-I

I THE QUEEN'S OONSCIENUIJ.

l l m ‘ I [ I-‘ro Chantbera'a Jonrnal. ] .

Moat persona of an inquiring turn of mind. npnn lagging that the Lord Lhaocellor oftlte lriiiutloin. for the time balsa, is the keeper of the

itsen’s Conscience, inay be presumed to ask themselves the qoeattoii _l|°'- ll ll“ "_’'!l"‘'"‘’" of an old, and the formation of a new mtntltfyv '0 very immaterial a thing as I o0nI¢'6fl°° '33“ 5“ taken from the anion of one individual. Ind placed in that o another. _

Bot royal conscience; Refill,‘ "°'d""“l"‘ “ '° say, the royal olleial oonecienoe—for that alone is in the possession ofthe minister-is not l>)'_ I"? means so dsatiute oftangible aubataiioe as might. from the nature of ordinary eottsctetice, be sup-

used zit is in fact,ae c.ip:-ble of betn-.t placed the sovereign in the hands of the chan- cellor and carried home by him in his coat pa?‘ oi. as is his liandkerchief or snuff-box.

I,diaregarding all the severe penal enact- ments relative to burglary, you were, some quiet evening, to break and enter the dwelling-house of the lilgb efieial just menttoiied, and taking advan- tage of his absence in the country. Were. l" tum, on; the pile. of papers which diiubtless choke tip his eaerutoire, you would probably meet with a neat leather-covered boa. about eight inches square, the royal arms richly emblazoned upon which, together with the Braniah lock seouriiig_ it, would indicate the contents to be of noordin-V uy ulna. Carrying the illegal proceedings of; which we have presumed you to be capable Illll| further, and breaking open the box itself. 10“ would meet with two ailver disks, closely fitting one to the other, in appearance not virrv unlike

.the repayment of the loan.

llAS7.Alt.l)’S (-'A7.E'l"l‘E, NOVEMBER 29.

When I shall shoot in you ynrrow ; And in token thiit this thing is south. Ibile the war withsnyfung tooth, Before Meg. Mood and Mnrgerie, And my third son Henry.

The keepers of the great seal in ancient times —much the satne as at [)|'Bst:ltl—eXac|('ll good round sums of money before they would affix it to ant dociinieut ; and one can scartci-.ly itn:i_vinc ilie enormous profits made, some 600 or 700 years ago, by the fortunate holders of it. iti want of inoticy. put the t-iistmly of his seal tip for sale, and one Walter Gray bought it (oi 5000 tnirlte—a siiin equivalent to about .t.'6l,0U0 of the presentday; but gave it up in :i few years. for the still more llt(!|‘tillVt: dignity of Archbishop of York.

Another ofits custndiati-i, John Mauiisel, neu- lectiiig to di~'tribute the cliurcti-patroiiage as it fell vacant, which it vested in him, held at one time 700 livings ; and it good I50 tears latvr, so great was the sum of tiiuney whit-li the revenue of his office perniitted Chancellor Beaufort to lend to Henry V., that the sovereign placed his crown in the hands of his chancellor, as ti guarantee for ltl(lt’.t:(l, the vast wealth which its holders were enabled to realise, coupled with the enortnous owers which the custody of it gave thcin, rendered it absolutely necessary to the safety of the sovereign. that his

seal should he ititrusIed_only to the liands of per- sons well disposed to the cause ;

titties, it was frequently a very difficult ttiuttcr to; find a safe guardian for it. ,

iliately hecotnes iiivesii-il lottvr proceeding from the IUVt'3tt!|j_'lt.

Pt-rhsipa tio one ever hall is greater ideti of the.

importance uftlw M.-altif the ltiii:_tti'otti than the ill- fated Charles l.. and very muclt deli-_rhted was lie when it ttiessenger cattie to him at York hearing this iitiportatit itistriiiiieiit, which he fully hell '1?- ed had fallen tiito the power ttftho parlianietit. lti proportion as he was rcjoit-.t-il, hoiicver. the parliaitient \\ as di.-icoiicerted, when they discover-

