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1758 Annual Register
 
The first volume contains Edmund Burke's preface
explaining the design of the Annual Registers and the
"History of the Present War" reporting on the first truly world war called
the Seven Years War in Europe, where the combatants included England, France, Russia, Prussia,
Sweden and
Austria and battles where fought not only in Europe but in India and North America, where it was
called the
French and Indian War. Burke's review of the first years of the war, when
England was losing battles throughout the world, is a tour de force of
political, diplomatic and military history.
Here is some of what Burke says in the Preface on
the purpose of the Annual Register:
Among the advantages over its competition “arising from
our scheme of an annual rather than a monthly publication…we have an
opportunity of examining with care the products of the year, and of selecting
what may appear most particularly deserving of notice: we have from the same
cause the advantage of order; we are better able to rank the several kinds
under their proper heads…
“We have not in our first article confined ourselves to
the history of the year; we have taken the war from its commencement…which
has been carried on in the four quarters of the world…
on method to book reviews: “we have given
abstracts of some of the best books published within the year, with remarks
upon them: we have observed upon none which we could not praise; not that we
pretend to have observed on all that are praise-worthy: those that do not
deserve to be well spoken of, do not deserve to be spoken of at all.”
And here is a sampling of his historical writing
on the "History of the Present War:
P 2 “The war into which all parties and interests seem now to be
so perfectly blended, arose from causes which originally had not the least
connection; the uncertain limits of the English and French territories in
America, and the mutual claims of the houses of Austria and Brandenbourg on the
duchy of Silesia.”
“For a long time neither of these powers were sufficiently acquainted with the
geography of America, to enable them to ascertain the limits of their several
pretensions with any tolerable exactness; no, indeed, were these matters deemed
of sufficient moment to call for a very laborious discussion.
P 4 Referring to General Braddock’s mission to take Fort Duquesne in Virginia
(where he was accompanied by George Washington), “That general, abounding too
much in his own sense of the degree of military knowledge he possessed,
commanding in a country which he did not know, and carrying on a species of war
in which he had no experience, suffered himself, when he had advanced within ten
miles of Fort du Quesne, to be surprised by an ambuscade of French and Indians.
The general himself, after having had five horses killed under him, was mortally
wounded; wiping away all the errors of his conduct by an honourable death for
his country.”
P15 With Austria, Russia, France, Sweden and the Austrian
Empire allied against him, Burke had this to say about the King of Prussia:
“But his astonishing economy, the incomparable order of the finances, the
discipline of his armies beyond all praise, a sagacity that foresaw every
think, a vigilance that attended every thing, a constancy that no labour could
subdue a courage that no danger could dismay, an intuitive glance that catches
the decisive moment; all these seemed to for a sort of balance to the vast
weight against him; turned the wishes of his friends to hopes, and made them
depend upon resources that are not within the power of calculation.”
P28 “…a confederacy, not of smaller potentates to humble
one great power, but of five the greatest powers on earth to reduce one small
potentate: all the force of these powers exerted, and baffled. It happened as
we have related; and it is not the history of a century, but of a single
campaign.”
P28 on England’s miserable performance in 1757: “…it
shews us in so strong a light the miserable consequences of our political
divisions, which produced a general unsteadiness in all our pursuits, and
infused a languor and inactivity into all our military operations; for whilst
our commanders abroad knew not where to reward their services, or punish their
neglects, and were not assured in what light even the best of their actions
would be considered ( having reason to apprehend that they might not be judged
of as they were in themselves, but as their appearances might answer the end
of some ruling factions); they naturally wanted that firmness and that
enterprising resolution, without which the best capacity, and intentions the
most honest, can do nothing in war.”
The initial volume of this great series was
divided into eight sections: The History of the Present War; The Chronicle:
State Papers; Characters; Extraordinary Adventures; Miscellaneous Essays;
Poetry; and Account of Books. This structure of the Annual Register
generally was maintained throughout the 18th Century with the exception that
instead of "The History of the Present War" the first section evolved
into the "History of Britain and Foreign Countries"
and instead of "Extraordinary Adventures" new
sections were added on Natural History, Antiquities and Useful Projects. The
history section that reviewed the significant military and political events of each year and the book review section
at the end of each volume were
sections that Burke continued to give attention to for the next 30 years.
Other Characters and events reported upon in the
1758
volume include "Sufferings of the persons in the black-hole at Calcutta,"
"Account of Calmucks and Cossacks," a character study of Voltaire by the King of
Prussia and articles on Queen Elizabeth, The Duke of Marlborough and Montesquieu. Literary
contributions include a book review of the "Memoirs of the life of Sir Thomas
More," "A discourse on the study of the Law" and an "Essay on Taste" by
Montesquieu.
There is also an interesting five page report of
the dangers of the American frontier on page 301 entitled “A faithful narrative
of the dangers, sufferings, and deliverances of Robert Eastburn, and his
captivity among the Indians in North America.” Along with 30 traders Eastburn
set out from Philadelphia for Oswego in the Spring of 1756 and arrived at
Captain William’s fort on March 28. What follows is a five page account
of battle with the French and Indians and then Eastburn's capture, the brutality
of Indians while in captivity, his forced march to Canada, finding his 17 year
old son also captured and then being released by the French in Montreal on July
22.
 
This is a ninth edition in very good condition,
with a little crack in the spine on the bottom of one side as shown above. The
1758 volume is also available as a part of the
1758 through 1791 set in a fifth edition
and the
1758 through 1773
set also
in a later edition.
Price: SOLD
I have a Third Edition published in 1762 which
I will post soon.
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