NEWS OF THE WEEK
HE Seretse affair can manifestly not be left where it is ; the issues it -raises are far too momentous for that. Let it be admitted that mixed marriages are generally discountenanced by both black and white in South Africa, and that they often work out unfor- tunately, particularly in the matter of the children. Let it be admitted that it is particularly embarrassing that the question should be raised in connection with one of the three British Protectorates whose incorporation in the South African Union the Union Govern- ment is constantly demanding, and at a time when that Government has committed itself to a native policy inconsistent with the prin- ciples of Christianity or even humanity.. Let it be admitted, in short, that Seretse has involved the British Government in all sorts of difficulties by doing what he has done. Does it follow that what he has done is illegitimate ; that he is being properly penalised for it ; and that incidentally (though in fact it is far from incidental in the minds of a people who believe in justice and fair play) it is quite reasonable that he should be invited to London to confer with the British Government and then told he will not be allowed to return ? That there is likely to be a crisis in the relations between the British Government and the Bamangwato tribe, whose loyalty to their chief is both moving and admirable, is a comparatively small matter. The question now dramatically raised is whether Europe, having carried civilisation and Christianity to Africa, is to accept the inevitable consequences or repudiate them. Is it a good thing that a young African chief should come to England to be educated ? Having come, is he to be segregated from his British fellow-citizens, or mix with them and learn all he can from them ? Is he to meet no English girls, to make no friendships with them, never to find a basis for a relationship transcending all differences of tradition and colour ? A British Commonwealth that demanded that would have no justification for existing. Nor would a religion which held that although in Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free, yet between black and white an impenetrable barrier must be per- manently maintained. In this matter the Government is wrong and public opinion right.