through their lingers. The king could issue what-‘vet prnclatiiatitiiis or other ttistrutnetit he thought pr -per, and that in a pt'lft’t‘.ll_v legal inan- ner while lllry tlietnselvrs could not fill uullltr place til it deceasi-tl int-mher ol'tlit~ir own bo y, or per- form a single act of state in which the great seal was tieceasary. Delifiertititig, and uaiiiiig, and going to prayers inatiy tiincs, they resolved to fortnti new seal for their tiwti particular the. The resolution ivasa notable one; lnit there Here few Wyotis in those days, antl those who did exist, had it very righteous dread of at certain old statute of Eduard lll., whicli declared that aiiv person imitating, forging. or couiiterfeiting the king’s great seal should sulf-r death as at traitor ; and \\'hich statute they had not the least doubt would be rignriiuslv etiforci-tl, should fortune again sitiile upon the king. and they be found to have perforiiicd such treasonahle act. Money. however, like love. coiiqtters all things;

and 5,, ,_.,,,|,. and after some time. a hold mdlt nziineii i\lzisicr two or tin-an inches

Syinonds was foutid. who agreed—for £40 paid owti, and £60 to be paid when the work was

so the hiavo most ottrefull the kingloui being over le 't 'seal ;

provided against without I great the standing rule being, that when I l'resli one is reqiiirotl, the old seal is not& stroyed till the new one is com leted. birth of the new seal is it matter 0 much form ittnd ceremony. The sovereign summons the ‘privy-coiincil, and a wiirrunt is directed to the royal engraver. calling upon him to attend the

with the dignity of: laws have declared that tb?.klng'never dies,

John. bi-,in2.¢'tl that the eiiibli-in of sovereignty had slipped 'council, with designs for the required instru-

ment. These being chosen. the matrix itaelfie put in hand ; and upon its completion another council is held, at which the new seal, if ep- proved, is trunsferaod from the sovereignl own hands into those of its future kee or, who. by such transfer, taken upon liimselt all the digiiities we have before 1lIt‘lIll0nCtI- n o'den tiincs itnotherlittle cerciiioiiy was nlwa is observed: the new clinnci,-llor had personal y to aflix the soul to it document, in the presence of the council, in order. we suppose, to. show that he understood the duties of his oflice—— just us the shcriflii of Loiidoti and llliddlesex, at the present day. give proofs of their educa- tion and ability, by counting some hobnnils, and chopping some sticks in the Court of Ex- chequer, hefoife taking the otths of oflice. But the seals used in olden titties, although

rcttt in name, were COIIl]);ll‘itllV8ly small in actual dimensions, being in most not ubove in,diuniutcr ; and settling I doctiiiicnt with them was perhaps little more troublesome than sealing iin oi-tiinnry letter.

An aniusing iiistance of this occurred whett‘¢"'"‘l'l9l”l"'“’ milk” 3 MW 303'. the l'aC~simllie The great seal scents, liotvi-ver, to have in-

. . ~ I Henry III. found it i-t-ceesary, tipoii a certain‘

ofthe one iii the possession of Charles. This

creased in size, in it direct ratio with the

ioccasion, tti leave his kitigdoiii for a short time, ; l-t¢'3l"|lll€ Was tnttde, and used by the parliament increttelni! POW" 0f “'0 3°V'~‘l"‘li'-'t" ll l'°P"°59lll3s

",0 bright m, .,,,,c,.,,.,, M, wm,,,,,, },a,,,“e, ; g and could find no one ulioin he thouulit worthy Q’ Unlll ll"! C"'nt|WH_\\'t'alllI Wm‘ suflicietilty Eetlletl and at the present day is so large, that the

and these disks, ii_pnn beintt flplfaledi “"‘“l‘l reveal, upon the inner surface of one. a deeply- cut device of her present Majesty enlhrottetli Willi the cardinal virtues round her ; and upon the om", . yepfelanlflliofl of the same exalted iiiili- vidual on acaparistined horse,attended by a patio. a__'l‘lie two pieces ofsilver are doubtless reckoned by the ehacellor among the choicest of his_trea~ sures ; for not only does the more possession of them. unconfirmed by commission, .appotnlm8fl'i or any document what ver, ctiiistitute liitn the second man in the ltitiii om, the supreme judize of the Court of Chancery, the speaker of the House of Lords, and the possessor ofa salary of .€l4.000 a year, with immense patronage both in the church and in the state; but the being intrusted with1§em is the greatest mark of con- fideiice the sovereign can bestow, being no less than placing at his disposal nearly every power of the royal prerogative. _ The two silver disks are, in fact, the matrix by mggng of wdiicli is ftirmed that enormous wait- seal. in bite and appearance something like it well~buttered muffin, coinmonly known as the ‘Great ' of England,’ and which _is appended to all those acts of the sovereign which it is the royal pleasure publicly to make known to the e|b‘ect. _ ealed with this, whether by lawful authority or not, every document which can emanate from the govereign is rendered valid. and irrevocable without the consent of the three estates of the Itu;ao that its holder can, if he chooses to y his trust, pardon the most heinous offender confer on whomever he pleases the highest title of nobility, or gfntit charters to all the towns in

