|
PREFACE
It was the intention of
the Compiler to prefix to the ensuing sheets a statement of the various
facts and circumstances connected with the Public Records, under the
different heads of “Access,” “Calendars,” "Transcripts,” “Security,”
“Employment of Clerks,” &c., which are scattered through the numerous
and unwieldly volumes, both printed and manuscript, that owe their birth
to the Parliamentary Inquiries, instituted during the last century, into
the state of the Archives of the Kingdom. The utility of such a
statement is evident; and it is probable that it would prove not less
instructive than useful, as it would show that abuses are as inveterate
in the subordinate, as in the superior, departments of the Government,
and, when concealed from the public eye, are often propagated and
increased by the very measures, that were designed for their diminution,
or destruction. Every passage of the Report of 1800 exhibits evils, to
which the lapse of thirty years has only served to give a more luxuriant
and a more vigorous growth; and even the ancient Reports of 1719 and
1732 indicate many corrupt practices, that still exist, in despite of
“Recommendations” and “Orders” made and reiterated by Committees and by
Boards, and with which, notwithstanding the long-continued efforts of
their predecessors, the present Commissioners on the Public Records are
compelled now to grapple.
Some progress had been made in this statement, when the Compiler found
that it would swell the present volume to a most inconvenient size; and
he has therefore determined to reserve it for a separate work, which
will be exclusively devoted to the important branch of the labours of
the Record Board comprehended by the foregoing titles. This work he does
not altogether despair of being able to complete in the course of the
next long vacation, the only period during which his professional
avocations afford him the leisure requisite for such an undertaking. In
the mean time, should the reader have entertained the hope, that the
present work would embrace a more general view of the proceedings of the
Record Board, he is entreated to accept the assurance, that if the
following pages are silent respecting the abuses in question, it is not,
at least, because they are less known than those, which are there
exposed to his observation.
The Compiler cannot, however, permit these volumes to appear
unaccompanied by the declaration, that his enlarged acquaintance with
the state of the Public Records has produced no change in the opinions,
which he ventured to express before his reluctant acceptance of the
troublesome and most unprofitable office, that he now holds, had brought
within his reach a mass of unpublished materials, until then unexplored
and inaccessible. His conviction has for many years been, and it still
is,—that the genuine materials for the History of this Country lie
buried in the sepulchral vaults and chambers of the Tower, the Chapter
House, the Pipe Office, and the Rolls Chapel—that the dark cloud, that
has so long rested upon those repositories, conceals the origin and
early progress of our judicial institutions and our Parliament— and that
the most esteemed general and local histories, that we possess, abound
with numberless and the grossest errors, and as little resemble the
truth, as the pleasing, but fanciful, theories of Montesquieu,
Blackstone and Delolme represent our actual constitution.
The Compiler, too, cannot refrain from hazarding a few very brief
remarks upon the course, which it appears expedient, that the existing
Commissioners on the Public Records should pursue with reference to the
two grand objects of their work, premising only that such remarks must
be considered as those of an individual writer, and entirely void of
official authority, or sanction.
The two great objects, without the attainment of which, the labour of
the Commissioners must be unprofitable and useless, are—I. More ready
access to the Records. II. Preservation of their contents, by means of
the press, or transcription.
I. More ready access to the Records. That the mouldering obscurity, in
which the most precious archives of the kingdom have so long reposed,
has not been favourable to their preservation, is obvious from a
comparison of the present contents of the principal offices with the
numerous Calendars framed during the course of the 16th and 17th
centuries. Many thousands have decayed and perished in the catacombs in
which they were entombed, and no inconsiderable number have been
purloined. Early measures then should be taken for carrying into effect
the recommendation, so often, and hitherto so uselessly, made, for the
demolition of the barrier, which the necessities, or the avarice, of the
keepers, or their clerks, has interposed between the Records and the
public. Of the precise nature of the measures, the best adapted to
effectuate this design, it is not possible at present to speak with
certainty. The following, however, appear to be those, which are the
most likely to lead to a successful and safe result—Istly. To separate
documents chiefly literary and historical from those of a purely legal
nature, and to transfer the former to the British Museum. Such transfer
must, of course, be accompanied by such modification of our present
absurd law of evidence as would be necessary to prevent any
inconvenience, that might otherwise result from the change of custody.
