VI
 

Publishers'' Preface
 

to let them know how their nation fought for its Indepen¬
dence and how their ancestors died * for the ashes of their
fathers and the temples of their Gods;" so, the publishers
decided to run the risk of publishing the book as soon as it
could explain the facts it had to tell, though none could be
more conscious of the faults of the language than they them¬
selves. Fifty years have passed and jet those who died for the
honour of their soil and race are looked upon as madmen and
villains by the world abroad; while their own kith and kin,
for whom they shed their blood, are ashamed even to own
them! To allow this state of public opinion, born of stupid
ignorance and purposely and systematically kept up by a band
of interested hirelings, to continue any longer, would have been a
national sin. So, the publishers have not waited till the language
of this translation could be rendered elegant. Which would
be more shameful—to let hideous calumny hover over and
smother down the spirit of martyrdom or to let some mistakes
creep into a book admittedly translated into a foreign tongue?
The first, at the best, was a crime, and the second, at the worst,
a venial literary offence. Therefore, the publishers owe no apology
to, nor would be asked for by, Indian readers for whose special
benefit the work is published.

But, to those sympathetic foreign readers who might be
inclined to read this book, we owe an apology for the faults
of the language and crave their indulgence for the same.
 

The Publishers.
 

London, May 10, 1909.