[he kingdom ; he can, in fact, make use of almost all those prerogatives which law and custom have‘ placed in the hands of the sovereign, to ho t-_xt-.r-i cieetl for the good of the subject ; and therefore, i when in possession of the iiiipnttllll l"5l"|"l6||t.i he is not iinfitly said to be the keeper of the‘ Queen‘: conscience. { It seems rather singular, considering the great iinportanco always attached to this emblem of

the sovereiun‘e hands at all ; yet, from the earli- est times, we nod it in the possession of: certain ‘Lord Keeper.’ Before the time of Edward the Confelsor, indeed, it is doubtful whether the epvereign had any tangible conscience at all, for I O ratili by a cross made in gold ink ', but as sooti as the great seal came in fashion, some man eminent for his learning and attainments was selected toxake the custody of it, the sovereign hanging it rid his neck. rid telling him to use lt‘tu the honor ofGotl and is king. " The first great scale were rude enough, the earliest one we possess being a dab of lead. hung by a silk string to a charter of Edward the ottfeeeor. Lead was soon exchanged for wax ;l and .the Conqueror. together with many of his: rl, used grmt wax. to signify the perpet-' ual nature of the document—a custom retained at, the present day in the seals attached to charters, ' patents of peerage. and other instruments having a an unlimited ditrstion. ' If we may credit the testimony ofSiowe upon the subject. William I. had it curious and aim le wt, ofaealing his grants, being none other than ¥of putting on the wait the impression of his

royalty, that it should have been trusted out of‘ I

to alleellt. In siippnrt of this assviriion, a tit ficertoln manor of Hope to one l'aulyii kydon oitod. which in inodcrn Eiiglisli runs is follows»:- I William. king, in the third year of my reign, Give to tbee,l‘it.lyn Rnydnmllo ie and llopo town , With till the bounds both up on down. 7. in heaven to eitrtlt, from earth to hell. If rely its this king’: right is mine. ' eresa-bew and arrow, D

i V

lnalurol one being the august lady so worthy of

arters preceding that reign are usually]

land capable ofperforiniiig the duties devolving,‘ ll’ “"9 3 will 0" "3 OW": {Wm Wll l iip_oii the keeper of his si-al. After vainly endea-‘Gill l9"'5 Welficmelllllf ‘~‘X°l“‘l9‘l-

vouritig to fix iipon sonic male keeper, he at last placed it in the hands of his wife, Eleanor. who not only sealed all his writs antl cliaiters (lu|’llI_-1 is absence, hiit sat in person in the court of Chancery, lioiirinu causes and delivering judg- ment—her judicial fniictiona being interrupted only for a short time by by an accident peculiar to a letnslejndge, no other, in fact, thaniher confine- ment! Afrer lining clitiichctl, she returned to her duties, anti ligld the kingdom for tiearly a ar. Our ttncestors appear to have looked with a sort of superstitious vcneration upon the great seal itself, for they not only recognizetl the sove- rrign as the fouiitaiti of justice, merry, atid liouoiir, but they bi-Iieved that that justice, mercy, and htiiiour must be conveyed through this ine- diiitn alone. A rctnzirknble exetnplification of this belief was given it-lit.-ii the infant Henry VI. then but ninc inontlis old. was held in his nurse's arms to preside over his first council; the massive seal of the kitigtloin was laid in his lap,thc child's little hands were closed over it, and ttitts it was supposed the seal received a royal virtue: ‘and the Master nftlie Rolls, taking it itito his custody was presumed to be, by its possession, invested with all the powers ofthe soveri-ign.

