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yet he records in his diary1 his surprise that so few foreigners apparently desire any information about this country, while all have much to communicate on the subject.
The reason why every one reads with pleasure even the censures of Mr. Bryce is because he has really taken the pains to learn something about us. There is probably no American author who has traversed this continent so widely and repeatedly; there is perhaps no one who has made so careful a comparative study of the State governments; and there is certainly no one who could re-enforce this comparison by so careful a study of popular government in other times and places.
To say that his book will supersede De Tocqueville is to say little; it is better for the present period than was De Tocqueville for any period; because it is as clear, as candid, and incomparably more thorough.
All this refers to the main theme of Mr. Bryce's book; but there is one criticism yet to be made upon it. It is to be regretted that he was ever tempted from his main ground, where he is so strong, to a collateral ground, where
1 January 16, 185.
Boston, Lee and Shepard Publishers, 1892.
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