The Sun.
London, England, 1801-08-27 00:00:00

REPORTS

FROM •THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE. HOUSE

PF'COIv:MONS APPOINTED TO INQUIRE *INTO
THE. STATE *OF TH.E PUBLIC *RECOIRDS OF THE

KiiN;QDO,

[CoutiUUed from our Pater of.yestoidqy]

zdly., Of Calendars and Indexes.--,--Those which
are-the private property •of the Officer should be
purchased for the public use.and appropriated' to the
Office of this description, the Keeper of the Re-
cords, at the Rolls Chapel, has not'fewer than fifty,
the. greater, part" of which. he 'purchased. from his
predecessor's9-epresentatives; they relate to the Pa.:
tent, Close and F ine Rolls,' from whence their im-
portance
isevident. The 'Kee,per of the Itecords
in. the. Augmentation Office has -several uceful In-'
dees, which ?se also claims-to be 'his private pro-•
perry,- and the present Secondary and Clerk of the
in the Crown Office of the Court of King's

Bench, have, as their private property, several in-
dexcs .conneded with the Records of that Office,
- .which it—would be desirable to appropriate to the.
use of the Officers foD the time being.
The Public Indexes and Calendars should he
•coniplited forthwith, either; by the ordinary
gerice -of' the persons Usually employed for the pur-
pose in each Office, or, if, necessary, ,by extra- as:.
sistance, provided, at the. Oublic expencei, namely,
by an express --Commission for , rnethodiling • the,
Contehts of the Particular Office, as was practised
(during the present. reign) for methodizing .the •
State Paper Office, and Augmentation Office.
At the Chapter-House, the.largest and, most Va-
rious colleoiOn in the kingdom, one-third- part of
the Whole Contents Of this Repository being hitherto
unprovided with•any detailed Calendars or Indexes,
and this part containing matters concerning the dis..
solved Monasteries, the proceedings of the Star
Chamber, the Court of. Wards and Liveries, and the
COurt of Requests, a Commission would be neces-
sary to -execute this business, if it was required to
be done within any short period 'of time';' although
the present ,:mablislunent of Officers, with spell
further ac,onimociation
,of building as your corn.
mittee have already 'recommended, and a constant
attendanCe might execute the most important parts
Quit with sufficient dispatch. - •
In the 'Power, by the,great and exemplary. dili-
gence an,l liberality of the present Officer, forty—five
out'of one hundred and two Calendars and. Indexes
have been a;lded within the last- twenty-five years;
and. no part is now
.unprovided with them, except
the contents of some presses in what is called
Caesar's Chapel, which, are supposed not to be im-
portant, and may be indexed giachially by the per_
sons at present employed in the Office.
At the 'Rolls Chapel, it i's stated that no Indexes
are wanting but what may be Progressively supplied
by the ordinary diligence of the Officer, Within a
reasonable time,. viz. the. Indexes to the Coronation ;
Rolls,
,the Treaty
.and Foreign Rolls, the Fine
gonsi Dispensations, -Rolls, and- Rolls of.- Pardon;
Surrenders, &c.
_•
In the Court of King's Bench, it is very impor-
tant to the Interests of the Crown, and to His Ma_
jesty's Subjtds, that 'an Index should',be made to
the Baga de Secretr.i. ' One copy of it ought to be
, deposited in the Press, with the Records themselves;
And a duplicate, with the • king's Coroner 'and At.

torney (the Master of the Crown Office) for the use
' 'of His 4,jesty's . Attorney-General for the time
bcin "Ini;i work may requiro.special assistance,
and to this Repository, or such other as His Ma-
. j,esty shall think. proper to appoint, all the Attain-
, der'Receris_ which have been delivered up to this
Committee, and such as- rimy remain in the hands
, of private persOns After the close ofany Special Corn-
!--mission, should be remitted in due course,

