The Sun. — London, England, 1801-08-22 00:00:00

REPORTS PROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOSE OF CPIVIIVIONS APPOINTED TO IN'QU IRE INTO TII E STAT.E OF .THE PUBLIC itEcoßps,or KINGDOM. [Continued from our Pgitt of Ye.rierdqy PROCEEDINGS OF THIS COMMITTEE. 71rouit Committee, therefore, in'Tesuming 'these inquiyies, have-endeavoured to proceed, with a due regard to the traniaio.ns - of former tiines, and an earnest desire to Itaii the views and corapleat the plans which the wisdomof their AnCegtors had pointild our, adverting, at the same . time, to 'the itlecessity of varying and extending those plans, ac ord!ng to _the c,irctunstances which now present theinsetves for consideration. first proceeding, as the necessary four.. .elation of all the rest, was to prepare a List of all . the Public Repositories . in England, in Which any Records, -Rolls, Boob, or papers,. of Royal, Par lianientarl'; Judicial, or other Public Authority, havebeen usually kept ; comprehending those for :rne'rlY inquired into by Parliament, and those hi yhcrto unexamined by it, classing them' under. the Ileitis of General Repositories, , Houses of Parlia ment, Oj&es of State, Courts of Justice, Cithe ,,drals and Universities, I.nns of Court, and PubliC Libraries ; and also, • including the Corresponding pes c rip,tion of Rcposio,ries in Scotland. 'A. In the next place, your Committee framed ~and transmitted to the proper Officer ofeaCh Repo sitory such snestions as 2pvcared to them, •to be most proper for ascertaining the particular nature .0f its contents,' the state of the Building as to se_ ~aFiry and accoMmbdation, the degree in which its — Catalogues, Calendars, and Indexes were corn pleat ; the Number, D'uties,, and remuneration of .the Offices belonging to it, distinguishing in. the form of their Qestions, between those•Oflices which are open of right to all His Majesty's Subjedi, and those vliich are. only - established for the-safe cus tody of matters belonging-to some particular branch •of Gm:et-Mr-mit, or some peculiar Institution : ne .vertheless, not extending their inquiries into the _nature ,or condition of those Public Document's and Papers,. ,which are immediately conneeted . with the current business of any of the Great Offices of Go vernment; in matters of Revenue or War and in all cases, forbearing to 'inquire into. the exi6tencc of any PulilieDociiments contained in Private Col_ lemons, the local' situation of which must always be uncertain, and the.possession transitory. The Returns which have been made to your •Committee from the different Offices, comprehend.: eel within this range of inquiry, greatly exceed in number..tboSe of any former &ite. 'The whole num_ ber received by the Committee in 173 i, was Eighteen, whereas, those received and annexed to this Report,•are betM'een three and four Hundred ; piny of which, besides. the detailed Account Of the Records and Instruments •to which they relate, will be-found to exhibit a very correct view of several. ,important . branches of ,PuNic B"u"siness, never be fore so distinctly and aUthoritatively.explained..—, Striking-instances of This remark will be - found in the Returns from the Exchequer of Receipt in Eng -1.1.nd, and from the Exchequer, in Scotland in ail its branches. • 3. Vpur Committee,' after's'ettling their,Plan of Inquiry, proceeded . ini the. next place to view the principal Repositories in London. At the Chapter _J the and the 'Tower, and. some of the Offices of :the Courts of Justice, which had been visited by former cc,mmittees. they had the means of observ sng•the in , deri changes which had- taken place, by -.&)inparing their present state with the deseription given in forulcr Reports. • And your Committee' also, at, the same time, visited other Offices 'be . longing to Courts of Chancery and Common Law, the Con.rts,Ecclesia“leal and Maritime, the College of Heralds,• - some of the Inns .14 . Court, and the British Museum. 