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T. C. Hansard, Pater-moster-row Press.

PREFACE.

ALTHOUGH the year before us is not marked with the fate

of kings or kingdoms, it has not been destitute of events to render it memorable. In particular, it forms to Great Britain the era of what the now hopeless infirmity of its venerable sovereign may denominate a new reign: and if the conditions annexed to the regency, and the uncertain duration with which it commenced, have in some measure repressed the usual manifestations of character displayed on a change in the crown, there have not been wanting some indications of the temper in which the regal office is likely to be administered. Of these, however, it would be premature to pronounce a judgment, since that temper will certainly be more fully developed when the restrictions on the regency shall expire, and its permanency be no longer doubtful. The appointment of the regency, with its various prerogatives and limitations, and the provision made for his Majesty's resumption of authority on the event of his recovery, must be regarded as important additions to the constitutional law of the country, and will doubtless be resorted to as precedents on any future occurrence of a similar kind.

Among the domestic events of the year, the efforts of the Irish catholics to obtain an equality of civil rights with their fellow-subjects cannot fail of exciting a lively interest in all who speculate upon that important topic, the connexion of religious with political establishments. The abortive attempt made in England to introduce alterations into the act of toleration will likewise be considered as a

memento of no small importance by those who look up to that act for their protection in the privileges they are permitted to enjoy. In the debates on these several points it will be impossible not to perceive an approach towards that state of public opinion which leads to the maxim, that difference in religious worship ought to make no difference in civil rights.

The acknowledged evils arising from the general substitution of paper currency to specie, and the provision made for a temporary remedy, must also rank among the subjects which render memorable the parliamentary history of the year.

This year will also be distinguished in the military annals of Great Britain by the success of its arms in various severe encounters, in which the courage and discipline of its soldiers were not less conspicuous than the same qualities have long been in its sailors. The complete deliverance of the kingdom of Portugal from its powerful invaders; the bloody and victorious repulses of an adventurous and confident foe; and the authority obtained by a British commander, whose high reputation has enabled him to marshal an allied army so as to co-operate in his active and vigorous plans; are circumstances which must ever attach interest to the peninsular campaign of 1811. Not less of glory, and more entire success, has attended the expedition by which the rich island of Java, with its celebrated capital, the centre of the once powerful dominion of the Dutch EastIndia company, has been annexed to the British empire, and the Gallo-Batavian flag has been finally struck in that quarter of the globe.

It would have been gratifying to the friends of humanity, if in these events they could have discerned any advance to a restoration of that state of peace which alone can effectually relieve the calamities and distresses pervading so large a portion of the civilized world. But no light yet appears through the gloom in which the political horizon is involved; on the contrary the year closes with rising clouds in the north and the west, threatening new and widerspread ravages. Determined in his purpose of ruining the finances

of England, the ruler of France will not tolerate any deviation from his rigorous measures for excluding all British commerce from the continent of Europe; and the rights of independent nations are nothing in his view whilst they stand in the way of his ambitious schemes. Meantime the means of mutual retaliation adopted by the two great belligerents have given causes of complaint to the United States of America which seem to have tried their patience to the utmost, and to have brought them to such a temper that, if persevered in, they can scarcely fail of bringing on hostilities with one or both of these powers. It seems in the present year, to have been a leading object in the policy of the French emperor to establish a marine force capable in time of contending with the navy of Great Britain, which he feels to be the principal remaining obstacle to his gigantic plans of aggrandizement. For this purpose, he has endeavoured to provide a large body of sailors by a maritime conscription; and has annexed to his empire all the sea-ports which lay within his grasp, and employed every resource for obtaining supplies of naval stores by inland communications. He has thus been enabled to fit out a fleet which in number and equipment makes a formidable show, but which has not hitherto exhibited any of that confidence in courage and discipline which is requisite for the arduous task of contending with the masters of the ocean. In no year of the war has the French navy been less adventurous, or, in the few actions that have occurred, has proved less a match for its antagonist.

It may be proper to point out to the reader some slight variations between the present volume and those which have preceded. The title of the historical part, which has hitherto been The History of Europe, has been changed for that of General History, the state of the world being now such, that information would be materially defective, were it to neglect the occurrences passing in the other quarters of the globe. Alterations have been made in the arrangement of some of the other heads. The account of persons deceased, which, in imitation of the magazines, had been given in a new article styled Obituary, has been referred to its original head of

Deaths. That of Characters has been confined to persons, and a new division has been made of Manners and Customs of Nations and People-the two things being, in fact, essentially different. One article has been entirely discarded as unmeaning or superfluous— that of Accounts of Books. After the copious extracts inserted under specific heads from several of the most interesting publications of the year, it seemed perfectly useless to select two or three of them for a particular account. If this were done with a view of giving the Annual Register somewhat of the character of a Review, nothing could be more frivolous and illusory. Whatever might have been the case at the commencement of this work, the present multiplicity, both of publications and reviews, has taken away all the advantage and propriety of such a combination.

We shall venture to add, that our readers may for the future confidently expect, that the Volume for each year will regularly appear during the course of the next.

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