General Smuts' Victory
The vote cast by the South African House of Assembly en Saturday on General Hertzog's " peace with Germany " motion . shows that General Smuts has not merely maintained his peg' tion in the face of such attacks but strengthened it. When the question whether South Africa should declare war on GetrnanY was debated a year ago General Smuts' appeal that the Cron should align itself with the rest of the British Commonwealth was supported by 8o votes against 67. The vote on Saturday against any departure from that policy was 83 to 65 ; the total number of votes in the Assembly is 150. There is little doubt that if a General Election took place General Smuts would find himself in a stronger position still. As it is the debt of the link Commonwealth to him is immense, for the new import- e assumed by the Cape route to the East since Italy declared -ar has made it essential to the welfare of Great Britain and the Dominions, and requires imperatively that South Africa hould be co-operating in the war in the fullest sense. The grow- significance of Africa as a whole in the present conflict under- lines that need still further. The presence of General Smuts at the head of the South African Government, with a secure and stable majority behind him, ensures that every step will be taken that the situation calls for. The single ground for regret is that the Union is not so completely united and resolute that the Premier's great talents could be drawn on in a still larger field. General Hertzog is a strangely embittered man, but his star is obviously waning.
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