THE UNITED STATES AND CUBA. BY JAMES M. PHILLIPPO, AUTHOR OF "JAMAICA: ITS PAST AND PRESENT STATE," ETC. "Venient annis sæcula seris Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum Laxet novosque Tiphys detegat orbes, Atque ingens pateat tellus Nec sit terris Ultima Thule." Sen. Med. LONDON: PEWTRESS & CO., 4, AVE MARIA LANE; J. HEATON & SON, 21, WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLVII. ไร PREFACE. In presenting the following pages to the public, it will be expected that they should be accompanied by a few remarks by way of preface, explanatory of the Author's object in their publication, and of the circumstances which have induced him again to obtrude himself upon public attention. The substance of this volume was contained in Lectures delivered before various Literary and Scientific Societies. In preparing these Lectures the Author had recourse to every publication within reach, referring to the subjects on which they treat. Thus, in addition to his own personal observation and experience, he has endeavoured to condense, from authentic but widely-scattered sources, as large a mass of information as possible into the smallest compass consistent with perspicuity. In pursuing his task the writer was particularly struck with the fact, that, although histories of, and tours through, the United States are so numerous, no book existed, so far as he was able to ascertain, that could be put into the hands of an emigrant, or of any one anxious to acquire general information on the United States, conveying such knowledge as he would naturally desire, within reasonable limits and at a moderate expense. The present volume, therefore, by its embracing so wide a range of topics, carefully collected and systematically arranged, -comprehending, indeed, almost every conceivable subject connected with the United States,-and presented in so compendious a form, the Author flatters himself will be regarded as supplying an important desideratum. |