--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Burton, William W. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 3 number: 7 published: 1900-05 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'William W. Burton, "Sunshine and Shadow of Life: A Poem," *Improvement Era* 3, no. 7 (May 1900): 532–537.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera37unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera37unse start_page: 532 end_page: 537 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1900-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera37unse publication_year: 1900 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1900, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Sunshine and Shadow of Life: A Poem THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR. BY DR. J. M. TANNER, PRESIDENT OF THE STATE AGRICULTURAL COL- LEGE, LOGAN, UTAH. VI. Advices come to us from Pretoria by way of Lorenzo Marques, April 11, that another battle has been fought just south of Brandfort, and that six hundred British were killed and wounded and nine hundred taken prisoners. Brandfort lies about thirty-five miles north-east of Bloemfontein, the headquarters of Lord Robert's vast army. This is a Boer dispatch, but telegrams from London show that the English fear that it may be only too true, and they base this fear largely upon the general correctness of the statistics which have been given out by the Boers since the beginning of this war. Indeed the Boers have not only published conservative statistics of all the movements and encounters of the armies, but they were even conservative in their estimates of what the results of the war would be. President Kruger stating in the beginning that it would cost the English upwards of ten thousand men, whereas it is really only one-half of the number actually lost at this writing, and the most difficult undertakings of the war have not yet been reached. This dispatch seems to have been confirmed by one received at the same time by the Daily News, wherein it is said that Dewet, the Boer general, 'had inflicted a third defeat upon the Eaglish at Merkatsfontein, in which six hundred English were killed and wounded and nine hundred captured. The English are said to have lost twelve wagons. The report to the News says that there were only five Boers killed and nine THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR. 533 wounded. The fact that the war office is entirely silent upon this question and upon news generally from the front, creates all the stronger apprehension throughout England that these telegrams may after all be correct. Immediately after the surrender of General Cronje, Lord Roberts proceeded to occupy the capital of the Orange Free State, and to issue manifestoes to the burghers of that republic. In these manifestoes, terms of peace were offered, and inducements held out to withdraw as many of the Free Staters from the Boer army as possible. "We are informed that a number of these burghers accepted the conditions, and showed a great readiness to abandon what the English held out as a fruitless contest. Later, word was received that many of them had again taken up arms and joined other burghers in the north. There was a large peace party among the Free Staters, even at the outbreak of the war, and these were undoubtedly willing to welcome the English, and to offer Lord Roberts every facility to bring as many Boers as possible within the sphere of English influence. Notwithstanding the vast army which Lord Roberts had been able to amass at the capital of the Orange Free State, the Boers evidently discovered the weak points of it. It lacked the power of rapid mobilization, and, in such a country as that, would be comparatively helpless in its movements against the Boer forces, which, throughout the entire campaign, have shown the greatest mobility. In the first place, the Boers have but very few equipments. Their camp life is exceedingly simple, and they have become through generations inured to the peculiar climate of South Africa. Their horses are well adapted to the country, and considerable numbers of Boers can be moved about with but very little difficulty. On the other hand, the heavy equipments of the English soldiers, the demands of camp life, make it impossible to move with any great rapidity. The English cavalry was not numerous enough. It is said that thousands of the horses had died off, and that altogether the best the English could do was to remain quietly where they are now located, and wait the shipment of the necessary remounts to enable the English again to take up an aggressive campaign. This seems a marvelous condition, from a military point of view. Early last October, the war in South Africa broke 534 IMPROVEMENT ERA. out. Six months have now passed, and the spectacle of a vast army made helpless from want of ordinary precautions, precautions that well-informed military men evidently saw were necessary, is something that is creating strong adverse criticism throughout the military countries of Europe. Some supposed that as soon as Bloemfontein was occupied, the Boers would betake themselves northward and begin the fortification of the mountainous country about the river Vaal; that all their future actions would be entirely defensive; that they would await the on-coming of the English army; that they would be finally discouraged and disheartened, and await with patience their final stand in defense of the position they had taken. The public was informed through English dispatches that the backbone of the war had been broken; that there were serious disagreements between the Orange Free Staters and the people of the Transvaal; that President Steyn and President Kruger were not on the friendliest terms; Lord Roberts was the hero of the hour; in a few quick strokes he had broken down the most formidable opposition, and had taught the Boers, by the severest penalties, the force and effect of English arms. We are now awakened to a full realization that all this is not true; that the Boers are more active than they have ever been; that, as a matter of fact, they are not keeping themselves north of Bloemfontein out of the way of English arms; that their General Olivier, who had large guns and forces that were difficult to mobilize, had effected a marvelous retreat in which he had taken miles and miles of ox wagons, arms and men out of reach of the British, and placed them in a safe position in the northern part of the Orange Free State. We are further informed that the easily mobilized troops of the Boer army are making frequent attacks on the English outposts at Wepener and Reddersburg. Both these places are south of Bloemfontein. Railroad communication is being endangered, and the supplies, provisions and re-mounts from Cape Colony, for which Roberts is waiting, are in danger of being cut off by the Boer armies. Now and then, skirmishes take place between the English and the Boers, all of which have been to the advantage of the latter. We read how the Boers set traps, and how the English enter them. And most of this information comes from the English press, THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR. 