General Smuts Research Articles

GENERAL SMUTS ON THE WAR

GENERAL SMUTS ON THE WAR African Affairs, Volume 42, Issue 167, April 1943, Pages 59–68, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a093340 Published: 01 April 1943

Highway Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand

DR. BERNARD H. KNIGHT, research officer in highway engineering in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, has been appointed to the newly created chair of highway engineering in that University, with effect from April 1 next. It is believed that this chair of highway engineering, which is tenable in the Department of Civil Engineering, is the first of its kind to be founded in the British Empire outside Great Britain. Its establishment has been made possible by the joint support of the South African Iron and Steel Corporation and the National Road Board. Dr. Knight, who was formerly lecturer in road engineering at the College of Estate Management, London, was appointed senior research assistant in highway engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand early in 1939. Since then, three postgraduate scholarships in highway engineering have been established in its Department of Civil Engineering. The marked development in highway engineering research which has taken place at this University has been made possible by the provision of the new Civil Engineering Laboratories situated in the Hillman Building, which was officially opened by the Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, General Smuts, in June, 1941.

Notes on Erosion

Erosion is a world-wide problem. Europe is the continent least affected, though even in parts of Europe, for example the Russian steppes, erosion is n serious problem. In America, Asia and Africa its importance cannot be exagge rated. In regard to Africa, General Smuts has said Erosion is the biggest pro- blem confronting this country; bigger than any politics'. The Darbar consider that in our own State anti-erosion work is more important than even Medical Relief or Education. But, until the public have been further educated in the importance of this work, it would be hopeless to give it the priority to which it is entitled in our Budgets.

General Smuts and a New World Order

IT would be out of place to attempt to assess here the value of the address to members of both Houses of Parliament which was delivered on October 21 by General Smuts. Suffice it to put on record that he surveyed the war situation, paying a tribute to the people of Great Britain, but for whose exertions from 1939 onwards “this world of ours might have been lost for a thousand years, and another dark age might have settled down on the spirit of man”. This survey led him to a consideration of the real nature of the present struggle as a deadly conflict for the rights and liberties of the individual and for the ideals of man's ethical and spiritual life. He concluded with some thoughts on the future and on the social and international order at which we are aiming. Our ideas on this subject at the close of the War of 1914-18 were much too vague and the concept of a League of Nations too ambitious. This time we have accepted the name of “the United Nations”, which, if more moderate in outlook, seems more promising of practical effect. The Atlantic Charter also marks an important step forward in the international ordering of the world. Certain broad principles of social policy have also been agreed upon, and the Mutual Aid Agreement between the United Nations provides the beginning of international assistance of nations in need. In this field much of the Work and the machinery of the League of Nations is still of value.

COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT: THE PROGRESS TO PARTNERSHIP

THE selection of speeches by General Smuts which A has recently appeared under the title “Plans for a Better World”* makes its appearance at an opportune moment when, as recent debates in the House of Lords and House of Commons on Colonial policy demonstrate, many of the problems which General Smuts discusses, including the idea of trusteeship which he did so much to promote in the mandate system, are coming under close and critical review. The volume includes his presidential address to the British Association at its centenary meeting in London ; an address on science from the South African point of view ; and another address delivered in 1927 outlining his theory of holism. In this glimpse of General Smuts's views on science the volume does something to redress a conspicuous gap in Mrs. Millin's “Life”of General Smuts, and the picture it gives of the wide interests and sympathies of the author, his versatile and imaginative mind is both fair and balanced.

The Democracies and Honour

BY means of the radio, Mr. Winston Churchill and General Smuts, who will surely go down in history as two of the leading statesmen of these days, recently gave addresses which will mark, possibly the close of a stage, possibly the opening of a new period of activity, in the progress of the War. Mr. Churchill gave a careful and moderately worded survey of the present position in the Balkans, North Africa and the Atlantic. He did not minimize the difficulties of the situation, but he made it quite clear that we could not have done otherwise than we did in answering the call of Greece; to have left Greece to her fate “would be fatal to the honour of the British Empire, without which we could neither hope nor deserve to win this hard war”. It is by actions such as this, and by our bearing under the pitiless rain of blows aimed at our cities and our merchant ships as well as at our armed forces, that we have gained the admiration and support of the people of the United States, and in spite of all the arguments about American interests and safety being threatened by Nazi doctrines, “the action of the United States will be dictated not by methodical calculations of profit and loss, but by moral sentiments and that gleaming flash of resolve which lifts the hearts of men and nations, and springs from the spiritual foundations of human life itself”.

