Harold Macmillan, 3 February 1960; to the South African Parliament, Cape Town

Sir, as I've travelled the Union, I've found everywhere, I expected, a deep preoccupation what is happening in the of the African continent. I and sympathise with your interest these events and your anxiety them. Ever since the break of the Roman Empire, one the constant facts of political in Europe has been the of independent nations. They've come existence over the centuries in forms, different kinds of government, all have been inspired by deep keen feeling of nationalism, has grown as the nations grown. In the twentieth century especially since the end of war, the processes which gave to the nation states of have been repeated all over world. We have seen the of national consciousness in peoples have for centuries lived in upon some other power. Fifteen ago, this movement spread through . Many countries there, of different and civilisations, pressed their claim an independent national life. Today same thing is happening in . And the most striking of the impressions that I've formed I left London a month is of the strength of African national consciousness. In different , it takes different forms, but is happening everywhere. The wind change is blowing through this and, whether we like it not, this growth of national is a political fact. We all accept it as a , and our national policies must account of it. You will this better than anyone. You sprung from Europe, the home nationalism, and here in Africa yourselves created a free nation, new nation. Indeed, in this of our times, yours will recorded as the first of African nationalism. And this tide national consciousness, which is now in Africa, is a fact which you and we and other nations of the western are ultimately responsible. For its are to be found in achievements of western civilisation, in pushing forward of the frontiers knowledge, in the applying of in the service of human , in the expanding of food , in the speeding and multiplying the means of communication, and, above all and more than else, in the spread of . As I have said, this of national consciousness in Africa a political fact and we accept it as such. That , I would judge, that we've to come to terms with . I sincerely believe that if cannot do so, we may the precarious balance between east west on which the peace the world depends.