LATE GENERAL BOTHA.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1919, Page 10

LATE GENERAL BOTHA.

SOLDIER AND STATESMAN. HIS WORK FOR SOUTH AFRICA. It is less than 20 years since Louis! Botha set out from his farm to join the Door commando under his old friend, I Lucas Meyer. He was then a sturdy and prosperous young farmer of the Transvaal. Born on September 27, 1862, at Greytown, Natal, he camo of French Huguenot stock. Tlie Bothas came to the Cape about the time other Huguenot families had crossed the Atlantic to America, Each generation made its "trek," just as in America the pioneers moved westward by stages, and ia the 'eighties of last century Botha was opening up a new country in the Transvaal. In 1807 ho was a member of the Volksraad, and was raising the voice of moderation in opposition to President jKruger, who was urging war with, Great Britain. When Kruger's counsels prevailed, and his country was committed to war, in 1899, Botha was among the first to take up arms. He was then 37 years of age. At first he served under Lucas Meyer in northern Natal, but soon rose to higher commands. He commanded the Boers at the battles of Colenso and Spion Kop, and these victories earned him so great a reputation that, on the death of Joubert, Botha was made Commander-in-Chief of the Transvaal Boers. After the fall of Pretoria he reorganised the Boer resistance with n view to prolonged guerilla warfare. The success of his measures was shown in the steady resistance offered by the Boers to the very close of the three-yearß* war. Botha's brilliant defensive operations gained the admiration of European military experts, though his only previous military training had been received years before in campaigns against the Zulus. RECONCILIATION WITH BRITAIN. In the peace negotiations of 1902 he was the chief representative of his countrymen, and afterwards he visited Europe, with de Wet and de la Rey, in order to raise funds to enable the Boers to restore their farms. Botha's own valuable land had been destroyed, but it was with no bitterness of spirit that he set about the restoration of his family's fortunes and the rebuilding of his country. His sisters had married Englishmen, and amongst those who fought ngainst him for three years were his nephews. He himself had always been well disposed towards the British rule. He now saw the possibilities of growth under the British system of dominion self-government. Looking into the future he saw a great South African population working the mines and the farms, and prospering as it had never before prospered under Kruger and Steyn. By the time the Transvaal was ready to begin the experiment of selfgovernment, in 1907, it had in Botha a leader, respected alike by English and Dutch, who could be counted on to rally all elements to the support of the new State, He becamo the first Premier of the Transvaal, and his co-operation with Lord Selborne laid the foundation of the Union of South Africa, of which he became the first Prime Minister in 1910.. His patience and his statesmanship wero immediately put to a severe test. The new government had to gave industrial disturbances that threatened its existence. Strikes were declared by the miners on the Rand and a general strike was threatened on the railways. Syndicalism was then being preached throughout tho world by Labor extremists. Botha's methods were of the most drastic severity, but they succeeded. Ten of the leaders who had fomented trouble among the railwaymen were deported to England, a general strike was stopped, and Syndicalism in South Africa was crushed, . CONQUEST OF SOUTH-WEST AFRICA. But all the earlier difficulties of administration seemed light as compared with the perils with which South Africa was faced on the outbreak of the great war. The Union Government had agreed to the removal of the British troops and to undertake its own defence. It had further promised to invade German South-west Africa on behalf of the Imperial Government, when it found itself confronted with active rebellion wjthin i its own borders. A false move by Botha at this crisis would have been fatal. With characteristic wariness he tried conciliation on the one hand while strengthening his military preparations on the other. But Beyers, the renegade commandant-general of tho Union forces, only used the interval to fan the flame of rebellion, and when De Wet openly joined him there was no hope of reconciliation. The ensuing campaign was a swift and overwhelming triumph for Botha. Do Wet was speedily rounded up. Beyers was killed crossing a river, and Maritz fled into German territory with his followers, and in three months the rising was suppressed. Botha then entered on his task of driving the Germans out of South-west Africa, a task which he accomplished with extraordinary completeness and rapidity. He recruited an army of 50,000, half British and half Dutch, entered German territory at three points, crossed the deserts by forced marches, his own division, marching 100 miles in five days, surprised and confused the' Germans by the swiftness of his movements, and at last, surrounded them and compelled their surrender to a force smaller than their own. The campaign won the admiration of the whole Empire. The people of New Zealand expressed their gratitude for and appreciation of Botlia's services by the presentation of an address and a sword of honor, subscribed for by •hilling contributloai, i

GREAT BEAET AND SIMPLE ■ .HUMANITY; After the armistice Botha, accompanied by General Smuts, attended the peace conference as representative of the Union of South Africa. He had only recently returned to South Africa to face a political situation full of difficulties. He had returned, he said, with but one object, to use all hia powers to establish larger co-operation between two races ami to strengthen and maintain the constitution of South Africa. The life and character of Botha has thus been summed up by one who knew him well: "All his life General Botha j subordinated personal inclination to public duty. A passionate lover of peace, yet a great soldier; a simple farmer, chained to the wheel of polities; bred on the veldt, only to be immured in an office; such tricks Fate played him. Yet lie mastered the distasteful part for which he was cast. The blend of deliberate thought with quick decision, the firm will, the judgment that seldom errs, the wise knowledge of men—these are characteristics common to the great soldier and to the statesman, and General Botha had them all; but he had, too, a ready vigor in the rough-and-tumble of political debate, and a grip of the practice of government which must have been slowly and painfully.acquired. The charm of his personality and conversation lay less in these qualities than in ,a great heart and simple humanity."