PREFACE. cratic interest during the same year in France. The effects of the measures pursued during this period were not perceived at the time, but they are very apparent now. The seeds which produced such decisive results in after times were all sown during its continuance. It forms the subject of the first volume, now submitted to the public. DURING a period of peace the eras of history can not be so clearly perceived on a first and superficial glance as when they are marked by the decisive events of war; but they are not on that account the less obvious when their respective limits have been once ascertained. The triumphs of parties in the Senate-House or the Forum are not, in general, followed by the same immediate and decisive results as those of The Second Period is still more clearly armies in the field; and their consequen-marked; for it begins with the entire esces are often not fully developed for several tablishment of a Liberal government and years after they have taken place. But system of administration in France in they are equally real and decisive. The 1819, and ends with the Revolution which results do not follow with less certainty overthrew Charles X. in 1830. Foreign from the movements which have preceded transactions begin, during this era, to bethem. It is in tracing these results, and come of importance; for it embraces the connecting them with the changes in leg- revolutions of Spain, Portugal, Naples, and islation or opinion in which they origina- Piedmont in 1820; the rise of Greece as ted, that the great interest and utility of an independent state in the same year, the history of pacific periods consist. and the important wars of Russia with The periods which have passed over dur- Turkey and Persia in 1828 and 1829; ing the thirty-seven years of European na- and the vast conquests of England in Intional peace-from the Fall of Napoleon, dia over the Goorkhas and Burmese emin 1815, to the Accession of Louis Napol- pire. This period will be embraced in eon, in 1852—are not so vividly marked as the second volume of this history. those which occurred during the wars of topics it embraces are more various and the French Revolution, but they have a exciting than those in the first, but they distinctness of their own, and the changes are not more important they are the in which they terminated were not less growth which followed the seeds previ important. The resumption of cash pay-ously sown. England and France were ments in England in 1819 was not, to outward appearance, so striking an event as the battle of Austerlitz, but it was followed by results of equal permanent imThe Third Period commences with the portance. The Reform Bill was not the great debate on the Reform Bill-of two cause of so visible a change in human af- years' continuance-in England in 1831, fairs as the battle of Wagram, but it was and ends with the overthrow of the Whig attended with consequences equally grave Ministry, by the election of October, 1841. and lasting. Without pretending to have The great and lasting effects of the change discerned with perfect accuracy, as yet, in the Constitution of Great Britain, by the the most important of the many important passing of the Reform Act, partially develevents which have signalized this memo-oped themselves during this period; and rable era, it may be stated that it natu- the return of Sir Robert Peel to power rally divides itself into five periods. The First, commencing with the entry of the Allies into Paris after the fall of Napoleon, terminates with the passing of the Currency Act of 1819 in England, and the great creation of peers in the demo The still the leaders in the movement; the convulsions of the world were but the consequence of the throes in them. was the first great reaction against them. During the same time, the natural effects of the Revolution in France appeared in the government, unavoidable in the circumstances, of mingled force and corruption of Louis Philippe, and the growth of discontent in the inferior classes of society, from the disappointment of their expectations as to the results of the previous convulsion. Foreign episodes of surpassing interest signalize this period; for it contains the heroic effort of the Poles to restore their national independence in 1831; the revolt of Ibrahim Pacha, the bombardment of Acre, and the narrow escape of Turkey from ruin; our invasion of Afghanistan, and subsequent disaster there. This period, so rich in important changes and interesting events, will form the subject of the third volume. The Fourth Period, commencing with the noble constancy in adversity displayed by Sir Robert Peel and the English Government in 1842, terminates with the overthrow of Louis Philippe, and consequent European Revolutions in February, 1848. If these years were fraught with internal and social changes of the very highest moment to the future fortunes of Great Britain, and of the whole civilized world, they were not less distinguished by the brilliancy of her external triumphs. They witnessed the second expedition into Af ghanistan and capture of Cabul; the conclusion of a glorious peace with China under the walls of Nankin; the conquest of Scinde, and desperate passage of arms on the Sutlej. Never did appear in such striking colors the immense superiority which the arms of civilization had acquired over those of barbarism, as in this brief and animating period. The Fifth Period commences with the overthrow of Louis Philippe in February, 1848, and terminates with the seizure of supreme power by Louis Napoleon in 1852. It is, beyond all example, rich in external and internal events of the very highest moment, and attended by lasting consequences in every part of the world. It witnessed the spread of revolution over Germany and Italy, and the desperate military strife to which it gave rise; the brief but memorable campaign in Italy and Hungary; and the bloodless suppression of revolution in Great Britain and Ireland by the patriotism of her people and the firmness of her government. Interesting, however, as these events were, they yield in ultimate importance to those which, at the same period, were in progress in the distant parts of the earth. The rich territories of the Punjaub were, during it, added to the British dominions in India, which was now bounded only by At the Indus and the Himalaya snows. the same time, the spirit of republican aggrandizement, not less powerful in the New than in the Old World, impelled the Anglo-Saxons over their feeble neighbors in Mexico; Texas was overrun-CALIFORNIA Conquered-and the discovery of gold mines, of vast extent and surpassing riches, hitherto unknown to man, changed