History & Theory Books

INTRODUCTION I This volume is neither a diary nor a narrative. To have given it either of these forms, each of which has its obvious advantages, would have extended it beyond all reasonable limits. It is simply a selection from my very full memoranda of a series of visits paid to different parts of France during the year 1889. These visits would never have been made, had not my previous acquaintance... more...

CHAPTER I. OPENING OF A HISTORIC SESSION.Memories.There is always something that depresses, as well as something that exhilarates, in the first day of a Session of Parliament. In the months which have elapsed, there have been plenty of events to emphasize the mutability and the everlasting tragedy of human life. Some men have died; figures that seemed almost the immortal portion of the life of... more...

The object of the Union dispute. Not till the present day has the Swedish-Norwegian Union Crisis presented itself in the eyes of Europe in a thoroughly acute phase. Its origin, in reality, dates as far back as the foundation of the Union itself. The efforts to give Norway a better position in the Union. The original cause of the agitating union disputes has been that Sweden, from the very commencement... more...

INTRODUCTION On October 24, 1659, a quarto pamphlet was published in London with the following title: “The Army’s Plea for Their present Practice: tendered to the consideration of all ingenuous and impartial men. Printed and published by special command. London, Printed by Henry Hills, Printer to the Army, dwelling in Aldersgate Street next door to the Peacock. 1659”. Three days afterwards, on... more...

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives: In the midst of unprecedented political troubles we have cause of great gratitude to God for unusual good health and most abundant harvests. You will not be surprised to learn that in the peculiar exigencies of the times our intercourse with foreign nations has been attended with profound solicitude, chiefly turning upon our own domestic... more...

AMERICAN HOME RULE BY E.L. GODKIN American experience has been frequently cited, in the course of the controversy now raging in England over the Irish question, both by way of warning and of example. For instance, I have found in the Times as well as in other journals—the Spectator, I think, among the number—very contemptuous dismissals of the plan of offering Ireland a government like that of an... more...

THE FRENCH DECLARATION OF RIGHTS OF AUGUST 26, 1789, AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE. The declaration of "the rights of man and of citizens" by the French Constituent Assembly on August 26, 1789, is one of the most significant events of the French Revolution. It has been criticised from different points of view with directly opposing results. The political scientist and the historian, thoroughly... more...

This is the book which fixed the name and character of John Bull on the English people. Though in one part of the story he is thin and long nosed, as a result of trouble, generally he is suggested to us as "ruddy and plump, with a pair of cheeks like a trumpeter," an honest tradesman, simple and straightforward, easily cheated; but when he takes his affairs into his own hands, acting with good... more...

Introduction Special Introduction By Hon. John T. Morgan In the eleven years that separated the Declaration of the Independence of the United States from the completion of that act in the ordination of our written Constitution, the great minds of America were bent upon the study of the principles of government that were essential to the preservation of the liberties which had been won at great cost and... more...

SPEECH OF HON. THOMAS KEARNS. POLYGAMOUS MARRIAGES AND PLURAL COHABITATION. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair lays before the Senate the resolution submitted by the Senator from Idaho [Mr. DUBOIS], which will be read. The Secretary read the resolution submitted yesterday by Mr. DUBOIS, as follows: Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be, and it is hereby, authorized and instructed to... more...