We may smile at these rude ideas of the fif- teenth century ; but let us not forget that nearly 400 years later, when the illness of George lll. prevented him from giving his assent to the hill appointing his son regent, the great lawyers of the day, with the illustrious Camden at their head, seem to have been imbued with pretti ttiucli the same superstition ; for thev declared that although the king in his natural capacity‘ was untihlo to act as a sovereign. in his political ciipricity he was a< licaliliy us ever—tlie political ‘big being the great seal; and by means of that political king the bill was passed. 'I‘ltis dictum

f l.ord Camden has received the approval and itffirtiiatittn of Int-sycrs and politicians from his own to we |tl‘t’§L‘l|l tiitit- ; atitl lhuretom, houevcr al|‘IlIi.'e the assertion may appear, it is neverthe- less true, that there are in reality, at the present moment, two sovereigns in the country-—the

‘< (D

our allegiance and love ; the political one being the two ‘silver sauce-pan lids whose history we are examining.

ltideed, the peculiar way in which the great sea is at present used—to render valid letters directed by the sovereign to private individuals. affords another proof of a belief in some peculiar and inexplicabl virtue residing in it. Two kinds of instruinents have‘to pass under’ the great seal—the one class. such as monoplies of inven- tions, eommissions.&c., directed to allthe Qticen’s sub'eets. and called ‘letters-patent,’ have the sea affixed by a platted silk cord at the foot; Eometlmfli as licfore mentioned, made of green, but ordinarily of yellow wax, which, in certain cases, where the instrument is likely to meet with a good deal of wear and tear, is enclosed in bti -colored lcatlicr, upon which the nbv--rso and reverse of the seal arr stamped. lint where the letter is (lllt‘4'll:tl to .1 private individual, the seal is, as in other letti-rs, used to secure it from

general ob-:.i-.rv:ition. but used in a very eingiihir manner: the parrlinient dticiiinent is rolled tightlv tip, forinin-,1 it little i ttntllti about two inches long,

ich all regal

seal of the kingdom. coining into the hands ofthe parliament upon the ctipitulatior. of Oxford, in 1645, was broken in pieces by a hlacltstnitli, at the bar of the House of Ctimznons.

since the Restoration, the great seal has once or twice been in verv considerable tribiilation. When James ll. was on the throne, the atrocious

etfreys was its ciistodtan: so alarmed was arues when upon the point of ubdicnting, lest the important instrumetit should get into the liunds of his politii.-til enemies, that he made Jeflreys come itnd reside in the some biiildin with him, at Whitehall, in order that the sen might be continually under his own observation and protection. The day before he left the kingdom, he took it from the cliancellor, and whilst being ferried across the 'l‘liatiies on his flight to Ft-aiice, he threw the ensign of royalty into the river. fondly imagining that tho regal fiiiictions could not he performed without it. If indeed such had been the case, the action wits rcntlcrcd useless, for it short titno after- wards the ill-used seal was dragged up in the net ofu ll“llf‘l'lfllLI, and conveyed by liiiu to the privy-council.

In I78-l. during the cbancellorship of Lord Tliurlow, the great s. i.‘. Wll§7'('all1/ lost. Some burglars entered his lordship's house, on walked oil" with it few valuables. itrnotigst which was the seal of the kingdom, and I believe it never was recovered. A privy council was summoned next iiiorning,tbe loss made known, ttnd such was .the expedition used, that in thirty-six hours it new settl wits ‘t|'t‘p:tl‘€(I ; and we have it on good authority tlntt. for the retuniiiiiig eight years of his cliaiii.-llorship, the noble lord ailwziys slept with the great soul ttmlcr his pillow.

s More ridiculous was it temporary loss of the

seal durin_r the cliancllorship of Lord Eldon. This great jutlge had the ptofonntlest sense of the iiiipoi-tunco of the trust rt-posed in him, which was diiiibtlcss not diiniiiislicd by the kind and .~iii;;iilar inttnncr iii which his sove- reign hod convcyod it into his hands : for Lord

ldoii tells us in his dairy, that when he went to the police for the purpose of receiving the soul. the king (George the Ill.) was seated on it sof:i. with his coat partially buttoned,nnd the soul piishctl in on the left side, between his coat nntl tviiistcont. He drew it forth on the iippcztraitce of the chancellor, and handed it to him with these words: ‘Here, I give it you frotn my heart.’

