Excerpt from English Party Leaders and English Parties, Vol. 1 of 2: From Walpole to Peel; Including a Review of the Political History of the Last One Hundred and Fifty Years It is hoped, therefore, that the following attempt to present in a popular form, concisely but compre hensively, the leading events of English political his tory from the days of Queen Anne to those of Queen Victoria, will be found (in advertising phraseology) to supply a want. After much consideration, I have cast my materials into the shape of biographies; because biographies have always a living and personal interest for the reader, and are more likely to be acceptable to the public at large than a continuous narrative would be. Moreover, in this wav it is easier to bring out the influence which our great statesmen have exercised on contemporary opinion, and to indicate the extent to which the country is indebted to their services. It may be alleged as an objection that the biographical form compels me to go over the same ground when two or three of the statesmen with whom my pages are occupied, have come in contact with each other, that the poli tical life of Pitt, for instance, constantly traverses that of Fox; but this I have endeavoured to meet by the introduction in every such case of additional details. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.