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. _March 10, 1900_. CONTENTS I. STEAMING SOUTH R.M.S. 'Dunottar Castle,' October 26 and October 29, 1899 II. THE STATE OF THE GAME Capetown; November 1, 1899 III. ALONG THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER East London: November 5, 1899 IV. IN NATAL Estcourt: November 6, 1899 V. A CRUISE IN THE ARMOURED TRAIN Estcourt: November 9, 1899 VI. DISTANT GUNS Estcourt: November 10, 1899 VII. THE FATE OF THE ARMOURED TRAIN Pretoria: November 20, 1899 VIII. PRISONERS OF WAR Pretoria: November 24, 1899 IX. THROUGH THE DUTCH CAMPS Pretoria: November 30, 1899 X. IN AFRIKANDER BONDS Pretoria: December 3, 1899 XI. I ESCAPE FROM THE BOERS Lourenço Marques: December 22, 1899 XII. BACK TO THE BRITISH LINES Frere: December 24, 1899 XIII. CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR Frere: January 4, 1900 XIV. A MILITARY DEMONSTRATION AND SOME GOOD NEWS Chieveley: January 8, 1900