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ANNUAL REGISTER,

OR A VIEW OF THE

HISTORY,

POLITICS,

AND

LITERATURE,

For the YEAR 1787.

THE SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:
Printed for J. DODSLEY, in Pall-Mall, 1789.

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THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

THE year 1787 has not only been produ&ive very important events, but of fome in which the terests of this nation were deeply concerned. The h py revolution which has taken place in Holland, the ftoration of the Stadtholder to his rights, and the recovery of that republic to its ancient fyftem of policy, by detaching it from the new connections it had formed with France, were matters in which Great Britain had not a greater fhare than an immediate political intereft, as well as a neighbourly and friendly concern; while the vigour and wifdom of her conduct in these transactions have effectually reftored her to that high eminence among the nations of Europe from which fhe had fufferedno fmall derogation through the lofsof her colonies,and other ill confequences of the Americanwar.

But thefe objects, important as they are, cannot in any degree rank, with refpect to magnitude and general confideration, with thofe new profpects which have been opening upon us through the course of the present year. A fingular revolution feems to be taking place in the minds of men; and the spirit of liberty appears to be reviving with great energy, in countries where it had long been deemed nearly extinct. It has already produced fuch effects in France, and indicates others fo much greater, as to render that country (through caufes very different from those which drew the attention of mankind upon it during the laft two centuries) the grand theatre of political fpeculation. A fimilar fpirit is dawning in other places; while our Belgic neighbours have afforded a notable inftance that it never was totally extin&t in them, by the ftruggle which they have manfully fuftained againft exuberant power, in the fupport of their ancient conftitution, and the prefervation of their civil and political rights.

These three principal objects, the affairs of Holland, of France, and of the Low Countries, have engroffed our utmost attention in treating the hiftory of the prefent year: we have entered into the refpective fubjects with care and diligence, and truft the Public will not find themselves difappointed in the narrative of thefe affairs which we lay before them. The momentous war which has broken out

between

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