parliamentary debates, official reports, documentary col-
lections, memoirs, letters, diaries, speeches, and yearbooks
have been thoroughly canvassed. All these sources, unpub-
lished and printed, together with the vast array of secondary
works on this subject, have contributed in varying degree to
the reconstruction of the account which follows.

The author takes this opportunity to express his warmest
appreciation to the Social Science Research Committee of the
University of Chicago, whose generous financial assistance
made possible the publication of this study. He is extremely
grateful to his colleagues, Professors Bernadotte E. Schmitt
and Louis Gottschalk, who read the entire manuscript. He
is heavily indebted to the archivists at Paris and Vienna for
their courtesies in giving him access to the unpublished docu-
ments mentioned above. He is likewise grateful to Miss
Diane Greeter and Miss Mapes, members of Dean Redfield's
staff, for innumerable kindnesses. To Miss Mary D. Alexander
and Miss Olive Mills, of the University of Chicago Press, the
author extends his deepest appreciation for helpful advice
and assistance throughout the process of publication. And to
his wife, without whose aid and companionship the writing of
this book would have been a vastly less exhilarating under-
taking, he expresses thanks which words alone can scarcely
convey.

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