Published 1869.
TO MISS ANGELA BURDETT COUTTS,
WHOSE HONOURED FATHER
WAS THE FIRMEST AND MOST CONSTANT FRIEND AND SUPPORTER
OF MY FATHER,
DURING A CAREER DEVOTED TO THE WELFARE OF HIS COUNTRY
AND THE HONOUR OF HIS PROFESSION,
AND WHOM IT IS MY HAPPINESS AND PRIVILEGE TO CALL MY FRIEND,
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED,
WITH ALL RESPECT AND REGARD,
BYHER ATTACHED AND FAITHFUL SERVANT,
DUNDONALD.
In these Volumes is recounted the public life of my late father fromthe period to which the narrative was brought down by himself in hisunfinished "Autobiography of a Seaman." The completion of that workwas prevented by his death, which occurred almost immediately afterthe publication of the Second Volume, eight years and a half ago.I had hoped to supplement it sooner; but in this hope I have beenthwarted.
My father's papers were, at the time of his death, in the hands ofa gentleman who had assisted him in the preparation of his"Autobiography," and to this gentleman was entrusted the completionof the work. Illness and other occupations, however, interfered, and,after a lapse of about two years, he died, leaving the papers, ofwhich no use had been made by him, to fall into the possession ofothers. Only after long delay and considerable trouble and expense wasI able to recover them and realize my long-cherished purpose.
Further delay in the publication of this book has arisen from myhaving been compelled, as my father's executor, to make three long andlaborious journeys to Brazil, which have engrossed much time.
At length, however, I find myself able to pay the debt which Iowe both to my father's memory and to the public, by whom the"Autobiography of a Seaman" was read with so much interest. At thebeginning of last year I placed all the necessary documents in thehands of my friend, Mr. H.R. Fox Bourne, asking him to handle themwith the same zeal of research and impartiality of judgment which hehas shown in his already published works. I have also furnishedhim with my own reminiscences of so much of my father's life as waspersonally known to me; and he has availed himself of all the helpthat could be obtained from other sources of information, both privateand public. He has written the book to the best of his ability, and Ihave done my utmost to help him in making it as complete and accurateas possible. We hope that the late Earl of Dundonald's life andcharacter have been all the better delineated in that the work hasgrown out of the personal knowledge of his son and the unbiassedjudgment of a stranger.
A long time having elapsed since the publication of the "Autobiographyof a Seaman," it has been thought well to give a brief recapitulationof its story in an opening chapter.
The four following chapters recount my father's history during thefive years following the cruel Stock Exchange trial, the subject lasttreated of in the "Autobiography." It is not strange that theharsh treatment to which he was subjected should have led him intoopposition, in which there was some violence, which he afterwardscondemned, against the Government of the day. But, if there werecircumstances to be regretted in this portion of his career, it showsalmost more plainly than any other with what strength of philanthropyhe