The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-07-17
THE GREAT SEAL OF BRITAIN.
Fou,ti! to s;c ordered During tic
Reign OF Victoria.

keiun OF Ctrr;;1.
The grea! seal Of tho British Empire is
worn out and q new one mas been ordered
a. a cost OF. >5.052. The new one VIII b.
| the fourth Of the reign OF Queen Victoria,
and tho old one-tllat is to say. the one
that has been worn OFT by twenty years
OF continuous serv:ce-win bscGm III: per-
quisita OF the Earl of IIasbury as the
| LORD Chancellor Tor the time being. The
great sea- is the emblem Of British SOW
erc:gnty, and is used on all solemn occa-
sions when the VIII of the monarch is TO
be expressed. Its impress in wax is at
! tached TO every royai charter, warrant of
| official document hearing tho sign manual
| OF the sovereign. 1t is used for al! actl Of
State, for writi TO summon Parliament, for
tho ratification OF foreign treaties. and
such documents as treaties. wr!ts sum-
monns Parliament. etc, have no legal val
ua unless sealed with the grea. seal.
Tha: is why King James II. on his flight
from England deliberately dropped the
grea. sea! INFO the Thamea. knowing that
there was nothing which no could possibly
do that would cause SO much inc0nVsn-
iencs TO the government which had deposed
him the absence of the great seal and
the impossbLlity, therefore, to summon
Parliament or to undertake any sovereign
act until a new ono was engraved. Ii he
dropped it into the Thames rather than
take il away with him to France, it is
because he felt almost certain that he
would ba captured before ne even reached
tho mouth OF the river.
There are all sorts of laws dealing with
| the custody of the great seal, which is a
| huge silver affair. Thus, one ancient
| statute still in force declares that it may
| not be taken out of the United Kingdom.
! In fact, one Of the offenses for which Car
| dinal Wolsey was impeached and punished
| during the reign of King Henry VIII. was
| that he had violated the law by taking the
| great seal out of the kingdom with him
| to Calais in his capacity as Lord Keeper
| and High Chancellor. The law makes it
| high treason to counterfeit the great seal.
| and a Lord High Chancellor who allows
| the great seal out of his own custody rem
| ders himself liable not merely to removal
| from office, but likewise to still more seri-
| Gus pains and penalties.
On two or three occasions in English
! history when for one reason or another
| the great seal was temporarily out Of the
keeping of the Chancellor statutes We're
enacted proclaiming the nullity of all docu-
| ments sealed with the great seal during its
absence from his hands. Lord Chancellor
| Thurlow lost the great seal through the
burglary of his London residence III Great
| Ornonde Street, and it was never heard
! OF again, the party spirit being 50 strong
! in those days that Lord Loushborough. who
| formed part OF the administration, actually
ascribed the burglary and theft of the
great seal to the Opposition as a vancouver
| destined TO embarrass the government.
! Lord Chancellor Eldon was in the habit
| of sleeping with the great seal under his
pillow, and when on one occasion his house
! was destroyed by fire he hurried into the
| garden and buried it for safety in d flower
| bed. But, says Lord Campbell:
What between his alarm upon Lady
Eldon's account and his admiration Of the
! housemaids in their vestal attire he could
! not remember the next morning the spot
where he had hidden the seal You never
! saw anything so ridiculous as seeing the
whole family engaged in probed and dig
| ging about the gardens until the seal was
| found
| on vet another occasion when Lord
! Chancellor Brougham was staying in
country house he explained 70. the party
assembled there the 'transcendental re-
| sponsibilty' ne suffered through having the
! custody of the grea, seal, wheceupon it
| occurred TO some OF the young ladies that
| it would be good fun to try and purlon
| this wonderful bauble. Accordingly they
/ hid the great seal, and Lord Brousham
| on discovering his loss, was almost dis
tracteti until at length IT was found in
tea caddy in the dning-room
The wax seals affixed TO documents have
: an diverse and a reverse side, the one
| representing the Queen on horseback and
the other her Majesty enthrone0 under
canopy This of course, necessitates the
great seal having two faces and being
Virtually in two parts. 1t was this that led
! King William N on being confronted at
the time of his accession by the rival
! claims of the outgoing and incoming Lord
| High Chancellor to suggest that they
should share the great seal OF his predeces-
sor, George ", between them, each taking
a half The King then tossed a coin into
the air and the two ChancellOrs We're call
ed upon to cry heads or tails, their an
swers determining who of the two got the
diverse and who the reverse half OF the
great seal.