V 7 PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION OE THIS VOLUME. I SCARCE like to speak in one breath of our war against the Czar Nicholas, and our " war," as some of us call it, against the Egyptian Arabi ; but lessons taught in the strife maintained between powerful nations may of course be applied to the conduct of those lesser, more humble tasks which, however hght by comparison, are still in their purpose coercive, and involve a resort to armed force.'^'^ 'Form in peace-time a War Office ready to co- ' operate with your Admiralty in the business of ' warlike administration, and to enter on giant work
- from the moment of taking up arms ; yet whilst
- Lord Palmerston always refused to dignify any such task
with the august name of ' War. ' He for instance once set aside France, blew up the fortress of Acre, recovered Syria for the Sultan, repressed Mehemet Ali in the height of his power, and maintained all the while that his weak, useful word ' operation would serve well enough to express the full import of what he was doing. 432734
