Page:The Public Records and The Constitution.djvu/29

Rh however, we find added the nature of the warrant for the preparation of the document—for instance 'by the King himself,' 'by the King himself and the Council', 'by Writ of Privy Seal', as well as other forms.

The Privy Seal was used as an authority for passing documents under the Great Seal as early as the reign of Henry III. This marks a change in the position of the Chancellor, who previously acted as a Secretary, taking his instructions directly from the Sovereign. There then came to be a keeper of the Privy Seal, through whose hands documents which were warranted by the Privy Seal had to pass before reaching the Chancellor.

The Privy Seal was, perhaps, as its name imports, originally the King's private seal, kept in his own possession; but, when it was handed over to an official, it was succeeded by the Privy Signet as the private seal of the Sovereign himself. We know that Richard II wore on his finger the 'gold ring of the Signet of the Patents', and that, when he resigned his crown, he placed this ring on the finger of his successor Henry IV. We know also that in the time of this Henry's grandson (Henry VI), the King sent his signed bill to his secretary to prepare letters to be directed under the Signet to the Keeper of the Privy Seal, and thence under the Privy Seal to the Chancellor.

I do not intend to trouble you with the growth of all the intricacies of passing a grant under the Great Seal, which have in recent times been much simplified. My object, at present, is to introduce you to the King's Secretary. He was in existence as early as the reign of Henry III, and then, no doubt, performed some of the secretarial duties in earlier times undertaken by the Chancellor.

From the time of Henry III downwards the King's Secretary was always a person of some dignity. He was occasionally sent on foreign missions even before he had the custody of the Signet. He had as Chief Secretary a definite place assigned to him in the House