Eventually, Welensky was comfortable with an African majority in Nyasaland and for the province to secede, seeking to preserve only a union of the two Rhodesias. But, as a Northern Rhodesian, he did not accept black majority rule for the territory and a battle was had with the British Government over its new constitution throughout 1961–62. Discussing Northern Rhodesia under African rule with Smith: "I am not prepared to hand power to the blacks. Personally I could not live in a country where they were in control."