In a way a wise psychological attitude towards the Dutch
demand in South Africa resembles what we take to be a wise psychological attitude towards India. There is no harm or risk in making a present of a truism conveyed in a formula if that formula convinces and satisfies those who claim it. When it comes to testing the reality of the formula the slow evolutionary pro- cession of events may be relied upon to relieve the timid of the burden of their heart-searchings. The proper question to put to real secessionists, of whom there are probably not many, is': "Do you seriously want to break up the Empire or bring it to a deadlock in order to flatter yourself with an independence which will deprive you of the power to co-operate in a concerted policy that ought to be of infinite benefit to the world ? If you do, you are preferring a self-regarding policy to a magnificent ideal."
