Was based on a fundamental law of humanity

Carlyle uttered a pregnant truth when he said that the history of any country is in the biographies of the men who made it.

I have constantly had in mind the average man intelligently interested in political affairs.

especially worthy to be studied by those who aspire to serve their country

has been to acquaint men who are interested in the bearings of modern history on public life with sundry statesmen whose time was devoted not to seeking office or to winning a brief popular fame by chicanery or pettifoggery, but to serving …

My early years abroad were spent mainly upon the European Continent, and public duties since have led me to make prolonged stays in various Continental states—France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Russia—where the study of Continental …

to each of these personages is given a somewhat extended historical setting