DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO WIT: BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the first day of (L. S.) August, in the thirty-second year of the independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1807, Nathaniel Chapman, M. D. of the said district, hath deposited in this office, the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor in the words following, to wit: "SELECT SPEECHES, Forensick and Parliamentary, with prefatory remarks. By N. Chapman, M. D. honorary member of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh, and member of the American Philosophical Society, &c. &c. -Pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, " An act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned." And also to the act, entitled "An act supplementary to the act, entitled, 'An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." D. CALDWELL, CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME. MR. BURKE'S Speech on the motion for papers re- lative to the directions for charging the Nabob of Arcot's private debts to Europeans, on the revenues mons. Speech of the honourable Thomas Erskine, on the trial of John Stockdale, for a libel on the House of Com- Tried before the right honourable Lloyd, Speech of Mr. Curran, on the trial of Archibald Ha- milton Rowan, Esquire, for the publication of a libel. Mr. Pitt's Speech on revenue and expenditure, deli- vered in the House of Commons, February 17, 1792. Page. 107 Mr. Fox's Spech in the House of Commons, June 8, 1784, on the scrutiny of the Westminster election. M. De Mirabeau's Speech, on the right of making war and peace delivered in the National Assembly, Mr. Pitt's Speech in defence of certain grants of mo- ney to the allies without the authority of parliament. Delivered in the House of Commons, December 14, 1796. 381 PREFACE TO THE THIRD AND FOURTH VOLUME. YIELDING to the eager and importunate curiosity of his subscribers, the editor is induced to depart from the regular order of publication, and to commence with these intermediate volumes of the series, as being that section of the work which he thinks may most advantageously be put to press. He consents the more cheerfully to this arrangement, because, it holds out the prospect of enabling him to introduce into the initial volumes, the proper place of their insertion, several speeches of a remoter date, of great value, which he had not at first procured, but which, according to expectation, the diligence of his research has since put into his possession. Nor does he conceive that any serious objection can be raised against the innovation, when applied, as in the present instance, to a miscellany, in which there is no coherence, or dependence of its parts. Moreover, if additional apology be required, the editor can plead the sanction of precedent for the license he has assumed. However novel this mode of publication may appear, on this side of the Atlantick, it is frequently adopted by British booksellers and authors, and publick criticism has more than once applauded the utility of the practice. MR. HUME printed his history of England exactly in this manner, and many other instances of equal weight might be cited, if necessary, to the editor's justification. The subsequent volumes of the work shall appear with "all convenient despatch." The first and second of which, will contain some speeches of the "olden time;" many of lord Chatham's, and of his brilliant cotemporaries, and further specimens of Irish eloquence. The fifth, and final volume, it is meant to devote, exclusively, to speeches forensick and parliamentary, of our own country. Thus, will the work present a more complete view of modern eloquence, than hitherto has been exhibited. In vindication of the brevity, with which some of the prefatory notices are written, it may be observed that they comprise whatever is necessary to the explanation of the case, in which the speech was delivered; and that they could not well have been extended, even if it were demanded, without narrowing those topicks, which are reserved for the general introduction of the work. In the collation of the speeches, contained in these volumes, the editor, rejecting vague reports, and newspaper authority, has been particularly solicitous |