llaviiig all this continually in his recollec- tion, his lordsliip never went to bed is single night without having the soul in his chamber. One night. in in year 1812, he was awakened by his house llblltg on fire. His first thoughts were for the sat.-ty of the seal; snntcbirigit from the platen it-ht-ro it ltty, be rushed down stairs and buried it in the flower-garden behind the lioiise. l'p "l returning to his dwelling, he says, in his «l .iry. tltiit he was ‘ so enchanted with the pretty sight of the iiinids who had turned out of their beds, and were banding in htickcts of waiter to the fire-engine, nil in their shifts, and so alttrmcd for the safety of La lililoii,’ that in tha‘ morning he could not recall: lcct in tlic lt'.'lSl u-/zicli flower-lied be hot! buried t to son . ‘ You never saw, ho ndds in the

‘noble keeper of it would probably burn his

_nttl sealing of any document with it; an ;indced the services of two skillful officers, ‘called respectively ‘ the sealer’ and ‘ the chef! war.’ are put in requisition wlicnever the seal . is eflixed.

As the birth of it new seal is .1 matter of ceremony, so is also the defacing of on old one. This operation, technically termed “,dumtts- king.’ is erformed by §ll6'§U\'t2l'elgl1 in council —tlie old) seal being, in tlii- eye of the law, rendered useless nfter the sovereign has hit it a gentle blow with n smiill lillllilnef. The idamaeked seal is the perquisitc of the chancel- lor, ta perquisite of more value tit the resent day than formerl , for up to the year I 15 the soul was made 0 co per, wlicreas now, as we have already said, it is of silver. A very amusing incident occurred at the dnmasking by William IV. of the seal used by the re- ceding king. Lord Lyndhupst held the sea at the demise of George lV., but Lord Brougham was its kee er when the seal of William was ; once there were two claimants for the dnmasked seal. one Irguim: that it was really it seal of the preceding reign. and as such vested in him at the dcatli of the sove- ‘reign ; the other. that itwiis in full force until Lit was actually defaced. The king himself was

eventually appealed to, to settle the dispute, ;'und—as is the ease in most matters—there [dieing much to be said on both sides. he deci- ded that the two lords should such have half; and very kindly ordered his goldsinith to insert the two halves in two superb silver solvers, which he presented to his two minister, re- commendin them to ‘toss u ’ which should have the obverse, and which the reverse of the ca . As the great seal is delivered into the bonds of the chancellor by tho sovc-rci;:n himself, it has from time inimemorinl been the custom for that oliicer to render it back again ersonnlly to his master, or at all events, on y to plrt with it to it special messenger, nrmed with a. warrant under the sign intitiucl, and sent directly from the sovereign to receive it. Every one knows the bold Mttiid Wolsey made when, after his fall, the Duke; of Norfolk and Suflblk endeavoured, by a in-.-rely verbal mes- sage from the king, to obtniii from him his im- portzint trust; and how the noble messengers were obliged to retract: their steps, and obtain the legal document which the great cardinal r ‘re It was indeed no uncommon thin for the Tudors and Stuarts to make persona and private application to their chancellor for the grant seal, and to retain it in their custody for it few days, during which they used it to give ellcct to proclamations, pardons, and di i- tics. to wliic they well knew their chiinco lor would be citliertoo conscientious or too fearful to nflix it.

The danger of losing the great setil, if conti- nuttlly niovcdfroin place to plilcc, coupled with the prcsttrncd necessity of it» being always

resent when the chiinccllo performs any one ol‘ his ]li)llilt‘l|l or judiciitl (llltlt“~, its declaratory of the zitct of his really lniving in his possession the iiistrtiineiit frotii \'l'lllt‘l| t‘ll his power is yours caiiscd it curious

|l'3I'lVl.‘ll has of late ll-‘llttll to ho utioptctl. llic lirntttiliilly cmb|oi-

from which a long strip protrudes. having the d‘‘l‘‘.‘'v ‘ “"."“'l"‘-' "" "l‘”°"l““9 “~“ -"°°l“S ill“ tl'¥l‘t‘<l ptirsc U1‘ hag iiiiitlo for the rttccption of

iiatne zixiil titlt~ of the person to wlitim tl '

it is ad-l“'l"'l'~‘ ''-‘'''l‘'.‘' *l‘'“'” ll“-‘ “"‘"“‘ ‘lll’l’li"i-I “ill! the soul is llftlllt.‘ Lorne ‘iuf-no the Clll|Il(‘t’ll0I’,