Evening star., 1935-06-30
HERTzOG Halls
BRITISH UNITY
South African Premier Tells
People Union Must Stand
by Britain.
BY A. G. GARDINER,
Greatest Liberal Editor


Englands Greatest Liberal Editor.
LONDON, June 29.-No prime min
tster ever succeeded to a more unen-
viable inheritance than Stanley Bald
win has done. In one sense only Is
he fortunate. The domestic situa-
ton, due mainly, I think, to the
enormous disquiets Of the world situ-
alton, is unusually favorable to the
government.
The sense of the encompassing per-
lis has undoubtedly consolidated pub
lie feeling, not merely in this country
but throughout the empire. A re-
markable evidence of this is the clo-
uuent and enthusiastic tribute which
Gen. Hertzog, prime minister of South
Africa, has paid to the British COM
monwealth on his return from the
silver jubilee celebrations in England.
Once Lukewarm Friend.
There was time when Gen. Hert-
zog was regarded as a lukewarm
friend, if, indeed, not an irreconcil-
able foe of the British connection,
but responsible experience of that
connection has converted him as COM
pletely as it converted his colleague,
Gen. Smuts. In his speech at Cape
Town, Premier Hertzog spoke of the
Joyous solidarity" of the British
people, exhibited throughout the jul
bilee celebrations, and of the vital
urgency to the South African Union
of the British connection.
IF the union wants friends In the
world" he said, then 1t must stand
by Great Britain and the common
wealth. Don't let these go, because
where are the others?" He was en-
phatic in his support Of the League
of Nations and gave the other do
minion premiers strong lead when
he said that the anxieties Of British
foreign ministers would have heen
considerably eaSed if they had known
more precisely where the dominions
stood about collective security.
His reference to the difficult question
of the protectorates which the union
is asking the British government to
hand over to it was guarded, but
cordial. He made no criticism of the
British decision that the populations
of the protectorates, white and native,
would be consulted before the terri
tories were handed over, and he said
handsomely enough, that "once the
British government makes a decision
1t never goes back on it."
Gives Much Satisfaction.
This deliverance has given as much
satisfaction here as it has given in
Cape Town. 1t is a plain rebuke to
the once formidable, but now negli-
gible body of South African secession
lists. If (aS the Manchester Guardian
remarks, Gen. Hertzog, who once
shared the secesSionist view as strong
ly as any one, is convinced that the
union has nothing to gain from
further steps toward isolation, we can
be sure he will carry the great bulk
OF his people with him.
Nor is this marked change in the
attitude of South Africa the only indi-
cation of what may call a new spir-
itual orientation on the part Of the
dominions toward the British Com
monwealth. 1t is in part due to the
operation Of the Westminster statute,
which, in breaking the last bonds of
imperialism and establishing the inde-
pedence of the dominions in name as
well as in fact, has obliterated all
sense of grievance and has allowed
the sympathies of the peoples to flow
in their natural channel. How far
this consolidation of the English
speaking world will 60 is for the future
TO discover. But that 1t is one of the
major potentialities in the New World
which is now so visibly in the making
Is obvious.
Japan Is Problem.
Nor can it be doubted that impetus
to the movement is given not merely
by the removal of political obstruc-
tions but by the vast practical con-
siderations implicit in the changing
balance of the world. 1t Is not only
Europe which is in the melting pot.
Mr.. Baldwin and his new foreign min
lister, Sir Samuel Hoare, are not only
confronted with the question of what
Hitler means, where Mussolini is going
and what is to become of the League
They are no less perplexed by the
policy of Japan, whose latest stride
in the process of mopping up China
and establishing her hegemony of
Eastern Asia, with all its bearing upon
external interests in the Pacific, is the
subject Of the gravest anxiety to the
new government.
There is much discussion in the
press as to how far the declarations
of Mr.. Hirota that Japan's aim is to
work in friendly cooperation with
China are sincere, but no doubt exists
in any quarter that the militarists are
in the saddle, that their policy is the
fulflllment of the 81 demands of 1915.
that there is no power in Japan that
can restrain them, and that the meek
acquiescence Of the Nanking govern
ment on this occasion has revealed
Its complete helplessness.
These momentous happenings are
as relevant to the future of the do
minions as they are to the mother
country, and we cannot dissociate
them from the new spirit which is
apparent In the members of the Brit
lsh commonwealth and in Gen. Hert-
zog's fervent appeal to South Africa
to stand by Great Britain and the
commonwealth"
Copyright. 1889