Excerpt from Oration on the Life and Character of Gilbert Motier De Lafayette: Delivered at the Request of Both Houses of the Congress of the United States, Before Them, in the House of Representatives at Washington, on the 31st December, 1834 Let us here observe the influence of political institutions over the destinies and the characters of men. George the Second was a German Prince; he had been made King of the British Islands by the accident of his birth: that is to say, because his great grandmother had been the daugh ter of James the First; that great grandmother had been married to the King of Bohemia, and her youngest daughter had been married to the Elector of Hanover. George the Second's father was her son, and, when James the Second had been expelled from his throne and his country by the indignation of his People, revolted against his tyranny, and when his two daughters, who succeeded him, had died with out issue, George the First, the son of the Electress of Hanover, became King of Great Britain, by the settlement of an Act of Parliament, blending together the principle of hereditary succession with. That of Reformed Protestant Christianity, and the rites of the Church of England. 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.