- Jan Smuts and a British Transvaal
Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM (
May 24 ,1870 –September 11 ,1950 ) was a prominentSouth Africa n and Commonwealthstatesman and military leader. He served as a BoerGeneral duning the Boer War, a British General during the First World War and was appointedField Marshal during the Second World War. In addition to various Cabinet appointments, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and from 1939 to 1948. He played a leading part in the post war settlements at the end of both world wars, making significant contributions towards the creation of both theLeague of Nations and theUnited Nations .This article is about Jan Smuts in the government of the
South African Republic when part of theBritish Empire , from the Transvaal's defeat at the end of theSecond Boer War in 1902 until the creation of theUnion of South Africa in 1910. Smuts emerged from the Boer War as one of the foremostAfrikaner leaders. Working closely withLouis Botha , Smuts engineered the restoration of . Having won the elections to the restored Transvaal Parliament, Smuts and Botha proceeded to negotiate beneficial terms of unification.Out of Their Hands
Back to the Day Job
The
Second Boer War had irrevocably changed the face ofSouth Africa , but, for Smuts, it was back to work as usual. WhilstChristiaan De Wet ,Koos de la Rey , andLouis Botha toured Europe, hailed as conquering heroes, Smuts returned to his former day job, as a mediocrelawyer . Smuts was as restless in this capacity as ever, and yearned to take part in politics again. Alas for Smuts, the British dominance of South Africa since Vereeniging made it almost impossible for anAfrikaner , no matter how well versed in theEnglish language or British thinking, to break through. More worrying for Smuts, manyBoers disapproved of his, and others', leadership during the war: some wished for a fight to the death, whilst some wished that the war had ended after the fall ofPretoria .Having seen the generosity of the British treasury in
London , Botha came to the conclusion a unified South Africa, within theBritish Empire , would serve both Briton and Afrikaner well. However, Baron Milner was the enemy of the Afrikaner, being chiefly responsible for creating a British monopoly on government posts (calledMilner's Kindergarten ). He saw no place for Dutch-speakers in the government of South Africa. To counter Milner, and to unite the Afrikaners, the former generals of the Transvaal army, including Smuts, formed the Het Volk party in January 1905. The objective of the party was straight-forward enough:self-government , and, ultimately, the creation of a unified South African state.Changing of the Guard
In 1905, Milner's term as
High Commissioner came to an end, and, for Smuts, it couldn't come a minute too soon. Milner was replaced by a more conciliatory man, Lord Selborne, who was in deep admiration of Smuts. Selborne was keen to discuss any manner of constitutional arrangement, but, without the backing of the Conservative government in London, Selborne could advance the process no further than Smuts could. Of course, the Conservative government was dependent upon the support of the British people, and that soon dried up.Later that year, the Conservative government resigned, and was replaced by a Liberal one under
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman , which was later confirmed at a general election in February 1906. The new government was led by some of the more active anti-Imperialists in Parliament, including a few that had sympathised with the Boer republics in the South African War. Smuts recognised this opportunity, and set off for London as soon as he heard the news. When he arrived, he was astonished to find so much opposition to the Conservatives' policy in South Africa.Smuts negotiated from a starting position of full self-government for the Transvaal within British South Africa. Whilst this was dismissed by the Conservatives as unrealistic and counter-productive, most Liberal politicians saw things Smuts' way. Campbell-Bannerman failed to understand the Afrikaners' refusal to work with Milner. Regardless, he was compelled to agree. The Liberal government had been elected partly on the back of opposition to the Chinese
indentured labour that had saved thegold mine s. Campbell-Bannerman realised that the Chinese workers could not be removed, for that would cripple the economy, and knew that the Afrikaners could never be outnumbered by the British in South Africa. Thus, he decided to pass the buck to the Afrikaners, under whose remit of self-government the miners would fall. He persuaded the cabinet to accept Smuts' demands.Back in Charge
Election
In December 1906, a new
constitution for the Transvaal was drawn up, under which an immediate election would find a government. This gave Het Volk two advantages. First, it was fighting an election according to a constitution that it had written. Second, it was fighting an election at a time at which it was the predominant force in Transvaal politics. Nonetheless, neither Botha nor Smuts, the two leaders took the task of election too lightly.Across the Transvaal they toured, whipping up public support for their cause and their candidates. Botha was a natural-born politician, and the crowds loved him. Less popular was the shy and distant Smuts. Despite his quiet nature, and the controversies of the Boer War, Smuts was comfortably elected in the
Wonderboom constituency, near Pretoria. Across the board, Het Volk had scored a massive victory. Botha became thePrime Minister , forming his government solely from Het Volk. Chief amongst his ministers was Smuts, who became both the Colonial Secretary and the Education Secretary: two of the top positions.Ruling the Transvaal
Immediately, Botha set off on a diplomatic tour of Europe, taking advantage of his celebrity, and left Smuts in charge of the Transvaal. Smuts took a disliking to the bureaucracy, the discussion and the compromise of government. He saw action as the best response to crisis. Crisis came soon, in the form of the
