Excerpt from The British and Foreign Review, or European Quarterly Journal, Vol. 5: July-October, 1837 The latter, however, is the more worthy object of our au thor's solicitude. They are, he continues, the most interesting and singular group of people in Eumpe. They live under ancient laws and social arrangements totally difi'erent in principle from those which regulate society and property in the feudally constituted countries; and among them may perhaps be traced the gem of all the free institutions which distinguish the British constitution of the present day. They present to the political philosopher the singular spectacle of a nation emerging suddenly from under the hand of an uncontrolled and absolute sovereign power, with their civil liberties and social arrangements so well adapted to their condition, and so well secured by their ancient laws, that the transition from despotism to de mocracy was unmarked by any convulsion or revolutionary movement, or important change in the state of society and property. - 1ntrod. P. Iv. 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.