INTRODUCTION.
We do not belong, it is true, to the schools of Politics or Diplomacy, to that privileged class of men who are vowed to the study of international evils and of the means to combat them. To a certain extent, therefore, it is a bold act on our part to dare set before the eyes of men of practical experience an Essay which cannot but betray a lack of science, as well as of the requisite capacity for treating of so delicate a subject as the history of the completely legitimate, though shamefully usurped, rights of the Royal Family of a foreign country. But since educated men are ever indulgent to one who, in good faith, and with praiseworthy intent, desires to contribute, as far as he can, to the welfare of his fellows, whether friends or strangers, we think that our rashness will find an excuse in his eyes, on the ground of the feelings which have prompted this humble work.
If in this short Essay there is nothing entirely new or original, it can at least serve to induce competent readers, impressed with the advantages which may accrue to mankind from the deep study of the rights of each individual, to enter upon the necessary research with the devotion and attention that is due to so deeply interesting a subject.
History Proper is the written testimony of our fellow-men's past or present deeds, of our fellow-men's exemplary loyalty to truth and justice, or of their cowardly subserviency to lies and injustice. This idea sums up, on the one hand, the whole and sole source of a man's right to his fellow-man's gratitude or scorn;
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