Louis Botha: Difference between revisions

'''Louis Botha''' ([[27 September]] 1862 – [[27 August]] 1919), was a Dutch South African statesman.

 

To his country Botha's death was an irreparable loss. He had attained an influence there, unprecedented even when the disposition of the Dutch South African to give his heart to trusted leaders is taken into account. He had won the devotion of the English-speaking people of the country as no other leader of Dutch birth had been able to win it. The native population believed in him and trusted him. Simple, modest, without personal ambition, he had yet the greatest gift in a national leader, personality. His kindliness was transparent, his temperament always inclined to compromise, his mind naturally impartial. In small things he inclined too often to give way. But in the big things his discernment of principle was unerring, his resolution adamant. Greatness was his by right of nature, a greatness recognized and acclaimed in his last years by the world no less than by his own countrymen.<ref>[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1922_Encyclopædia_Britannica/Botha,_Louis 1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Botha, Louis] Wikisource. Accessed 6 January, 2018.</ref>

 

[[Category:Index of people]]

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