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PREFACE.
HEN Hiſtory draws its everlaſting marks to picture the life of nations, its aſpect becomes gloomier in noting down the inſtances where people meet to deſtroy in bloody wars what the bleſſings of peace have created, inſtances in which the genii of life lower their torch, in a ſhort ſpace, a thouſand and more than a thouſand times. But when Hiſtory paints even ſuch mournful pictures, there is the ſomewhat reconciling thought that moſtly holy principles, powerfully influencing the progreſs of mankind, were the ſubject of controverſy. But when facts have to be written down, proving that many
