In Henry M.'s reign there were royal treasuries of records in the Tower of London and the New Temple. From the latter place, in the 20th of Edward I., out of a chest secured by nine keys, certain records of the Chancery were taken by the king's orders. (` Rot. Claus.,' 20 Edward I., in. 13 d.) The Tower had certainly become a permanent treasury for records in the 33rd of Edward 1., when a transfer to it was directed to be made of all the papal privileges touching the crown or kingdom, from the treasury of the exchequer at Westminster. (` Rot. Claus.,' 33 Edward I., m. 3.) Another " treasury " is described by certain " memoranda," made 19 Edward III., as within the cloister of Westminster Abbey, near the Chapter-I louse (thesauraria Regis infra Claustrum Abbatiaa Westmonasterii juxta Capitulum). This " treasury " still remains. A single pillar supports the vaulted chamber, which is yet to be seen, with its double oak doors grated and barred with iron and locked with three keys, and its drawers and " labelled by Arthur Agarde, who was custos of the records it contained. In his' Compendium of the Records in the Treasury,' compiled 1610, he says that "the recorder of the kinge's majesties threasury at West minster, under the custodie of the lord-threasurer and the two chamber !aims, were lay'd up for their better preservation in fower severall threasauries under three severall kayes, kept by three sondry officers, distinct the ono kay from another, and uppon each dere three leckes. The first in tho Court of Receipt; the seacond in the Newe Pallace at Westminster, over the Little Gatehouse there ; the third in the late dissolved abbey of Westminster, in the Old Chapter-House ; the fourth in the cloister of the sayd abbey." Tho contents of several "treasuries " at various periods seem to have been consolidated in the Chapter- House of Westminster Abbey, which was fitted up for the reception of records by Sir Christopher Wren.
The demolition of the old " treasuries " adjoining Westminster Hall scattered their contents in all quarters of the metropolis. Thus the records of the king's remembrancer, of the Exchequer, and the Common Pleas, migrated from Westminster Hall to the late Mews at Charing .Cross; and thence, to make room for the National Gallery, to Carlton Riding-School. The records of the late lord-treasurer's remembrancer and Pipe-Office were 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 Roll's-House in Chancery Lane to make room for the present Rolls Court at Westminster.
Thus from time to time had repositories, as well undignified 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 1S37 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.
It would seem that as early as the commencement of the 14th century the officers charged with the custody of the records were found to be either insufficient or neglectful of the performance of their duties. Since the time of Edward IL 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 bond fide " gardein des roulea " in early times.
In the I4th Ed. IL, the barons of the Exchequer were directed to employ competent clerks to methodise the records, which were " not then so properly arranged for the king's and the public's weal as they ought to be." Again in the 19th year of Ed. II., certain commissioners were appointed for a similar purpose. In Edward Ill.'s reign, at least three like commissions were issued (' Rot. Claus.; Annis 34 and 36;
and 'Rot. Par1.1 Anne 46). Statutes for the protection of records from falsification, erasure, and embezzlement were passed 8 Rich. H. c. 4, and II Hen. IV. c. 3. Other measures were taken by Hen. VI., Hen. VII., and Hen. VIII. Inquiries into the state of the Parlia mentary, the Chancery, and Exchequer Records were prosecuted by Queen Elizabeth, who also established the State Paper Office, in which the proceedings of the secretaries of state from her days to the present are preserved. Committees of both Houses of Parliament from time to time visited the several repositories, and the fire of the Cottanian Library in 1731 produced a report which describes the condition of most of the public repositories at that period. But the fullest exami nation 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 compre hensive account which has yet appeared of our public records, to which a period of sixty 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 tunes between the years 1800 and 1881, and was altogether suspended at the accession of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. All the several record commissions recited, one after another, that " the public records of the kingdom were In many offices unarranged, undescribed, and unascertained ; " that they were exposed " to erasure, alteration, and embezzlement," and "were lodged in buildings incommodious and insecure." The commissioners were directed to cause the records to be " rnethodised, regulated, and digested," bound and secured ; to cause "calendars and indexes" to be made and "original papers" to be printed; but the record commissioners expended the funds entrusted to them rather in printing records than in arranging or calendaring them. 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 conault its Report, and the series of Reports since made by the Deputy Keeper of Public Records, which are published annually. Certainly during the present century there has been no niggard expenditure in one shape or another in respect of the public rectirde. It it not very easy to ascertain its total amount, but the following may be received as an approximation up to the year 1839 Avery important step was taken by the legislature at the com mencement of her Majesty's reign to provide for the t better custody and preservation and more convenient use of the public records, and an act was passed (1 & 2 Viet., c. 49) calculated to remedy effectually what preceding efforts bad 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 ono 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 late master of the rolls, to whose influence the change of system is greatly due, brought the above act into as full operation as circum stances allowed while he lived ; and his successor, the Right lion. Sir John Hominy, has, with untiring patience, watched and fostered the collection of the Public Records into the costly building now erected near Fetter Lane, Where almost any document of public interest may be consulted gratis by the literary inqtiirer, and by the legal pro fession for legal purposes under the following regulations and fees.