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The studies of the author of this work, for the last ten years, in writing the "History of Napoleon Bonaparte," and "The French Revolution of 1789," have necessarily made him quite familiar with the monarchies of Europe. He has met with so much that was strange and romantic in their career, that he has been interested to undertake, as it were, a \ibiography\i of the Monarchies of Continental Europe - their birth, education, exploits, progress and present condition. He has commenced with Austria.

There are abundant materials for this work. The Life of Austria embraces all that is wild and wonderful in history; her early struggles for aggrandizement - the fierce strife with the Turks, as wave after wave of Moslem invasion rolled up the Danube - the long conflicts and bloody persecutions of the Reformation - the thirty years' religious war - the meteoric career of Gustavus Adolphus and Charles XII. shooting athwart the lurid storms of battle - the intrigues of Popes - the enormous pride, power and encroachments of Louis XIV. - the warfare of the Spanish succession and the Polish dismemberment - all these events combine in a sublime tragedy which fiction may in vain attempt to parallel.

It is affecting to observe in the history of Germany, through what woes humanity has passed in attaining even its present position of civilization. It is to be hoped that the human family may never again suffer what it has already endured. We shall be indeed insane if we do not gain some wisdom from the struggles and the calamities of those who have gone before us. The narrative of the career of the Austrian Empire, must, by contrast, excite emotions of gratitude in every American bosom. Our lines have fallen to us in pleasant places; we have a goodly heritage. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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A History of what we now know as New York!
Petrus Stuyvesant (born 1612, in Peperga (Friesland), died 1672) served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was turned over to the English in 1664. He was a major figure in the early history of New York City.

Stuyvesant's accomplishment as director-general included a great expansion for the settlement of New Amsterdam (later renamed New York) beyond the southern tip of Manhattan. Among the projects built by Stuyvesant's administration were the protective wall on Wall Street, the canal which became Broad Street, and Broadway.

Stuyvesant and his family were large land owners in the northeastern portion of New Amsterdam, and the Stuyvesant name is currently associated with the Stuyvesant Town housing complex and Stuyvesant High School (where he is fondly known as "Pegleg Pete" and the football team is called the Peglegs in his honor), among other locations. This farm, called the "Bouwerie" (the seventeenth-century Dutch word for farm, which was also used for other farms in New Netherland) was the source for the name of the Manhattan street Bowery, and the chapel facing Bouwerie's long approach road (now Stuyvesant Street) developed into St. Mark's in the Bowery. Stuyvesant's grand official residence at the very tip of Manhattan was renamed "Whitehall" by the English and survives in another New York street name, Whitehall Street.

As director-general, Stuyvesant and his council took several measures concerning religion in New Netherland. Convinced that religious plurality would endanger the stability of the young colonial society, director general and council sought to bolster the position of the Dutch Reformed Church by trying to restrict freedom of worship of several groups among the colonists, such as Jews, Lutherans, and Quakers. The directors of the West India Company of Amsterdam, Stuyvesant's superiors, overruled him, and mitigated some of the harsh measures that Director General and Council had taken. It is with great irony that in 1904 Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, which was at the time of its founding a predominantly Jewish school for boys, was named after him.

These and many other fascinating facts about this pioneer of New York can be found in this engaging history book! ... Read more