The Project Gutenberg EBook of London to Ladysmith via Pretoria
by Winston Spencer Churchill

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Title: London to Ladysmith via Pretoria

Author: Winston Spencer Churchill

Release Date: December 23, 2004 [EBook #14426]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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LONDON TO LADYSMITH VIA PRETORIA

BY

WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL

AUTHOR OF
'THE STORY OF THE MALAKAND FIELD FORCE, 1897',
'THE RIVER WAR: AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE
RECONQUEST OF THE SOUDAN',
'SAVROLA: A ROMANCE'

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK AND BOMBAY
1900

DEDICATION

THIS COLLECTION OF LETTERS IS INSCRIBED TO

THE STAFF OF THE
NATAL GOVERNMENT RAILWAY

WHOSE CAREFUL AND COURAGEOUS DISCHARGE OF THEIR
EVERY-DAY DUTIES
AMID THE PERILS OF WAR
HAS MADE THEM HONOURABLY CONSPICUOUS
EVEN AMONG THEIR FELLOW COLONISTS

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

This small book is mainly a personal record of my adventures and
impressions during the first five months of the African War. It may also
be found to give a tolerably coherent account of the operations
conducted by Sir Redvers Buller for the Relief of Ladysmith. The
correspondence of which it is mainly composed appeared in the columns of
the _Morning Post_ newspaper, and I propose, if I am not interrupted by
the accidents of war, to continue the series of letters. The stir and
tumult of a camp do not favour calm or sustained thought, and whatever
is written herein must be regarded simply as the immediate effect
produced by men powerfully moved, and scenes swiftly changing upon what
I hope is a truth-seeking mind.

The fact that a man's life depends upon my discretion compels me to omit
an essential part of the story of my escape from the Boers; but if the
book and its author survive the war, and when the British flag is firmly
planted at Bloemfontein and Pretoria, I shall hasten to fill the gap in
the narrative.

WINSTON S. CHURCHILL.
_Mar