In a previous paper which I read some years ago before the Society I declared my intention of discussing the reasons for which Frederick the Great made his famous attack on Saxony in 1756—an attack which roused half Europe against him, and brought him within a hair's-breadth of ruin, but of which he never seems to have repented.

There are few branches of historical study more interesting than the investigation of the great events in international policy, and their causes—the motives which induced statesmen and sovereigns, and the nations they ruled and guided, to make war and peace and alliance. And few branches of historical study have been, till of late, so much neglected by English workers.

I am not in a position to-night to imitate my predecessors, and give at present the results of any research into archives or correspondence. My contribution is purely theoretical in its character, though I trust it may have a practical bearing. I simply wish to call attention to some of the more obvious dangers now besetting historical writing, and to attempt to estimate how far certain new methods of work may avert those dangers. My paper is merely a recommendation of ‘co-operation in the production of historical works.’