THE writer of the Historical Part of the Edinburgh An-
nual Register is informed by the Publisher, that the Public
may require some explanation why his volume so greatly ex-
ceeds that of the former year in extent, and why its publica-
tion has been so long delayed. The year of which the annals
are here presented was fertile in important affairs both at
home and abroad, almost beyond any other of modern times;
the contents of the volume will therefore a count for the
bulk, and the bulk for the lateness of its appearance. It is,
however, necessary to observe, that a work of this kind, if
executed as it ought to be, cannot possibly be completed, even
in ordinary years, much earlier than the present volumes.
One year ought to elapse before the History of the preceding
one is committed to the press; otherwise, if events were to be
chronicled as fast as they occur, newspapers would be the sole
authority of the chronicler. There must be time allowed for
the appearance of Parliamentary Papers, for obtaining docu-
ments from abroad, and for the publication of works for which
we are indebted to travellers and to military men, whose Me-
moirs are happily becoming every year more numerous, as the
exertions of the country become greater in this inevitable