RIGHT TO SELL DISPUTED.

We learn that Mr J. Leiper Gemmill (of Messrs Brown, Mair, Gemmill and Hislop, writers, Glasgow), the agent for the heirs of Burns, is in course of completing his investigations into the sale of the Glenriddel Burns MSS. He has intimated to the committee of the Liverpool Athenæum that the legality of the sale will be questioned, and intimation has also been made to the firm in London in whose possession, it is understood, the manuscripts are, that the right of the Liverpool Athenæum to sell is disputed, and the firm have been requested not to part with the manuscripts until the ownership and the future of the manuscripts is either amicably adjusted or settled by the Court. Mr Gemmill had a meeting with the committee of the Liverpool Athenæum on Tuesday, and certain negotiations are going on, but it was agreed on both sides that meantime these should be regarded as private. It is due, however, to lovers of Burns in Scotland that they should know that Mr Gemmill has instructed a firm of solicitors in Liverpool to watch matters there, and that investigations are being made with a view of, if necessary, testing the legality of the sale.-Glasgow Herald, July 31st, 1913.

PROTEST MEETING IN GLASGOW.

Under the auspices of the Glasgow and District Association of Burns Clubs and Kindred Societies a meeting to protest against the sale of the Glenriddel Manuscripts of Burns by the Liverpool Athenæum was held in the National Burns Club, Glasgow, last night. Mr Alexander Pollock, the president of the Association, occupied the chair, and among others present were Dr William Wallace, Dr George Neilson, Mr J. C. Ewing, of Baillie's Library, Glasgow; Dr Cullen, Mr Peter Glass, Mr Joseph Martin, Mr J. Jeffrey Hunter, the secretary; and Mr Hugh M'Call. There was a representative attendance of members of the various Burns Clubs in the district.

The Chairman read a letter from Mr Duncan M'Naught, president of the Burns Federation, regretting that he was unable to be present. Mr M'Naught urged that they should make their protest as strong as possible, and suggested that they might tack on a resolution to inaugurate the raising of a fund to test the legality of the sale. The Chairman further stated that he had written to Lord Rosebery, who regretted extremely that he could not attend the meeting.

HISTORY OF MSS.

Mr J. C. Ewing, in the course of a statement, said that a week ago there appeared in the press the startling announcement that the executive committee of the Liverpool Athenæum had sold the two volumes of Burns MSS. that were presented to the institution nearly sixty-one years ago, the buyer being an American millionaire, and the price the very remarkable one of £5000. Profiting by their last experience on an occasion when it was proposed to consider an offer for the manuscripts-submitted by the late Mr J. Pierpont Morgan a proposal that was scotched and killed by the local press -the executive of the Liverpool Athenæum apparently carried through the present negotiations for the sale of the MSS. with considerable secrecy, for it was not until the transaction had been completed that the public were made aware of the loss that the country had sustained. Some of them would remember the outcry that was made in our city some ten years ago when Glasgow University Court proposed to sell the splendid collection of coins and medals that formed the most valuable portion of the great Hunterian Museum. If Glasgow had nothing at all comparable with the collection of coins and medals bequeathed by Mr Hunter, Liverpool could not have had anything finer than the Glenriddel MSS. of poems and letters of Robert Burns. Yet these were the things that had just passed out of its possession. These manuscripts were comprised in two large volumes, containing together eighty-four poetica! and prose compositions of Burns.

Soon after Burns's death in 1796, the two volumes were sent to Dr James Currie, who had offered to write a life and to edit the works of Burns for the benefit of Mrs Burns and family. Currie utilised in his own way a portion of the contents of the volumes for his edition of the Works of Burns published in 1800, but after that event, instead of returning the MSS. to Mrs Burns he appeared to have retained the material that had been sent to assist him in the work. Currie died in 1805, and the manuscripts passed to his son, Wallace Currie, whose widow presented the two volumes to the Athenæum in 1853. The gift appeared to have been unconditional, but the letter of presentation from Mrs Currie clearly revealed her intention not only that the volumes should become the property of the Athenæum, but that they should be kept and preserved for ever by the authorities of the Athenæum, and almost certainly she never contemplated that the volumes should be sold for any purpose whatever. "I shall feel grateful by their finding a place in the Athenæum," she wrote, and surely if the English language meant anything the sentence meant that she intended them to find a place-not a temporary place, not for 60 years, or for any such period as the authorities might think it convenient to house them,

but that they should find a permanent home there. Further, Mrs Currie carefully selected as the permanent home of the volumes an institution which her father-in-law had helped to establish, and there could not be the least room for doubt that she intended the gift not only as a memorial of Robert Burns but as a memorial in Liverpool of Dr Currie, one of her able sons. In accepting the manuscript the authorities of the Athenæum, in his opinion, undertook to provide, and committed themselves to provide, for all time a safe place for the gift, and certainly were not entitled to deal with the MSS. as if they were their own private property.