the fortunes of the world. The simultaneous discovery of mines of the same precious metal in AUSTRALIA acted as a magnet, which attracted the stream of migration and civilization, for the first time in the history of mankind, to the Eastern World; and now, while half a million Europeans annually land in America, and double the already marvelous rate of Transatlantic increase, a hundred thousand Anglo-Saxons yearly migrate to Australia, and lay the foundations of a second England and another Europe, in the vast seats provided there for their reception. That change Events so wonderful, and succeeding one another with such rapidity, must impress upon the most inconsiderate observer the belief of a great change going forward in human affairs, of which we are the unconscious instruments. is THE SECOND DISPERSION OF MANKIND; the spread of civilization, the extension of Christianity, over the hitherto desert and unpeopled parts of the earth. It is hard to say whether the passions of civilization, the discoveries of science, or the treasures of the wilderness have acted most powerfully in working out this great change. The first developed the energy in the breast of civilized man, which rendered him capable of great achievements, and inspired him with passions which prompted him to seek a wider and more unfettered situation for their gratification than the Old World could afford. The second, in the discoveries of steam, furnished him with the means of reaching with facility the most distant parts of the earth, and armed him with powers which rendered barbarous nations powerless to repel his advance; the third presented irresistible attractions, at the same time, in the most remote parts of the earth, which overcame the attachments of home and the indolence of aged civilization, and sent forth the hardy emigrant, a willing adventur er, to seek his fortune in the golden lottery of distant lands. ful causes, producing the dispersion of the No such power species, have come into operation since | from the effect of these very passions, the mankind were originally separated on the British family is rapidly increasing in dis Assyrian plains; and it took place from tant hemispheres, and that the human an attempt, springing from the pride and race is deriving fresh life and vigor, and ambition of man, as vain as the building spreading over the wilds of nature, from the Tower of Babel. the causes which portend its decline in its former habitations. As the history of a period fraught with such momentous changes, and distinguished by such ceaseless and rapid progress, as that which is undertaken in this work, of necessity brings the author in contact with all the great questions, social and political, which have agitated society dur That attempt was the endeavor to establish social felicity, and insure the fortunes of the species, by the mere spread of knowledge, and the establishment of emocratic institutions, irrespective of the moral training of the people. As this project was based on the pride of intellect, and rested on the doctrine of human perfectibility, so it met with the same resulting its continuance, he has deemed it esas the attempt, by a tower raised by human hands, to reach the heavens. Carried into execution by fallible agents, it was met and thwarted by their usual passions; and the selfishness and grasping desires of men led to a scene of discord and confusion unparalleled since the beginning of the world. But it terminated in the same result in Europe as in Asia: the building of the political tower of Babel in France was attended by consequences identical with those which had followed the construction of its predecessor on the plains of Shinar. The dispersion of mankind followed, in both cases, the vain attempt; and after, and through the agency of a protracted period of suffering, men in surpassing multitudes found themselves settled in new habitations, and forever severed from the land of their birth, from the consequences of the visionary projects in which they had been engaged. sential invariably to follow out the two rules which were observed in his former publication. These were, to give invariably at the end of every paragraph the authorities, by volume and page, on which it is founded; and never to introduce a great question without giving as copious an abstract as the limits of the work will admit, of the facts and arguments brought forward on both sides. The latter, especially, seemed to be peculiarly called for in a work which is more occupied with social and political than with military changes, and which is occupied with a period when the victories were won in the Forum or the Senate-House, not the field. The author has made no attempt to disguise his own opinions on every subject; but he has not exerted himself the less anxiously to give, with all the force and clearness in his power, those which are adverse to it; and he should regret to Views of this kind must, in the present think that the reader could find in any aspect of human affairs, force themselves other publication a more forcible abstract upon the most inconsiderate mind; and of the arguments in favor of Parliamentthey tend at once to unfold the designs of ary Reform, a Contracted Currency foundProvidence, now so manifest in the direc-ed on the retention of gold, or Free Trade tion of human affairs, and to reconcile us in corn and shipping, than are to be met to much which might lead to desponding with in this. views if we confined our survey to the fortunes of particular states. An examination of the social and political condition of the principal European monarchies, particularly France and England, at this time, and a retrospect of the changes they have undergone during the last thirty years, must probably lead every impartial person to the conclusion that the period of their greatest national eminence has passed, and that the passions by which they are now animated are those which tend to shorten their existence. But we shall cease to regard this inevitable change with melancholy, when we reflect that, In making this abstract, he has adopted two rules, which seemed essential to the combining a faithful record of opposite opinions with the interest and limits necessary in a work of general history. The first is to give one argument only on each side, and not attempt to give separate abstracts of the speeches of different men. Felicitous or eloquent expressions are occasionally preserved; but, in general, the argument given is rather an abridgment of the best parts of the arguments of many different speakers than a transcript of the oration of any one. That this is necessary, must be obvious, from the considera |