The South African War, V

THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR.

BY DR. J. M. TANNER, PRESIDENT OF THE STATE AGRICULTURAL COL- LEGE, LOGAN, UTAH.

V.

As soon as it became evident to Great Britain that the first expedition of the troops to South Africa were insufficient to accomplish the purposes of the campaign, the number of soldiers was very materially increased, and, after repeated defeats of both General Buller and Lord Methuen, the English concluded to make a still further increase of the army and place it under the direction and control of England's greatest soldier, Lord Roberts. As Lord Roberts would necessarily need the aid of railroads, since the mobilization of the army was a matter of great interest and importance to the strategic movements of his forces, Lord Kitchener was dispatched to his assistance. Lord Kitchener had made a great reputation as an engineer in the campaign against the Mahdi on the upper Nile. For weeks and weeks every effort of General Buller to break the barriers at the Tugela River in Natal, and Lord Methuen's efforts to move beyond the Modder were successfully frustrated by the Boer armies. The most important campaign of the last thirty days has been that waged by Lord Roberts for the Relief of Kimberley and the defeat of General Cronje's army. After Lord Roberts had secured an army of about forty-five or fifty thousand soldiers, variously estimated, he undertook an attack upon General Cronje with a view of giving to Kimberley immediate relief. As soon as this enormous army had been concentrated in the immediate neighborhood of

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Cronje's men, the latter became perfectly aware that his position was untenable and therefore made immediate preparations for the relief of his artillery, whichit was his purpose to prevent from

falling into the hands of the enemy. The artillery and a certain — number of men the number at this time cannot be definitely stated— withdrew from the Boer forces with a view to escape, and especially with a view of protecting their artillery which it was hoped might be placed beyond the reach of the English, to be used later on in a defense of the Republics against the attacks of the English. The English had so recruited their cavalry as to make it impossible for Cronje to escape. On the 15th of February, General French succeeded in marching into Kimberley, the Boers having retired after finding that it was impossible to maintain their position any longer in this siege. Then began what will undoubtedly be known in history as one of the most celebrated retreats and defenses ever offered by heroic army. With an army of four thousand men, General Cronje for upwards of ten days withstood the English and made it possible for a portion of his men to escape with their artillery. This defense is remarkable, too, from the fact that it was conducted without the aid of any artillery whatever. Little by little, Cronje made his retreat in the direction of the capital of the Orange Free State until he reached a place called Paardeberg, in the bend of the Modder river. Here he began a system of defense by burrowing into the sand and so entrenching his men that the artillery fire had but little effect upon them. The Boers were surrounded on

all sides. They had in their camp women and children and a limited amount of provisions. The most they could do was to wait the attack of the enemy, who when he appeared within a sufficiently close range, was fired on by the Boers who were entrenched in the embankments which they had made for their defense. The British, however, had at their command every aid of modern warfare. With their baloons they were able to ascend to a distance beyond the reach of the Boer gun, and there look down with their glasses upon the entrenched Boers and furnish information to the besieging army. It became evident to all the world that Cronje's position could not be very long maintained; but the marvel of it was that he should hold out day after day against the expectations of

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every one. Finally he surrendered. There can be no doubt that Cronje's defeat and surrender was attended with certain advantages which he derived in placing his artillery, and perhaps a certain number of men, beyond the reach of the English. It is impossible to say just how large the Boer forces are. There are no available statistics, and the numbers given to us are of the roughest sort of estimates; they may be taken as mere guesses. Cronje is said to have had as many as twelve thousand men. This was the number given by the early English critics. That number was given when the English were excusing Lord Methuen's inability to make any further headway. If it be true that Cronje had that number of men, it is evident that the British got but a small fraction of his army. Others estimated the army as eight thousand — probably a more correct estimate. But even if that estimate is to be accepted as correct, then it is evident that he must have succeeded well in liberating a considerable portion of his army before his final surrender. The battle, then, of Paardeberg and the surrender of General Cronje constitute another important landmark in the history of the South African war. This surrender occurred on the 27th of February, twelve days after the relief of Kimberly and on the anniver- Majuba Hill, where the English, in 1881, had sary of the battle of met terrible defeat at the hands of the Boers. The day following Cronje's surrender, news of the relief of Ladysmith came, and England now went wild with joy. For week after week General Buller had been massing troops on the frontier

