for several centuries, the high expectations which are entertained can scarcely be disappointed. As yet, we believe, not a line has been sent to press: hence the remarks, which we are induced to submit on the subject, will not be too late should they be deemed deserving of consideration; and though they may wear the appearance of personal hostility, and even of disrespect towards the individuals selected for the execution of the King's commands, we conscientiously deny that we are actuated by such feelings.

The Commissioners are, the Speaker, Mr. Peel, Mr. Watkins Wynne, Mr. Croker, and Mr. Hobhouse, the keeper of the State Paper Office: Mr. Lemon, the deputy-keeper, is the secretary; and the assistant or second secretary is Mr. Robert Lemon, junior, the son of that gentleman. We were desirous of giving our readers the contents of the Commission, and of commenting on the specimen which, we learn from a provincial newspaper, has been printed, of the manner in which the documents are to be published; but our efforts to see either have been fruitless. We are thus left to speculate on the intentions of the Commissioners; but as any observations we could offer on that point must be unsatisfactory, we shall merely submit some remarks on the simple facts in our possession; namely, that such a Commission exists, and that such are the names of the individuals appointed to execute it.

It is known to every one that the State Paper Office contains a collection of official papers so extensive, that to print the whole would be almost impossible, whilst, even if it were practicable, a great part are, comparatively speaking, both useless and uninteresting. All then which can be published is a selection of the most valuable; and it is to the fact that a selection is to be made that our comments refer. We are not likely to be contradicted by those who are capable of judging, when we assert, that to select the most important historical documents from a mass, one hundredth part of the extent of that in the State Paper Office, demands a combination of qualities which we fearlessly say is not possessed by one of the members of the Commission, or by the whole body. It requires, first, a profound knowledge of the history of the extensive period which the documents embrace; not merely of the principal events, but of the agency by which they were accomplished, and of the biography, we had almost said even of the genealogy, of all the leading and inferior personages of the times: secondly, a perfect acquaintance with all similar papers which have been published, and which the Commissioners will, perhaps, be surprised to hear, are so numerous, that they not only fill upwards of two hundred volumes, but that it would be almost impossible to make a correct catalogue of them: thirdly, time, industry, and research, which

neither the Commissioners nor its Secretary, for he too has other duties to perform, can possibly devote to the subject.

To be aware of what is new to the world, a knowledge is necessary of what has already been given to it; and though we are far from thinking that any man in existence possesses all the information to which we have alluded, seven persons could not have been selected to whom literary men are more unwilling to ascribe it, than to the Commissioners and their officers. It is an anomaly confined to England to appoint persons to perform a literary undertaking who are wholly unknown to literary fame, and unaccustomed to literary labours. With the same zeal for learning which has ever distinguished his present Majesty, the moment he was aware of the existence of important historical documents, he commanded them to be published; leaving it, of course, to others to select the persons who should carry those commands into execution: and who have been chosen for the purpose? The best historians, the most intelligent antiquaries, the most eminent biographers, men the most distinguished by their works on similar subjects, or famous for their historical researches? No. But, a foreigner would ask, if the Commission is not wholly formed of such men-if statesmen and other official personages are included-does it not contain many literary characters? The answer again is, No. Surely, however, he would observe, the individuals actually intrusted to make the selections and to edite the work are men of high literary reputation, and more particularly celebrated for their historical investigations? The answer is again, No: there is but one person connected with the Commission who is at all known as a literary man; and however eminent he may be as a reviewer and a poet, he is, we believe, new to historical inquiries. Nor is this all. If the Commissioners were as well qualified by their acquirements as we take the liberty of thinking they are deficient, what time have they for the performance of the task they have undertaken? At the moment the Commission was issued, every one of them had far higher duties to engage his attention; and will any person believe that the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, the President of the Board of Control, the Under Secretary of State, or the Secretary of the Admiralty, can find time, even had they the necessary information and disposition so to do, to read through piles of dusty letters, in a manuscript scarcely legible? The idea of their undergoing such drudgery is ridiculous: and to whom then are we to look for the publication of these documents, in a manner creditable to the country, and worthy of the expense which will attend it? Is it to the secretary? We speak of that gentleman with the respect which his long services, his zeal, and his merits deserve: by his indefatigable though ill

rewarded exertions, he has done much to reduce to order the chaos by which he was surrounded, and he has consequently brought to light several curious articles; but we are convinced that he does not even ascribe to himself the information which we hold to be absolutely necessary for the objects of the Commission. Allowing however that he was so qualified, he has the whole duties of his office as under-keeper to attend to, and which are more than sufficient for any individual. Is it then on the second secretary that the responsibility rests?-Of him too we are disposed to think kindly; but assuredly he is not exactly the person on whose judgment and acquirements the public are inclined to rely. To what, then, we may be asked, do our remarks tend? Simply to this; that as we employ tailors to make our coats, shoemakers to make our shoes, and every other artisan to perform what relates to his particular trade, it appears to us no less necessary that the persons selected to execute a task requiring a minute and critical knowledge of history in its most extensive sense, should neither be statesmen nor ministers, secretaries nor under-secretaries, keepers nor underkeepers; but men whose time has been exclusively devoted to such subjects; whose historical and antiquarian works are identified with the literature of their country; whose reputation justifies the belief that they will only select what is new and important; and whose remarks on the different articles printed will be alike distinguished by liberal and enlightened views of past events, and by a profound knowledge of the circumstances and persons that may be alluded to. Whether such hopes can be entertained from those to whom the objects of the Commission are at present intrusted, we leave our readers to judge *.

