err upon the side of literary form rather than meaning. In the matter of paragraphing I have invariably followed the form of the document as originally printed in French, even when a single sentence is made to run into a dozen paragraphs. As to other features of form, such as punctuation and capitals, I have been guided by two canons—to treat each document separately so as to produce the best result for that particular document, and to follow the originals as closely as English usage would allow.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge help received from several friends in addition to those already mentioned. Professor Willis Mason West, my colleague and chief, has generously responded to my frequent appeals for advice. Professor Fred Morrow Fling of the University of Nebraska kindly looked over the list of materials and made several helpful suggestions. I am under great obligation to my publishers for permission to make the volume considerably larger than stipulated in our agreement. Most of all I am indebted to my wife, Mary Steele Anderson. To her constant encouragement, literary criticisms, and assistance with the manuscript and proofs, I owe a large part of whatever value the volume may possess.
University of Minnesota.
April 30, 1904.
Both the material and the arrangement of this edition correspond closely to the original publication. Several documents of a later date than 1902 have been added and a few changes have been made in a number of the groups of documents relating to some single topic. The principal difference between this and the original edition is in details. All of the translations have been gone over carefully and numerous changes made, especially in the second half of the book. Quite a number of additional references have been inserted. As several widely-used text-books have inserted references to documents contained in the collection I have endeavored to preserve the original pagination as far as possible. Almost invariably a reference to the first edition will be found on the corresponding or the next page of this edition.