4.. From This ocylar Suivey, compared with the Returns as they were successively received, your • Committee perceived the necessity of directing 4 special searches, to he made in some of the princi. pal Repositories, w_llere the coi , fusion was So great, nd had so long preyailed, as to . render it imprae icable for the present Ofiicers to give even a gene •, . rid account of their contents. &large mass of Books . and Papers had long been eposited 'in the apartments immediately. under the *roof of this. Ijouse, w;lich; according to the Report of 1732, wets.; supposed to he Records of the Court King's'Bonch. These . however . bpon a - ,.par'tkular cr_anination,' lippear to relate ± . tvholly to proceedings . of tteis'House, about the dose of the last Ccryury, tr to Mhos=.ofille Com niissioners of Account:,; in the reigns of King. Wil liam and Queen /Vine i with thern.-%re many 'sealed bags, referring to _Dors . ,. Secret 'cor:esponclences, ndilrish,Affairs in those timeS. - ,.` ' - ) ' • In the Cll;o., , ter House 4 search .was made to as certain the . existenet, nature, - and number of the liunaredßollS of- I nquisitionS'taken iu the reign of Edward' the First,. in addition to those for the four Coutitics Ltr,ely discovered at . the Towers and'ilie *original' Ino %.l u;sit'icns for fifteen Counties,' haveac- , cordinglY been discOered thep, besides' he recorded EktraCts of Ingtiisitjons fo:. twenty-si:x 'Counties. In the. 'l,:hcquer, yotir Coininittee 2 ,found • it neces sary to set on ?Jet it spee:a! inquiry into the state and nature of tl:; j e untairangO l ßecOrdsortheKing's .11emembranect's Office, cont - erning which no return, ap:ear,s _to have ben made (won any former occa :tion./ 'They' fdinO tenon their visitation , a large part of th'eni lying in ! I-A• tr:Ost evident-confusitin in the Steno Tower, adjoin:lT to the Great Gate of Wcstininstcf-haH, and in otner apartinents.cOntigu ()LlS to it, without any Calendar-or Index whatever, por - was tic re any t raditionaraceoUnt: of the Parti :ularS' slit} related. In the 'progress' of this search inany yalrable R...cords tiave been since oriiongSt the rest,' Ingitisi tinus- taken Inevery C:unry in Engianti, tinder w'hat is ustT:illy • called the Statute of„ . l.*:stenta Nlanexii, ¢ VdWaftl the Firit l 'Anno 1276, ja .Law - which,. it :hrts . beensaid; oretviedi, and ilia important - ItoM' , of Y;Alitatidit o Ecclesitotical Benefices, called the No - nx . 12011 s .of Edward the . Third, A - nno 134. t, which are ,nquisitions'resurn ecl to a Commission for assessing a nintk.part of the value 'Of the Corn, Fleece, and Lambs of each Ci,urch, to - the King, in aid of his wars ' - these Rolls specify the 'value of every Benefice, distin guishing how . far it exceeded, or fell short of the valuation of Pope Nieholas the Fourth, in 1291, and stating the particular causes of such variation. in Glebe; Tythe, EndOwment, Appropriation, and every.other circumstance cOnneCted with it. .., In another branch of the Exchequer, the Office of the Auditors of the Land Revenge, which . .was noticed by Lord Oxford, in 17 1 3,as requiring ar rangement ; and noticed'also in 1732, by the then Auditor, as being in extreme. confusion, has been done from that time till. the present Officer very meritoriously undertook to methodize one part' of it, and this lie appears to have executed very 'eTfeCtually : upon the present occasion, therefore, your Committee have caused a thorough examina. tion to be made of the remaining parts of this Re pository,..in the course of which many very valua. We Records of , every denomination, respecting the Possessions of the Crown,., have been discovered, and amongst the rest, several important Surveys and Accounts of The 'Estates in jointure•to Cathe rine, Dowager Queen of Charles the Second, which • having been granted out by reversionhry Leases for 99 years from her death, will fall into the posses. sion of the Crown in the year 1804. 