The siege of Ladysmith will long remain in the memories of the age. The
annals of war furnish the record of many fierce struggles, in which men
and women have undergone sufferings more terrible and possibly shown a
devotion rising to sublimer heights. But the Boer War of 1899-1900 will
mark an epoch, and throughout its opening stage of four months the minds
of men, and the hopes and fears of the whole British race, centred upon
the little town in mid-Natal where Sir George White with his army
maintained a valiant resistance against a strenuous and determined foe
without, and disease and hunger and death within, until, to use his own
words, that slow-moving giant John Bull should pass from his slumber and
bestir himself to take back his own. For that reason alone the story of
Ladysmith will remain memorable. But it is a story which is brilliant in
brave deeds, which tells of danger boldly faced, of noble self-sacrifice
to duty, in calm endurance of many and growing evils--a story worth the
telling. Yet so far it has been told only in the necessarily disjointed
telegrams and letters of the press correspondents in the town. Native
runners who were captured and otherwise went astray, and the ruthless
pencil of the censor, were accountable for many gaps. Two or three of
the letters contained in the following pages escaped these perils, and
were published in the columns of the _Daily News_. The rest of the book
now appears for the first time.

The volume consists of pages from the letters and diaries of Mr. Henry
H.S. Pearse, the Special Correspondent of the _Daily News_. Mr. Pearse
was in Natal when the war broke out, and he was in Ladysmith during the
whole of the siege. He was fortunate enough to enjoy good health
throughout, and though he had some narrow escapes he was never hit. His
letters contain a complete story of the siege.