Very much

also been published in a separate form. the same conditions exist in the case of Ireland, though here, as in Wales, the type of national record is merely a replica of English forms.

We find, therefore, that the bulk of the Scottish and Irish records are preserved in their own national archives, while the documents relating to those countries preserved in London are carefully distinguished in the classification and publication of the English records and Statepapers. It is otherwise in the case of Wales. Here many documents' that were formerly preserved under the convenient heading Wallia' have now been partially absorbed into the English series; and at the present time the Welsh documents,' as a class, can scarcely be said to exist. Moreover, there can be little doubt that the great mass of the Welsh records, transferred to London in 1854 from the local repositories, are destined to undergo a similar process of fusion. It does not seem to have occurred to the local authorities in Wales, who reluctantly acquiesced in the transfer of these records to the Rolls repository, and certainly not to Lord Langdale, whose motto, Suum cuique,' was no empty profession, that absorption would be the inevitable result of the contact of these hybrid records with the English series. Still less could any one have then foreseen that the time would come when the Principality would possess an imposing university, where the study of the national history and language form parts of the curriculum; or that it could produce an active band of students, deeply learned in the origins and development of their national history, and clamorous for the official recognition and publication of native records on an equal footing with the archives of the United Kingdom.

In his first Report, presented in the year after the passing of the Public Record Office Act of 1838, the then Deputy Keeper, Sir Francis Palgrave, describes his official premises as consisting of certain chambers in the old Rolls House, supplemented by a stable and coach-house in the Rolls Yard, while the Rolls Chapel itself served as a general repository. Fifteen years elapsed before the building of the great repository in Fetter Lane was taken in hand. Since that date the aggrandisement of

the Rolls Office has kept pace with the vast expansion of the Civil Service; and the cost of the English Record establishment during the last ten years has been proportionately greater than that of similar institutions elsewhere. The credit for these material improvements may be assigned to various official agencies, as well as to the intelligent appreciation of record sources by the present generation of historians and antiquaries. It is known that the Treasury at last sanctioned a vast expenditure for the enlargement and embellishment of a repository, the erection of which, however, was unfortunately delayed until countless records had perished from exposure. The Office of Works is now able to set off one admirable design against a long series of unadmired buildings. Moreover, the press, the learned societies, and other academic bodies, by commendation and example, have steadily encouraged this striking development in the establishment of our national archives.

These favourable circumstances, however, would have availed little without the initiative of an administrator of marked ability. The present Deputy Keeper assumed office in 1887 at a time when the archives, as an official department and an educational agency, were confined to a few rooms in the old Rolls House and to the dark and dreary Victorian repository. Many of us who still frequent the Record Office will recall those depressing surroundings-the dingy dwellings of bygone Chancery clerks, and the hideous excrescence known as Judges' Chambers,' which blocked the light and greenery of Clifford's Inn. In the Rolls House itself official existence must have been sufficiently depressing; but here there was at least the use of artificial light, which was banished from the ill-heated and unventilated search-rooms. In other respects the provision for students and readers was inadequate. The records and State-papers had remained in much the same condition as when they were removed from their former repositories. They were often produced with difficulty, under an artificial and cumbrous system of reference. Of printed lists and calendars there were few, if any, for the medieval period, while those for later times were compiled upon a defective plan. Finally, the time available for the inspection of documents, already too short, was further reduced by liberal vaca

tion closures and frequent interruptions owing to defective light.

In all this a great transformation has been effected, largely by the administrative ability of Sir Henry Maxwell Lyte. We now possess a fine approach to the imposing buildings which form a connected repository and official bureau. The museum displays its instructive contents, which have afforded a rich treat to hundreds of visitors and students; the corridors and search-rooms are well lighted and heated; there is a sense of cleanliness and ventilation; the shelves are filled with helpful inventories; and many other conveniences have been added, including an extension of hours, for which older readers, at least, are profoundly grateful.

