h Africa, served with President Wilson on the League
of Nations commission of the peace conference.

Gen. Smuts was an active leader of the Boer Army in the field in
the Boer war. He is a graduate of Cambridge University in England,
served as state attorney for the South African Republic, and was
known as a member of the bar at Cape Town.

Accepting the outcome of the Boer war, he entered the service of
the British Government, becoming colonial secretary for the
Transvaal in 1907 and exercising a leading influence as a delegate
in the national convention in 1910, which drew up the constitution
for the present Union of South Africa. He was minister of the
defense of the South African Government and commanded the troops in
the campaign against the Germans in East Africa in 1916-17.
Promoted to be an honorary lieutenant-general, he was the South
African representative in the imperial war cabinet in 1917-18. This
led to his prominence in the peace conference and to his close
contact with President Wilson. On February 8, of this year, Premier
Smuts and the South African party won a decisive victory at the
polls over Gen. Hertzog and those who advocated the secession of
South Africa from the British Empire.

WRITTEN FOR THE NEW YORK EVENING POST AND THE WASHINGTON HERALD

_Pretoria, South Africa, January 8, 1921._

It has been suggested that I should write a short estimate and
appraisal of the work of President Wilson on the termination of his
Presidency of the United States of America. I feel I must comply with
the suggestion. I feel I may not remain silent when there is an
opportunity to say a word of appreciation for the work of one with whom
I came into close contact at a great period and who rendered the most
signal service to the great human cause.

There is a great saying of Mommsen (I believe) in reference to the
close of Hannibal's career in failure and eclipse: "On those whom the
gods love they lavish infinite joys and infinite sorrows." It has come
back to my mind in reference to the close of Wilson's career. For a few
brief moments he was not only the leader of the greatest State in the
world; he was raised to far giddier heights and became the center of
the world's hopes. And then he fell, misunderstood and rejected by his
own people, and his great career closes apparently in signal and tragic
defeat.

_Position of Terrible Gr