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It is proposed in the present volume to give a sketch of the past of Baltimore, with brief allusions to those crises which marked her history and exercised an important bearing upon her progress as a city, also a running essay upon the useful and aesthetic features which make her to-day the most desirable location in America for those in search of homes, or contemplating a change of residence; together with short but comprehensive articles upon the various corporations at present in existence or soon to be organized, and the different departments of trade, commerce, and manufactures, which centre in our city.

If readers at a distance are disposed to regard critically, the spirit which induces a citizen of Baltimore to sound her praises more than perhaps the most guarded taste might suggest, let them consider that the same course has been pursued by all the larger cities in America, and that the great spirit of competition more thoroughly developed in this country than elsewhere, will not suffer her to remain silent at a time when her sisters have inundated the United States with the most fulsome accounts of their respective advantages. Let them bear in mind also, that already have travellers, not only from different sections of the Union but from the great centres of Europe, placed on record the most ample and possibly exaggerated accounts of the various features which endear her to her own citizens, and render the city peculiarly inviting to strangers; and lastly, let them remember that a pardonable pride is the greatest incentive to development and progress in the future. We ask at the hands of the public a generous criticism, inasmuch as this is a novel enterprise in Baltimore, and the means of securing information are exceedingly limited. With this brief preface we launch our little vessel, trusting that it may bring to our port the treasures which our merchants and business men so richly deserve.