Excerpt from James Outram, Vol. 1 of 2: A Biography Seventeen years ago, in accordance with the expressed desire of Sir James himself, the late Sir John Kaye had agreed to write the Life of Outram. What ability and power this brilliant writer would have brought to bear upon his task, the many readers of his War in Afghanistan and other books will readily understand. But ill-health and press of official and literary work interfered to prevent progress; and eventually Sir John Kaye died without carrying out his in tention. When in Paris during the winter of 1877 - 78, the question was referred to me whether I would assume this unfulfilled responsibility. Engaged at the time in the com pletion of an official report connected with a mission to the French island of Reunion, from which I had but just returned, the prospect of continued employment was agreeable to me. Though recently out of State harness, I had not been so chafed by the yoke of 'fixed Occupation as to seek to throw it off altogether: nor was I ambitious of a Leisure for which I did not possess the conventional qualifications. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.