Review of Bcririf^, 1/12113. 



PROGRESS OF THE WORLD. 



949 



The Split in South Africa. 



South Africa has been hardly hit 

 lately. Only two months ago we had 

 to chronicle the death of Mr. Sauer. 

 During November Sir Richard Solo- 

 mon, High Commissioner in London, 

 and Mr. A. Fischer, Minister of the In- 

 terior, passed away. Sir Richard had a 

 distinguished career in South Africa 

 before going to London to represent the 

 Transvaal, in 1907. He was legal ad- 

 viser to Lord Kitchener, and later At- 

 torney-General of the Transvaal. He 

 was born and educated at Cape Town. 

 Mr. Fischer was also born in Cape Town 

 in the same year (1850). After the war 

 he became Premier of the Orange River 

 Colony. He took an active part in the 

 Boer side before then. His death fur- 

 ther weakens General Botha's Ministry. 

 It was hoped that a reconciliation would 

 be effected between the Prime Minister 

 and General Hertzog at the National 

 Congress of the Afrikander Party. The 

 breach appears to have become wider 

 instead. The famous General De Wet 

 proposed that ex-President Steyn should 

 be elected leader. General Botha sug- 

 gested that the dispute be submitted to 

 a commission of seven members. The 

 latter proposal was accepted. The Com- 

 mission ."ailed in its mission, and Hert- 

 zog and De Wet finally seceded from 

 the Congress, accompanied by all the 

 Free State delegates, 90 in number. 

 The 131 delegates who remained con- 

 firmed General Botha in the leadership. 

 The seceders will form a new party, 

 which will force Botha into an arrange- 

 ment with the present opposition, led by 

 Sir T. W'. Smartt. 



Mexico. 



President Wilson still steadfastly re- 

 fuses to recognise General Huerta as 

 President of Mexico, and insists upon 

 his retiring before the United States 

 will resume diplomatic relations with 



heT neighbour. Were it not for the 

 stand taken by the United States it is 

 probable that Huerta would win 

 through. He seems to be somewhat the 

 same stamp of man as Porfirio Diaz, 

 that is, a man who has little regard for 

 individuals who oppose his march to 

 power. Mexico, it is true, became an 

 orderly community under the Diaz 

 regime. Before his time every election 

 was the occasion of a revolution, and at 

 times a state of anarchy reigned. The 

 iron-handed dictator crushed the nation 

 he ruled over. He found it a land of 

 peasant proprietors. He left it a land 

 of serfs. Madero, an idealist, headed 

 the revolt of the enslaved peons and 

 captured the Government and deposed 

 Diaz. In the ruthless strife that fol- 

 lowed, there was no room for a scholar 

 and thinker like Madero, and he was 

 speedily removed. Huerta employs the 

 Diaz methods, and again the crushed 

 peons have risen under Carranza, also 

 a man of learning, but without the 

 scruples which hampered Madero. Un- 

 doubtedly President Wilson sees in 

 Huerta a man who would be dictator, 

 and would continue the terrible 

 methods of Diaz, under whom self- 

 government ceased to exist. The un- 

 fortunate thing is that the Diaz system 

 appears to be the only one which will 

 insure tranquility. Constitutional 



methods at present result always in 

 civil strife. The action of France in 

 following the lead of the United States 

 has undoubtedly crippled Huerta, who 

 had counted upon loans from the Paris 

 market to carry him through. Although 

 Lord Cowdray, on the one hand, and 

 his rivals, the Standard Oil Company 

 on the other, declare that they are not 

 influencing the present strife, it is in- 

 evitable that the financial war between 

 them which started in the time of Diaz 

 must force them to take a hand in the 

 struggle now. American papers accuse 