The War Policy of South Africa

Neutrality versus support of the British Commonwealth was the issue which confronted the Union of South Africa when Great Britain, on September 3, 1939, went to war with Germany. A glance at recent South African political history will assist the reader in understanding the significance of the political crisis which marked the Union's entry into the conflict. As the outcome of an earlier crisis at the end of 1932, when South Africa abandoned the gold standard, a Coalition Government headed by two Boer generals was formed. Genaral Hertzog, leader of the Afrikaans-speaking Nationalist party, who had been prime minister in the preceding Nationalist-Laborite Pact Government, continued in the premiership. The post of deputy prime minister in the Coalition Cabinet was taken by General Smuts, the head of the South African party (made up of both Afrikaans and Englishspeaking elements of the population), which had formed the Opposition to the Pact Government. When this Coalition of 1933 was welded into Fusion by the formation of the United party in 1934, the rô1e of the official Opposition was assumed by the extreme Nationalists under Dr. Malan. Minor parties in Parliament were the Laborites and the Dominion party, an offshoot of the South African party with strong pro-British sentiments.

Man's Passion for Freedom

GENERAL SMUTS in his well-considered and judicial broadcast from South Africa on July 21, drew a favourable augury for the outcome of the coming attack on Great Britain from the indomitable spirit and unfailing courage of Allied troops in the withdrawal from Dunkirk. Against such a rock the waves of attack will beat in vain. It is, however, the spirit which informed the broadcast by Lord Halifax on July 22 which will bring victory—“the unconquerable passion of man for freedom”. Hitler's policy he denounced as the gospel of hate, the policy of brute force, his message to mankind the enthralment of the human spirit under ruthless tyranny. It is perhaps permissible to suggest here that the fanaticism of Germany's irruption over the peoples of Western Europe admits a second comparison with 'ancient” history—the great fanatical spread of Islam. Then in east and west, in Spain and in Palestine, it fell to the peoples organized under the banner of Christianity to turn back the tide of invasion of an alien faith. The present war also is a struggle of the spirit of Christianity against the brutal force of paganism. As Lord Halifax said, “We must march together in this crusade for Christianity. We and our great Dominions oversea stand, and shall continue to stand, four-square against the forces of evil”.

Memorial to Sir Arnold Theiler

SIR ARNOLD THEILER, founder and first Secondly, said General Smuts, South Africans had director of the Veterinary Research Institute at been prone to honour men who had held high public Onderstepoort, near Pretoria, South Africa, died in posts in their country-statesmen, soldiers and out-London on July 25, 1936. His great services to standing public men. Sir Arnold, however, had not veterinary science were widely recognized during his been in the public eye, he had not occupied a high lifetime and many re wards and honours were showered on him. He received no less than seven honorary doctorates. Of other great distinctions may be mentioned his election to the Paris Academy of Sciences, the award of the Laveran Gold Medal, the Budapest Gold Medal, and the Gold Medal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. He was an honorary or corresponding member of some twenty scientific societies.

Science in Africa

IN his Rhodes Memorial lecture in 1929, General Smuts directed attention to the paucity of information available regarding the policies, activities and plans of the different European colonial powers in Africa, and made the valuable suggestion that a comprehensive survey should be undertaken to collect such material. A committee was appointed to give practical effect to his proposal; funds were made available by the Carnegie Corporation of New York; Sir Malcolm (now Lord) Hailey was invited to direct the survey, and a number of preparatory studies of different aspects of the survey were commissioned. Among other studies, Dr. E. B. Worthington, whose biological studies of East African lakes are well known, was asked to prepare a report on the progress of scientific research and technical services having a bearing on African development. Dr. Worthington began this work in the autumn of 1933, and in the course of his studies accompanied Lord Hailey during 1935 and 1936 in his visits to Nigeria, Dahomey, Togoland, the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Senegal and the French Sudan. Science in Africa A Review of Scientific Research relating to Tropical and Southern Africa. By Dr. E. B. Worthington. (Issued by the Committee of the African Research Survey under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.) Pp. xiv+746. (London, New York and Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1938.) 10s. 6d. net.

An African Survey

FOLLOWING an appeal for a comprehensive survey of Africa and its problems made by General Smuts in his Rhodes Memorial Lecture in 1929, an authoritative committee was formed to give effect to his proposal. Thanks to the generosity and vision of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, funds were made available, and Lord Hailey agreed to undertake the task on his retirement from the governorship of the United Provinces in India. Five years intensive work has produced a comparative study of the countries, peoples and their indigenous institutions and the influence of the different European Colonial Powers on the development of both in connexion with the exploitation of the natural resources of the whole of the mainland of Africa lying south of the Sahara, with the exception of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the Italian possessions and Liberia. The survey therefore covers an area in which a Dominion of the British Commonwealth, Great Britain, France, Belgium and Portugal “are engaged in a common task, though in some respects with widely different methods of approach.” An African Survey: A Study of Problems arising in Africa south of the Sahara. By Lord Hailey. (Issued by the Committee of the African Research Survey under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.) Pp. xxviii + 1838. (London, New York and Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1938.) 21s. net.

