Sir Howard Douglas (1776 1861) fought in the Napoleonic wars in Spain, taught at the Royal Military College, served as lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, lord high commissioner of the Ionian Islands, and as a Conservative M.P. for Liverpool. A military scholar, fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Society and associate of the Institution of Naval Architects, he wrote widely on bridges, systems of defence and attack, and on Britain's North American provinces. Written in retirement, when Douglas became an unofficial advisor to a succession of prime ministers, this work...