I have ventured to ask permission to dedicate this book to your
Lordship, as a mark of my sense of the great kindnesses you have been
pleased to show to me through a series of years. As you, my Lord, will
perhaps permit me to remind you, generous efforts have been made by
many with a view to reinstate me in a position of which they and you
consider me to have been unjustly deprived—an opinion, I believe, your
Lordship has formed from a knowledge of all the facts.
The recent death of Mr. Thomas Graham puts an end to any personal
feeling between him and myself, whoever was right or whoever was wrong,
or even if there were faults on both sides, the matters which caused
a severance are better forgotten—our differences are beyond human
adjustment.
The information I have attempted to give in the following pages is
given solely with a view to throw as much light as is possible upon a
subject which is now attracting very considerable attention, and which
has become of national importance.
It will be to me a great pleasure if I may thus express the gratitude
I feel for the valuable assistance I have received from your Lordship
during a time of great trial and anxiety.
I have the honour to be,
My Lord,
Your Lordship’s most faithfully obliged and humble servant,
GEORGE F. ANSELL.
To the Right Hon. Lord Kinnaird, K.T., F.R.G.S.,
Lord-Lieutenant of Perthshire, &c. &c. &c.