INTRODUCTION

IX

with minor incidents in the inner life of the bodywhose history he was writing, cannot be satisfac-torily explained on any other supposition. He had,in an eminent degree, the gift of caution, of which agood specimen will be seen in his allusion to thecampaign of devastation on the coast of Sweden in1719. In the concluding portion of his work, wherehe discusses generally what may be called the navalposition of Russia, he speaks with less reserve;perhaps because the earlier portion was written yearby year whilst he was in the Russian service, whenhis MSS. would not have been secure against un-friendly inspection, whilst the rest was probablycommitted to paper after he had returned to hisown country. Owing to his caution and to hispersistent reticence about himself, it is impossibleto identify him from internal evidence. The title—indeed the fact of there being a formal title to thebook—would make it appear likely that it wascomposed with the deliberate intention of publishingit. The English reading public was interested inthe Russia of the day. Nevertheless, the work is notone which would have been likely to entertain manyreaders. It had, as it still has, its value. Thatvalue, however, is of a technical and, so to speak,official character. Its comparative brevity and itscontents would go far to justify us in awarding it aplace in a particular class of ‘ Reports.’ It is justthe sort of document which a British subject, whohad been employed in the naval or military serviceof a foreign state, might be expected to prepare forsubmission to his own Government on his returnhome. There is, however, no external evidence