276 REVIEWS OF BOOKS April and his perusal will be lightened by the exhaustive index of names and subjects that has been prepared for the published volume. The cross- references to folios in the journals were very ample, and as they have been printed without alteration, they greatly facilitate a study of the action of the commissioners in regard to any particular matter. Not merely do the journals include a note of all the letters received and of those written in reply, there are also recorded under the caption ' Plantations General ' the substance of the orders and communications sent out to all the colonies at once. These give indications as to the general trend of policy in relation to the oversea dominions and the colonial system. Under this heading there are many interesting papers noted that arose from the state of war and the action of the French privateers against English commerce in the West Indies and elsewhere. Access to the papers is thus rendered easier, and they cannot fail to be of interest to the naval historian. The economist will find matter of the greatest value in the Journal's entries concerning trade which for earlier years have been omitted in the extracts that were made for the Colonial Calendar. The volume of business done by the commissioners on the plantation side of their work was the greater, but entries relating to home or foreign trade are rarely missing from the notes of the board's meetings during any week. Such matters most frequently arose on communications received from the secretary of state or from the treasury. The Journal is, therefore, of value in supplementing the Calendars of Treasury Books and Papers that have already been pub- lished for the period, and the series of State Papers, Domestic and Foreign. Considerable light is thrown upon the history of the great chartered companies like the Hamburg, the Turkey, and the Royal African companies. Occasionally the debates that marked the proceedings of the commis- sioners on difficult matters are noted in outline, and we are enabled to discern the opposing views of policy that were held. There are many references of miscellaneous interest, and among them one relating to the papers of the earlier body that was charged with duties concerning trade and plantations. On 30 June 1707 a letter was read to the board giving an account that there were several original books and papers relating to the royal fishery, as also the books and minutes of the council of trade from the year 1660 to 1668, to be disposed of upon a consideration given to the party in possession of them. The commissioners desired to recover the papers, but were not prepared to pay for them before they were valued and a list of them supplied. The vendor forwarded the list, but it does not appear whether the books were purchased or not, and the matter remains to be cleared up by some investigator who is working on the period. Arthur Percival Newton Englische Geschichte im achtzehnten Jahrhundert. Von Wolfgang Michael. II. Band : Das Zeitalter Walpole's. I. Theil. (Berlin : Rothschild, 1920.) 1 Professor Michael, whose prefatory message of goodwill to his English friends I, for one, cordially reciprocate, could not have accomplished the present section of the great task which he has set himself without the aid 1 See ante, xii. 582. lEL.
