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PREFACE

The writer had opportunities of mixing with different classes of the British people, and of hearing opinions on passing events from opposite standpoints of observation. Some of the events then under discussion were of national magnitude, and will be the subjects of history. Some of the men glanced at were the leaders of the land, and will have a place assigned to them among the most illustrious.

With no claim to literary excellence, these Letters can possess no value unless it be derived from the explanation now offered of the circumstances under which they were written.


Sydney, November, 1868.