PREFACE
In laying
before the public another portion of my "Recollections,"
I gladly avail myself of the opportunity it offers me
for stating, thatI had prepared a short introduction to
the First Part, but which, through some mistake, was
omitted, causing me all the regret which such omission
was justly calculated to occasion. I think it necessary
here to state, that through the whole of the work
already published, of that now about to claim the
indulgence of the military world in particular, and of
its further extension, which may hereafter have need of
the same favour, one of my chief objects has been to
make no statement which I do not firmly believe to be in
strict accordance with truth. I have started with a
determination to avoid that mixture of fiction with
facts, - a practice which our most esteemed Historical
Novelists have, with infinite talent, so profusely
introduced into their admirable and most amusing works,
founded on facts. Yet, however proud I might feel at the
honour of participating, even in a slender degree, in
such distinguished public favour, still I wish it to be
clearly understood, that, in recording these
reminiscences, I have never lost sight of my first
intention.
My records are the result of memory, largely aided by
voluminous documents, journals, and copious notes on the
spot; and they have also been assisted by
communications, carefully sifted.
I feel satisfied that my statements may be received and
repeated as historical facts; my insertion of the names
of interested individuals in full, should be a
sufficient guarantie to that effect.
