In the interval between Vereeniging and the grant of responsible government, he took a leading part with General Botha in restoring the moral of the Boer people, which had suffered severely in the disastrous war, and also in preparing them for self-government. When, in 1907, responsible government was granted to the Transvaal, General Smuts assumed the portfolio of Colonial Secretary in General Botha's Ministry, and continued the work of national reconstruction and reconciliation between the two races and was largely responsible for the holding of the conferences on closer union which eventually culminated in the National Convention at which the South Africa Act, the Constitution of the Union, was framed. He held successively the portfolios of Defence, the Interior, Mines, and Finance in General Botha's First Union Cabinet, and amongst other legislative activities was responsible for the South African Defence Act, the machinery of which was severely tested in the Syndicalist strikes at Johannesburg of 1913 and 1914, and the unfortunate rebellion in the latter portion of that year and also the campaign in South West Africa. In March, 1916, Lieut.-General Smuts arrived in British East Africa and assumed command of the East African Expeditionary Force upon the pressing request of the Imperial Government and in succession to General Smith-Dorrien, who had been compelled to relinquish the command owing to a severe illness. Within a year he had driven the German troops from British territory, reduced them by two-thirds, and penned them into the southern and south-western malarial area with its one healthy spot at Mahenge. General Smuts is still a young man, though he has had exceptional experience. A scholar by taste, a lawyer by profession, and perforce a soldier, he represents a unique figure in the Empire. The boldness and energy of his leading as a General seem to suggest the born commander. As Statesman, his conceptions reveal an intuitive grasp of the fundamental ideals that must guide the present and inspire the future. In Monthly Parts, Price 2/- net. Parts I.-V. in Volume form, with extra matter, 15/- net. The Western Front DRAWINGS BY MUIRHEAD BONE "They illustrate admirably the daily life of the troops under my command." --F.M. SIR DOUGLAS HAIG, K.T. SOME RECENT PRESS NOTICES: "It is a matter for thankfulness that the authorities were able to secure the services of so distinguished an artist as Mr. Muirhead Bone to depict for us the conditions in the war zone of the Western Front. To give not only the thing seen but the spirit lying within it, that is the province of the imaginative and selective artist. And that is what Mr. Bone has done with a measure of success that almost defies exaggerated praise. He brings to his task the technique of a master and the vision of a true artist."--_Daily Telegraph._