T HE coming of the British to the Cape in 1795 (and
finally in 1806), was the second supreme event of
Afrikaner history. It was the British who scattered
these widely dispersed elements still more widely over the
subcontinent, and who finally welded them all together
again. This is not to deny the Afrikaners' own part in their
making, but to emphasize the part of the British as external
agent.

It has been said that Afrikanerdom could not exist without
its enemies, and that these are two in number, namely the
British and the Bantu. This generalization has all the defects
of its kind, but conveys a real truth. English-speaking
South Africans are sometimes startled by the speeches of
Afrikaner politicians, who bring out the skeleton of British
Imperialism and set its bones a-jangling, which has the effect
of simultaneously chilling and heating the electoral blood.
But there are signs that the skeleton is losing its power, and
that its place is now being taken by other external enemies,
for example, world opinion, United Nations, Communism,
Mr. Nehru, the new American imperialism, British negro-
philes and, nearer home, the English press and the Anglican
Church. It is a characteristic of Afrikaner nationalism that
it needs these enemies, even while it wistfully wishes it did

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