New Britain herald., 1929-12-20
Once One of Most Formi-
 dable Enemies of British
 Empire Later Became Valued General in the African Campaign.

U London, Dec. 20 tPt-The career
 gof General Jan Christian Shuts,
 @South African statesman. who sails
 from England December 24 on a
 brief visit to the United States,
 swhere he will be the guest of the League of Nations Union, exceeds the imaginings of even the writers of romantic fiction.
 ~s That one of the most formidable
 enemies of the British empire should
 4.have eventually become one of it's
 @most valued servants is in itself dra-
 matic enough, but Shuts whole life
 has been a succession of surprises,
 and whether on the field of battle
 ~or in the complex and often bitter
 Struggles of South African politics,
 ~he has always been a stormy petrel
 to whom adventures have seemed ~inseparable from normal everyday life.
 a44 Became State Attorney
 Born in Cape Colony 59 years ago. SSmuts completed his education at Cambridge university, England where his brilliance of intellect was generally recognized. Back in his home he took up legal career, and at the age of 2S became state attor- sney to the Boer President Kruger.
 .q Meanwhile, the famous Jameson 4raid had taken place, and it became obvious that a life and death strug- gle between Great Britain and the pBoers would be fought out on the sveldts of South Africa
 *a His birth and upbringing made it emevitable that Shuts would be Hound on the Boer side. He was first Aengaged in organizing work "behind
 the lines" but in 1900 he took the field. gr He distinguished himself in fight
 Ing under the leader De La Key and sWas soon promoted to the post of 8commander-in-c chief of the Boer Feommandoes in the Cape. e. Gives Remarkable Exhibition d. Here. with comparatively few
 men, he gave a remarkable exhibi- 1 stion of guerilla fighting and won, in particular, memorable victory at i sIarkasdtad in August, 1901. The fol- |
 lowing year found him still unde- Heated but the Boer cause was i ~crumbling in all directions and by i March the peace negotiations had l Commenced.
 4~ The late Loiis Botha-another | man who lived to render great serv-
 ice to the empire-was then the . chief Boer leader. And it was at | his instigation that Shuts was sum-
 moned to the peace negotiations l that finally concluded the war with | the peace of Vereeniging (May 31, | .le03).
 ss It was then that Shuts first dis aplayed his qualities of statesman | ship. He believed that the greatest | service he could render to his coun- try was to inaugurate a policy of and cooperation with the British, and it was largely through his influence that the "irreconcil- ables" on both sides were defeated az The World war brought Shuts back again to his old profession of arms. He campaigned against the sGeramans in South West Africa and ehelped both in his suppression of De, Vets and the other rebellions Of the former Boer leaders. His most notable campaign, however, was conducted against the German com- mander, Lettowvorbeck, in East Africa, the sequel to which has just been played out at a dinner in Lon don where the two former enemies met in peace and each bore tribute to the ability of the other. Made Member of Cabinet 2 Shuts came to London in 1917 T and was made a member of the war cabinet. His activities at this time were innumerable, one of the chief of them being the supervision Of h Iondon's air defenses. With Botha, he represented South Africa at the both there and later was largely in- strumental in getting the League of Nations on it's feet
 s Back in South Africa. he resumed his political career. the temporary eclipse of which has given him the Opportunity for his present visit 10 Europe and America.
 Botanist and philosopher (his book "Holism and Evolution,' pub lished in 9o6, caused the highest in- terest in learned circlcs), as we'll as soldier and politician. Shuts is at once the most versatile and one of the most intriguing figures in the