TH

HE year we treat of, afforded much

matter for History, and perhaps still more for Speculation. Though fruitful in great and extraordinary events, it seemed to threaten more than it expressly told. A war which desolated a great part of Europe, and might in its consequences have affected the political system of the whole, appeared at this time, as little more than a secondary object of consideration. Battles and sieges, the destruction of armies and feets, and the ruin of countries, however distant the scene of action, would, in times of less business and importance, have nearly superseded all other matter, and have been considered as the only objects, that demanded the care of the Writer, or that claimed the attention of the Public.

In the present instance it has been otherwise; and however interesting these subjects

of

GENERAL LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.

THE

Hagerman Collection

OF BOOKS RELATING TO

HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

BOUGHT WITH MONEY PLACED BY

JAMES J. HAGERMAN OF CLASS OF '61

IN THE HANDS OF

Professor Charles Kendall Adams

IN THE YEAR

1883.

. А.

1

Printed for J. DODSL EY, in Pall-Mall, 1771.