~ 
THE EMPIRE OF THE HITTITES. oe 
Honorary CorREsponpDING Memser :—-Rey. J. L. Challis, M.A., Stone, 
Aylesbury. 
Also the presentation to the Library of the following works :— 
Proceedings of the Royal Society. From the same. 
“ », Dublin Society. fe 
BP Colonial Institute. = 
43 Royal Institution. s 
9 »» Geographical Society. fa 
$5 », United Service Institution. % 
3 Geological Society. as 
a Royal Society of Canada. a 
a Canadian Institute. as 
vs United States Geological Survey. is 
oy E Geographical Survey. 3 
a American Geographical Society. ay 
3 3 Philosophical Society. 2 
Newport Natural History Society. i 
The Life of the Earl Shaftesbury. 
American Antiquarian. Rey. Stephen D. Peet. 
The following paper was then read by the author :— 
THE EMPIRE OF THE HITTITES. By the Rev. 
Wiuiam Wricat, D.D. 
NLY a few years ago the Ancient Empires of the world 
were all arranged in beautiful order. Like a piece of 
perfect mosaic, skilfully fitted and compactly welded together, 
they filled the whole historic area. ‘The work was not the 
mere result of a fortuitous concurrence of historical atoms, but 
the deliberate finding of thousands of honest labourers who 
had explored alike the broad fields and byways of secular 
history. Historians differed as to detail, but they were 
generally agreed as to the existence and sequence, trend and 
bearing, of the world’s ancient empires. Successive investi- 
gators added new facts, and re-set old facts in local colours. 
They followed, however, the established and recognised order 
of things, but their historical landscapes were brilliant restora- 
tions of the ancient masters. Ancient history, generally, was 
in a most satisfactory condition. The historians were a happy 
family, and the students of history, having learned their facts, 
knew exactly where they were. It would be an ungrateful 
work to unsettle this harmony and certainty, but this task 
has been unceremoniously accomplished by the Hittites. 
The Hittites were always disposed to hold their own, and by 
sudden forays over their borders saved themselves from the 
F 2 