made way, by little, across the Tugela of Natal and had his little

the direction of the beleaguered city of and over the kopjes in

Ladysmith. For months, this garrison had been under constant fire and their provisions had become now so exhausted that General White informs us that he could hardly have held out beyond had to half a pound of meal the 2nd of April. The rations fallen

were decimated by disease, and the beleaa day and the ranks more and more into a desperate condiguered garrison were falling relief was a most fortunate one as it might have tion. This thousands of lives had it been delayed resulted in the loss of the campaign many days longer. Twelve thousand troops early in and it was the purpose of Lord had been shut up in this fort,

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Buller to relieve this portion of the English army. But it is said to have cost him something like four thousand men. Of course, these losses are not large when compared with those that befell the people of the United States during the civil war, or with those that befell the French and Germans during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71. When, however, the horrors of modern warfare are considered, and the small number of those opposing the English, are taken into account, the loss seems indeed unfortunate. The English now have relieved the two most important garrisons. Mafeking is still besieged, though it is thought that any day news of the relief of that garrison may be announced. Since the relief of Ladysmith and Kimberly, the fighting, for the most part, has been in the Republic of the Orange Free State and within about twenty miles of its capital, Bloemfontein. It is

hardly possible that the Boers intend to make any prolonged and stubborn resistance against the march of Lord Roberts with his fifty thousand soldiers to secure the Orange Free State capital.

From a political point of view, the fall of the capital may have some importance. It may dampen the ardor of some of the Free Staters. But its capture will have no strategic importance whatever. Its location and surroundings are not adapted for a prolonged defense. The resistance of the Boers in that part of Africa has no doubt another purpose than that of an attempt to prevent the fall of Bloemfontein, and though their resistance is not a stubborn one, resulting in considerable loss to the English, it must be evident that the Boers are somewhere concentrating their forces and so arranging their part of the campaign as to force an attack where they will have the best opportunities of defense. The world just now is curious to know where the Boer army is concentrated, whether somewhere at the Vaal river, or whether

they are making preparations for a final stand at Johannesburg the great mining camp —and Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal. If the Boers are determined to resist to the end, it is not unlikely that the siege of Pretoria may prove to be one of the most interesting in the annals of the war. Upon the fortifications of this capital and the ability of the Boers to offer a prolonged resistance, I shall have something to say in another article.

Not the least interesting of the features of this war are the

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sentiments engendered throughout continental Europe, and especially of the opinions entertained by the American people. The people of England are not altogether agreed upon the necessity of this unfortunate war, but they are practically agreed upon the intention of pursuing it to a successful issue. In London, a number of the leading editors have resigned their positions rather than support the policy of the paper against the pronounced convictions they hold upon the injustice of the war. A peace committee in England has gotten out an appeal. In that appeal a demand is made for a cessation of hostilities and a complete abandonment of the war. It is not necessary to say that such an appeal will prove entirely futile; the committe represents but an insignificant minority, and has not behind it sufficient leadership to give it any grave consideration at the hands of the English government. The address sent out, however, is important as illustrating the views entertained by the extreme opponents of the war. I submit this report as illustrating the feeling of the strong anti-war party, or, perhaps, I should say faction, now contending for the cessation of hostilities: To Our Fellow-Countrymen: We appeal to you to stop the war. It is an unjust war which ought never to have been provoked. It is a war in which we have nothing to gain, everything to lose. To "put it through" merely because we are in it is to add crime to crime. And all for what? Why are our sons and our brothers killing and being killed in South Africa? Why are happy homes made desolate, wives widowed, and children left fatherless? Let us face the facts! There would have been no war if we had consented to arbitration, which President Kruger begged for, but which we haughtily refused. There would have been no war if the govern-

ment had counted the cost. There would have been no war if the capitalists at the gold fields had not hoped it would reduce wages and increase dividends. There would have been no war but for the campaign of lies undertaken to make men mad against the Boers. And who are the Boers? The Boers are the Dutch of South Africa, white men, and Protestant Christians like ourselves. They read the same Bible, keep the same Sabbath, and pray to the same God as ourselves. They believe that they are fighting for freedom and fatherland, with the unanimous support of Europe except Turkey.

