Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/30

 XXVI THE SOURCES OF THE NARRATIVE. or a personal narrative withheld (for the present) from this wholesome scrutiny is the designated yet hidden foundation of a statement which I make freely, in my own way, and in my own language. So, although when I found my statements upon a Parliamentary Paper or a published book, I commonly give my au- thority ; yet so far as concerns that part of the work which is based upon unpublished writings or private information — and this applies to an important part of the first, and to nearly the whole of the second volume — I in general make no reference to the grounds on which I rely. Hereafter it may be otherwise; but, for the present, this portion of the book must rest upon what, after all, is the chief basis of our historical knowledge — must rest upon the statement of one who had good means of knowing the truth. In the mean- while, I shall keep and leave ready the clue by which, in some later time, and without further aid from me, my statements may be traced to their sources. Por a period of now several years my knowledge of what T undertake to narrate has been growing more and more complete. Par from gathering assurance at the sight of the progress thus made, I am rather led to infer that approaches which continued so long might continue perhaps still longer; and it is not without a kind of reluctance that I pass from the tranquil state of one who is absorbing the truth, to that of one making it public. But the time has now come. A. W. K. 1st January 1SG3.