It was in his capacity as State Attorney that he accompanied President Kruger, when the latter met Lord (then Sir Alfred) Milner at Bloemfontein, and took part in the negotiation with Mr. Conyngham Greene, the British Agent at Pretoria. The young advocate and statesman suddenly found his country confronted with war, and shortly after the Boer Commandos had taken the field he was attached to General Joubert as a legal adviser and administrative officer for the territory in Natal occupied by the Republican forces.
LIEUT.-GEN. THE RT. HON. JAN C. SMUTS
Eventually, after the occupation of Pretoria by the British armies, he received a command in the western Transvaal as Vecht-General under General de la Rey. He proved himself a dashing and skilful commander, and by the boldness of his movements in the Cape Colony, in the later stages of the war, created a feeling of nervousness in Lord Kitchener's main communications. He was in supreme command in the Cape and was applying himself to the reduction of Ookiep when the news of the opening of peace negotiations brought him back to the Transvaal. His was one of the strongest voices at Vereeniging in favour of peace when terms would still be obtainable, and when the Treaty was signed he returned to the practice of his old profession.
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.