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PREFACE.

EVERY exertion has been made to include a full and authentic account of those peculiarly great events by which the year 1820 has been distinguished. The death of a King-another royal person accused and tried amid the general ferment of the nation-three great revolutions abroad-treason and insurrection at home ;-these have crowded into this short era much more than its usual portion of political importance. Care has been taken to give a full report of those interesting trials which arose out of the internal disturbances. With regard to the Scottish Treason trials in particular, we have been favoured, from the most authentic sources, with the means of giving a much more ample report than had hitherto appeared.

The extraordinary magnitude of these materials, which form the essential object of an Annual Register, has alone extended the volume beyond its usual dimensions. No adequate space could thus be left for the accessory and ornamental parts,-Biography, Science, Discovery, Poetry, &c. Unwilling to treat these in a slight and hasty manner, we have judged it more advisable to postpone them till the folloving volume, which will appear in the course of a few months. Relating to an era less crowded with political events, it will afford space for introducing these subjects, so far as they relate both to 1820 and

1821.

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