Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. Third Series. Vol. XL—There
are several important papers in this volume. Professor Firth's presidential address, reviewing our relations with Austria, is timely, and emphasizes the fact that " no temporary agreement in the aims of the two Governments could counteract the lasting difference in their character and their ideals." External causes occasionally forced us into alliance with Austria, but when we were at war with her, " it was because one state was the negation of the ideas of religious and political freedom on which the other state was based." Dr. Holland Rose describes " The Mission of M. Thiess to the Neutral Powers in 1870 " ; he blames the Gladstone Cabinet and the Austrian and Russian Governments for lacking the foresight to discern the consequences of an overwhelming Prussian victory and the courage to check Bismarck before it was too late. Mr. William Foster gives an interesting account of the domestic side of the old India Board from 1784 to 1858, and the Rev. C. Jenkins, the Lambeth Librarian, has a charming paper on the wonderful historical manuscripts in his care.
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