Excerpt from Memoirs of Prince Metternich, 1778-1815, Vol. 1 Such a delay is necessary, in order that the writings which I leave behind me may become ripe for the use of the literary world. Thus my father expressed himself on different occasions, and with out being bound by any testamentary directions, filial piety urges me to fulfil a duty which is also dictated by political considerations. No restriction was placed upon the Editor as to the mode of deal ing with the materials which my father left, and I have chosen the form which seems to be indicated by the materials themselves. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.