16 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts, and Letters. 
but this timely concession increased his zeal and put the Boers in 
a receptive mood. Britain had proved generous and trusted them. 
Now their great commander in the weary years of a life and death 
struggle came forward with appeals for union. ‘ ‘ The old Boers, ’ ’ 
said General Botha, “were pioneers of the Transvaal and as they 
were the pioneers in that matter so they should be on the question 
of Federation.”^® It held, indeed, promises of a great future 
for their race. They formed the majority of the total white popu¬ 
lation and in 1907 three out of the four governments were con¬ 
trolled by them. If united, the Boers had hopes of dominating a 
state which would rank with the great federations of Canada and 
Australia. Not all the Boers could appreciate these possibilities, 
but the majority of them were good “followers” and in Generals 
Botha and Smuts they possessed leaders and statesmen cast in a 
heroic mould. 
When the conditions appeared favorable members of Milner’s 
“Kindergarten” took prompt action. In 1906 a statement was 
drawn up which showed the urgent need for an administrative 
union.’^^ Through the assistance of Dr., later Sir, Starr Jameson, 
then prime minister at the Cape, this was brought before the people 
of South Africa. In a minute of November 28, 1906, his govern¬ 
ment invited the high commissioner. Lord Selborne, “to review 
the general situation in South Africa in such a manner as may 
enable the people of this country to appreciate the difficulties of 
administration under the present system, and to consider whether 
(and if so by what means) it is advisable to establish a central 
national government embracing all the British Colonies and Pro¬ 
tectorates. ’ 
Lord Selborne forwarded the minute to the governments of 
Natal, the Orange Kiver Colony, and the Transvaal and to the 
administrator of Southern Ehodesia.'^^ When these concurred in 
the request he issued, January 7, 1907, his famous Federation 
Memorandum, which included the above mentioned statement. 
The Memorandum presented in a clear, concise, and convincing 
manner the actual and unsatisfactory condition on the sub-con¬ 
tinent as well as the dangers connected with a continued disunion. 
Quotation from a speech at Standerton, Jan., 1907. Spender, General Botha, p. 194. 
The authors of this statement were Messrs. Lionel Curtis, W. L. Hichens, Patrick 
Duncan, R. H. Brand, and Feetham. See Worsfold, Union of South Africa, pp. 122, 
123; and Worsfold, The Reconstruction in the New Colonies Under Lord Milner (2 
vols., London, 1913), II, 398-399. 
’'“P.P., 1907, LVII, cd. 3564, p. 3. 
-‘^Jhid., p. 9. 