Nevertheless, it must be admitted that these striking improvements have been accompanied by certain disadvantages, while several long-standing defects still remain to be remedied. The great repository in Fetter Lane is over-hung at several points by lofty warehouses and factories which seem to threaten grave danger to the safety of the records. In this respect the relative positions of the Record Office and the British Museum present a curious contrast to the most casual observer. The latter institution, with its massive railings and its buttressed dwelling houses occupied by vigilant custodians, seems far removed from any risk of fire or civic tumult; and yet, however irreparable the damage that such catastrophes might inflict upon a collection acquired with much pains and expense, it would scarcely be more disastrous than the loss of the nation's title-deeds, the authentic records of its past existence.

Some ten years ago a number of insecure repositories fronting on Chancery Lane were demolished; and on their site there has been erected a noble suite of apartments for the official staff. Readers will doubtless have noticed with satisfaction that many rooms, formerly holding records, have been cleared for the sake of increasing the dim light that filters into the repository. At the same time the loss of space for the storage of records caused by these notable improvements, coupled with the longdelayed transfer of outstanding documents, renders an extension of the present buildings inevitable during the present generation. The sanction of Parliament has also

been invoked for the destruction of superfluous documents, in order to make room for such as cannot be dispensed with. This expedient may be inevitable, but it is one that must not be regarded lightly. As Gibbon has truly said, 'if the inscription of a single fact be once obliterated, it can never be restored by the united efforts of genius and industry.' The risk of such an accident is not an imaginary one, for the Act of 1877 apparently makes no provision whatever for the cooperation of historical scholars in the process of rejection. Documents which,

to an official mind, appear wholly unimportant, may be otherwise regarded by a trained historian.

Another inevitable danger is one that especially threatens the most ancient and valuable of our national treasures. The wide distribution of the published calendars has led to an increased reference to the original documents; and the deterioration of certain classes, through mere wear and tear, has been already indicated by experienced antiquaries. In many cases, indeed, very ancient and historic records have apparently not been repaired since they were deposited in official custody; and to find a modern State-paper volume with its cover intact must be an unusual experience for many readers. The neglect in either case is doubtless due to the immense bulk of injured documents awaiting skilful treatment; but, though the causes of this malady may be beyond official control, it is one that calls for drastic remedy.

The admirable facilities that now exist for the inspection of the public records furnish a marked contrast to the difficulties encountered by the student in obtaining access to outlying collections which have not yet been transferred to the custody of the Master of the Rolls. Lost to sight in the recesses of departmental pigeon-holes, such documents are accessible only to some literary official or privileged antiquary. From time to time some book based upon these researches is published; and earlier writers who failed to find those sources in the main collection are naturally aggrieved that their labour was in vain.

The survival to the present day of numerous restrictions on the use of certain classes of State-papers is a fact that is only too well known to many students. It is true that similar restrictions are imposed abroad; but we

believe that they are not to be found within the precincts of the national archives, being enforced only by the bureaus which have retained possession of their departmental records. The position in which our own official custodians are placed towards these privileged collections is therefore clearly an anomalous one. The denial of access to any of the contents of the Public Record Office can only be justified by the plea that the State may be endangered by their disclosure.

Such a plea cannot reasonably be advanced in favour of the excessive restrictions imposed by the State departments upon access to the documents under their control. There are students old enough to remember the time when even their researches in the history of the Revolution of 1688 barely escaped the censorship. Matters were subsequently improved by a considerable extension of dates, and rumours of still further extension are 'in the air'; but American students have still to exercise some self-restraint in dealing with the stirring events of the days when George III was a young and enterprising king; while references to the constitutional faux pas which are amongst the common-places of our text-books must be made with bated breath within the precincts of the archives. But there are cases in which danger to public safety is not even suggested, and students are debarred from free inspection of ancient records which have by chance come into the keeping of some modern department. In cases of this sort it is clearly desirable, in the interests of historical study, that inexpert and irresponsible custodians should be relieved of the charge of documents which ought obviously to be regarded as public records and historical State-papers, recent archives being placed in the care of departmental librarians or registrars who have been carefully trained in the essential duties of an archivist. The contents of the 'government pigeon-holes' of to-day will be, as foreign scholars often remind us, the archives of to-morrow. And further-an argument that ought to have weight even with those who are indifferent to historical considerations-the archives of to-morrow often become the State weapons of the day after. Their practical value to the State has been proved by recent cases of international disputes submitted to arbitration. Under these conditions the