ESSAYS IN PERSUASION

viii

we can keep ourselves for ever in the pit ofwant.

The essays have been taken out of theauthor’s printed writings, whether books orpamphlets or newspaper and magazine articles,indiscriminately. The method has been toomit freely (without special indications in thetext) anything which appeared to be redun-dant or unnecessary to the main line of the argu-ment or to have lost interest with the passageof events; but to alter nothing in the textwhich has been retained. New explanatoryfootnotes, which have been added in thisvolume, have been placed between squarebrackets. The author has endeavoured tosecure that the omissions shall not be such asto make the balance of argument to appear inany way different from what it was in theoriginal context. But for the curious inquirer,if there be any, there is provided on the lastpage of the book a table of references showingthe source from which each essay has beentaken, and where it can be found in its completecontemporary setting.

I have thought it convenient to choose thisdate of publication, because we are standing ata point of transition. It is called a NationalCrisis. But that is not correct—for Great