MAGNA CHARTA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3227, 25 May 1911, Page 2

MAGNA CHARTA.

FAMOUS DOCUMENT FOUND.

IN A SACK IN THE RECORD OFFICE.

It has leaked out that an ancient document relating to the agreement between King John and the barons at Runnymeade has been found in a sack in the London Record Office. That was the historic meeting that laid the foundation tof England’s Constitution in 1215.

This information came from Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte, deputy-keeper of public records, in evidence given' before the Royal Commission that is considering what is to be done with Britain’s ancient records. , Sir Henry has been secretive about his find, for it happened a quarter of a century ago, when he discovered one hundred sacks of documents connected with the Chancery Court that had been pitched into a corridor. A short examination of one sack revealed the priceless bit of parchment connected with the signing of the Magna Charta. Until recent years the Public Record Office was the home of muddle and neglect. Valuabe documents had a way of disappearing and then re-appearing in private collections. Much damage was done to the unique contents of a cellar through flooding. There is a story, too, of a cart that broke down in the street, on its way to the Record Office, and of the contents going astray. Plenty of unlisted documents remain to be investigated by painstaking searchers, among them several bundles of the secret Star Chamber proceedings, large quantities of which have never been opened. It is only last year that an American was given a sample sack to pore over, and he found startling Shakespearean parchments.

INDIFFERENCE TO DOCUMENTS. The general indifference or ordinary Londoners to the documentary evidence in the past is astonishing. For years after the dissolution of the monasteries, according to J. R. Green, the manuscripts of the monastery libraries were used by local storekeepers to wrap their goods in. And to-day there lie in many an unused apartment old things that rich collectors would pay big cheques to possess. Even present-day bearers of ancient titles are not always aware of the extreme value and interest of their antiquarian possessions to judge by the exDerience of the Earl of Chesterfield.

This nobleman sold his Holme Lacey estate two years ago. The contends of the house were catalogued, and the exp-?is who did the work discovered in a neglected part of the mansion a very rare and valuable suit of sixteenth century armor damascened with gold. On the representation of a dealer, who called the Earl’s attention to its value, the armor was withdrawn from the public sale, and sold to the dealer for £2OOO. This matter has rust been the subject of a lawsuit, the Earl claiming that the - ancient relics were obtained through fraondent representation. But the point s that even a belted earl knows littlr about the trappings of the past s i it not to be wondered at if a '•••'go Britishers care not a cent about musty documents that are neglected even by paid custodians. There is hope for the earl, however, for the court lias restored the armor to him, and ie v 1 doubtless study it with quickened interest.