In preparing this work, the Editors have received most friendly interest and aid from scholars, historians, archivists, librarians, and State officials; and from prominent ecclesiastics of the Roman Catholic church, and members of its religious orders.  Especial thanks are due to the following persons:  Hon. John Hay, Secretary of State, Washington; Sr.  D. Juan Riano, secretary of the Spanish Legation, Washington; Hon. Bellamy Storer, late U.S.  Minister to Spain; Hon. Robert Stanton Sickles, secretary of U.S.  Legation, Madrid; Dr. Thomas Cooke Middleton, O.S.A., Villanova College, Penn.; Rev. Thomas E. Sherman, S.J., St. Ignatius College, Chicago; Rev. John J. Wynne, S.J., Apostleship of Prayer, New York; Rev. Ubaldus Pandolfi, O.S.F., Boston; Bishop Ignatius F. Horstmann, Cleveland; Bishop Sebastian G. Messmer, Green Bay, Wis.; Fray Eduardo Navarro Ordonez, O.S.A., Colegio de Agustinos, Valladolid, Spain; Rev. Pablo Pastells, S.J., Sarria, Barcelona, Spain; Charles Franklin Thwing, LL.D., President of Western Reserve University; Frederick J. Turner, Director of the School of History, University of Wisconsin; Richard T. Ely (director) and Paul S. Reinsch, of the School of Economics and Political Science, University of Wisconsin; Edward G. Bourne, Professor of History, Yale University; Herbert Putnam (librarian), Worthington C. Ford, P. Lee Phillips, A.P.C.  Griffin, James C. Hanson, and other officials, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.; Wilberforce Eames (librarian) and Victor H. Paltsits, Lenox Library, New York; William I. Fletcher, librarian of Amherst College; Reuben G. Thwaites and Isaac S. Bradley, State Historical Society of Wisconsin; William C. Lane (librarian) and T.J.  Kiernan, Library of Harvard University; John D. Fitzgerald, Columbia University, New York; Henry Vignaud, chief secretary of U.S.  Legation, Paris; Sr.  D. Duque del Almodovar del Rio, Minister of State, Madrid, Spain; Sr.  Francisco Giner de los Rios, of University of Madrid, and Director of Institucion Libre de Ensenanza; Sr.  Ricardo Velasquez Bosco, Madrid; Sr.  D. Cesareo Fernandez Duro, of Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid; Sr.  D. Eduardo de Hinojosa, Madrid; Sr.  D. Pedro Torres Lanzas, Director of Archivo General de Indias, Seville; Sr.  D. Julian Paz, Director of Archivo General, Simancas; Sr.  D. Francisco de P. Cousino y Vazquez, Librarian of Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar, Madrid.

Favors from the following are also acknowledged.  Benj.  P. Bourland, Professor of Romance Languages, Western Reserve University; Professor C.H.  Grandgent, Department of Romance Languages, Harvard University; John Thomson, Free Library of Philadelphia; George Parker Winship, Carter-Brown Library, Providence, R.I.; Addison Van Name, Librarian of Yale University; Otto H. Tittmann, U.S.  Coast and Geodetic Survey, and Dr. Otis T. Mason, Curator U.S.  National Museum, Washington, D. C.; Rev. Laurence J. Kenny, S.J., St. Louis University; Rev. Henry J. Shandelle, S.J., Georgetown