ISRAEL MORT, OVERMAN A STORY OF THE BY JOHN SAUNDERS AUTHOR OF ⚫ABEL DRAKE'S WIFE' •HIRELL' &c. NEW EDITION HENRY S. KING & CO., LONDON 1877 251. DEDICATION. To the Right Honourable the LORD ABERDARE, Late MY LORD, In asking your permission to dedicate to you the novel of Israel Mort, Overman,' permit me to give some explanation. I am one of those who think they already see the advent of a time when our public men shall be judged, not by the conspicuousness or power of their position-by the bias of friend or enemy-by party triumphs or failures-not even mainly by mere reforms of the instrument of legislation, however necessary-but by the actual use they have made of their opportunities to promote the social well-being of their humbler fellow-men, and especially of those who most urgently needed help. When, my Lord, that day comes, I venture to predict your name will be most gratefully remembered in connection with the Act you succeeded in passing through Parliament, in spite of the most adverse influences: an Act which in itself, or in its developments, will prove to be the miner's Magna Charta.' I have the honour, my Lord, to subscribe myself, Your obedient Servant, JOHN SAUNDERS. |