5. Your Committee being informed, in the pro secution .of their inquiries, that many Records of Attainder, and other proceedings under Special Commissions for the Trial of High Treasons, in the .years 1715, x7+6,-- 178 o; 1794, 1795, and 798,. were still remaining in the custody of per 'sons' no' longer 'authorized to keep them and con ceiving that the Rights of the CrOwn and of- the Subject were, in many instances, concerned in their preservation, thought •it their duty, according to the precedents in such cases, to receive these. Re cords and Proceedings, from the Parties who were desirous of delivering them up, and they have de. posited them amongst. the Papers of this Committee, where they are now in readiness to be delivered into the Baga . de Secretis of the Court of King's, Bench, .w i tiqe such Records have been usually lodged, or into any other repository which His Meoestii i inay - be :pleased to appoint for the purpose. 6. TiiiimpOrtancenfa regular transmission of the. Copies of - Parish Registers, in every Diocese to the DioCesanior hi'S Chancellor, which,, by the Canons - .Of 1603, ought to takeplace annually,- having en. .gaged the attention • of your Committee, they di rected inquiries to be made upon this head, and,al . ,thougli they have the satisfaClion to find, that upon an average of the, last ten years these Copies have heen regularly transmitted annually by neatly all the .Parishes in sixteen of the twenty-six Dio6eses in England, and triennally iq two or three ceses, - yet it appears that a very large proportion of the Parishes in each of the remaining Dioceses, have .negleEled to comply witit this salutary regu lation ; which, considering the great utility. that may be derived from fit, in guarding the evidences :of . title and pedigree from spoliation or confusion, ought, in all instances, to be completely And punc tually enforced. • _ 7.'ln Viewing the Repositories assigned to the preservation of the Public Records in7London, Committe, hive seen with - satisfaion the' state of many of the buildings, and the regularity* of their internal .arrangement, , particUlarly the Tower, the Chapter House, the Rolls Chapel, the build ing allotted to the Six Clerks,' the Inrol ment, and the Report Office in ClyancerY. Other Offices, , however, belonging . sci - that Court, and most of those belonging xo tye. Courts of CoMmon Law, are inconveniently dreumstaneed, many of them belonging to private owners,. who may _re move them at pleasure from-place to place, and many of them (though-containing Docquets of Judgments and other Records of great moment % as afFeCting.the Titles to Landed Property,) .are exposed to the most imminent risk of destruaion by fire; . and se veral of . the principal Offices are, also too small for . the present scale, of bosiness, a circumstance .preju dicial to the Suitors, as-well as inconvenient td the Officers. The an tient buildings adjoining to Wes t rninster-Ha)l,containing all the Offices belonging to . the Exchequer _.of Receipt ? are not only too . imictr straightened in space, but. they are also construaed . tn'aterials which render them wholly unsafe for the f;iirposes to which they were allotted. And your Committee, having found that the Paper's , iii the Office'of the Cornmissyoners for auditing the Pub. • lie Accounts,,were perishing 'daily, by damp in the vaults Und'er, the, buildings in spincrset-Place . ; and that lfany accident of fire happened to that Office, or to the Pipe Office, the originals and dup:icates of the Public Accounts . must be cc - insert-led together,, and that the Records of the Lord Treasurer's Reinem 'braneer's Office, in the some place, :Were exposed equally to all these complicated risks, and were, in the mean time :Absolutely inacceSsible- for' 'want of space ; they thought' it their duty' in this instance to inquire -into the best means for providing an im mediate remedy i ,and they have the satigfaOion to. State, that Means, apparently elrettual, • have •beeir, proposed„ . and are aliout to 'be : tarried into-exccu ". • f 3. According to the Returns made from-the prin cipal Repositories', it. appeals that their Calendars. and Indexes are in - general sucienttly complete, with 'some few exceptions, •which.,,vill • be - noticed mor particularly when your CoMinitree • come to point our what remains to be clone on this head. 9. The Official