The series was planned long before the great war, but it has derived added importance from the position which that great struggle has given America on the face of the globe. The United States, standing aloof from the suicidal bloodshed of the Old World, has necessarily become the peaceful arbiter of the earth’s destinies and the flywheel to keep the world’s industry revolving. An inquiry into the meaning and tendency of American civilization to-day is thus not only a matter of interest but of patriotic duty. The publishers wish THE AMERICAN BOOKS to be a series of brief, authoritative manuals which will attempt to lay bare some of the problems that confront us to-day; written in popular terms that will inspire rather than discourage the casual reader. The series should prove not only of great interest to all American citizens who wish to aid in solving their country’s pressing problems, but to every foreigner visiting this country who seeks an interpretation of the American point of view. The publishers wish THE AMERICAN BOOKS to be written by the best men, and to this end they seek the widest publicity for the plan. They will be glad to receive suggestions as to appropriate titles for inclusion in the series and will welcome authoritative MSS submitted from any quarter. In particular they submit the plan to the consideration of the American colleges where the problems of the country are being studied. In science, literature, business, politics, in the arts of war and the arts of peace, the publishers will seek writers who have stood for fearless achievement or equally fearless failure, who will build up A LIBRARY OF GOOD CITIZENSHIP. (_For complete list of volumes in this series see opposite title page._) [Illustration] THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS GARDEN CITY, N. Y. FOOTNOTES: [1] This phrase had its origin in the advocacy, by a Dr. Banyan, of a purely vegetable diet. [2] Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, XI, quoted by Paullin, 389. [3] See Paullin, “The Navy of the American Revolution.” [4] Allen, 1, 47. [5] Lacour-Gayet, “La Marine Militaire de la France sous le Règne de Louis XVI,” 142. [6] Clowes, “The Royal Navy,” III, 401. [7] Jones Mss., July 28, 1777, quoted by Allen, 1, 183. [8] The identical commission for which Conyngham came near suffering was found a few years since in a Paris bookshop and is now in the collection of Navalia formed by the late Captain John S. Barnes of New York. [9] Van Tyne, “The American Revolution,” 305, referring to Washington Writings (Spark’s ed.) VI, 441 and VII, 159. N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., VIII, 800. [10] Memorandum dated July 15, 1780, sent by the hands of Lafayette to Rochambeau. [11] Clowes, “The Royal Navy,” III, 396. [12] For a full description of vessels of the galley period, see Admiral Jurien de la Gravière, “Deniers Jours de la Marine à Rames,” and Lane-Poole, “Barbary Corsairs,” Chap. XII. [13] Adams, “Works,” VIII, 373.