THERE is little to say by way of preface to this book. To explain how it came to be written would lead only to personal details of no interest to the reader. Its defects cannot be extenuated nor its merits enhanced by any statement in this form; and a Preface might as well be wholly dispensed with but for a tribute of thanks which it is alike incumbent and pleasing to pay.
To John Pender, of Manchester, who warmly encouraged my design from first to last, and gave me letters of introduction that proved most valuable-to Robert Dalglish, M.P. for Glasgow, who readily obtained from the Foreign Office a letter commending Her Majesty's Consuls to render me such assistance as they could properly afford-and to all in the United States, too numerous to name, from whom through these and other relationships much information was received-I owe the most cordial acknowledgments. Nor can I omit to express my admiration of the general civility of the American people, from whom, during a sojourn of months among them with all the curiosity of an inquirer, not a word escaped in my hearing unwelcome to a stranger or a British subject to hear.