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JAMES MY 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.
SHELDON, BLAKEMAN, & CO., NEW YORK.

MDCCCLVII.

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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.

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The Author is permitted to append to this preface the opinions of DR. WILLIAMS, of New York, and Dr. Wayland, of Providence, to whom he had the pleasure of submitting his manuscript during his late visit to the United States.

The REV. WILLIAM R. WILLIAMS, D.D., New York, says:

"The subscriber has had leisure to peruse but a small section in manuscript of the proposed work of Mr. Phillippo on the Institutions of the United States.

"Its Author, for many years an efficient and honoured missionary in the British West Indies, will be found, as the subscriber believes, to have scanned our country with the eye of an intelligent and practised, but kindly observer. And his new work will not, in interest or intrinsic merit, fall behind his former volume on Jamaica (the scene of his residence and toils),—a book which, some years since, introduced him so favourably, and to so many readers, in both America and Britain.”

The REV. F. WAYLAND, D.D., LL.D., Providence, Rhode Island, says:

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"I have read the table of contents of Mr. Phillippo's work on the United States. The topics which he has selected seem to me to embrace all the most important points of interest which at once attract the attention of an enquirer concerning this country. From Mr. Phillippo's habits of correct observation, and from the knowledge I possess of his work on Jamaica, I have no doubt that his statements will be found eminently reliable and deeply interesting. I may also remark, in addition, that the success of Mr. Phillippo as a missionary in Jamaica, and the results of his labours for the improvement of that island, must endear him to every friend of humanity."

How far the writer has succeeded in accomplishing his object, and in justifying the opinion formed of his qualifications by these distinguished men, it remains for the public to determine.

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CONTENTS.

PAGE.

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