SOUTH AFRICAN UNION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 887, 5 August 1910, Page 5

SOUTH AFRICAN UNION.

SPEECH BY DR. JAMESON. WILL HELP BOTHA FIGHT REACTIONARIES. A WANT OF MORAL PLUCK. By Telegraph—Press Associatlon'-Copyright. Johannesburg;-August 3. In a speech , at- Johannesburg, . Dr. Jameson (Leader of the Unionist Party iii South Africa) appealed to the peoplo to do their best to obviate a recrudescence of racial feeling. He did not intend, he said,, to abandon his endeavour to secure an ideal, "best man" Government, including members of all parties, and in this respect he believed General Botha had been in agreement with him, but had failed to persuade his reactionary colleagues to see as he did, owing to their want of moral pluck. The Unionist Party was necessary to help General Botha against such . reactionaries as Geuerel Hertzog, of Orango River' Colony, who is Minister of Justice in the Union Government. THE UNION'S FIRST CABINET. PERSONALITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA. The outstanding members of the first Cabinet of United South Africa are General Louis Botha himself and Mr. Smuts. Both are young men.'as statesmen go. Louis Botha counts forty-eight years; General C. J. Smuts, forty. Both belong to tho forward wing of their'part}'. Mr. Smuts, who is a Cambridge man and a brilliant legal scholar, is an advanced political thinker of European type, and is regarded by tho back' veldt Boer as, perhaps, too clever, and certainly too Liberal. General Botha, liberal and progressive as his views are, commands the whole-hearted allegiance of the Dutch throughout South Africa. They do not forget the almost unerring skill with which he directed the 'Boer armies when he succeeded Carl Joubert in the supreme command. There are some interesting contrasts among the new Ministers of the British Crown in South Africa; their personal histories are as varied as the interests they represent. Generals Botha, Smuts, and Hertzog won military honours in tho war against the British dominion; Mr. Malan edited "Ons v Land," and suffere'd a year's imprisonment for alleged libel on General French during the war; Mr. Hull, on the other hand, was one of the Uitlanders imprisoned by President Krugcr, and fought under General Brabant. He was one of Lord Milncr's advisers at the Bloemfontein Conference of 1899, There could be no better tribute to the strength of the new spirit of conciliation than that these men should join hands in loyal acceptance of the new conditions. General Botha's colleagues are chiefly drawn from the Liberal wing ' of . the Afrikander party. The more partisan • element is not entirely excluded. General Hertzog stands for .an educational system which has roused violent opposition among tho English-speaking section of the Orange River. Francois Stcphanus Malau bears an honoured Huguenot name, and lie, too, is a man characteristically Dutch, in his sympathies and his patriotism. Men of a somewhat different stamp are Mr. Sailer and Mr. Fischer, who reinforce tho debiting and administrative strength of the new Government. Mr. Sauer has had long experience in successive Governments of Capo Colony. Mr. Burton, the son. of an English resident magistrate, has been Attorney-General of Cape Colony, and accepts tho portfolio of Native Affairs. His appointment may reasonably bo accepted as an indication that tho policy of Cape Colony, more liberal than any of tho other South Africa!n States in its attitude to natives, will have due weight in tho councils of United South Africa. Dr. Jameson is not a great Parliamentary "debater. His influence, like' General Botha's, is a personal one. His marvellous tact, his charm of manner, his quiet humour, have enabled him to gain a hold upon liis present colleagues such' as he gained upon Cecil Rhodes. His position in South. Africa to-day is a lasting testimony to his striking ' ability for leadership. Dr. Jameson has lived down a political past which would have ruined most men in South Africa. He was tho leader of tho Raid. And yet to-day ho numbers his friends among the Dutch by tho hundred. Ho stood for all that was British and anti-Transvaal. Tot to-day the leader of the Transvaal Dutch is his personal friend and one of his greatest admirers.