General Smuts, at the congress of the South African Pasty
at Bloemfontein last week, denounced the mischievous atteurp.0 of General Hertzog and the Nationalists to revive the racial antagonism between the British and the Dutch sections of the South African people. He found hearty support for his proposal to expand the Party so as "to promote the national unity Of the European races." Both Dutch and British members of the party urged that the two ram must work amicably together. We do not know whether the Unionist Party will feel able or willing be merge itself in the expanded South African Parke as the Liberal Unionists were merged with the Conservatives
in the Unionist Party or as the Conservative Peelites of an earlier day were merged in the Liberal Party. But we are sure that such a union of forces would be good for South Africa, inasmuch as the two parties are virtually agreed on the funda- mental issues which are of immediate importance, while the artificial opposition between them tends to profit the Labour Party and the irreconcilable Dutch minority. General Smuts deserves the utmost sympathy in his statesmanlike effort to make South Africa look forward to a. new unity,
Previous page
