RECORDS. A.D. 1841. Selections. metropolis. Thus the records of the king's remembrancer, of the PUBLIC Exchequer, and the Common Pleas, migrated from Westminster Hall to the late Mews at Charing Cross; and thence, to make Part II. room for the National Gallery, to Carlton Riding-School. The records of the late lord-treasurer's remembrancer and Pipe-Office, are entombed two stories deep in the vaults of Somerset House. Those of the King's Bench for a time rested opposite St. Margaret's Church, but were shifted to the Rolls House in Chancery Lane to make room for the present Rolls Court at Westminster. tories. XVIII. Thus from time to time have repositories, as well un- Old reposidignified with the ancient title of "king's treasury" as deficient in that careful superintendence which originally accompanied the title, arisen in all parts of London; and in 1837 a committee of the House of Commons reported that it had seen the Public Records, the most precious part of the king's "treasure," deposited at the Tower over a gunpowder-magazine, and contiguous to a steam-engine in daily operation; at the Rolls, in a chapel where divine service is performed; in vaults, two stories underground at Somerset House; in dark and humid cellars at Westminster Hall; in the stables of the late Carlton Ride; in the Chapter-House of Westminster Abbey; in offices surrounded by and subject to all the accidents of private dwellings, as the Augmentation Office and First Fruits. At the present time (1841), besides the offices for modern records attached to each court, we may enumerate the following repositories, with their different localities, as containing the public records : The Tower, in Thames Street. Chapter-House, Westminster Abbey. Rolls Chapel, Chancery Lane. Rolls House, Chancery Lane. Duchy of Lancaster, Lancaster Place, Strand. Duchy of Cornwall, Somerset House. Common Pleas, Carlton Ride and Whitehall Yard. Queen's Remembrancer's Records, in Carlton Ride and Tower of Westminster Hall. Augmentation-Office, Palace Yard, Westminster. Pipe-Office, Somerset House. LordTreasurer's Remembrancer, Somerset House. Land Revenue, Carlton Ride. Pell-Office, 1, Whitehall Yard. Exchequer of Pleas, 3, Whitehall Yard. First-Fruits Office, Temple. It would seem that as early as the commencement of the fourteenth century, the officers charged with the custody of the records were found to be either insufficient or neglectful of the perfor PUBLIC A.D. 1841. Master of the Rolls. Record Inquiries and Commission. mance of their duties. Since the time of Edward II., scarcely a reign has passed without a special temporary agency being appointed to restore the public records to good order. The necessity probably arose from the functions of the officer charged with the care of the records, being altogether changed, as in the instance of the Master of the Rolls, who was the bonâ fide "gardien des roules" in early times. XIX. In the 14th Ed. II., the barons of the exchequer were directed to employ competent clerks to methodize the records, which were 66 not then so properly arranged for the king's and the public weal as they ought to be." Again in the 19th year of Ed. II., certain commissioners were appointed for a similar purpose. In Edward III.'s reign, at least three like commissions were issued (Rot. Claus., Annis 34 and 36; and Rot. Parl., Anno 46). Statutes for the protection of records from falsification, erasure, and embezzlement were passed-8 Rich. II., c. 4, and 11 Hen. IV., c. 3. Other measures were taken by Henry VI., Henry VII., and Henry VIII. Inquiries into the state of the Parliamentary, the Chancery, and Exchequer records, were prosecuted in Queen Elizabeth's reign. James I. proposed "an office of general Remembrance for all matters of record," and a State Paper Office, which Charles II. established. Nor were the reigns of Anne and the two first Georges, wanting in investigations into the subject. Committees of both Houses of Parliament from time to time visited the several repositories, and the fire of the Cottonian Library in 1731 produced a report which describes the condition of most of the public repositories at that period. But the fullest examination into the state of the public records which has been made in recent times, was effected by a Committee of the House of Commons, in 1800, conducted by Lord Colchester, then Mr. Abbot, and the report of that Committee presents by far the most perfect and comprehensive account which has yet appeared of our public records, to which a period of forty years has added very little. This report originated a commission for carrying on the work which its authors had begun. The Record Commission was renewed six several times between the years 1800 and 1831, and altogether suspended at the accession of the present Queen. All the several record commissions during thirty years, recited, one after another, that "the public records of the kingdom were in RECORDS. Selections. many offices