A General and very reasonable objection is made against memoirs written by near relatives, and yet the danger to be apprehended from their partiality is not perhaps quite so great as it might seem. At any rate it is not wholly avoided by transferring the task to a stranger. It has been well observed, that “biographers, translators, editors, all, in short, who employ themselves in illustrating the lives or the writings of others, are peculiarly exposed to the disease of admiration.” Now a near relative may be especially liable to this infirmity; but then he is especially on his guard against it. He cannot eulogise: he must state facts, and leave the reader to draw conclusions for himself.

The task of compiling my father's memoirs was placed in my hands by his executors, partly because those whose literary abilities would have pointed them out as fitted for the task were not at leisure to undertake it; and partly because it involved the perusal of a large mass of private papers, which could not well have been submitted to the inspection of any one not a member of his family. I could hardly refuse so interesting, though responsible, a duty.

A considerable portion of this work relates to the emancipation of the slaves in the West Indies; and I cannot help feeling some anxiety lest it may give a false prominence to my father's exertions in the accomplishment of that event, which was, in fact, achieved by the strenuous efforts of many men, working in very different spheres.