Dutch Reformed Church . TheCalvinist movement pressed Smuts to take advantage of self-government, by making Afrikaans and Calvinism compulsory for schoolchildren. Although a Calvinist himself, Smuts had grown out of his former zealotry, and found that he could not agree with their aims. He wanted asecular state , and he wanted the next generation to be well versed in the English language, not Afrikaans.Smuts was attacked for being irreligious, or even blasphemous, and the pastors of the Dutch Reformed Church campaigned heavily against Smuts. In the end, though, there was little that the church could do in the face of the government, backed by the Selborne administration in
Cape Town . Smuts knew that, if there was one thing Afrikaners could do, it was to bear a grudge. The Reformed Church, counting three-quarters of Afrikaners amongst its members, could certainly wield great political power.Gandhi
With Transvaal prosperity unrivalled outside the
British Isles , a great number of immigrants from other parts of the Empire flooded to South Africa. The two largest groups were Malays andSouth Asians . For the Afrikaners, this was a problem. They threatened to undercut European wages, and to take a slice of the wealth created by the mines. Smuts sought to clamp down on the stream of immigrants by any method necessary. He tore into the gangs that smuggled them into the country, limited Indian employment rights, and had each foreign worker register with the government. Opposing Smuts was an Indian lawyer by the name ofMohandas Gandhi .Gandhi responded to the Transvaal's heavy-handedness with
non-violent resistance , as he would in India years later. Smuts imprisoned the most vocal opponents in the Asian population, including Gandhi. The press was outraged, and caricatured Smuts as though he were anotherPaul Kruger : Crude, fierce, and unyielding. Smuts caved in to Gandhi's passive resistance, letting the Indians go but offering Gandhi no definite promise of concessions.Incidents such as these were few and far between. Smuts' battle with the Dutch Reformed Church was more representative of his tenure in power. He knew how to fight fire with fire, but Gandhi got under Smuts' skin without so much as raising his fists. The Indian affairs aside, by 1909, Smuts had created a very strong government, backed by a booming economy. Nonetheless, the issue of Union was still as pressing as ever.
Creating a Country
muts' Vision
As it always had, friction developed and increased between the component parts of South Africa. After Vereeniging, a compromise had been reached on
railway harmonisation andcustoms union , but, with its architect, Lord Milner, out of the picture, a new agreement had to be reached. Although treated, politically, as parts of one whole, the Transvaal and the threecolonies could not be more dissimilar. All of South Africa's wealth came from the Transvaal, whilst the three colonies would have been destitute without the Transvaal's need for support services. Botha and Smuts held all the cards.Smuts argued that there could be no South Africa without complete political union. During the war, Smuts had grown to despise the enmity of the British and the Boers, and to realise the futility of South African fratricide. Smuts made impassioned pleas to the Transvaal Parliament: "There is only one road to salvation, the road to Union and to a South African Nation".
For Smuts, union meant unitary. He had examined the failures of the American federal system, and was disappointed at its inertia and its great disparities. Not all parties were agreed. Smuts, having faith in his intellect and rhetoric, called for a convention to be held in
Durban , where Briton and Afrikaner alike could be persuaded of his ambition.Convention and Union
The summer of 1908-9 was stiflingly hot in Durban. Nonetheless, in October 1908, delegates from across South Africa braved the heat and humidity to attend Smuts' convention. Smuts had planned carefully his line of attack, tailored to the needs and demands of each delegate, and he was sure that he would succeed. He knew that compromise on all issues would be impossible, so focused on the general principles, intending to leave more technical and less significant matters to the future South African Parliament.
The delegates, though, jealously guarded their own interests, and there were numerous disputes: On the powers of the provincial councils, the extension of the franchise, the location of the capital, the
official language of the Union, and even the size of the standardrailway gauge . Smuts resolved these issues with careful wording, vague promises, and compromise.The most hard-fought battles were between Smuts and the Orange delegates. Steyn and Hertzog were indomitable, and keen not to allow the Transvaal to dictate the general message of the Afrikaner people. Smuts was willing to compromise to achieve consensus. He agreed to create three separate capitals, at Cape Town, Pretoria, and
Bloemfontein . He agreed to give Dutch equal status to English in the constitution. Nevertheless, Smuts could not concede on any of his broader point of Union. Steyn and Hertzog were opposed to any Union that would reduce the powers of the provincial parliaments.Whilst Steyn and Hertzog could never accept such a conclusion, the other delegates already had. Gradually, over time, the resolve of the Orange delegates was worn down. The summer was drawing to a close, and the environment better set for conciliation. Smuts lay out his proposals in one final speech, drawing on the constitutions of a dozen nations, and argued passionately in favour of his ideal. In the end, the Orange delegates were forced to agree. They could not afford the Orange colony to become a footnote in South Africa, isolated from Smuts' grand ambitions. Besides, Steyn and Hertzog had secured many concessions that would compensate for the loss of sovereignty.
Smuts drew up a final draft, to which all the delegates agreed. The constitution was ratified by the Parliaments of the Cape Colony,
Orange River Colony , and the Transvaal. Natal even held areferendum , which was passed by a massive majority of the white electorate. Smuts and Botha took the constitution to London to be passed by theBritish Parliament . With the aid of more impassioned Smuts speeches, The Act of Union was passed. It was givenRoyal Assent by King Edward VII in December 1909. TheUnion of South Africa was born.
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