the.Coutt of Common Pleas, Alphabetical In.
ilexes to the Docket Rolls of the Records in the
Treasury of that Court are much wanted ; but it
would
.require a great length:of time, and very con..
sidcraye assistance to sup& this defeo,
In ,the Exchequer of Receipt, the Pell nice Re,
colds contained in, the two upper apartments of the
Pell .Office Tower cannot. be examined, or arranged '
without much help, .and no Catalogue has yet been
shad; of the Records .formerly found there, and re.
;moved in the year 1770 from the custody of, the
• Flous,e of-Lords to the Old State Paper Office ; but
this latter defed-may be now suMied; by the per_
- ;ions employed upon the Estab!ishment which has
been reC,?lltly created for tliat .a.lpartaient.
gemembrancers Office, there is a
total v./.2.1t cf ..th4 necessary Calendars and Indexts
Reco.7ds Which are
,arrunged ;* there are
P;;o,. of apy sort which are complete ; and the ge,
4t,count which your Comi'nictec have caused to
be 4rawc, up, - respecting the unarranged Records,
,;.,411.,lerrionstrate the utility of taking further steps
;11orP;1413 t44lniria6o,
10.f1gLord Trf.tasureres Remembran !es'Qffice,
rtf) IregglAT 4P4 c m fete AgrFory Pr Jroo4 1)0

been made since the Restoration, although some par
tlcular IndexeS have been compiled by the industry
of individuals, and of cbur'se much extraordinary
assurance` will be waoteSrfor.chafobjeCt. Arrange.
ments hive been suggested to your Committee for
the proper 'execution of such a work, in which the
present Officers express every !addable desire to con.
tribute their services to the utrnosr ; bin there are
at present some disputed' questions between the Re.
.mentbrancer and Sworn Clerks,,respening the cus-
tody of these ,Recorl, which'may impede the bu-
siness, unless there be some interposition= adju.
dication upon their differences...

In the Office of the'--Auditors .of the Land Re-
•
venue,•notwithstanding -the zeal and assiduity with
which the present Deptiiy Auditor fur England has
aboured, and notwithstanding much has also been
effccled by the .peisol}s employed by your Committee
under the /authority of the. House, some further
assistance will,neverthefess be still wanting to render
these preparatory labours completely useful t - the
Public ; and amongst the rest it is represented, that
great utility would result from. having a Gentral
Index made for each diviSion of the Inrohinents. •

In.the Augthentation Office, there' are about 201 D
bags of. Records, of Which, the gcneral contents are
known to the Officer,.'but there is no Calendar to
them ; nor.any Index whatever. -These, however,
it is apprehended may be. examined and methddized
by the Officer himself, without any special assistance.

In the office' of .the' Surveyor General of Crown
Lands, some further Indexes to the Surveys,', alnd
other, documents concerning the 'Property of the
Brown, would be' usefbl, but no extra assistance
beyond _the present establishment of the 'office is
deemed necessary for the purpose of preparing them,.

, The Clerks of the peace in general have no
Crilenlirs or Indexes, and most of them think 'it
unnecessary ; but others strongly recomMend the.
• Measure ; and it appeaq to your Committee, that
it.must be desirable'to have them completed, as to
'all matters concerning Inclosures, Roads, Bridges,
Gaols, and other county worki Or buildings; ai4
in e•.-ery.case it _would be expedient to have one
general 'Schedule lodged, together with the Records
• themselves in a ',public building, , and a duplicate
thereof left with the of the Peace; for' the
daily use of the office. • • • -
In the British Museum, -it'Woilld'be,desi•rable to
have a revision and corredion Of:the-printed Cata-
llque of the liarleian.MSS. which is extremely de,
-feCtive in the. enumeration of many articles belong-
ing to the peculiar objectof this inquiry -;.and it is
4tibinitsed by the Arincipal Librarian, that much
convenience would be derived from theformation of.
a separate Catalogue, digested under proper heads,
cOmprizing all the Public RecOrds and Papers of
State, dispersed-throughout the different coile6tions
which constitute that Repository ; this work 'also
would necessarily demand' much.. time and labour.
idly, Of Transfers.—These may be eitkier pat.'