An African Survey

THIS great survey of the problems of Africa south of the Sahara carried out by Lord Hailey originated in a suggestion made by General Smuts in his Rhodes Lecture at Oxford in 1929, when he pointed out that Africa was developing under the control of a number of European powers, that different, and often conflicting principles were being applied in the administrative, social, educational and legal fields, but that nowhere was there any survey of what was taking place in Africa as a whole. His plea for a survey of the extent to which modern knowledge was being applied to African problems was met by the appointment of a committee consisting of Lord Lothian as chairman, Prof. Henry Clay, Prof. Reginald Coupland, Mr. Lionel Curtis, Sir Richard Gregory, Prof. Julian Huxley, Mr. Ivison Macadam, Dr. J. H. Oldham, Sir John Orr and Sir Arthur Salter, with Miss Hilda Matheson as secretary. The funds for the survey were chiefly provided by the Carnegie Trustees and later by the Rhodes Trust.

Philosophy of World Affairs

THE impressive appeal for national unity which Mr. Eden uttered at the annual banquet of the Royal Society of St. George contained many passages which should appeal particularly to the scientific worker. Recalling the rectorial address at St. Andrews in 1934 in which General Smuts emphasized the threat to freedom and self-government even then offered by the new experiments on the Continent, and pleading for freedom not as an abstract political ideal but as a creative force inspiring youth to noble action, Mr. Eden reminded his audience that to uphold our ideals arid our conception of life called for an effort and a spirit comparable with that made by the totalitarian States for their own purposes. For our faith in freedom, in toleration, in justice, the rule of law and co-operation, we should be prepared to make every contribution in our favour.

The Price of European Peace. By Frank Darvall, with preface by Lord Allen of Hurtwood, and criticisms by Count Bethlen and General Smuts. (London: William Hodge & Co., 1937. pp. xvi, 181. 5s.) - Nearing the Abyss. The Lesson of Ethiopia. By Lord Davies. (London: Constable & Co., 1936. pp. xvi, 182. Index. 3s. 6d.)

The Price of European Peace. By Frank Darvall, with preface by Lord Allen of Hurtwood, and criticisms by Count Bethlen and General Smuts. (London: William Hodge & Co., 1937. pp. xvi, 181. 5s.) - Nearing the Abyss. The Lesson of Ethiopia. By Lord Davies. (London: Constable & Co., 1936. pp. xvi, 182. Index. 3s. 6d.)

General Smuts and Grey Steel

Journal Article General Smuts and Grey Steel Get access 18. General Smuts. By Sarah Gertrude Millin. 1936. (London : Faber and Faber. 8vo. Vol. I. xv + 393 pp. 18s. Vol. II. xi + 496 pp. 18s.)19. Grey Steel. By H. C. Armstrong. 1937. (London : Arthur Barker. 8vo. 406 pp. 9s.) P. G. S. P. G. S. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 16, Issue 5, September-October 1937, Pages 793–794, https://doi.org/10.2307/2603836 Published: 01 September 1937

Educational Equipment for the New Age

THE address on the university in civic training, which General Smuts delivered at his installation as Chancellor of the University of Cape Town on March 2, did not receive the attention it deserved outside South Africa. It dealt with a theme which has recurred in many speeches since it was stressed by Sir James Barrett and others at the celebrations of the centenary of the University of London last year, and at the Conference on Academic Freedom at Oxford in 1935. The function of the university, General Smuts insisted, is not merely to give its students a professional qualification ; it is to impart the ideals of citizenship and to fit its graduates spiritually into the world in which they had not merely to earn their living but also to play their part worthily. The university must teach the humanities—the things which furnish the student with the larger human equipment for life.

General Smuts

FEW careers provide such a romantic story as that of General Smuts, and a biographer could scarcely fail to give a fascinating narrative from such a wealth of material. Yet with a man so versatile and manysided as General Smuts, that very wealth of material may prove the biographer's undoing, and while the scientific worker will appreciate the picture Mrs. Millin gives of the statesman, he can scarcely fail to lay down these volumes with a feeling of disappointment that so little justice has been done to the philosopher. One searches these volumes in vain for any comment upon the selection of General Smuts by the British Association to fill the office of president in its centenary year, and the philosophical views which Smuts has expounded under the name of holism receive scanty treatment. General Smuts By Sarah Gertrude Millin. Vol. 1. Pp. xv + 394 + 12 plates. Vol. 2. Pp. xi + 496 + 11 plates. (London: Faber and Faber, Ltd., 1936.) 18s. net each.

