The Statutes of the Realm/Volume 1/Address of The House of Commons
ADDRESS
of the
HOUSE OF COMMONS OF GREAT BRITAIN
to
HIS MAJESTY,
respecting
The Public Records of the Kingdom.
JOURNAL OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,
Veneris, 11° die Julii:
Anno 40° Georgii IIItii Regis, 1800.
Most Gracious Sovereign,
We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Commons of Great Britain in Parliament assembled, having taken into out Consideration the State of the Public Records of the Kingdom, and the Necessity of providing for the better Arrangement, Preservation, and more convenient Use of the same, humbly beg leave to lay before Your Majesty the Report of our Proceedings thereon; and to represent to Your Majesty, that in several of the Principal Offices we have found the Public Records preserved with great Order and Regularity, and in some few, with a Method and Care which are exemplary; but that, in many of the most important Offices, they are wholly unarranged, undescribed, and unascertained; that some of them are exposed to Erasure, Alteration, and Embezzlement, and others are lodged in Places where they are daily perishing by Damp, or incurring a continual Risk of Destruction by Fire.
A Period of nearly Seventy Years has elapsed since the last General Parliamentary Inquiry upon this Subject; and, during this Interval of Time, the Change which has taken place in the Language and written Character of Judicial Proceedings, as well as the large Accumulation of Materials which has been progressively superadded in every Department, have increased the Difficulties of methodizing the several Repositories, or applying their Contents to Purposes of practical Use.
In the Course of our Inquiry we have found that many of the Public Buildings allotted to those Uses, and especially those Buildings which belong to Your Majesty’s Exchequer in all its Branches, comprehending the ancient Records and Muniments of the Rights and Possessions of the Crown, and the Vouchers and Accounts of the Public Revenues and Expenditure, are in a State so incommodious and insecure, as to require immediate Attention.
It has also appeared to us, that the salutary Measures heretofore adopted by Your Majesty’s Authority, for methodizing the Contents of some of the principal Repositories of Your Majesty’s Records and Papers of State, might also be extended to many other Repositories, with Consequences highly beneficial to the Public Service.
And the same Motives which encouraged our Predecessors to intreat Your Majesty’s Directions for printing the ancient Records of Domesday, and the Rolls of Parliament, have also induced us to submit to Your Majesty’s Wisdom, our Desire of extending the same Measures to other ancient and valuable Monuments of our History, Laws, and Government.
Your Faithful Commons do therefore most humbly beseech Your Majesty, that You will be graciously pleased to give such Directions as Your Majesty, in Your great Wisdom, shall think fit, for the better Preservation, Arrangement, and more convenient Use of the Public Records of this Kingdom.
And we beg leave further to assure Your Majesty that whatever extraordinary Expences may be incurred by the Directions which Your Majesty, in Your great Wisdom, shall think fit to give on this Occasion, shall be chearfully provided for and made good by Your faithful Commons.