It would give me pleasure to mention all the sources from which I have obtained assistance in the preparation of these volumes, hut they are legion, and the statement would read like a dictionary. I shall, however, make due acknowledgments, as far as space will permit, in the Preface to Volume II. The most eminent scholars of the land are among those who have given me counsel and encouragement. I have never lost sight of the magnitude and importance of the task before me, New York being the central point in all American history, nor have I in any instance indulged fancy at the expense of historical exactness and symmetry. My first aim has been to reach the truth, in which pursuit I have spared no pains. My original purpose to produce a standard authority has been my latest purpose. Facts before finding a place in my pages have been subjected to a searching ordeal. Occasional errors may have escaped even the closest vigilance, but such when discovered will be corrected. On all matters where difference of opinion exists I have examined both sides without prejudice or partiality. I have also listened with deference to and profited by the judgments of the well-informed. But while I have left no stone unturned in the way of securing the broadest light and the most unexceptional aid, I am alone responsible for what I have written.
If, in the treatment of a subject which combines so many sources of thrilling interest, and which is dear to the heart of every American citizen, I have given warmth and color as well as life and expression to realities, and found favor with the great sympathetic reading public, then my labor has not been in vain.
New York City, June 15, 1877.
