France, Vol. 1 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from France, Vol. 1<br><br>I take this opportunity of rendering my thanks to many French people of all classes and of all shades of opinion who for more than seven years have in manifold ways helped me in my work. Some of them are mentioned incidentally in the Introductory Chapter, but it would be impossible to name all those to whom I am indebted for ideas, for facilities in pursuing my studies, and for innumerable kind offices. I have to offer my special gratitude to three distinguished Frenchmen who, between them, have found time to read nearly all the proofs of these volumes: - M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, the eminent Economist and Member of the Institute; M. Richard Waddington, Senator of the Seine Inferieure, the accomplished historian of the Seven Years' War, whom we can partly claim, as not only was he educated at Rugby like his lamented brother, whom we all knew at Albert Gate, but he was also an officer of our Royal Horse Artillery; and M. Camille Barere, French Ambassador at Berne, who is equally familiar with our language. It is needless to say that those high authorities are not responsible for any of the opinions expressed in this book, as on important matters of public policy they differ from one another. Their verification of facts and their general criticisms have, however, been of the highest value.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>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.