Evening Post. MONDAY, JUNE 23, 1924. SCOTCHED, NOT KILLED

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 147, 23 June 1924, Page 6

Evening Post. MONDAY, JUNE 23, 1924. SCOTCHED, NOT KILLED

If we are to take General Hertzog at his word his great victory at the polls has had a wonderfully sobering effect upon him. The apostle of racial hatred has suddenly discovered "how good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." The apostle of secession has discovered that there is no such thing as secession, and never has been; that the secessionists themselves do not believe in it, and never did; and that the whole thing is the wicked invention of that man Smuts. The first of these points was expressly affirmed in the speech delivered at the big meeting held at Bloemfontein to celebrate the victory; the others seem to be a fair inference from the cryptic language of the remarkable interview which is reported to-day. At Bloemfontein General Hertzog overflowed with gratitude to the English-speaking supporters of the Pact. It would, he said, be his "sacred endeavour that they should live together as one united people." Can he really reconcile it with his ideal of patriotism to induce the Boer lion to lie down with the British lamb without having the lamb inside? We shall see in due course, but in the meantime the comprehensiveness of his benevolence must be gratefully acknowledged.

At the Bloemfontein meeting General Hertzog was hailed by the Labour spokesman as the future Premier of the Union, and it is clear that, whatever may be the ultimate attitude of Labour,, the fulfilment of the prophecy cannot be long delayed. At the first glance his statement to the interviewer that " the Pact is now ended" may excite surprise. .Is South Africa to be deprived of the protection promised by the Pact at the very moment when it begins to be needed ? Certainly not; it is not in this sense that the Pact is at an end. The very essence of the arrangement for Labour-National-ist co-operation at the General Election held last week was that, " should a Nationalist Government come into power, no Nationalist member of Parliament will use his vote to upset the existing constitutional relation of South Africa to the British Crown." The pledge was to cover the term of the new Parliament, and General Hertzqg does not dispute it. But the co-operation thus secured was limited to the elections, and it was expressly agreed " that in any ■election co-operation which may take place' in any constituency it should be understood that the candidate of whichever party, if elected, would owe allegiance to his own party and no other, and that any votes given to him by supporters of the other party should be given on this clear understanding." In this sense, therefore, the Pact is at an end—viz., that if General Hertzog receives the summons to form a Cabinet, as he certainly will, he will be free to give all the portfolios to his own party, and that if he offers any of them to members of the Labour Party they will be free to.refuse.

So far, therefore, as Cabinetmaking is concerned, General Hertzog is as free as though the Pact had never been. But his freedom is at the same time as limited as that of any other leader under a three-party system whose party has not won a majority of the seats. To the question whether ho proposed to take Labour members into his •■ Cabinet, General Hertzog accordingly refused to give a definite reply, bub he admitted that he could nob carry on without Labour support, and he added that the country expected the Labour and the Nationalist Parties to continue to co-operate. It will probably vest with Labour to say how close that co-operation is to be, and a conference of the 'party is to decide whether the opposition of the rank and file to tho inclusion of any of its members in the Cabinet as "contrary to the party's cardinal principles" is to be allowed to prevail. But of far greater interest to the Empire is the general attitude of the Nationalist leader to the danger against which-the compact was intended to provide. Asked whether his party would stand by the pledge not to tamper with South Africa's Imperial relations during the present Parliament, General Hertzog declared that "the Nationalists without exception are prepared to stand by their pledge." The statement is just what might have been expected, if only—to take the lowest ground —because of the continued dependence of the Nationalists upon the Labour Party, irrespectively of the Pact, but the emphasis is gratifying.

It is still mure- gratifying that General Hertzog should have made »n .'ulditioijal statement wjuv.li curries Lho umfctur a guud dual fur-

ther than the obligations of the Pact.

I say, positively, he declares, that the Rationalists do not look upon secession as a matter of practical politics, and are not likely to do,so till the bull;; of the people, especially- the mass of British feeling, is in its favour. The question has never been a Nationalist" Party question at all. It has been raised by General Smuts deliberately to frighten the English-speaking community.

IS is very much to be feared that this statement is too good to be true. Not merely, as we have said, does it go a good deal further in the Imperial direction than the Pact, but it goes so far as to suggest that the Pact was a superfluity. With just the same emphasis with which he confirms the Pact General Hertzog declares that the Nationalists do, not regard secession as a matter of practical politics, and that it "has n«ter been a Nationalist Party question at all." But if so, why could he not have said as much fifteen months ago and thus have given the Labour Party and the country a much better assurance than that which was published over the signatures of Colonel Cresswell and himself in April, 1923? Why could he not have said then that "the bulk of the people, especially the mass of British feeling,'" would have to favour secession before his party was likely to regard it as practical polities ? The assent of a British majority at a referendum is a condition which would satisfy even General Smuts.

I hope the secession bogey is now definitely laid, said General Hertzog in conclusion, and. with it the cry of "Racialism." The Pact has scotched it.

It is to be feared that the last, words come nearer to the truth than the speaker intended. The snake of secession has been scotched, but not killed.