GENERAL HERTZOG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18771, 26 July 1924, Page 9

GENERAL HERTZOG.

■ '..'■ a "'■ ..' - : i>i ■ ■ >,■ * S. AFRICA'S ?JEW PREMIER. A GRAPHIC. PEN-PICTURE S THE UNEXPECTED IN POLITICS I ■': - /'•>£?: ' - '■/>"■:; '— ;;; v :"■"..." \ {FROM Otffi OWN COnEEKPOSDENT:} ■-,-;■ ~• . June 20. If, a jW ago, .it had been isaaT that General James Barry ; 'Munnik Hertxog ■ would soon be Prime .Minister of Soqth Africa, the remark would have been ridiculed throughout the Union a3 an absurd speculation. Always General Hertzog has been regarded as,the uncompromising and disillusioned politician, the man who ruthlessly rent South Africa in twain on the racial issue between Dutch |and English. Yet he jiow becomes the accepted Prime MinigteH of both racte. It imerely emphasises'thit,! in a country of such surprising • political adventures, it is safe only to expect the! unexpected.: No, more complex character in South Africa has ever baffled the analyst. Extolled by many as a patriot and a real Afrikander, he has travelled to New York, London and Paris for the purpose of] smashing up the Urrion which he heiiped to create. Expelled from Botha's Cajpinet because bo refused to accept the Imperial view-which was then dominant, he 1 has now accepted the tsvsk of governing a nation in full afejriimce to Great Britain. And it is certain that a large, number of British votes and British sympathy have helped to place General Hertzog and the Nationstist Party in the present position of supremacy in the Union. To'hear him speak, to watch the moodv expression of his face, is to realise that General Hertzog bringjl that intense and religious , severity into politics such as do most Dutchmen Mviag within the stern atmosphere of the Dutch Reformed Church. He,;!is rather a dour figure in Parliament," the trim, close-knit figure is held stiff and alert, the white collar throwing into relief i ihe clean . sweep of the powerful jaw.; Ms shoulders are bunched high arid awkwardly, and the hands, when, they are riot employed in free and ample gestures, fall clenched by the side. The,harsh and vibrant voice knows ,no half notes, it is either raised in thunderous declamation or it falls to a conversational level. At rare moments a: half-smile curls beneath his grey, trimmed moustache, but for the most part the square, colourless: face is lighted only by an intense and supreme conviction. ; Xeen and Voracious Student. .■: He is »,Puritan in politics. No one has over' had the; courage ,to declare him dishonest. Even during the hectic excitement Of a general election, he found time to denounce the sinful practice of horse-rsicint? and the growth, of Sunday, pleasure.s&iiking. This Dutchman, who , spent his impressionable years as a keen and voracious student at the University of Amsterdam, hastnever cared for social "f' , life or the pleasures which the English sporting spirit has introduced into South ■' Africa.; \;jLike General Smuts; he has : that.. CaWanisfeic thirst for study which permits of no interference. He reads ' ;' the Latin;, authors as most;;people read novels. What he best .likes; the place where he'fs post af ease,'is the stuffed-with! j learned editions in leather, ■ v no book less than;; 100 yearsioldy and in. ■ ; the wholecollection, no. dealing suspicion y of lighf "lifcerature:-; .admitsin the-foference books"that his hobby is ■ gardening.' . r ._y'~~>;-: ..:•:■■■ :■,. ; General Hertzog ~has ,b«n : the great champion of the Dutch language in South It is, indeed >; ;a-|ar« occasion in Parliament,!; when he; consents to speak •.. in English: v Always 'he : prefers .the harsh;, - Tafll,;and:insists, on--being- answered 'in i ;• ; ihe,.same language.'