E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Jeannie Howse, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/c/) +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original | | document have been preserved. | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this | | text. For a complete list, please see the end of this | | document. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL ESSAYS by WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY Longmans, Green, and Co. 39 Paternoster Row, London New York, Bombay, and Calcutta 1908 All rights reserved CONTENTS PAGE THOUGHTS ON HISTORY 1 THE POLITICAL VALUE OF HISTORY 21 THE EMPIRE: ITS VALUE AND ITS GROWTH 43 IRELAND IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY 68 FORMATIVE INFLUENCES 90 CARLYLE'S MESSAGE TO HIS AGE 104 ISRAEL AMONG THE NATIONS 116 MADAME DE STAËL 131 THE PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE OF SIR ROBERT PEEL 151 THE FIFTEENTH EARL OF DERBY 200 MR. HENRY REEVE 242 DEAN MILMAN 249 QUEEN VICTORIA AS A MORAL FORCE 275 OLD-AGE PENSIONS 298 INDEX 319