It has been a great surprise and also a great gratification to the
author to see the first edition of this volume exhausted within less
than two years since its appearance in complete form. The gratification
has come especially because of the opportunity thus afforded of
revision, improvement in style, and correction of the many inaccuracies
which the first edition contained, excusable only by the manner in which
(as explained in the preface of the first edition) the volume had come
into existence.
Only in a few cases has it seemed desirable to expand, since the object
of the book is not to be complete, but to give as briefly as possible an
oversight over a rather large field. The chapter on France has, however,
been entirely re-written and considerably enlarged to meet the just
criticisms of reviewers; the excellent work of Huffel, full of
historical data, which was not available when the first edition was
printed, permitting a clearer and fuller statement to be made.
As long as history is in the making, a book of this kind can hardly be
brought up to date. This should especially be kept in mind by the reader
in regard to the statistics brought in. Since these are only to serve in
general to show the magnitude of the interests involved, they may
without damage be only approximately accurate, and even of older date.
Some of the chapters have been submitted for criticism and corrections
to correspondents in the various countries to which they refer. For the
kindly assistance of these friends thanks is due from the author.