NICE READING

THE BOURBON RESTORATION (by Hall, John Richard)

GENERAL PICHEGRU'S TREASON (the part played by Pichegru in the plots fomented by the British government against Bonaparte)

ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY (the part played by Talleyrand in the Belgian question and upon the secret policy of Louis Philippe, the situation in Spain during the regencies of Christina and Espartero, and during the early years of the rule of Isabella. In connection , with Palmerston's Eastern policy...)

THE HISTORY OF THE RESTORATION OF MONARCHY IN FRANCE (I scarcely exceed the middle age of man, and I have already lived under ten dominations, or ten different governments, in France. I have witnessed ten revolutions : the Constitutional Government of Louis XVI., the first Republic, the Directory, the Consulate, the Empire, the first Restoration in 1814, the Second Government of the "Hundred Days" by Napoleon, the Second Restoration in 1815, the Reign of Louis Philippe, and the Second Republic:—ten cataracts, by which the spirit of modem liberty and the stationary or obstructive spirit have endeavoured, by turns, to descend or to remount the declivity of revolutions.

HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE

1792-1878

BY

CHARLES ALLAN FYFFE

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BOOK 1 FROM THE OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN 1792 TO THE ACCESSION OF LOUIS XVIII IN 1814 BOOK2 FROM 1814 TO 1848 BOOK3 FKOM 1843 TO 1878

 

The object of this work is to show how the States of Europe have gained the form and character which they possess at the present moment ( AD 1880).

The outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1792, terminating a period which now appears far removed from us, and setting in motion forces which have in our own day produced a united Germany and a united Italy, forms the natural starting-point of a history of the present century.

I have endeavored to tell a simple story, believing that a narrative in which facts are chosen for their significance, and exhibited in their real connection, may be made to convey as true an impression as a fuller history in which the writer is not forced by the necessity of concentration to exercise the same rigour towards himself and his materials. The second volume of the work will bring the reader down to the year 1848 : the third, down to the present time.

I have occupied myself mainly with two sources of information: the unpublished Records of the English Foreign Office, and the published works which have during recent years resulted from the investigation of the Archives of Vienna. The English Records from 1792 to 1814, for access to which I have to express my thanks to Lord Granville, form a body of first-hand authority of extraordinary richness, compass, and interest. They include the whole correspondence between the representatives of Great Britain at Foreign Courts and the English Foreign Office; a certain number of private communications between Ministers and these representatives; a quantity of reports from consuls, agents, and "informants" of every description; and in addition to these the military reports, often admirably vivid and full of matter, sent by the British officers attached to the head-quarters of our Allies in most of the campaigns from 1792 to 1814. It is impossible that any one person should go through the whole of this material, which it took the Diplomatic Service a quarter of a century to write. I have endeavoured to master the correspondence from each quarter of Europe which, for the time being, had a preponderance in political or military interest, leaving it when its importance became obviously subordinate to that of others; and although I have no doubt left untouched much that would repay investigation, I trust that the narrative has gained in accuracy from a labour which was not a light one, and that the few short extracts which space has permitted me to throw into the notes may serve to bring the reader nearer to events. At some future time I hope to publish a selection from the most important documents of this period. It is strange that our learned Societies, so appreciative of every distant and trivial chronicle of the Middle Ages, should ignore the records of a time of such surpassing interest, and one in which England played so great a part. No just conception can be formed of the difference between English statesmanship and that of the Continental Courts in integrity, truthfulness, and public spirit, until the mass of diplomatic correspondence preserved at London has been studied; nor, until this has been done, can anything like an adequate biography of Pitt be written.

The second and less important group of authorities with which I have busied myself during the work of revision comprises the works of Huffer, Vivenot, Beer, Helfert, and others, based on Austrian documents, along with the Austrian documents and letters that have been published by Vivenot. The last-named writer is himself a partizan, but the material which he has given to the world is most valuable. The mystery in which the Austrian Government until lately enveloped all its actions caused some of these to be described as worse than they really were; and I believe that in the First Edition I underestimated the bias of Prussian and North-German writers. Where I have seen reasons to alter any statements, I have done so without reserve, as it appears to me childish for any one who attempts to write history to cling to an opinion after the balance of evidence seems to be against it. The publication of the second volume of this work has been delayed by the revision of the first; but I hope that it will appear before many months more. I must express my obligations to Mr. Oscar Browning, a fellow-labourer in the same field, who not only furnished me with various corrections, but placed his own lectures at my disposal; and to Mr. Alfred Kingston, whose unfailing kindness and courtesy make so great a difference to those whose work lies in the department of the Record Office which is under his care.

C.A.F. London, 1883.