11 NOVEMBER 1899, Page 13

LADYSMITH AND CANNAE.

[To Pus' EDITOR OF THE "spEcrAron..1 Brit,—WithOnt insinuating comparisons . between Ladysmith and Canute, perhaps the following passage from Livy referring to the preliminary 'skirmishes of Romans and Carthaginians before the Second Punic War forms as excel- lent a comment on the present war as could be found in the whole range of literature Hoc principium simul omenque bell nt summae rerum prosperum eventum, ita hand sane incruentaM ancipitisque certa minis victoriam Romanis por-