I acknowledge, with thanks to the authors concerned, and to Messrs. Macmillan and Co., their kind permission to reprint in this volume the following passages: that on p. 102, from the _Life of Lord Randolph Churchill_, by the Right Hon. Winston Churchill; three extracts, on pp. 59, 62, 83, from _Mahdiism and the Egyptian Soudan_, by Sir Francis Wingate; the passages from Lord Morley's _Life of Gladstone_, on pp. 97, 98, 101, 110; and the passages from Lord Cromer's _Modern Egypt_, on pp. 68, 69, 70, 87. I acknowledge also with thanks the permission of the proprietors of _The Times_ to reprint the various extracts from that journal; and the permission of the proprietors of _The Saturday Review_ to reprint the extract on p. 35. In dealing with a period so recent, I have inevitably been very dependent upon the courtesy of the owners of copyright, and I wish to express my gratitude for the readiness with which that courtesy has been extended in these important cases. I am also indebted to Messrs. Longmans, Green and Co. for permission to print extracts from Professor Mackail's _Life of William Morris_, and from Mr. Bernard Holland's _Life of the late Duke of Devonshire_, and to Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co. for similar permission to quote from _General Gordon's Journal_. R. H. G. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION v