Page:James Bryce American Commonwealth vol 1.djvu/13

Rh carry out this plan it would be necessary either unduly to curtail the account of the government and politics of the United States, or else to extend the book to a still greater length than that which, much to his regret, it has now reached. He therefore reluctantly abandoned the hope of describing in these volumes the scenery and life of the West. As regards the non-political topics which were to have been dealt with, he has selected for discussion in the concluding chapters those of them which either were comparatively unfamiliar to European readers, or seemed specially calculated to throw light on the political life of the country, and to complete the picture which he has sought to draw of the American Commonwealth as a whole.
 * October 22, 1888.

edition has been carefully revised throughout, difficult and controverted points have been reconsidered, many statements have been qualified or amplified, the constitutional changes in the States since 1889 have been noted, and the figures of population have been corrected by the census returns of 1890.

The Author gladly takes this opportunity of thanking those in America, many of them previously unknown to him, who have sent him letters calling attention to statements which they consider doubtful or erroneous. He has also to acknowledge help received not only from some of those mentioned in the former preface, but from many others also, especially from President Eliot of Harvard