HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY CAMBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by D. APPLETON AND CO., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. THIS Edition, which is the first American, is printed from the last and revised London Edition. It has the express sanction of the Author, whose unreserved assent to the republication and to my editorial care of it are entitled to an acknowledgment, which I am the more studious to make, in consideration of the want of international copyright protection. The acknowledgment of an Author's liberal consent to the reprinting of his work is especially due, in the absence of such compact as might-beneficially, because justly—extend the rights of both British and American authorship as far as the homes of all who speak the English tongue. The Notes introduced in this Edition are printed within brackets and below a line at the foot of the page, so that they may readily be distinguished from the Author's own. These editorial Notes are for the most part either such as have been suggested by historical materials published since the completion of the second edition of the work in 1846; or such as have a connection with American history, and are therefore appropriate here. I have endeavoured to practise such reserve of annotation, as to avoid, I hope, whatever might be thought impertinent or intrusive on the text. PHILADELPHIA, January 11, 1849. H. R. ΤΟ ALEXANDER DALLAS BACHE, LL. D. SUPERINTENDENT OF THE UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY. MY DEAR FRIEND, IT may well be doubted whether the subordinate function of editorship can claim any right of dedication: but a desire to inscribe this edition to you tempts me to give little heed to the doubt; and in taking this liberty with the Author's book, I venture to find some encouragement in the cordiality of his assent to my editorial connection with it. There is, moreover, an historic association, which, if need be, will, I trust, justify me in dedicating to a lineal descendant of Franklin these volumes from the pen of a Stanhope. When in the year 1775, in those private interviews which have become part of history, William Pitt and Benjamin Franklin met in the spirit of enlarged and sagacious statesmanship to consult on measures of conciliation between England and her discontented colonies, those conferences were brought about by the friendly courtesy of two of the Author's forefathers-the second Earl Stanhope and his son (the son-in-law of Chatham), the Lord Mahon of that generation. Their attentions are recorded by Franklin as something more than civilities, for they were directed to the welfare of America and the security of the constitutional rights of American colonists. The memory of that kindly intercourse between the men of former days may be revived, not inaptly, I hope, on this page of an American edition of a history from the pen of a descendant, and at the same time it serves to give me some kind of authority for gratifying my own feelings by the introduction of your name in this place. Of the personal feelings which prompt this dedication I scarcely venture to speak. It is enough to say that I seize the occasion to make this memorial of a valued friendship, which, having had its origin when joint duties and responsibilities united us in constant and confidential intercourse, has suffered no change with years or amid the changes that years bring along with them: but rather, notwithstanding the path of duty for us in life has become parted, it has found new sources of strength, among which not the least is that unwearied zeal for another's welfare which is so large an element in your sense of friendship. With cordial wishes for your happiness and a continuance of prosperity in the conduct of the arduous national work in which you have so well shown how science ministers to the safety of your fellow men, I am Ever affectionately, PHILADELPHIA, January 11, 1849. Your friend, HENRY REED. |