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What are we fighting for? We have been at war for three months, thousands have been killed and wounded, but to this day neither side knows what the other is fighting for. Each side asserts that the other is fighting for something which the other denies that it wants.

Why not call a truce? We might then get to know for the first time what is the real difference between us. And when we had in black and white what each side wants, we should then be able to see what could be done to arrange matters. If we could not agree on a settlement, then we ought to refer the difference to arbitration. If we "put it through" what does it mean? The sacrifice of the lives of twenty thousand of our brave sons. The slaughter of at least as many brave Boers. Hard times for the poor at home. Dislocation of trade. The increase of taxation. The waste of one hundred million pounds of our hard earned money. And in the end conscription! Is the game worth the candle? If we wade through blood to hoist

the Union Jack at Pretoria, our difficulties will then only have begun_ We shall have conquered a people we cannot govern. If we try to gov-

ern them against their will, we shall have to keep fifty thousand soldiers in their country. We do not want another Ireland in South Africa. Therefore, we appeal to you to stop the war and stop it now! Signed on behalf of the "Stop-the-War Committee." John Clifford, D. D., Chairman of General Committee. Silas K. Hockling, Chairman of Executive. W. M. Crook, Hon. Secretary. In the United States, it may safely be said, there is no very strong sympathy which favors the policy that led to the declaration of war between England -and the Boer Republics; and yet on the whole, the people of this country are not anti-English —they say nothing in disparagement of England's principles of goverment, her colonial policy, nor of the liberality manifested in her institutions. It is hard, however, to convince the American people generally that the war might not have been honorably avoided. Whether or not at this time, March 13th, President Kruger, as is rumored, is suing for peace, cannot now be determined, but it is safe to say that any effort on the part of the presidents of these republics to secure peace on any other terms than that of absolute surrender and annexation will prove fruitless. It is certain, however, that there is a growing feeling throughout the United States

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that hostilities should cease; that the reason for the war did not constitute a substantial causus belli, and now that England has regained in some measure her military prestige, she can afford to come to some sort of terms not altogether too humiliating to the republics. On the other hand, an appeal from Presidents Kruger and Steyn in the interest of peace may be a witness that they wish to bear to all the world that they would gladly evade or escape what seems to the rest of mankind unnecessary bloodshed. It may be, too, that they desire to bear evidence to their people that

England not only now seeks but has always sought the annihilation of these Dutch republics, and to convince their followers that the struggle is against an effort on the part of England to make the annihilation of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State complete. If this diplomacy should arouse a feeling of desperation in the breasts of the Boers, they will resist to the end. They are now undoubtedly preparing fortifications which are to mark the final If the defense is planned with that skill struggles in this war. planned and strategy which critics of military science believe will be is not in by the Boers, the struggle is by no means over, the end sight, and bloodshed and human suffering will pervail in the last degree. It may be remarked that Russia is at present undoubtedly

taking advantage of England's engagements elsewhere. She is

pressing her policy on the Persians who have recently accepted a

from Russia. Russia is rapidly increasing an anti-English loan sentiment in Persia. It may be, too, that wth a view of devour- be made ing Afghanistan that the rulers of that country will first Whatever may be the present strength of Russia and her mad. ability to cope with Great Britain, it is certain that in view of the of Russia. Russian policy, at present all conditions are in favor How England is to cope with Russia's aggressive policy, is a matter of the most unsatisfactory speculation from an English point From the war in South Africa, from the difficulties and of view. intrigues of Central and Eastern Asia, it can be easily seen how the

most obscure nation and even tribe of people may become an apple powers. The words of the of discord among the great European scarcely lost their ring, and in the midst Peace Conference have the most gigantic preparations for of their dying echoes are seen

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war that have been carried on within a quarter of a century. The war in South Africa is also teaching us the dangers of military intoxication. Military heroes of the world today overshadow the civilian from every point of view. One is naturally led to ask, what the end of it will be. Is it possible for such military preparations to go on year after year under the fever of excited national prejudices, without leading to dire national calamities. When the struggle now going on shall be over, the problems of peace will be further from solution than ever.