Medallions of Manganese Steel

WHEN King Edward, as Prince of Wales, visited the Hecla Works of Hadfields, Ltd., some years ago, he cast a medallion portrait of himself in manganese steel. A similar medallion, 20 inches in diameter, was recently cast showing the head and shoulders of General the Right Hon. J. C. Smuts, P.O., and both are now on view at the Johannesburg Empire Exhibition, of which General Smuts is honorary president. The manganese steel of which these medallions are made is run into the moulds at a temperature of about 1,450° C., but despite this high temperature, and owing to the specially developed moulding sand employed, the definition of the featiires is remarkable, each detail being reproduced as clearly as in a photograph.

Reviews of Books

Abstract General Smuts. By Sarah Gertrude Millin. (Faber & Faber, Ltd.). 2 Volumes, 18s. each. Lord Kitchener. By Arthur Hodges. (Thornton Butterworth Ltd.). 15s. Vital Peace. By Henry Wickham Steed. (Constable). 10s. Fifty Years with John Company. By Ursula Low. (John Murray). 15s. The War in Outline, 1914–1918. By Liddell Hart. (Faber & Faber, Ltd.). 5s. Les Corsaires du Sud et Le Pavillon Etoile. By Lieutenant de Vaisseau Lepotier. (Paris, Societé d'Editions geographiques maritimes et coloniales). Frs. 16 The Battle of Jutland. By Commander H. H. Frost, U.S.N. (U.S. Naval Institute, Annopolis; and B. F. Stevens and Brown, London). 20s. The Realities of Naval History. By Brian Tunstall (George Allen & Unwin, Ltd.). 6s. Naval Warfare. By Commander John Creswell, R.N. (Sampson, Low, Marston & Co.). 10s. 6d. Skagerrak. By Konteradmiral Friedrich Lützow. (Müller, München). Gone for a Sailor. By Captain Lionel Dawson, R.N. (Rich & Cowan, Ltd.). 15s. Manual of Military Law, 1929, Amendment No. 12, 1236. Published by command of the Army Council. (H.M. Stationery Office). 6d. Canada and the British Army. By C. P. Stacey. (Longmans, Green & Co.). 10s. 6d. The Australian Victories in France in 1918. By General Sir John Monash. (Angus & Robertson Ltd., Sydney). 6s. The War of the Guns—Western Front, 1917–1918. By Aubrey Wade. (B. T. Batsford Ltd., London) 7s. 6d. Military Organization and Administration. By Brigadier W. G. Lindsell, D.S.O., O.B.E., p.s.c., R.A. (16th Edition, Gale & Polden, Ltd.). 7s. 6d. The Liao-Yang Campaign. By Lieut.-Colonel A. H. Burne, D.S.O. (William Clowes). 5s. An Outline of British Military History, 1660–1936. By Majors D. H. Cole and E. C. Priestly. (Sifton Praed, Ltd.). 12s. 6d. The Infantry Battalion in War. By Lieut.-Colonel W. R. Wheeler, Infantry U.S. Army. (The Infantry Journal, Inc.). $3.00 An Elementary Study of Appreciations, Orders, and Messages. By Major W. K. M. Leader, M.C. (Sifton Praed, Ltd.). 7s. 6d. Mountain Warfare on the Sand Model. By Major D. B. Mackenzie. (Gale & Polden). 3s. 6d. Regimental History. By Major W. C. Likeman, Army Educational Corps (William May & Co., Ltd.). 3s. 6d. The History of the East Lancashire Regiment in the Great War, 1914–1918. (Littlebury Bros., Ltd.).

Freedom in the Present-day World

A few months ago General Smuts, as Rector of St. Andrews University, addressed a stirring appeal to the youth of the world to dedicate itself to the defence of the threatened cause of Freedom. As a young man, General Smuts fought in the Anglo-Boer war for the political freedom of the South African Republics. As a member of the British War Cabinet during the Great War, he was prominent among the Allied leaders in what was declared to be a war to “make the world safe for democracy”. As a signatory of the Treaty of Versailles, he was the first outstanding statesman who, on the very morrow of the signing, had the courage to confess the inadequacies of that settlement, and to appeal to a war-torn world to lay aside the passions of bitter conflict and return to sanity and co-operation. In the League of Nations, which he, more than anyone else, helped to conceive and bring into being, he has sought to create the machinery for the peaceful co-operation between nations.