BOTHA, LUIS South African general and statesman, was born Sept. 27, 1862, near Greytown, Natal, of Boer parents, both of whom were children of "voortrekkers" from Cape Colony. The parents in 1869 migrated with their 13 children to Vrede in the O.F.S., and Botha got a thorough training in the rough and adventurous life of a border farmer. In 1884 he took part with Lukas Meyer in founding the New Republic in the Vryheid district of Zululand, and settled there with his bride Annie Emmett in 1886 as farmer and local official. In 1888 the New Republic joined the Transvaal, and Botha became field cornet of his district and for a short time native commissioner in Swazi land. In 1897 he was elected member for Vryheid and at Pretoria ranged himself with Joubert in opposition to Kruger's illiberal Uitlander policy and the system of shady concessions.
The South African War.—But, though he opposed the Boer ultimatum of October 1899, when war broke out Botha put all his skill and energy at the service of his people. At first a mere field cornet under Meyer, three weeks later on Meyer's illness he suc ceeded him in command, under Joubert, of the forces round Lady smith, and was responsible for the brilliant Boer successes at Co lenso and Spion Kop. At the end of March 1900, after Paardeberg and Buller's entry into Ladysmith, Joubert died and Botha was put in command of the Transvaal forces. He could then do little beyond delaying Roberts's march to Pretoria, and after two final battles at Diamond Hill and Bergendal joined the Free State forces under De Wet in the guerrilla tactics which prolonged the war for over 18 months (see SOUTH AFRICAN WAR). But when Botha saw that victory was hopeless and annexation inevitable he welcomed the chance of making peace at Vereeniging (May 31, 1902), whereby the honour of his people was secured and their nationality preserved. And, having made peace, he was resolute in observing its terms and in co-operating frankly in the work of the British empire to which his people now belonged. Though he took no part in Crown Colony government and naturally devoted his chief attention to the interests of the Boers, who looked on him as their leader, he was always ready to make friendly and informal representations to the government.
First Premier of the Transvaal.__When the Transvaal ob tained responsible government in 1907, his Het Volk party won the first elections and Botha was called upon to form a ministry. One of his first duties was to attend the Colonial Conference in London, where he gained respect and sympathy by his straight forward declarations of loyalty to the empire and by his policy of racial conciliation in the colony. By his conciliatory policy in the Transvaal he promoted a better feeling between Dutch and English throughout South Africa and helped towards a closer union of the four colonies. He himself had long realized the need of such union and welcomed Lord Selborne's Memoran dum of 1907 as a basis of discussion. The Transvaal delegation to the Convention of 1908-9, composed as it was of Dutch and English, most of whom had been fighting one another six years before, was, of all, the most effective and harmonious, owing chiefly to the tact and careful preparation of Botha and Smuts, who with their colleagues had worked out the policy which ultimately found expression in the constitution adopted. During the Convention Botha's influence was outstanding; while the final difficulty about the capital, which threatened to wreck the whole proceedings, was overcome by his personal appeal to his own die-hards.
The confidence of his own party and the Unionists' growing ap preciation of his conciliatory policy gave him the needful backing in dealing with two serious domestic difficulties in 1913 and 1914. The first was the question of settlement by Indian immigrants, to which there was strong opposition in South Africa, while M. K. Gandhi, supported by the Indian Government, proved an able advocate of the Indians' views. Finally a compromise was reached with which Gandhi professed himself satisfied. The other difficulty was more serious. In July 1913 there was a strike of the white miners on the Witwatersrand, accompanied by violence and threats of a native rising. Much against his will Botha had to call on the Imperial troops to deal with a domestic difficulty, and after a col lision between them and the Johannesburg mob, he and Smuts signed an unsatisfactory agreement with the strikers. In the fol lowing January a still more serious strike broke out. But this time the Government was prepared. The burgher force was called out, martial law was declared, and nine of the labour leaders were summarily deported without trial. The strike thereupon collapsed; and, though there was some criticism both in England and in South Africa at the high-handed methods of repression adopted, the South African Parliament endorsed the action taken by Botha and Smuts.