THIS is the second volume of that work dealing I with new phases of military science as they affect national existence which has occupied my time for several years past. The first volume was The Valour of Ignorance; the third is not yet completed.
I have many persons to thank for the interest they have shown in the progress of this volume, and I wish particularly to thank Sir John George Tollemache Sinclair, Bart, of Thurso Castle, who has been most kind in securing various data, etc., for me.
This book has been written under numerous difficulties. Begun in America, parts were written upon every continent and every sea, being finally completed in Asia. Begun in profound peace, the concluding chapters were finished upon a recent field of battle.