On the 26th, Joseph said: "Poor Rigdon, I am glad he is gone to Pittsburg, out of the way; were he to preside, he would lead the Church to destruction in less than five years." It might have been said before, that when they were in Ohio, returning to Kirtland from a mission to Canada, in 1837, Joseph carried Sidney, who was sick, weak and scared, upon his (Joseph's) back and waded in the night through a swampy cross-country, and they thus escaped from mobocratic enemies, who were waiting in the regular road to seize them.

Joseph and Hyrum were shot and murdered in Carthage Jail by the mob, on the evening of the 27th.

"Murder most foul, as at the best it is." But this in spite of honor's sacred pledge of safety, given by the governor. An everlasting blot on Illinois' escutcheon.

Willard Richards and John Taylor were with them in jail when the crime was committed. Brother Taylor was shot and severely wounded by the mob, at the same time.

Upon that fatal day, of the twelve, Brigham Young, Orson Hyde, and Wilford Woodruff were in Boston; Heber C. Kimball and Lyman Wight were in Philadelphia and New York; P. P. Pratt was on a canal boat between Utica and Buffalo, N. Y.; George A. Smith was in Jackson Co., Michigan, and Amasa Lyman was in Cincinnati. On hearing the sad news, they started for Nauvoo.

President Sidney Rigdom arrived at Nauvoo from Pittsburg, August 3. Elders P. P. Pratt, W. Richards and Geo. A. Smith invited him to meet in council on the morning of the 4th, which he agreed to.

On Sunday, 4th, Elders Pratt, Richards and Smith, met in council and waited an hour for Elder Rigdon, who excused himself afterwards by saying he was engaged with a lawyer.

At 10 a. m., at the meeting at the stand, "Elder Rigdon preached from the words: For my thoughts are not as your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.' He related a vision which he said the Lord had shown him concerning the situation of The Church, and said there must be a guardian appointed to build The Church up to Joseph, as he had begun it.

"He said he was the identical man that the ancient prophets had sung about, wrote and rejoiced over, and that he was sent to

do the identical work that had been the theme of all the prophets in every preceding generation. He said that the Lord's ways were not as our ways, for the Lord said He would 'Hiss for the fly from the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria,' and thereby destroy his enemies; that the time was near at hand when he would see one hundred tons of metal per second thrown at the enemies of God, and that the blood would be to the horses' bridles; and that he expected to walk into the palace of Queen Victoria and lead her out by the nose, when no one would have the power to say, 'Why do ye so?' and, if it were not for two or three things which he knew, this people would be utterly destroyed, and not a soul left to tell the tale."

His talking in this strain showed that his mind was failing. "Elder P. P. Pratt in referring to the remarks of Brother Rigdon, on a subsequent occasion, said, 'I am the identical man the prophets never sang nor wrote a word about.'"

In the afternoon, "Elder William Marks, president of the Stake, gave public notice (at the request of Elder Rigdon) that there would be a special meeting of The Church at the stand, on Thursday, the 8th instant, for the purpose of choosing a guardian (president and trustees).

"Dr. Richards proposed waiting till the twelve apostles returned, and told the Saints to ask wisdom of God.

"Elder Grover proposed waiting to examine the revelation. "Elder Marks said President Rigdon wanted the meeting on Tuesday, but he put it off till Thursday; that Elder Rigdon was some distance from his family, and wanted to know if this people had anything for him to do: if not, he wanted to go on his way, for there was a people numbering thousands and tens of thousands who would receive him; that he wanted to visit other branches around, but he had come here first.

"Elder Rich called upon William Clayton, and said he was dissatisfied with the hurried movement of Elder Rigdon. He considered, inasmuch as the twelve had been sent for and were soon expected home, the notice for meeting was premature, and it seemed to him a plot laid to take advantage of the situation of the Saints."

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. 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

Cronje's men, the latter became perfectly aware that his position was untenable and therefore made immediate preparations for the relief of his artillery, which it 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

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 anniversary of the battle of Majuba Hill, where the English, in 1881, had 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 of Natal and had made his way, little by little, across the Tugela and over the kopjes in the direction of the beleaguered city of 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 the 2nd of April. The rations had fallen to half a pound of meal a day and the ranks were decimated by disease, and the beleaguered garrison were falling more and more into a desperate condition. This relief was a most fortunate one as it might have resulted in the loss of thousands of lives had it been delayed many days longer. Twelve thousand troops early in the campaign had been shut up in this fort, and it was the purpose of Lord