_ ..
tial.or general:
. . :
'- Soinepartial' Transfers have been proposed by :the
Officers who have made their returns to your-Corn=
mittee, for the purpose of colle4ing into the'samt
repository the ,entire series of particular sorts ~1
Records. But on balancing the advantages ,of ;hi-
. sort of local convenience ag;iin,t the d.,advant,iges
which might follow from confoundinA the known
references in printed books, and de.!royn,g in some
respeos the use of ,the present , catalogues; your
Committee are of opinion, that. such transfers ale,
not adviseable in .the present. state of the Record
Offi or ; except or the purpose of consolidating any:
of thein.„'as in The case of the Office of the Auditors.
of the Land Revenue, and the Augmentation Of-
fice,• where
.their Records are 'in many instances„
of a similar description; and where the Mirristers.
accounts for alternate years happen to be divided
between them, from which ' circumstance such a
junction -night be useful ; and except incases where
there may exist an actual ik,,e,sity for removing the
Records from their present repositories, as did hap,.
pen in part to the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer's
'Office in:the year x 793 ;;and as must happen-at no
great distance ,of time, whenever* the other Offices
of the EXchequer, of'Receipt 'and Account Are taken
down to be rebuilt 'or removed. An cicasionai.rrads:
fer of some of the proceedings in Chancery is'made
from the ',six Clerks Office' to the Tower, and similar
transferS are made from the Treasuries of the King's
Bench and -CoMmon Pleas to the Chapter House,
whenever the places of primary deposit overflow.;
but there is no reason to 'apprehend that •any such
necessity will arise for many years in either of the
preceding instances.
,
No general Transfer of the Records of these se-
veral RepositOriesfrom their present local situations
could'he desirable, unless it ..were for'the purpose
of establishing 'a General Repository, either for
chose Pnblic Papers and Records, which cease gra_,
dually to be in use for- the current businessof Pub-
lic Offices, :or for. the registration of private Con-
veyances, in either of which cases the/General Re- ,
gister House for-Scotland would bea useful model
for jmitation. The learned' and perspicuous Ac-
count of that. Institution, contained in ' the Returns
from the Office of the Lent Clerk Register, toge-
ther with the Drawings which he has annexed to

it, furnish a very valuable body of information,
respdting the details of .the,Systeni and the con=
struaion of the Tresent Edifice, which is admir
ably contrived for the purposes to :which it -is" ap.
propria
4thly, Of .the Establishment and Duties of Of.
fizers. ft seems to your Committee,that where uo
person is specifically entrusted.
,with 'the custody
and arrangement of the Records which belong- to
;311), office of .great public concern, such an Officer
should he appointed,' and an irmance of this defea
of Establishment occurs in the Lo'rd Treasurer's
Remembrancer's Office, since •the I-en:ley:11 of 4hat
Office to Sometiet-Placei from under the Care of the
Chief U4iler of,the couri.of Exchequer at West-
minsto.r„ to whom_ th,ft duty specially belanged.---:
Your Committee ;ire also of opinion, that where
there is -an Officer, but he has. no salary, and his
whole compensation i 3 derived from Fees, he-should
be remunerated input by Saiary and part by Pegs,
to be.
_regulated upon a moderate fixed
so- that he may, receive an annual equivalent for
the present average ;Inqqap his profit; 4nd

emoittmentS, and His Majesty's. Subjths may hav'e
access to the Records with les, cost- than at pre-
sent. These observations have Suggested
,theth-
selves to your Committee from considering the
situation of the Keeper •of the -Records -in the
RollS Chapel, who has no Salary„ and -of the Keep-
er of the Records of the Augmentation (Mae, whose
Fees are not fixed by any standard vyhatever.-. An
additional reason for such an arrangeMent will. oc-
cur, whenever the private Inde?tes of these C)lEcers
are purchased by the Public, and especially if either
tl-ose which are publie'or private should be printed,
as this circumstance may tend. to diminiSh their
fu►ure etholuments, by rendering their assistance
less necessary. .

,)

(To be continued.)

THE SUN.

SOLEM iaUIS DICEKL FAL3UM AunLAT ?