PREFACE.
It is a true joy to me, that I am enabled to place Part Second of my brother’s Autobiography in the hands of the Public without undue delay.
The amount of interesting and precious material, entrusted to me to be re-written and prepared for the Press, has, by its very abundance and variety, landed me in the greatest perplexity. Amidst all the toil and anxiety of producing such a book, my only painful experience has been the necessity of cutting out page after page, every whit as beautiful and valuable as any of the pages for which room has been found.
That observation applies very specially to the “Letters,” which constitute Chapter IX. These I verily regret to publish in mere fragments, instead of in their own rounded completeness.
Two whole Chapters, as outlined by my brother, I am sorrowfully necessitated to omit, so that the Life-Story itself may not be too much enlarged or overloaded. The one refers to “The Kanaka, or Labour Traffic in the South Seas”; and the other to “Annexation, and the Future of the New Hebrides.” Both are of vital import among the Public Questions of the day; and, in the discussion of both, his position and opportunities have led him to take a not inconsiderable share. But the claims of what may more properly be regarded as the Personal Narrative were paramount; and the allotted space, within the limits of this volume, left me, for the present at least, no other choice.
Readers would think me foolishly uplifted, if I indicated one-hundredth part of the chorus of approbation, that has reached me regarding Part First of this Autobiography. My best wish for the Second Volume is that it may be similarly welcomed; and that it may bring a special blessing to as many hearts in all quarters of the world. More than that I could not reasonably anticipate.
James Paton,
Editor.
Glasgow,
October, 1889.