A greater publicity was introduced into political affairs on the Continent by the establishment of Parliamentary Government in France in 1815, and even by the attempts made to introduce it in other States. In England we have always had freedom of discussion, but the amount of information made public by the executive in recent times has been enormously greater than it was at the end of the last century. The only documents published at the outbreak of the war of 1793 were, so far as I can ascertain, the well-known letters of Chauvelin and Lord Grenville. During the twenty years' struggle with France next to nothing was known of the diplomatic transactions between England and the Continental Powers. But from the time of the Reform Bill onwards the amount of information given to the public has been constantly increasing, and the reader of Parliamentary Papers in our own day is likely to complain of diffusiveness rather than of reticence. Nevertheless the perusal of published papers can never be quite the same thing as an examination of the originals; and the writer who first has access to the English archives after 1815 will have an advantage over those who have gone before him. The completion of this volume has been delayed by almost every circumstance adverse to historical study and production, including a severe Parliamentary contest. I trust, however, that no trace of partisanship or unrest appears in the work, which I have valued for the sake of the mental discipline which it demanded. With quieter times the third volume will, I trust, advance more rapidly. LONDON, October, 1886. NOTE.--The third volume was published in 1889. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. FRANCE AND GERMANY AT THE OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. Outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1792--Its immediate causes-- Declaration of Pillnitz made and withdrawn--Agitation of the Priests and Emigrants--War Policy of the Gironde--Provocations offered to France by the Powers--State of Central Europe in 1792--The Holy Roman Empire--Austria-- Rule of the Hapsburgs--The Reforms of Maria Theresa and Joseph II.--Policy of Leopold II.--Government and Foreign Policy of Francis II.--Prussia-- Government of Frederick William II.--Social Condition of Prussia--Secondary States of Germany--Ecclesiastical States--Free Cities--Knights--Weakness of Germany CHAPTER II. THE WAR, DOWN TO THE TREATIES OF BASLE AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIRECTORY.