PREFACE.

The historian of contemporary events labours under a two-fold

disadvantage: the ionfinished state of the period he attempts to depict

precludes the possibility of representing it in artistic form; the incom¬

pleteness of the circumstances with ivhich he deals, and the inability

accurately to gauge their results, make it impossible to indulge in cony

philosophical generalizations. Added to this, the want of perspective

that obtains in treating of events still in progress, makes it difficult

to rightly judge their relative importance. This account of the war

in the Soudan and the causes which led to it, must, therefore, be

regarded as a narrative rather than as a history.

T. A. H.

University College,

Toronto,

Canada.