§ SIR R. ASSHETON CROSSasked the Secretary to the Treasury, What 365 progress is being made by the Historical MSS. Commission; why there was no Report last year; and, when the next Report will be presented?
§ LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISHSir, since the issuing of the first Commission in 1869, about 500 collections of manuscripts of historical interest have been examined and reported upon by the Commissioners. Accounts of the contents of most of these collections have been published in seven Reports. An eighth Report is now in type, and will, I am told, be presented before the end of the Session. It will contain more, and more varied, historical information than any of its predecessors; also an alphabetical list of all the collections examined since the issuing of the Commission. No Report was issued last year, because the terms of the Commission do not require one to be issued annually.