PREFACE. IN issuing to the public a New Volume of "Hertslet's Com- It is not a little surprising that such a system as this should occasionally to Extradition, the Slave Trade, and many other Subjects. These subjects, and a variety of others, which are embodied either in Treaties, or are provided for in the Acts of Parliament, Orders in Council, Foreign Laws, &c., which are inserted in this work, have been carefully separated in this Index; and although the task of preparing it has been very laborious, I have been encouraged in the undertaking by the remembrance of the kind manner in which my previous labours in this direction for the public good have been received by those who have been best qualified to form an opinion as to their utility, among whom I trust I may be permitted especially to mention Earl Granville and the Earl of Derby. Carefully prepared Analytical Indices were given in the earlier volumes, and when the General Index to the first twelve volumes appeared in 1871, Earl Granville was pleased to express his approval of it through his Private Secretary, in a letter from which the following is a short extract: He said: "Lord Granville has examined it (the General Index) in several places, and bids me tell you how much he is struck by the excellence of its plan, and the careful way in which you have worked it out. He sees that it must have cost you an immense amount of labour, and he thinks you have produced a model which others who engage in like tasks would do well to imitate." The Earl of Derby was also pleased to convey to me his approval of it in a note, in which his Lordship said: "Only those who have occasion to search among public documents know how the multiplicity of these in modern times produces almost the same effect as the absence of them in old days. Without some such guide as you have provided it would be well nigh hopeless to try and find what one might want among old Treaties." But useful as that Index was generally admitted to be, I still felt that it was capable of improvement in more than one direction; and as fourteen years have now elapsed since it was issued, and many important changes have taken place in our commercial relations with almost every Foreign Power since that time, I have recast the whole upon an entirely new principle. The main improvement which has been introduced into it has been this: it is arranged, as was the previous one, in alphabetical order, but under Countries and Subjects combined, and not under Subjects only, and instead of the Treaty only being referred to under each heading, the Article of the Treaty has been added in every instance, and a reference given, not only to the volume but to the exact page in which the Article, or Articles should there be more than one, is to be found. This, it will readily be seen, will save those who may be in search of information upon any particular point an immense amount of labour and research, since the mere reference to the volume and page where the Treaty containing the desired information was to be found, which was given in the former Index, useful as it was admitted to be, did not save the student the trouble of wading through the Treaty in order to discover the particular Article in which might be contained the information he was in search of; but all this trouble and research will now be saved to him, inasmuch as, by simply referring to the Index under the subject required, he will find at once a reference not only to the Treaty but also to the volume and page in which the Article appears giving the information desired. Thus, should it be desired to ascertain whether there exists any Article in our Treaty, say, with Portugal, giving the right to British subjects to dispose of their property in that country by Will, a reference to the heading WILLS will show that British subjects have that right by the Treaty with Portugal, Wills, &c., Art. 2, 3rd July, 1842, vol. VI, page 600, to which a note is added stating that that Treaty was in force on the 1st January, 1885. Another great improvement consists in this. A note has been placed against each important Treaty, whether relating to Commerce and Navigation, Extradition, the Slave Trade, or to any other subject, showing whether it has expired, or whether it was in force on the 1st January, 1885. This will afford the student important information which it has hitherto been impossible for him to ascertain elsewhere with any degree of certainty. A note has also been placed against each Act of Parliament to denote whether it has been wholly or partially repealed, or whether it is still in force. |