ABSTRACT
Every country is important in its own eyes and for its own people; but some countries have a wider significance, a significance for the world at large which gives them a peculiar place in the history of civilization. England, for example, has come to stand for what is roughly called political liberty; and, being pre-eminently the founder of colonies, she is sometimes called the "mother of nations". Americans themselves have commonly taken democracy for granted, but for a century intelligent Europeans were aware that popular government and social equality on such a grand scale were new things in world. With the exception of Lord Bryce, the most intelligent European who ever set himself the task of observing America was Alexis de Tocqueville? De Tocqueville was no apostle of democracy, but he convinced' himself that it was bound to come, accepted it as one accepts the inevitable, and like a wise man wished to be prepared for it.
