398 Royal Irish Academy. 



his secretary, Mr. Dowdall. Mr. "Wyndliam, who had evidently made 

 a careful study of the case, and was furnished with all the important 

 documents referring thereto, told us that he was fully aware of the 

 proceedings in Parliament and of Mr. Balfour's action respecting the 

 gold objects in question. He assured us that he was "warmly" 

 desirous of their restoration to Ireland, and was clearly of opinion 

 that it was desirable, apart from legal considerations, that they should 

 find a place in our Museum (which he seemed well acquainted with), 

 and he thought they could be more usefully studied there, along with 

 kindred objects, than in the British Museum. 



IS'or had it escaped him that considerable importance was to be 

 attached to the National sentiment. He informed us that — as we 

 were aware — the law officers were of opinion that the gold objects 

 were treasui-e trove ; and, further, that the terms of the Charter of the 

 Irish Society were by them held to be sufficient to convey these objects 

 to that body. "We pressed upon him Sir Edward Coke's definition of 

 treasure trove, and the subsequent clause quoted in the Eeport of the 

 Treasury Commission, as to the conveyance of treasure trove only by 

 the establishment of an express grant of the franchise of treasure trove, 

 and we urged that no such express grant appeared to us to be dis- 

 coverable in the Charter of the Irish Society that we had examined. 



He noted this, and promised to consult the Attorney-General 

 upon it. 



He expressed his intention of taking what seemed to him the 

 most likely course to secure the return of the find. The particular 

 steps he had in view he did not, at this stage, think it advisable to 

 communicate to the Academy. 



"We asked him for copies of the law officers' opinions ; but, though 

 he quoted from them to us, he said they were regarded as private, and 

 copies were not allowed out of the office. 



It is obvious that we can only report the general nature of the 

 discussion, which could not be other than tentative ; but it seemed to 

 us that the Chief Secretary was strongly in sympathy with the desire 

 of the Academy to secure the presence of these valuable objects of anti- 

 quarian interest in the collection of the Eoyal Irish Academy, and 

 we felt assured that he would not fail of giving his warm support 

 to whatever measures might be finally deemed desirable to attain 

 that end. 



