British, but all the broad project of this book--the discussion of the
quality of the average birth and of the average home, the educational
scheme, the suggestions for the organization of literature and a common
language, the criticism of polling and the jury system, and the ideal
of a Republic with an apparatus of honour--is, I submit, addressed to,
and could be adopted by, any English-reading and English-speaking man.
No doubt the spirit of the inquiry is more British than American, that
the abandonment of Rousseau and anarchic democracy is more complete
than American thought is yet prepared for, but that is a difference not
of quality but of degree. And even the appendix, which at a hasty
glance may seem to be no more than the discussion of British parochial
boundaries, does indeed develop principles of primary importance in the
fundamental schism of American politics between the local State
government and the central power. So much of apology and explanation I
owe to the reader, to the contemporary specialist, and to myself.

These papers were first published in the British _Fortnightly
Review_ and in the American _Cosmopolitan_. In the latter
periodical they were, for the most part, printed from uncorrected
proofs set up from an early version. This periodical publication
produced a considerable correspondence, which has been of very great
service in the final revision. These papers have indeed been honoured
by letters from men and women of almost every profession, and by a
really very considerable amount of genuine criticism in the British
press. Nothing, I think, could witness more effectually to the demand
for such discussions of general principle, to the need felt for some
nuclear matter to crystallize upon at the present time, however poor
its quality, than this fact. Here I can only thank the writers
collectively, and call their attention to the more practical gratitude
of my frequently modified text.