This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

PREFATORY NOTE.

The Editor of the Annual Register thinks it necessary to state that in no case does he claim to offer original reports of speeches in Parliament or elsewhere. For the former he is greatly indebted to the Editor of the able and impartial summaries of "Ross's Parliamentary Record," which when necessary have been supplemented by the more extended reports of "Hansard's Debates," and in rarer instances of the Times, Standard, etc. He has also to express his appreciation of the obliging courtesy of the Editors of the Spectator and the Guardian for their permission to make use of the summaries of speeches delivered outside Parliament appearing in their columns.