2dly. To require that the clerks should attend in the different offices
six, or seven, hours a day, and should devote their whole time to the
arrangement of the Records and the formation of Indexes, and to fix
their emoluments upon a scale proportioned to their new duties. 3dly. To
concentrate the Records of a certain age and description in some
repository of convenient access, to be erected after the manner of the
General Register House, Edinburgh. The Rolls Estate presents a most
convenient situation for such a building; and it would not perhaps be
difficult to show, that this valuable and extensive property is capable
of affording sites not only for a General Record Office, but for two
Equity Courts, Chambers for the Judges, for Barristers, &c. It is not
impossible, too, that the sum of money requisite for the completion of
the different edifices, large as it must be, might be raised by mortgage
of the estate: a most important circumstance at a period when all hopes
of parliamentary aid are said to be chimerical. The more modem and bulky
Records, to which reference is most frequently made, should be preserved
in some place adjoining the offices where the daily business of the
Courts, to which they belong, is ordinarily transacted.
II. Preservation of the Contents of the Records by Printing, or
Transcribing.—Under this head the Compiler ventures to make the
following brief suggestions and remarks:—Istly. Measures should be
adopted that all the most rare and important Records in the different
Offices be accurately transcribed. Transcription is more economical than
printing, and in numerous cases it is fortunately as efficacious, at
least for all useful purposes. Valuable as our Records are, they are
valuable only to those persons, who have made them the object of
peculiar study and pursuit, and industriously acquired the keys to the
various ciphers in which they are composed. Such persons form a
distinct, but not a numerous, class; and it would be easy to show that
to them a faithful transcript of a Record placed in the Museum, would be
frequently more acceptable than a printed volume. 2dly. In order to
ensure a succession of skilful transcribers, a school should be
established for teaching young men the languages and the characters in
which our ancient rolls are written, who should be employed as Copyists
in the offices, and should eventually be promoted to the situation of
Clerks, Deputy Keepers, &c. as vacancies might occur. The enormous sums
paid for the copies (teeming with errors) from which the published works
were printed, leave no doubt that an immense saving would have been
effected in the expenditure of the Record Board, had such an institution
been founded by the Commissioners of 1800. The exertions too of the
present Commissioners would not have been paralyzed from the dearth of
persons, competent to perform the humble and unex-pensive, but most
important and useful, task of correct copyists. 3dly. It should be
remembered that the arrangement of Records, the compilation of
Calendars, the investigation of the duties and emoluments of the
officers, and the reform of some notorious but deeply-rooted abuses,
constitute the great and primary object of the Commission, and that “the
printing of certain of the more ancient and valuable amongst the
Records,’' is enjoined only as a secondary work. The rule should
therefore be adopted, that no publication, which cannot be terminated in
a reasonable time, and at a moderate expense, should for the future be
undertaken without the express authority of Parliament —an authority,
which the debate upon the Materials for the History of Britain leaves no
doubt, would always be granted upon a proper representation. With regard
to works of a less bulky and costly description, it is obvious that
those should be selected, which are not likely to become the subject of
private enterprise, or speculation. One point remains—the incomplete
works—and these present a difficult question, in the solution of which,
it is hoped, the present volumes will be found to afford some
assistance.
It is necessary to state—that the Additions and Notes made by the
Compiler to the different articles, comprised in the ensuing pages, are
uniformly distinguished by brackets, and are purposely restricted to
certain details respecting the Records and the publications of the
Record Board, which, whatever utility they may possess, will certainly
not contribute to the entertainment of the reader—that the Compiler has
carefully abstained from all remarks of a historical, or literary,
character, even in those instances where his reading would have enabled
him to correct inaccuracies—that from the nature of the work, the
numerous references are necessarily printed without alteration and
without verification—and that the frequent and manifest discrepancies,
contradictions, and errors, in fact, construction, and language,
appearing in the books, or manuscripts, that have furnished the
materials, are equally preserved.
C. P. C.
Lincoln’s Inn, 29th February, 1832.
You can download the two volumes here...
Volume 1
| Volume 2 |
