have been made as concise as possible. Only the most memorable
circumstances have been dwelt upon, and the details introduced have
been drawn to some extent from documents not included in the volumes
referred to.

There was no reason for abridgment in treating of my father's
connection with Greece. In the service of that country he was less
able to achieve beneficial results than in Chili and Brazil; but
as, on that ground, he has been frequently traduced by critics and
historians, it seemed especially important to show how his successes
were greater than these critics and historians have represented, and
how his failures sprang from the faults of others and from misfortunes
by which he was the chief sufferer. The documents left by him,
moreover, afford abundant material for illustrating an eventful period
in modern history. The chapters referring to Greece and Greek affairs,
accordingly, enter with especial fullness into the circumstances
of Lord Dundonald's life at this time, and his connection with
contemporary politics.

Eight other chapters recount all that was of most public interest in
the thirty years of my father's life after his return from Greece.
Except during a brief period of active service in his profession,
when he had command of the British squadron in North American and West
Indian waters, those thirty years were chiefly spent in efforts--by
scientific research, by mechanical experiment, and by persevering
argument--to increase the naval power of his country, and in efforts
no less zealous to secure for himself that full reversal of the
wrongful sentence passed upon him in a former generation, which
could only be attained by public restitution of the official rank and
national honours of which he had been deprived.