Ireland would not very much mind that kind of unionism!
The fact is, of course, that this instance of South Africa is a typical
example of the principles of unity and division working at the same
time. In regard to South Africa as a whole, the Union Act was a great
and beneficent grant of Home Rule. It was the end of a long period of
harassing interferences with the affairs of South Africa on the part of
the Imperial Government at home, through its High Commissioner on the
spot. That process is even now unfinished. It will probably in the end
have to be brought to completion by the inclusion within the authority
of the South African Parliament of countries like Rhodesia, and even,
perhaps, of Basutoland.
But in regard to South Africa itself, the same Act was a case of true
unionism required and necessitated by the conditions of the country.
Before 1909 the South African states were suffering within themselves
from excessive division of functions. They were quarrelling over
railways and tariffs. They were unable to pursue any common policy or
common aim. That perpetual division of functions weakened them in the
presence of the world, and rendered them unfit for local guidance.
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