unarranged, undescribed, and unascertained;" that PUBLIC they were exposed "to erasure, alteration, and embezzlement," and A.D. 1841. "were lodged in buildings incommodious and insecure." The Part II. commissioners were directed to cause the records to be "methodized, regulated, and digested," bound, and secured; to cause "calendars and indexes to be made," and "original papers" to be printed. The present state of the Record Offices affords abundant evidence that the Record Commissioners interpreted their directions in an inverse order; expending the funds entrusted to them rather in printing records than in arranging or calendaring them. And it is an undoubted fact that notwithstanding these commissions, records were embezzled "—and are still lodged in most "insecure" buildings. A very full investigation into the proceedings of the Record Commission was made by a Committee of the House of Commons in 1835, and the reader who is curious to know more than our space allows us to state may consult its report. Certainly during the last half-century there has been no niggard expenditure in one shape or another, in respect of the public records. It is not very easy to ascertain its total amount, or the precise appropriation of it; but the following may be received as an approximation to correctness : 66 Fees, estimated on an average of the years 1829, Of the grants made to the Record Commission, by far the greater part was spent in printing and the expenses connected therewith. Reform of XX. A very important step has recently been taken by the old system. PUBLIC Consolidation. Legislature to provide for the better custody and preservation and more convenient use of the public records. An Act was passed (1 and 2 Vict., c. 49) calculated to remedy effectually what preceding efforts had in vain attempted, by constituting a special agency for the custody of the records; to the want of which, and a sufficient responsibility, all the defects of the old system are attributable. By this Act the Master of the Rolls is made the guardian of the public records, having powers to appoint a deputy, and, in conjunction with the Treasury, to do all that may be necessary in the execution of this service. The Act contemplates the consolidation of all the records, from their several unfit repositories, into one appropriate receptacle; their proper arrangement and repair; the preparation of calendars and indexes, which are more or less wanting to every class of records; and giving to the public more easy access to them. Lord Langdale, the present Master of the Rolls, to whose influence the change of system is greatly due, has already brought the above Act into as full operation as circumstances have allowed. The old custodyship of most of the offices has been superseded, and the offices are constituted branches of one central depository-the Public Record Office, which, until a proper building is ready, is at the Rolls House in Chancery Lane. The Victoria Tower of the new Houses of Parliament has been named as a likely repository for the public records. The arrangement and repair, as well as the making of inventories of records, have been generally begun in most of the offices. ON THE PERILOUS STATE AND NEGLECT Extracts from an article published in the "Westminster Review," XTREMES meet. Ex PUBLIC A.D. 1849. Selections. The country was led to spend last year, for buildings and works connected with war, at least £2,000,000, and for buildings connected with civil purposes above Part II. £1,000,000; but its financial administrators could not economize one per cent. on this outlay, or even a farthing, to rescue the National Records from jeopardy! The Financial Reform Association, at one of its meetings, very properly denounced this inconsistency. We should naturally look to find a sympathetic regard for the National Records stronger with a government and all its aristocratic interests, than with cotton-merchants and Manchester warehousemen; but strange as it may seem, the Financial Reform Association has been the only public body feeling itself sufficiently interested in the subject, to call public attention to the government neglect of it. In contrasting economical commissions and omissions, it was the chairman, we think, who showed, that whilst hundreds of thousands of pounds can be afforded annually for experimental abortions, such as the Retribution, the Sidon, and other steam-frigates, it was pretended that no sum could be spared to place the national muniments in a place of safety. And so it would appear that this matter, which might be supposed to engage the solicitude of nobility, landowners, lawyers, diplomatists, financiers, statisticians, and those it most nearly concerns, is likely at last to be settled by some disciple of the "Manchester School." The anomalies of management and instances of feebleness which are connected with the administration of the Public Records and State Papers for years past, are almost incredible. Since 1800, the |