COLONEL DUNNEasked the Secretary to the Treasury, If the Government intend to proceed at once with the publication of the Patent and Close Rolls and other Irish Records; in what form they will be published, and by whom and in what manner they are to be edited; and when the Brehon Laws would be published?
MR. PEELsaid, the preparation of the Index or Calendar, like the English Calendar to the Chancery Rolls, had been placed in the hands of Mr. Morrow, an officer of the Irish Records Department. After some progress had been made in the work, and two or three volumes had been published, in consequence of complaints which were made in that House, and of a pamphlet which had obtained considerable circulation as to the imperfect manner in which the work had been executed, the Government directed the further progress of the work to be suspended, in order that an inquiry might be made into the merits of the publication. The Master of the Rolls in this country, at the request of the Government, appointed Mr. Duffus Hardy and Mr. Brewer to make the inquiry, and the result of their report had been to exculpate Mr. Morrow. Mr. Morrow had, however, expressed to the Master of the Rolls in Ireland his unwillingness to proceed with the work; but he proposed to prepare corrigenda to the volumes already published, and indexes to the names of persons and places. Under these circumstances, the publication of the work had been resumed. It was hoped that the Brehon Laws would be published this year, and an estimate of the expense would be laid before the House.