MADAM,--The personal favour which your Majesty has been so graciously
pleased to confer on me, in allowing the present dedication,--thus
implying a confidence in the probable nature of the work,--will not, I
trust, be found to have been misused by me, should your Majesty
hereafter honour the volume by perusal. In thus being the medium through
which the pleadings of a class of society, so far removed from the
sympathy of mankind, approach the throne of your Majesty, may I be
permitted to take this opportunity of expressing what is responded to by
every feeling heart in your Majesty’s dominions,--a respectful
appreciation of the mildness and clemency which have pervaded the
administration of the laws during the present merciful reign.
With sincere prayers for the happiness of your Majesty,