535 through the strictest censorship exercised by Lord Roberts in that part of the country. It is natural, therefore, that the belief should be held that the worst has not been told. It should be remarked, however, in passing, that whatever may be said in praise of Boer tactics and their superior generalship, no one has even intimated that ithe English soldier has lost any of his fighting qualities, or that he was deserving of one word of disparagement. Tommy Atkins has shown himself the same plucky, fearless fighter as in bygone days, and no one has even sought to discredit in any measure his bravery and general soldierly qualities. So far as England has received any general discredit in the estimation of the military world, it seems to be discredit cast upon her generals. Lord Roberts and his chief of staff, Lord Kitchener, have both made great reputations, but they never made them fighting such foes as they now have to encounter. It is one thing to fight some mountain tribe in India, or the tribes of the Soudan, and another thing to encounter a plucky foe like the Boers. Of course, all through this war, it must be remembered, that nature and the defensive position have put the Boers at an immense advantage, but no one has ever supposed that that advantage would be as five to one, or, in some cases, ten to one. The size of the English army, at this time, is a matter of some interest, and it is noticed that the English are a little coy about telling the world how many soldiers they have actually put into the field, but competent critics have estimated that by May 1st, there will be from two hundred and seventy-five to three hundred thousand soldiers, and these will be encountering an army of something like thirty- five or forty thousand Boers. From this it will be seen that the English are counting upon at least eight to one. What a surprise thiswar has been! Even the surprises of the FrancoPrussian war did not seem so wonderful to the world at large as those which have been created by the struggle between the Boer republics and Great Britain, and it is not unlikely that these sur- prises, for various reasons, will be as striking and unexpected in in the past. In the first place, the the future as they have been the Eng- winter season is coming on, and we are now informsd by lish press that the army is not at all adequately clad, and that it will take a month or more for the factories to turn out the neces- 536 IMPROVEMENT ERA. sary clothing. Again, it will be more difficult to transport the army, and there is likely to be increased dangers from sickness, ^nd the inability of the soldiers to adapt themselves to the new conditions of South African life. What about Maf eking? This beleagured city, or fort, is a little more than two hundred miles north of Kimberley, on the railroad running north-easterly along the border lines between the British province of the west, to the Dutch republics of the east. After Kimberley was relieved, two weeks was set as the furthest time necessary to relieve Maf eking. It was reported, some days ago, that the relief party was within at least twenty-five or thirty miles, and that the garrison was in hope of immediate relief. Day after day has gone by, and the beleagured are forced to wait. But the English people are beginning to grow uneasy. Many of them are in deadly fear of Boer traps. Will the Boers succeed in overwhelming in some strategic manner the English general and the relief -force under his command? This hardly seems likely, because the lay of the country north of Kimberley, between the diamond fields and Maf eking, is comparatively open. The Boers do not enjoy the same advantages of natural fortifications that they had either in Natal or at Modder river. The truth perhaps is that the English find it extremely difficult, in the presence of the con- stant harassment of the Boer forces, to move their army very rapidly. They must take great caution that their supplies in the rear are not cut oflt, and that their communication with head-- quarters be kept open. All this necessitates time. It is time, too, that will prove very valuable to the republics. While portions of the army are thus harassing the English and preventing rapid movements, other portions are undoubtedly, at this time, engaging in works of fortifications that are likely to give the English exceeding difficutly in making their way to Pretoria. Two events of importance have transpired since the last article was written. One was the celebration of Saint Patrick's day, and the other the death of General Joubert. The disaffection in Ireland has been a source of some embarrassment to the British all through this v/ar; and in the minds of some Englishmen, it was almost treason to wear the Shamrock in England during Saint Patrick's day. But England has found it in the interest of the THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR. 537 empire to appease the Irish, and the Londoners were very profuse in their demonstration with the green, and the Shamrock was everywhere worn in testimony of English good-will toward Irishmen; and at this writing, the Queen, after an absence of thirtyseven years, is paying her respects to the Irish people by visiting their beautiful island. Many Englishmen fear that after the war is over, and the Boers have been forced to submit, they may have another Ireland on their hands, and, if so, two Irelands would create an extremely undesirable burden, if not some danger, to the British empire. In the death of General Joubert, the Boers are said to have lost their greatest general. Joubert was a descendant of those French Hugenots who emigrated to Africa in the middle of the seventeenth century. His name indicates his nationality. But of him it is said that he was more liberal than President Kruger. Kruger stood at the head of the civil affairs of the Republic, while Joubert was the commanding general. Upon the announcem-ent of General Joubert's death, the Queen sent letters of condolence to the General's wife, and Lord Roberts immediately dispatched his sympathy to President Kruger, on the death of so valiant a general, and so great a man. These letters of condolence and sympathy indicate the chivalrous disposition of the English leaders, and show their willingness to recognize a great man even though he be a Boer, and even though he had proved himself to be one of the most formidable opponents of the English people. Joubert came prominently before the world at the battle of Majuba Hill, in which three or four hundred Boers almost annihilated seven hundred English soldiers, even after the English had picked their own fighting ground, on a hill that seemed to them a desirable and a natural fortification. Of course, people generally throughout the world are wondering when the war will be over. President Kruger has allowed himself to be interviewed by the New York World. He there indicates, in unmistakable terms, that the Boers intend to fight to the death. He does not pretend that the Boers are invincible, but he does say that it may be months, and it may be years, before the English find themselves within the fortifications of Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal.