teacher's interest in showing the relation between specific instances
and the general forms of thought or action of which they are a part. Not
fact alone, but principle, is what he seeks to discover to his
audiences. In the addresses made in 1913 it is apparent that his main
effort was to fasten attention upon the principles of international
justice and good will and to restrain the impulses of those Americans
who were inclined to hasty action with reference to Mexico. From the
beginning of the Great War to a point not much earlier than our own
entrance into the struggle, he counselled neutrality and inaction, with
what motives one must judge from his statements and from events. Only a
few speeches belonging to this period have been included in the present
collection. When it became practically certain that war between the
United States and Germany was inevitable, there came into his utterances
a new temper and a more direct kind of eloquence. With scarcely an
exception, this collection includes every one of his addresses made
between August, 1916, and February, 1918.

Some of the addresses are state papers, read to Congress, and were
carefully composed. Others, delivered in various places, appear to have
been more or less extemporaneous. All are full of their author's
political philosophy, and many of them contain expressions of his
opinions on general subjects, such as personal character and conduct.

In order more fully to appreciate the weight of experience and the
maturity of reflection which give value to his words, it will be worth
while to consider Mr. Wilson's entire career as a scholar and man of
letters, paying particular attention to the growth of his political
ideals and to the qualities of his style.

To be a literary artist, a writer must possess a constructive