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.