and righteous contest.
The annals of a less eventful year
may be published fifteen months after its conclusion, that is,
as early as April ; earlier, the present Writer could not per-
form what he has undertaken, in a manner consistent with
the respect which he owes to the Public and to himself.
He has neither spared diligence in collecting materials for
his task, nor industry in arranging them. For that portion,
especially, which relates to the affairs of Spain, he has been
favoured with ample and authentic documents from sources
which (if it were proper) he should feel himself honoured by
acknowledging. Many circumstances are now for the first
time brought before the English reader; some have never
before been made public. A few subjects of importance, which
the reader may perhaps expect to see treated in the History
of 1809, are reserved for that of the following year: they
might with equal propriety form part of either, and the ar
rangement was therefore merely a question of convenience. A
General View of the Conduct of the Supreme Junta is one of
these subjects; the Rise and Progress of the Guerilla System
is another. This is mentioned, that the omission of these and
other topics may not be imputed either to oversight or neglect.