THE STUDY OF AMERICAN HISTORY THE STUDY OF AMERICAN HISTORY BY VISCOUNT BRYCE, O. M. BEING THE INAUGURAL LECTURE OF THE SIR GEORGE WATSON CHAIR OF AMERICAN HISTORY, LITERATURE AND INSTITUTIONS WITH AN APPENDIX RELATING TO THE FOUNDATION J fcfo fiotfe THE MACMULAN COMPANY 1922 All rights reserved PREFATORY NOTE BY THE SECRETARY OF THE ANGLO-AMERICAN SOCIETY LORD BRYCES INAUGURAL LECTURE under tlie Sir George Watson Foundation, which is here presented to the public, was delivered at the Mansion House, London, on Monday, June 27th, 1921, before a large and representative assembly, including many American visitors. The Rt Hon. Arthur J. Balfour, M. P, presided. Mr H. S. Ferris, the secretary of the Anglo-American Society, read a letter from the Prince of Wales s private secretary regretting that owing the pressure of public engagements the Prince was unable to be present, especially as this is a function which it would have given him special pleasure to attend, not only in view of the objects for which the Anglo-American Society exists, but as a further mark of his appreciation of Sir George Watsons generosity. Mr Balfour, who had to leave the Mansion House before Lord Bryce had concluded his address in order to attend the meeting of the Imperial Conference, said there could not be a THE STUDY OF AMERICAN HISTORY more fitting opening of what lie hoped was going to be a fruitful course of lectures delivered in this country by authorities upon Anglo-American history than a lecture by Lord Bryce himself. He had every qualification for the task which he had so kindly undertaken. He had made his name as an Mstorian of European repute much more than a generation ago, and that early reputation ofhis had been sustained and increased by all his subsequent work. He was not only a trained historian and a universal traveller, but he was also a special authority upon American subjects. He approached questions dealing with America with the special advantage that he knew the subject not merely from books, not merely from the sources which historians or dinarily drew upon in order to complete their picture of the past he had in addition to that qualification, which he possessed in the fullest measure, the practical experience which residence in the United States had given him a residence most important from the immediate diplomatic point of view, for he had to deal over and over again with questions profoundly interesting to both the great English-speaking peoples. In 16 THE STUDY OF AMERICAN HISTORY addition to that, he made himself acquainted with, and, I think I may say in the presence of American friends, beloved, by every section of public opinion in America, irrespective of party, profession, tastes and all the other varieties of interest which divide mankind. That is a unique qualification. There is no man living who pos sessed it in anything like the same measure as Lord Bryce. Happy indeed were we to have secured his services on the present occasion. Mr Balfour continued I need not say anything more except that to promote the mutual com prehension of these two great Peoples seems to me the worthiest object which any man can propose to himself at the present time. I do not believe that there is any cause which involves greater consequences for the future of civilization. I do not believe that there is any end for which it is more worth while striving and struggling, and Irejoice to-day that this view is not only held by students and statesmen like Lord Bryce, but has appealed to men who, like my friend Sir George Watson, have the imaginative insight to see how wealth can best be used, and who now, not for the first time in his beneficent career, 7 THE STUDY OF AMERICAN HISTORY has expended great sums of money in a cause which I am quite confident will repay all the expectations which he has formed of it...