Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/311

 Literature of the Sotith African War 301 such as the 1848 Campaign, the struggle for Schleswig-Holstein, the 1866 Campaign, the Russo-Turkish War, the British occupation of Egypt and the Soudan, and possibly the American-Spanish War, has fallen a haze of obscurity, which history seems unlikely to lift. Thus it may be legitimate for historical purposes to classify cam- paigns in four groups : ( i ) purely local expeditions of no interest to the outside world, (2) the small wars of some temporary but no permanent importance, (3) the campaigns of considerable temporary interest but which fail to become landmarks in the history of the world, and (4) the contests which influence decisively the develop- ment of great national communities. Time is needed before any particular campaign can be finally assigned to one of these groups. It is as yet premature to classify the South African War of 1899-1902, but it would seem doubtful if it will attain the highest rank. This doubt as to the position which the campaign will occupy in the eyes of future historians renders it difiicult to estimate how far we are approaching finality in its historical examination. The assertion lately made in certain quarters, that everything that the general public cares to know has already been written, is, however, clear proof that the stream of popular ephemeral books which pours from the press during and immediately after a campaign, exciting national enthusiasm, has run dry, and that future literature will be confined to the professional scientific researches of the soldier and the historian. It is proposed in the present paper to review briefly the first class of works, and subsequently to discuss how far progress has as yet been made in the latter direction. Of the popular literature the first in the field were naturally the narratives of the war correspondents, who followed the fortunes of the British forces in the eastern or western theatres of war during the first nine months or year of the campaign. At the outset it will be remembered that Natal was the decisive point, and that thither the representatives of the leading London journals congregated. James of the Times, Steevens of the Daily Mail, Stuart of the Morning Post, Bennet Burleigh of the Daily Telegraph, ]Iaxwell of the Standard, and Pearse of the Daily Xczcs. All of them were shut up in Ladysmith except Bennet Burleigh, who slipped south when he saw his communications with the outer world threatened, and attached himself later to Buller's force. Many of them col- lated their experiences in book form. Of the stories of the siege the most vivid (although alas! incomplete, for enteric claimed the author as its victim early in January, 1900), was From Cape Toziii