General Smuts

This book has been revised -as to its facts, but not its opinions-by General Smuts. It is based on his papers, official and private; his writings, published and unpublished; letters to and from him; the material collected and cherished over forty-seven years by Mrs Smuts, for whose help the deepest gratitude is here expressed. Nothing has been withheld, nothing even inspected before being offered; no conditions have been made, no exceptions. The book is further based on knowledge common to South Africans; on facts and sources available to anyone in the world, and noted (if they have been published) at the end of each of the two volumes that make up the book. It is based on talk with General Smuts’ supporters and opponents, equally puzzled by something outside precedent; on talk with his family, on a personal experience extending over fourteen years; on an admiration increasing with this experience which, from fear of excess, may be sometimes unjustly subdued; on his casual and unguarded conversation; and on questions deliberately asked him, never evaded and scrupulously answered.