EstabEsliments of some of the great Repositories want regulation, either-where the Fees are fixed at too high, a rate, or are wholly no ascertained ; these also . will be particularly notic.Cd amongst the further measures which yoy(c.:onunit,teei will have to propose. . - . to. In the course . of this investigation, it 'has' .appeared to your Corninittee to be not inconsistent with their duty upon this occasion to suggest, ; that. it "nay •be propeetO destroy • those documents, which• it is useless and inconvenient io 'preserVe.! Of the first sort, a striking . example occurs in the in stance of the Exchequer Port Books, which were established in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth ; they Were aftervilirds superseded, .by a change of system in the Customs, condemned as impede ' and'useles, by the eonunisiip4et4 of Accounts in 4 24p, an 4 fiFolfr,stopped under the recommendation of the Finance Committee in i 799. The former impel-- feec and uSeless Returns, nevertheless, continue to incumber the Ding's Reinembrancer's Office, the Office of the Auditors oldie Land Revericie, and other Offices. It. is undoobtedly, right to proceed with the ut most caption• in destroying any Public Books' or Papers whatever :.but it seems evident, that in all branches of the°Exchequeromd in many other Of fices, the Books of temporary usc, whereof the con. tents are °afterwards, entered of Record, right be destroyed much to the convenience - of the Office, and without any. detriment to the . • • • In the same ?ight your Committee have had oc , casiOn to notice at the Pell Office, 'in the Exche. I quer of Receipt, a most useless waste of time and money, by engrossing on parchment the copies •of the paper books in which all the transadions.of the Office have been -regularly entered ; and also by, making up declarations of Accounts at. Easter and Michaelmas annually, which, according' to the mo dern course of the Exchequer, are utterly unservice able. It is computed that not less than sO,OOOl. has been expended in• this article unnecessarily dur ing the present century. On the other hand, for the purpose of collecting the best ioformation on the methods to be observed in making up and pre_ . serving the useful Records, and rendering them more serviceable to the Public, • your Committee have not only called : upon- each separate Officer- for his opinion on what concerned, • his. own particular department, but they have also obtained, from per.. 'sons most eminent for their, skill and experience (whose g eneral 'assistance th ey have used 'through out this Inquiry), a distinct and derailed explana _tion of the modes which, according to their obser vation and judgment, it would be most 44 yir&able to adcipt in future for writing and preserving ;he Public Records, Books, and Papers, in all Offices and RepOsitories. . • It is with confidence that your Committ e e re fer to these opinions, as containing much pritdi cal detail of real utility to those on whom the execution of these services may rest, respeding the' different charaders of hand-writing in diffe • rent ages, the most durable ink ta subject which ,well deserves a • chemical investigation), and the diffrent modes of restoring its appearance when , faded, or nearly obliterated ; the 'materials for, form ing tolls or books, the circumstances of reference belonging to each ; and the ad vanta g es . or disad vantages attending the structure and distribution of the buildings destined for their preservation. it. Lastly, that the House may have the fullest' proof of the desire entertained by this Committee, to render their Inquiries profitable to. the Public,- they - have analysed the contents of all the returns Which they have received ; and they h ave d rawn u p a systematic, view of them all arranged under the leading divisions of our Constitution, Government, - and Jurisprudence. In addition to which they have Caused two Tables to be prepared by very, learned and able persons; .which they shall present to the House in a subsequent Repcut ; the first of these Tables exhibiting under this systematic