INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

AFTER an extended observation of public affairs in the United States, and in other countries, I purpose to write a history of some of the most important events that I have witnessed, and to sketch some of the most conspicuous actors in the great drama of this nineteenth century now drawing towards its close.

Having been engaged in the service of my country at home and abroad, it has been my fortune to meet many eminent men, and to observe the actual working of the political systems that have so rapidly developed the resources and advanced the power of the United States where free government is established, and those of other countries where monarchical forms exist with all the accessories of pomp and splendor and state.

I have seen the rise and fall of parties, the overthrow of reigning dynasties, and the setting up on the ruins of fallen thrones other establishments. Of these events and the men who took part in them I shall write freely; in the hope that the following pages recording the struggles, the disasters, and the triumphs which have occurred in our time may contribute something towards the advancement of the liberty of mankind all over the world.

HENRY W. HILLIARD.

ATLANTA, GA.,

January, 1891.