In this present year of grace the British Lion is gently purring in the centennial eyry of the American Eagle; thither also, the Canadian Beaver, with a maple-leaf, the emblem of sweetness, in his mouth, has wended its way: a striking contrast to the deeds of one hundred years agone, when the followers of the quadrupeds were striving, teeth and claw, to send the lovers of the biped to that bourne from which no traveller returns.

The time seems therefore opportune for a member of the Beaver family to present to the worshippers of the mighty Eagle an edition of a little book touching upon the wrongs and the rights of those of the republic, and from distant lands, who travel upon the 74,000 miles traversed by the iron horse, or the hundreds of thousands of leagues frequented by nags of more mortal frame, on the American continent.

The following is a Canadian book, revised, enlarged, abridged (the watery element being omitted),[1] and rendered a more suitable place to the palate of Uncle Sam by the admixture of many more of the wise sayings of the men learned in the law of the United States. Originally published anonymously, the author has been induced, by the kind notices of his little book that have appeared, to acknowledge his bantling; and he would seize this opportunity of rendering thanks to those critics who, when writing of the first edition of his work, dipped their pens into a solution of sugar and honey and not into an extract of wormwood, vinegar and gall.

R. V. R. Jr.

Kingston, Ontario,
June, 1876.