arrange ment, all the dates of the several instruments, and the places in which they are deposited ; the second exhibitingan alphabetical enumeration of the same articles-in a more detailed inanner with additional 'explanations of their nature, and references to, the - particular contents of some of, the : most important records ; such as the Close Rolls at the Tower, as well as to all the authentic copies - and catalogues. of public Records and l apers ; which are known to ex ist in'print or manuscript; distinguishing England from Scotland throughout, for the sake of perspi cuity and prataical convenience. With resped to the materials from which these Tables are - compiled ; it is necessary to observe, that some of the Repositories have confined their returns to those MSS-of which no catalogue has been hitherto printed, and hare omitted all the Articles i n their possession.. which have been enume rated in catalogues already printed. • Such, for in stance, are the returns from.the Bodleian Library at 'Oxford, and .for the greater part of the Mdseum. I,lle limits - necessarily assigned to an inquiry .like the present have not alloWed your Committee to in_ . stiture a re-examination of these ,articles; and it seems enough., for public use . that they should be here 'p o i nte d, : Our. , The same obserVation .applies also to the nOmberlesi copies and transcripts of Re. cords and other Public Documents colleded by Lord Hale, Sir W. Dugdale, TAshmble, PepyS,..and MCi dox ; .some.ot the most remarkable.of them are 'r6. (erred to under the.original.artiCles to Which they belong : but it must be always considered, that as well with regard to originals as transcripts, further, recourse is to be had to these printed catalogues which' are . already ire the Toss:.ssicm of the Public. (To be conthtuesi.j TII E SU N. 60 L ENI SZUI6 DICILRE fni.SUM AUDIAT LO N DON,. AVG,V7 2 .5 . .T. iz, 1801. LORD NELSON remained in the Downs yester day; nor was there any appearance at that time of his immediately sailing. His Lordship had not given any indication of, an intention to pursue the design which his former orders for all the• hired • Cutters to put to Sea appeared - to indicate. • The ll.amburgh- Mail due on Wednesday, is not .• 34t arrived. , On Monday next, the Right the LORD MAICOk, Will,lloki a Court of Alciermenon 'Special At airs' ; and afterwards a Wardmote at- St. Mi- Chliel's Church, in the 'Ward of Bassishaw,. for the Eleerion of an Alderman of the said Ward, in the room- of Sir: WILLIAM PLOMER, Knt. deceased, when it' iA 'expefted,. RoD giUr CLARK, Esq. 13anker, will be eleaed without Opposition. .' „ PLYMOUTILDCK, Auc. 20. OUR Garrison is under the,immediate egrnm3ra Major,General E NGLAND, including tip diffael Volunteer Corps within about ten mi es of the Li The Park of Artillery attached to the Wester" Diitria, is now posted at Exeter,• being a c,crl situation, whence I't can easily move 'off to any F;.s l of the.Coasr. • The Alarrn:posts,through6ut the. West are to have been selected with great judgment, and / regular line of communication is intended-to drawn. AN3I.EY Huctis, Esq. son. of ;be late G e net with some other Gentlemen of re,spef.tability, hafe aEtively stepped forward in volunteering their se t ' vices to assist the Lieutenantcy of Devon as Ad? tants, in arraying' the posse-comitatus : Precepil have been - accordingly issued to the Hundred CO' stables, for, an immediate return of all males fra l 16 to 6o years of age, All Clergymen have been requested to continu e in their respeCtive Parishes ; so that every gence• may pass through their hands, by way of preventing false alarms in case of zaual Invasion. . The Supplementary Militia of Devonshire 1 1 ordered to assemble on the '24.th inst. lhe weather still continues most favourable Of the har e vest, the finest ever known. There has been an amazing drop on grain •in our markets; Wheat now selts at 18s. the bushel (doubleWinclidg ter), **Flu- at I 2S. The force employed in the Expedition ;Taint 'Madeira, which sailed from Portsmouth on the cfl l of last month,. under the