P R E F A C E.
At length, after six years of unremitting toil, mental and physical, I have succeeded, to the entire exclusion of every other pursuit, in accomplishing an undertaking deemed by all most arduous, by many impracticable; disheartening truly in the perspective, but in the retrospect, a source to me of sincere gratification and, I hope I may add, of honourable pride.
That any apology will be considered necessary for the publication of the present work I cannot believe: it was due to the Service — it was due also to the country. To the country, it was due that it should be made acquainted with the merits, individually, of men to whose collective efforts it is, in the main, indebted for its proud pre-eminence in the scale of nations; and upon whom it must, in days to come, rely in a great measure for its permanent security. To the Profession, it was due that some exertion should be made to furnish a public memorial of the services performed, the dangers braved, the honours attained, and the disappointments suffered, by those who have fought and bled in support of England’s greatness, and who, during a long period of peace, have equally maintained her dignity, afforded protection to her commerce, and in every way guarded her interests.
Should any explanation, however, be looked for of the causes which have induced a civilian, previously unconnected with the Service, to embark in such an undertaking, the only excuse I have to offer is, that I perceived the necessity that existed for a book of the kind, and that I determined to attempt to supply it. The degree of success I may have achieved in the performance of my self-imposed task, it is not for me to estimate; but I can venture to claim credit for the most earnest zeal, the most unwearied industry, and the most undeviating impartiality in the prosecution of my labours.