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The Chairman said, as Scotsmen, and representatives of Burns Clubs particularly, they would be neglecting their obvious duty if they failed to endeavour by every means in their power to have that incredible" and deplorable "atrocity annulled. The holiday season had prevented a larger meeting, but it was evident from the attendance and from the letters received that at a subsequent meeting there would be a record attendance to support any action that the Burns Federation, in conjunction with other bodies, might take. Meanwhile they could take the first step by adopting a resolution of protest end forwarding it to the proper persons, who in this case were, in his opinion, not only the directors of the Athenæum in Liverpool but also the Lord Mayor and other public representatives of Liverpool. He moved the following resolution :“Thɛt this meeting of representatives of Burns Clubs and other Scottish societies in Glasgow and the West of Scotland has learned with the greatest surprise and deepest regret that the directors of the Liverpool Athenæum have decided to sell the Glenriddel MSS. of the poems and letters of Robert Eurns, which were given to them to preserve by Mrs William Wallace Currie on December 6th, 1853, and they hereby record their protest against such sale as being an unwarranted perversion of the gift, and they respectfully suggest that the Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other public representatives of that city take such steps as may be deemed advisable to have the sale stopped, or, if already completed, recalled and rescinded."

Dr Neilson said he believed that public opinion in Scotland would have enabled them to hold on to the manuscripts, and they must respectfully believe that the safeguards of public liberty and the guarantees of the public conscience were not less strong in England than they were here. There was, by the conveyance of these manuscripts to the Athenæum Library, constituted a great and unique public trust. There could not be the slightest doubt of that, and it seemed to him clear that upon Liverpool rested the duty of vindicating that trust.

Mr Thomas Killin, Glasgow Mauchline Society, thought it perfectly clear that the manuscripts were not the property of Mrs

Currie to give to the Athenæum, and he suggested that they should endeavour to raise & fund to claim them on behalf of the Burns family.

The Chairman said he had no doubt that claim would be looked after by the legal representatives of Burns's descendants. The Chairman afterwards read a letter from Mr J. Leiper Gemmill stating that & firm of solicitors in Liverpool had been instructed, and were taking steps to endeavour to stop the sale until the right of the Athenæum to dispose of the documents was tested.

The resolution was then unanimously adopted, and it was decided to send copies to the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, the Principal of Liverpool University, the local Aldermen and M.P.'s, and the Directors of the Athenæum.-Glasgow Herald, July 31st, 1913.

STORY OF A SCOTTISH OFFER.

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The Liverpool Daily Post and Mercury states:-We informed that the proprietors of the Liverpool Athenæum, after authorising by a majority the sale of the Glenriddel MSS., claim that they had good reason to believe their intention to sell was made known to various societies concerned. Indeed, it is stated that a representative of the Burns Memorial Committee (?) came from Scotland to the Athenæum and inspected the MSS. As a result of his inspection he made an offer of £3000, which, we understand, would have been accepted by the Athenæum executive, but immediately on the return home of the visitor the Burns Memorial · Committee (?) withdrew their proposal to buy. While it may be regretted that publicity was not given to the decision to sell the MSS., the chances of the treasure being bought by the committee indicated do not seem to have been bright, but it remains to be explained why this body did not seek outside financial aid, or at least suggest a general appeal.

It is stated that the committee of the Athenæum themselves are unaware of the destination of the MSS., having handed them over to Messrs Sotheby and received payment for them.

On inquiry we are informed that no office-bearer of the National Burns Memorial and Cottage Homes, Mauchline, learned of the proposal to sell the MSS. until it was publicly announced by the Liverpool Post and Mercury. No representative of the body mentioned visited Liverpool. It is also stated that no member of the Burns family nor their representatives were aware of the intention to sell.-Glasgow Herald, August 2nd, 1913.

We quoted the other day from the Liverpool Post and Mercury a statement to the effect that a representative of the " Burns Memorial Committee" had visited Liverpool and had made an offer of £3000 to the proprietors of the Liverpool Athenæum for these MSS., which offer would have been accepted by the Athenæum executive, but immediately on the return home of the visitor the Burns Memorial Committee withdrew their proposal to buy."

We learn that the facts are as follow:-Last March Mr Dunlop of Doonside, chairman of the Burns Cottage Trustees, heard privately through a Liverpool friend of the intention of the Athenæum executive to sell the MSS. Mr T. C. Dunlop, his son, went to Liverpool, examined the MSS., and asked the chairman to give him the refusal of the documents at £3000. He was told at once that the refusal of the MSS.-for six months-had already been given to Messrs Sotheby at the reserve of £5000. So far as Mr Dunlop was concerned the matter then dropped, and the Burns Cottage Trustees never made, and consequently never withdrew, an offer.-Glasgow Herald, August 6th, 1913.

LETTER FROM LORD ROSEBERY.

A letter from Lord Rosebery has been received by Mr Alexander Pollock, chairman of the Glasgow and District Burns Clubs Association. The letter is as follows:

38 Berkeley Square, W.,

August 12th, 1913.

My dear Sir,—I am much obliged by your letter.

The conduct of the directors of the Liverpool Athenæum seems incredible. One would have thought that the second or third city in the Empire would have insisted on keeping so precious a possession. I have indeed little doubt that the MSS. never belonged to Mrs Currie at all, but were entrusted to her husband's father for biographical purposes.

The widow probably found them among his papers, made no question as to the property, and thought she was doing a wise thing (and indeed she was well justified in so thinking) in transferring these precious documents to the care of the Liverpool Athenæum. Nor was it the duty of the Liverpool Athenæum on receiving them to scrutinise their title to them. But it certainly was incumbent upon the directors before selling them to make quite sure that Mrs Currie was justified in giving them and that they were justified in selling them.-Believe me, yours very truly,

ALEX. POLLOCK, Esq., Glasgow.

ROSEBERY.