command of Capt. B o w in the Argo, of 44 guns, and another Frigate, 1 1 1 ,°' several Transports, is ebiefly composed of the 8.9 Regiment. The whole—number o f t h e Tro<l s landed, is supposed to amount to upwards of Ivo: On Tuesday-last, a Meeting of the Lieutenant"' of the County of Essex was held at .the Shire H 4l ' cheimsford, .to receive . the disbanded men of i tic late South EsSex . ge g i ment of 'Militia, which no been previously ordered to be again embodied .that day; wlien upwards of 23 0 m e n assem b: c d, 34 of , v i LiOrr) were ordered to join the Western Bats' commanded by Colonel Sir WM. Smr•ru, 84 to join the, .Eastern Battalion, commanded Colonel.J. Btntocic, and the rein4nder sent 1 hoines, with suf4i . ent pay, bell% Government are much pleased with the attentid which the. Artillery Officers have shewn in inspeaP ing the Arms and Accoutrements of the ctiffere lt Volunteer Corps throughout the United Kingdo o4 their reports in geueFal 'are said also to be satisfS" faktory. • , Lord NEI.SoN, w i th t hat nqinanity and nfrabiliti which mark his eharader, makes daily visits 10 the wonndeti Off .cers arid Seamen, ,tnd enquird after their health in the most tender manner. /If Lordship has written i Letter of thanks •to Loll GESAGS CAVrtpx4n, Colonel of the Perby Reg'' ment, for the attention ?aid by him, in - orderi4 his' men to assist in removing the woonded trot the boats to the Naval Hospital at Deal, , *service they performed with the utmost care attention. The letter waxed on Parade crn T4tirff • day morning. lord ADAM CORDON W made a Colonel oritli rgth of February 1762 ; 'a Major-General on Al ° zsth of gay 1772 ; a Lieutenant-General on the 2 ISt of August 1777; and :a Gen e r a l on t he 1 0 1, of Odolier 2793. The Brice of wheat did not yesterday decline: but remained nearly statii. continued - fal l May however be expeEtedtili , 'the article has.xescfr ed a price much lower n:that at which it at p 9 sent is. Some be samples of American Flour hale been sold at a third of their prime cost, On Wednesday last a petty Session was held ° t Che}Miford, 'for the pu-pose of hearing the indiet' ments of the Weigher, lately appointed for Chelms• ford Hundred, who, on his inspeaion, found nO less than 76 Millers, Bakers, Grocers, Butchers/ &c. within the said Hullltired, in the - habit of using weights short of the standard, and who not °nil forfeited the same; but yiteie severally fined for their' frauds. • : The-late Et.Ecicia. of CoLoext became so`a" corpulent, that he could not move latterly , ' He weighed, four cwt. Wh en o p ene d a f ter death, all the parts. were very sound, but covere d with a prodig ious quantify of fat. A eirCumstance which lately occurred at Flohig t has given birth to some difference between the Bata' .yian - and the French Republics.:—A Dutch .yeSse , " from Bremen to Middleburgh, was compelled, by co°; tray winds, to put into Flushing. Th ere t h e F r enc ft tustom.house O ffi cers, finding' that she was l a den Avi t 4 English goOds, called Contr a b a nd, too k possess i o n 4 Vhe vessel, and conveyed her u p t o Antwerp. 1"i Dutch Government bas stated, that the conduCt. ° these Officers is in violation- of the Treaty e)dstill between the two Republics. It was the wish of ti', o Direaoly . that .the proem against the Capta' f should be held at Middleburgh, as being the place° the ship's destination; bit this being positively re fused, .they have sent orders to:Citizen Sex tr.. 01 0; PENNINCK to i•moristrate with the First Consul °o the sublea I. .• C Dr. Joimam, according to the Chief Engine O jacobinism in this Country, would probably• love heaved a sigh and dropped a, tear over the SoPe"' sion of the Habeas Corpus Ad ; but Dr. joHNs' 4 whg loved his Country, and knew the value of O 1 Constitution, would rather h a ve grieved, if in dee d , indignation had not absorbed his feelings/ that English Writers should, by thtir defence of *P d ! .. Lim France, have, rendered such a Suspension nc cessary, to guard Britain anti Conslitiai° ll from ruin.. • I ` its Ps 3 lll ), to 121 •C .0 1 T tt If I