker and the finder. THE ANTI-BRITISH SPEECHES. • Mr. Hertzbg's anti-British attitude was fully displayed in the Orange River Colony previous to the Union by his ridiculous and abortive attempt to compel all English school children to learn Dutch. From the earliest days of union his presence led to dissension in the Cabinet and to unseemly quarrels between him and his fellow Ministers in the Legislative Assembly. From the Cabinet and Parliament he carried his baleful influences to the country. Racialism he recognised was his trump card. Botha held that racialism should be allowed to die ; Hertzog elevated racialism into the very forefront of national politics. Hertzog denied any responsibility to the British Empire. He was, he said, a Minister of South Africa ; he was not a Minister of the British Empire. Only when the Empire was of use to South Africa would he recognise it. The British Government he was fond, of alluding to as "a foreign Government." South Africa, he informed his back-veldt supporters, had suffered because the Dutch interests "had been represented by foreign fortune-seekers, mostly of English origin." The Dutch, according to him, must be "baas" in South Africa ("baas" is elegant "teal" for our familiar "boss") ; and Dutch and British must never mingle, must always form "two streams." Then came his expulsion from the Cabinet, and his amazing posturing as a Dutch patriot. He boldly declared that General Botha's opinions were exactly the same as his and that what was wanting was General Botha's courage to express them. It' has been a painful period for General Botha ; but that he is on the eve of another great victory is assured. The Unionists will vote for Botha — the main line of cleavage is already definite and unmistakable. Mr. Hertzog, by stirring up racial animosities, seems to 'have but made possible a display of the full strength of the reactionary cause in South Africa. 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