(4 ) 



epochs of a more advanced civi- 

 lization , Hume, forgetting his 

 scepticism, too often explains by 

 ingenious hypotheses the pro- 

 blems of diplomacy and the 

 grand crises of revolutions. 



The laborious Dr. Lingard , 

 belonging to the catholic religion, 

 has comprehended how much 

 would be required of him from 

 the ruling opinions, to entitle 

 him to the rank of national his- 

 torian. It could be only by a 

 scrupulous impartiality and most 

 coriscientious veracity that he 

 was to triumph over the preju- 

 dices that would arise on all si- 

 des against him, if he took upon 

 himself to combat long esta- 

 blished reputations, to root out 

 errors long adopted, and oppose 

 national prejudices with the arm 

 of truth; for the people, thanks 

 to the spirit of faction, have had 

 their flatterers as well as kings. 

 Therefore accumulating a for- 

 midable mass of authentic do- 

 cuments, confidential correspon- 

 dences, diplomatical dispatches, 

 contemporary memoirs, collec- 

 tions of state papers , official re- 

 gisters, political journals and 

 pamphlets, etc., etc., the new 

 historian, setting himself on his 

 guard against every preceding 

 interpretation has examined and 

 compared every thing in order 

 to fix dates , decide between 



trop souvent par d'ing^nieuses hy- 

 pothcjses les problcmes de la diplo- 

 matic ct les grandes crises des re- 

 volutions. 



Le labrrieux D' Lingard , appar- 

 tenant a la religion catholique , qui 

 en Angleterre a Un caractfere de 

 secte , et par consequent d'opposi- 

 tion, a compris combien les opinions 

 dominaiitesexigeraientdegaranties, 

 pour lui accorder la haute mission 

 d'historien national. Ce n'etait que 

 par une rare impartiaiite et une ve- 

 racite consciencieuse qu'il pouvait 

 triompher des preventions qui al- 

 laient s'eleverde toutes parts contre 

 lui. II venait combattre des repu- 

 tations redoutables , dementir des 

 erreurs adoptees generalement, et 

 contrarier enfin des prejuges na- 

 tionaux ; car les peuples, gr^ce a 

 I'esprit de parti , ont eu aussi leurs 

 flatteurs comme les rois. C'est pour- 

 quoi , s'entourant d'une masse ef- 

 fravantede documensauthentiques , 

 correspoudances confidentielles, de- 

 p^chesd'ambassade, memoirescon- 

 temporains , collections de papiers 

 d'etat, registres officiels, pamphlets 

 et journaux politiques, etc., et se de- 

 fiant de toute interpretation prec^- 

 dente,lenouvelhistorien a toutexa- 

 min6, tout conipar6 afin de fixer les 

 dates, dedeciderentrelestemoigna- 

 ges contradictoires, de devoiler les 

 intrigues de cour , et de rendrc en 

 un mot aux faits leur vraie cou- 



