CIVIL ADMINISTRATION, POLITICAL ECONOMY, FINANCE, IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET. COVENT GARDEN. H 41 .58 V. I PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SONS LONDON GAZETTE OFFICE, ST. MARTIN'S LANE; AND ORCHARD STREET, WESTMINSTER. ADVERTISEMENT. THE POLITICAL DICTIONARY (under which title the former edition of this work was published) was suggested by the consideration that the 'Penny Cyclopædia' contains a great number of articles on matters of Constitution, Political Economy, Trade and Commerce, Administration, and Law; and that if these articles were so altered as to make them applicable to the present time, wherever alteration was necessary, and new articles were added, wherever there appeared to be a deficiency, a work might be made which would be generally useful. The citizens of a Free State are or ought to be concerned about everything Political that may affect their own happiness and the condition of future generations. In a system like our own, which is founded on ancient institutions and usages, and has now for near eight centuries been in a course of growth and change, the relations of the several parts to one another become so complicated that it is difficult for any one man, however enlarged may be the range of his understanding, and however exact his judgment, to form a correct estimate of the whole of this present society of which he is a part. Such a knowledge can only be got by a combination of a knowledge of the past with the knowledge of the present; in other words, by an historical exposition of all existing institutions that rest on an ancient foundation, and by a consideration of their actual condition. The articles in this work combine both methods. The subjects are treated historically, whenever such a treatment is required; and they are also presented in their actual condition, so far as that has been |