We know not if it be the intention of the Commissioners that the documents they may cause to be printed are to be illustrated by notes. Under other circumstances we should consider them indispensable; but as the Commission is now formed, we sincerely hope they may be omitted. In that case the only blunder it can commit, will be, to print useless articles, or to repeat "a twice-told tale;" but if they attempt to illustrate, they will, in all probability, not only commit themselves, but give erroneous interpretations to points of historical interest, which, coming from a government-commission, will, in the eyes of the multitude, possess an adventitious, but dangerous authority.

* We are of course aware that neither Mr. Peel nor Mr. Hobhouse are now in office; but we shall be extremely astonished to find that either of these gentlemen employs the leisure which he may possess among the dust of worm-eaten letters and state papers, even if, which, as we have already said, we seriously doubt, his studies and inclinations suited him for the task.

A ridiculous effect has attended his Majesty's commands, with respect to the publication of the documents in the State Paper Office. Until lately, an application to the Secretary of State for permission to copy any letter preserved in it was almost always granted; but we are told that the Duke of Bedford was recently refused a transcript of a few articles he wished, because "it was probable that those letters might form part of a selection of state papers now preparing for publication; and ought not, therefore, to meet the public eye in the mean time." In the name of common sense- -if we do not invoke what is unknown in the regions whence this reply came-what has such a contingency to do with the question? The only object with which those documents are to be printed is, to give to the world the information which they contain; and if that object can, to any extent, be attained immediately, by allowing a person who, for a literary or other purpose, asks to transcribe them, it appears to us little less than folly to refuse it, upon the grounds which have been assigned. We can perfectly understand, that an author, jealous of his fame, or a bookseller, jealous of his pocket, might be unwilling to permit any part of the contents of a work to be known, until it came before the world properly dressed and ticketed; but these rea sons cannot apply to the property of government. It seems, however, that all access to these records is denied, until it suits the Commission to send forth its " selections:" when this may be, no one can guess; so that, if an author wishes to benefit by any paper in that repository, he must wait until it has either been introduced or rejected by this distinguished literary Commission; and thus, until that moment arrives, the admirable intentions of his Majesty are made to repress, rather than to extend, historical information.

Our readers may be assured that we shall keep a vigilant eye on the proceedings of this Commission, both because it ought to accomplish much, and because we have the utmost distrust of official institutions for literary purposes; a distrust which is fully warranted by many acts of the Commission for the publication and preservation of the Public Records, and still more by the extraordinary anomaly which has been committed in the appointment of the Commissioners, and their officers.

ADVERSARIA.

BANNERS of the Knights Commanders, and Plates of the Companions of the Bath in Westminster Abbey.--A Correspondent has inquired of us why the banners of the Knights Commanders, and the Plates containing the styles of the Companions of the Order of the Bath, have not been placed in Westminster Abbey, agreeable to the provisions in the London Gazette, declaring the enlargement of the Order, in January, 1815?

Although we confess our inability to solve what has always struck us as an extraordinary mystery, being thus called upon, we cannot refrain from offering a few remarks on the subject. Not only did the government pledge itself that this distinction should form part of the honours attached to the new classes of the Order of the Bath, but each officer upon whom the cross was conferred has actually paid for his Banner or Plate; and we are informed, that the sums received for that purpose, and for a copy of the Statutes, amount to some thousand pounds. This happened in the majority of cases nearly thirteen years ago, and not a Banner is yet suspended, a Plate fixed, or a copy of the Statutes issued *. The interest must form no trifling sum; but what has become of it, or of the principal, the persons thus mulcted know not. The money, however, is, comparatively speaking, a trifling consideration: they naturally and justly consider, that to have their ensigns and names placed in that splendid edifice, would be a far more permanent and gratifying distinction than the personal decoration, or any other privilege attached to the Order. But how many of those heroes have died before that promise has been fulfilled, if indeed it will ever be performed. Upon this subject we feel warmly. As antiquaries and as Englishmen, we are anxious that what may be called our Temple of Fame should contain the memorials which were intended to adorn its walls: we therefore call upon his Majesty's ministers to see that the spontaneous engagement of their predecessors be immediately fulfilled; and thus prevent our gallant defenders from being any longer defrauded of their money and their rewards. The deceased members of the Order are also entitled to have their names and services commemorated, not only because they have paid the expenses attending it, but for the gratification of their relatives; even if respect for their merits does not cause it to be done.

We propose, at no very distant period, giving an article on the Order. of the Bath; and if measures are not in the mean time taken to carry into execution the objects for which the Crown is pledged, and the individuals have paid, we shall then be obliged to lay before the public an exposé of facts, names, and anecdotes, which will redound as little to the credit of the parties implicated, as of a government which can

* A further sum was paid by each member of the Order "for recording the statement of his services in the books appropriated to the Knights Commanders and Companions." Whether this has been done or not, we have no means of ascertaining.