Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 06).djvu/11



The Editors desire to announce to their readers an important modification in the scope and contents of this work. As originally planned and hitherto announced, the series was intended to furnish the original sources, printed and documentary, for the history of the Philippine Islands only to the beginning of the nineteenth century. To most of our readers, the reasons for this are obvious: the fact that the classic period of Philippine history is thus bounded; the comparative rarity and inaccessibility of most material therein to the general public; the vast extent of the field covered by Philippine history, and the necessary limitations of space imposed upon the selection of material for this work; the closing of foreign archives to all investigators after an early date in the nineteenth century; and the greater difficulty, in that later period, of securing a proper historical perspective. But so many and urgent requests have come to us, from subscribers and reviewers, for such extension of this series as shall cover the entire period of Spanish domination, that we have decided to modify the former plan in the manner here briefly indicated.

It is our purpose not to exceed the number of volumes already announced, fifty-five. We are able to