In giving an account of the War in Syria, I have endeavoured to state the facts as they occurred, of most of which I was an eye-witness. The Levant Papers have furnished me with much useful information, and I have endeavoured to make no statements that cannot be borne out either by them or by documents in my own possession.

In writing a work of this kind I have been obliged to publish letters and extracts of letters from these Papers, in order to save the reader the trouble of examining them, and, indeed, it is not in the power of the public to get hold of Parliamentary Papers without a serious expense; this I trust will be a sufficient excuse for the numerous documents that I have thought it necessary to give.

May, 1842.