CHICAGO, July 12, 1893. Messrs. E. W. Blatchford and James P. Baxter were appointed to audit the accounts of Mr. Clarence W. Bowen, treasurer of the American Historical Association from January 1, 1892, to July 6, 1893. They beg to report: They find statements of the following receipts: January 1, 1892, balance from last statement.. Loan made by secretary....... Interest on bond and mortgage for $5,000... From sale of publications, $105.87 + $10.78 + $224.50 = From 625 annual dues, at $3 each... Total receipts... They find 30 vouchers for expenditures as stated (inclusive of 1,075, being the loan and interest paid) of . $42.90. 1,000.00 500.00 341. 15 300.00 1,875.00 4, 059.05 4, 038. 10 July 6, 1893, cash on hand.. 20.95 4,059, 05 The statement is accompanied by a certificate of John A. King, of date February 2, 1892, of the possession of the bond and mortgage for $5,000, at 5 per cent.... Which, with above statement of cash on hand of.. Makes the assets of the American Historical Association at date, 5,000.00 20.95 5,020.95 Your committee would express to the Association their congratulation upon the favorable condition of the finances of your society at this date. The bond and mortgage for $5,000 represents accumulations during the very early years of its history. The present economical arrangements for publication of the Association's papers will increase the fund. Special thanks are due to the officers of the Association, whose constant and efficient services make this report possible. Respectfully submitted. E. W. BLATChford, Chairman. LIST OF COMMITTEES, 1893-'94. 1. Auditing committee: E. W. Blatchford, esq., James Phinney Baxter, esq. 2. Finance: Hon. John A. King, Robert Schell, esq., Dr. C. W. Bowen. 3. Nominations: Hon. William Wirt Henry, Dr. William F. Poole. 4. Time and place of meeting: Dr. William F. Poole, Mrs. Ellen H. Walworth. 5. Programme: Prof. Justin Winsor, Prof. A. B. Hart, Prof. F. J. Turner, Dr. J. L. M. Curry, Prof. H. B. Adams. 6. Resolutions: Prof. H. B. Adams, Reuben G. Thwaites, Dr. C. H. Haskins. OFFICERS FOR 1893-'94. President: Henry Adams, Washington, D. C. Vice-presidents: Edward G. Mason, president of the Chicago Historical Society; Hon. George F. Hoar, Worcester, Mass. Treasurer: Clarence Winthrop Bowen, PH. D., 130 Fulton street, New York City. Secretary: Herbert B. Adams, PH. D., LL. D., professor in the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. Assistant secretary and curator: A. Howard Clark, curator of the historical collections, U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C. Executive council (in addition to the above-named officers): Hon. Andrew D. White, LL. D., Ithaca, N. Y.; Justin Winsor, LL. D., Cambridge, Mass.; Charles Kendall Adams, LL. D., president of University of Wisconsin; Hon. William Wirt Henry, Richmond, Va., William F. Poole, LL. D., librarian of the Newberry Library, Chicago; Hon. John Jay, LL. D., New York City; James B. Angell, LL. D., president of University of Michigan; G. Brown Goode, PH. D., LL. D., assistant secretary Smithsonian Institution, in charge of the National Museum; John George Bourinot, C. M. G., LL. D., D. C. L., clerk of the Canadian House of Commons; J. B. McMaster, professor of history in the University of Pennsylvania; George B. Adams, professor of history in Yale University. II-INADEQUATE RECOGNITION OF DIPLOMATISTS BY HIS TORIANS. INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY DR. JAMES B. ANGELL, PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT JAMES B. ANGELL, LL. D., JULY 11, 1893. THE INADEQUATE RECOGNITION OF DIPLOMATISTS BY HISTORIANS. The scholars of our time have often congratulated themselves that historical writers have in these later years been giving a wider scope to their work than the older historians gave to theirs. These later writers, in describing the history of a nation, have not confined themselves to the records of battles and of court intrigues and of royal genealogies. They have deemed it proper to give us some idea of the progress of the nation in letters, in art, in science, in economic development, in religion, in all that makes up what we call civilization. They have attempted to give us a vivid and accurate conception of the forces and the processes which have made nations what they are. And they have had in mind the true ideal of the historian's task. But in the course of my studies I have been led to the conviction that most of the general historical narratives have failed to set forth with sufficient fullness the important features of great diplomatic transactions, and have failed even more signally in specific recognition of the signal merits of many of the gifted negotiators of epoch-making treaties. The work of international congresses, which have remade the map of Europe or the maps of other continents, which have extinguished the life of proud and ancient states or have created new states, which have given larger freedom to commerce and wider liberty in the use of the high seas, which have mitigated the cruelties of war and have swept the slave trade from the ocean; this work, so wide and far-reaching in its influence, of the diplomatic representatives of powerful states has been often passed over altogether by historians of renown or dismissed with the most succinct summary which was possible. Even where the results of negotiations are given it is rare that one finds any fairly complete account of |