ven before the end of World War I the white settlers of Rhodesia had begun to divide themselves into two factions: the Unionists who favoured joining South Africa, and the Rhodesia Government Association which advocated self-government as a Colony under the British Crown leading to eventual independence.

he colonists were different in spirit from their compatriots who had colonized the other British African territories for several reasons: Rhodesia had come into existence not because of démarches presented by Whitehall to foreign powers but when Mr. Rhodes’s pioneers had outspanned their wagons at Salisbury; the settlers had been governed hitherto not by the Crown but by a commercial undertaking; the conquest of their land had not cost the British taxpayers a single penny; but for years now, although they had enjoyed an elected majority in the Legislative Council, executive power still lay with the Chartered Company. Political agitation among the European Rhodesians was devoted for years to bringing this anomaly to an end and substituting a locally-based administration.

nce federation with Northern Rhodesia had been ruled out after the war two alternatives lay before the Rhodesians: they could either federate with the four provinces of South Africa or create a self-supporting state of their own.

eneral Smuts gave support to the Unionists in the dispute. The mystic in him had developed the philosophy of Holism and he advocated the creation of a greater South Africa of which Rhodesia would be an integral part. He generously offered Rhodesians ten seats in a new South African parliament and promised to spend £5 000 000 during the next ten years on Rhodesian development if the country joined the Union.

ut the approach of the Responsible Government Association was more effective than Smuts’. It played on such things as the Rhodesians pride in their British heritage and the fear that bilingualism would adversely affect the prospect of promotion in the Civil Service and the Railways.

n 27 October 1922 the issue was settled at a referendum. 8,774 votes were cast for the R.G.A. and 5,989 forthe Unionists. Within the year internal self-government had been granted to Southern Rhodesia and Charles Coghian became her first Premier. During the negotiations the settlers had agreed to pay Whitehall £2,000,000 for the country’s Crown lands.