IN presenting the XXXIId Volume of the Naval Chronicle to his readers, the Editor trusts, that as far as depended on his judgment and influence, they will be satisfied with his earnest endeavours to render it equal in value to any by which it has been preceded.

The peace with America—if such a term can properly be applied to an arrangement, rendered mutually convenient and desirable by reciprocal fears and embarrassing dilemmas—has occasioned the omission of those strictures on the state of our navy, and the American naval war, which had been composed to form a part of this preface.

With respect to the biographical memoirs that appear in this Volume, they will be found to differ materially from those which have preceded them: the Editor having endeavoured, wherever he could with propriety, to render them the vehicle whereby to lay before the eyes of those in power, the principal hardships which press on the naval service. To naval officers, the memoirs of living, or of recent characters, are of little interest, except they furnish the means of professional improvement, or abound with materials for thinking.

The first memoir is that of a distinguished young officer, whose courage and misfortunes were the least of his recommendations. The unwearied perseverance of Captain W. C. C. Dalyell, during nine years of captivity in France, to ameliorate the situation of the prisoners of war in either country, reflects the highest honour on his character, and entitles him to a prominent station in our gallery of naval heroes.