 It was exactly as Hertzog had intended, for he sought to be portrayed as a defender of the Afrikaners.Upon his return to the Free State, Steyn said that Hertzog had been "martyred for what he had done for the Dutch".Before the 1913 conference of the South African Party, in Cape Town, Hertzog persuaded Christiaan De Wet to support his campaign against Louis Botha and Smuts.