.-,,! He/It-;wasvwhoViii-.>-"- ; trod'ueed : in the 'Orange River Colony As-v ' ; vin '■•■ 1908,1 ah; ■{. ; ing Educational' Bill, which stirred up , most bitter feeling from the! '; Cape In the .Zambesi. ' General Hertzog'sbUl obligatory on all tho children, and: not only compelled • ; all English children, to learn, Dutch but I to learn y half their school ;; subjects. , \ through, the,medium of -the; language. And the hill passed despite the opposition ; Smuts and the moderate Dutch showed,: But:theri, ;Smutsj.'.was'! a; Cambridge gradu r < * te > :' a^J^ thft!product;: : of: r as>u]tc&.'- ;k-\. ' scholarship, has little ; respect. fo!r. English '^ ,; Macaulay; ah: histonan—^pouf!" i As essayist, maybe, but" historian.rpcuf!" - ; " *, • , .The Qpwtttm. ot Secession. I■ ' " '.-:• Yet although'.;niahy; ofl'.'the' Engliah- ., Speaking people frankly-hate his politics, they do hot really; hate >tM man. Many v who have : watchedi his wanderiiigs in ; the / political wildemesii following the riKe of ' Smuts have noJ> lost tbeir admiratiosVfor : ! the rnaa in spite of his; :'•'" "v t :;;■ Although 'General Hertzog -how becomes Prime Minister/ he has yet to live down ' - the suspicion •of - his opponentfj that he ' ," : deliberately favours a policy of secession •"■ t *-'" : from the, suspicion; : .. has, up to,the present general eleetjoij, ■ kept British votes awav, from his party. Hertzog has consistently denounced the .> v Imperial spiritvi He first introduced ■ to its worst phase; in the Boer War ivhen he left the Freis 1 -State, Bench to become a general chief ;of Be; iiVet's lieutenant-in the ■ / latter's amazing '■. and when the second invasion of the Cape Colony was -decided upon, "Hertzog was v chosen to pilot it. Yet; after the Boer War, the moybment for' Union "found in him a ; warm jsupporter,, but Jbe afterwards '■;■;'. developed the policy of hostility toward imperialism ;which caused his enforced reifignation from the Botha Government. >i; ! :.•■ That; policy he Ms?con'sist^Uy vprfea;chedVever since," and although-i& later years the ' jibes at the connection'have been less' frequent, J he has allowed his/younger lieutenants to indulge unchecked;in this ■■■ policy. - '':'■;,-.-•';:■,; : ''-;-- ; :;\-,:V:"',;. '-> ■ ,A Bitter Opponent.- V : ': ■ ; Always lis has been a bitter opponent in : Parliament,- giving no -quarter 1 and es!' ' pecting' noh& He shows the same ruthlessnesa; in debate mS; he :-did to his own burghers duiring the Boer-War. It is said that he was among the first- to intrpdufie the discipline of the sJamboky and; did not hesitate to,sentence.to death spies' and ; traitors. -'.'/'' - • Similarly in his political ca'reerhe ' has attacked fiercely, aiwayji justly. The chief target of hisTwrath was. always 1 General Botha,) but whani death removed that wonderful ; statesrfian and ; soldier there remained Jah Smuts, 5 upon whom , his fires descended witl) *s' much viblencs and regularity as they.had head of the unfortunate .Botha. Indeed, : && : event; after,ev§nt/;.success's,; after success, marked out Smuts as a-world figiwe, :-iha; - denunciations of Hertsog grew moro.and more shrili and vohenienii I : Smtits'.is defeated. ■'"■'■. General Hert-; zogjthe; intransigcant, is : in power. -It:ia s- safe to say thatvno; such position has ever been-:Seen ; :tin Empiijer politics before. 'It is unthinkable ihiit-.; ■ : ;Hertz6ji;! wi!!i'allow :; ;:'racWish\'' : ' : ]ts) : ':;..!agaiß;', : ; ' divide-Sohth Africa, The country awaits! with ,&} good Aeal of anticipaUon ;the : firjsti;: : act of the now Premier of the Union. ;ll: lllsllllii