a history of times during a portion of which the author has moved among those whom it is his duty to describe.
Personal considerations may be dismissed as unworthy of contemplation. If he tell the truth an author cannot avoid making enemies; and if he palter with it he can deserve no friends.
In the present case the author has derived unspeakable assistance from local associations. He has conversed with some of those who were colonists in the eighteenth century, and with many thousands among the generations which succeeded the first comers. Such conversations have revealed the hopes and fears, and explained many of the turmoils of the past. Men's motives become known to their contemporaries. Often they make no attempt to conceal them, and they could not conceal them if they would. Friends betray what enemies long to discover.
The atmosphere of an epoch is a part of it, and he who breathes it must indeed be dull if he be in no degree imbued with the spirit of the time. History should be a picture of the past, and sight of the past is useful to him who would depict it.
It is not for the author to say whether he has profited by his opportunities; but it is right to acknowledge his obligations.
- Cotmandene,
- South Yarra, 8th May, 1897.
