ENGLAND UNDER GEORGE I. THE BEGIN- NINGS OF THE HANOVERIAN
DYNASTY By Wolfgang Michael
Current Literature
The latest addition to the excellent Studies in Modern History, edited by Professor Namier, is this translation and adaptation (Macmillan, 21s.) from the German of the first volume of Professor Michael's important history of George I. The volume was first published in 1896, and republished in 1921, and Professor Michael made full use of the invaluable Hanover Archives as well as the material in the, Reord Office. His first volume covers the relations between the Electoral Court and Queen Anne, the foundation of the Hanoverian Dynasty, the Jacobite rising of 1715, and British foreign policy 1714-1718. Two conclusions emerge clearly from hiS account. Firstly, the choice of the Hanoverian Dynasty was determined neither by legal right nor by its political abilities but by its suitability to the conditions of British political and trade development. But Professor Michael rightly emphasises that the development of the Cabinet system Was not due to the mere accident of George I's ignorance of English. Secondly, the Hanoi'crian dynasty firmly established the connexion between the Whig foreign policy and the progress of British constitutional and political liberties. English stu- dents will be grateful that this authoritative work has now been made accessible, and their gratitude will be increased by the addition to the series of the second and third volumes.
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