t of self came from the mastery, under the guidance of teachers, of
certain general historians belonging to an epoch when power of
expression was as much studied as the collecting and sifting of
evidence.

While considering my materials, I was struck with a statement cited by
Herbert Spencer as an illustration in his "Philosophy of Style": "A
modern newspaper statement, though probably true, if quoted in a book as
testimony, would be laughed at; but the letter of a court gossip, if
written some centuries ago, is thought good historical evidence." At
about the same time, I noticed that Motley used as one of his main
authorities for the battle of St. Quentin the manuscript of an anonymous
writer. From these two circumstances, it was a logical reflection that
some historians might make an exaggerated estimate of the value of
manuscript material because it reposed in dusty archives and could be
utilized only by severe labor and long patience; and that, imbued with
this idea, other historians for other periods might neglect the
newspaper because of its ready accessibility.

These several considerations justified a belief, arrived at from my
preliminary survey of the field, that the use of newspapers as sources
for the decade of 1850 to 1860 was desirable. At each step of my pretty
thorough study of them, I became more and more convinced that I was on
the right track. I found facts in them which I could have found nowhere
else. The public meeting is a great factor in the political life of this
decade, and is most fully and graphically reported in the press. The
newspaper, too, was a vehicle for personal accounts of a
quasi-confidential nature, of which I can give a significant example. In
an investigation that Edward Bourne made for me during the summer of
1889, he came across in the _Boston Courier_ an inside account of the
Whig convention of 1852, showing, more conclusively than I have seen
elsewhere, the reason of the failure to unite the conservative Whigs,
who were apparently in a majority, on Webster. From collateral evidence
we were convinced that it was written by a Massachusetts delegate; and
the _Springfield Republican_, which copied the account, furnished a
confirmation of it. It was an interesting story, and I incorporated it
in my narrative.

I am well aware that Dr. Dryasdust may ask, What of it? The report of
the convention shows that Webster received a very small vote and that
Scott was nominated. Why waste