Part 2 (1/2)
”The as just a phase of world convulsion It made the first rent in the universal structure For years the trend of civilization was toward a super-Nationalises The Holy Roman Empire was a phase of Nationalism That was Catholic Then ca with Napoleon That was Protestant Now began the building of water-tight compartments, otherwise known as nations Germany represented the most complete development
”But that era of 'o,--is gone The four great empires,--Turkey, Germany, Russia and Austria,--have cruh estate It started the universal cataclysm Centuries in the future some perspective can be had and the results appraised
”Meanwhile, we can see the beginning The world is one Humanity is one and ht the peoples together The League of Nations is a faint and far-away evidence of this solidarity ItIt is not academic forence”
sht to a subject not without interest for Aether by the press, by wireless, indeed by all communication which represents the last word in scientific develop to old and archaic traditions Take the Presidency of the United States A urated The incumbent may work untold mischief in the meantime It is all due to the fact that in the days when the Aecoach and the horse were the only means of conveyance The world now travels by aeroplane and express train, yet the antiquated habits continue
”So with political parties and peoples, the British Eht abreast of the tione in the sense of colonies or subordinate nations clustering around oneinto a real League of Nations,--a group of partner peoples”
”What of America and the future?” I asked him
”America is the leaven of the future,” answered sue of Nations Without her the League is stifled
Aue the peace temper You Americans are a pacific people, sloar but terrible and irresistible when you once get at it The American is an individualist and in that new and inevitable internationalism the individual will stand out, the Ahout this particular experience at _Groote Schuur_ I could not helpon the contrast that the h a place of surpassing beauty Ahead brooded the black rant stillness broken only by the quick, almost passionate speech of this seer and thinker, ani ideal of public service, whose h places of poetry and philosophy on to the hiving battlefield of world event It seeed the storain claiure
The s before the Presidential election in America I do not know just what smuts thinks of the landslide that overwhelmed the Wilson administration and with it that well-known Article X, but I do know that he genuinely hopes that the United States somehoill have a share in the new international stewardshi+p of the world He would welcome any order that would enable us to play our part
No one can have contact with s at once his intense admiration for America One of his ambitions is to come to the United States It is characteristic of him that he has no desire to see skyscrapers and subways His prireat farms of the West ”Your people,” he once said toa science and I wish that South Africa could emulate them We have farms in vast area but we have not yet attained an adequate develope of American literature He knows Haently about the life and ti, Poe, Hawthorne and Emerson One reason why he admires the first American President is because he was a farmer
smuts knows asas he does about law and politics He said:
”I ahty per cent farmer and a Boer, and most people think a Boer is a barbarian”
Despite his scholarshi+p he rehts to call his, as this story will show
During the hile he was a e leaned on hi South African Major, fresh froht him a box of hoe was a piece of what the Boers call ”biltong,” which is dried venison The Major gave the package to an i servant in livery at the Savoy Hotel, where the General lived, to be delivered to hi out and encountered theit in When he learned that it was fro: ”I'll take it upaway vigorously on athe time of his life
The contrast between s These two er, stand out in the annals of the Boer Kruger was the dour, stolid, canny, provincial trader The only time that his interest ever left the confines of the Transvaal hen he sought an alliance with Williaht add, failed hie Washi+ngton of South Africa,--the far enough to knohen he was beaten and to rebuild out of the ruins Even the Nationalists trusted him and they do not trust smuts It is the old story of the prophet in his own country There are many people in South Africa today who believe that if Botha were alive there would be no secession movement
The Boers who oppose him politically call smuts ”Slim Jannie” The Dutch word ”slio smuts was in a conference with soether friendly to hiht that was prevailing One of the men present went to theand looked out
When asked the reason for this action he replied:
”sht I looked out to see if it was raining”
When you coy you behold the Alexander Hamilton of his nation, the brilliant student, soldier, and advocate Of all his Boer contemporaries he is the most cosmopolitan Nor is this due entirely to the fact that he went to Cae where he left a record for scholarshi+p, and speaks English with a decided accent It is because he has what ht be called world sense His career, and more especially his part at the Peace Conference and since, is a dramatization of it