Star. — London, England, 1829-04-10 00:00:00

lords. They wholly repelled-that charge. It was then ssid they were the toots of the Assocrsti. n; and now they were accused of being the tools of the priests. He supposed the voice af humanity would have little weigh• when a question of espesliency was discussed, but he would remind their Lordsh;ps that the effect of this Bill Arnold be to drive the people r , f Ireland from the liiimes which they cherished, either to become beggars or banditti. or to desert their ()alive land ; and he might here truly say— At • wahine alii Bitterness Mims Afros, Pars Scythian+, et rapidest Cwt. veniemus Ositem, Et warns totos (Heim. orbs Britannos." Thpl)uke of WELLINGTON said that the Noble Du)* who had spoken against the Bill had said it would deprive the forty shillings freeholders of their vested rights; and the Noble Marquis who had just sat down had admitted that they were so much in the power of their landlords, that nothing was snore easy than to deprive !hem of their leases. With regard to the Assistant Barristers he begged to say that the utmost attention had been paid, and would continue to be paid, to th st measure"; and fro Assi tent Barrister would be permitted to set who was not totally disconnected with the county in which he was to act. • Lori GORT agreed in all th it had been said of the necessity of disfi &utilising the forty shilling fietholders, but he thought the Bill should apply to the cities and towns as well as to the counties. He had abstained from saying any thing upon the question until the se. turns which he had moved for bad been laid on their • Lord,hips' table. The reason given for not disfranchis • ing the forty shilling freeholders in towns was, that • they seised as a counterpoise on the freemen ; and yet from these returns it appeared that during the last . seven years there had been 4,579 ireeholdeta made is ce►ta•n towns, and on'y 1,198 freemen. The Earl of LIMERICK said, that "the power of making freemen in boroughs was unlimited. The c unty forty shilling fieeliolders exercised ;heir flaw thine not for their own benefit, but at the will tither of th• ir landltud. or their priests. i. , ord FA IZNII ANI tote for the purpose of givieg own e cif A c I .0 e u hich he intended to introduce when • the Bill et oild he in Colimit'ee. With regard to cities • it %% as n t his intentuoi to move that the qualification tho.ild be raised higher than forty shillings, but 'ha! • the Same investigations should t eke place. and the ame !wog f • be required that they were bonafide forty hug freeholders, as were to ke required for the 101. erholders in the countie.„ . The Earl of CA RNARVON had always considered that the franchise was not it v.sted right. but given at the will of the Par. • /lament. He believed the forty-shilling freeholders would thank their Lordships for relieving them from an irksome duty, and from being the slaves either of one or other of those who sniAlit have • power over theni. lie would wi•h, however, that thetill'sitould , be only pm.pretive, and that it should not affect freeholds inlets. lie though( the Hill should he considered in Committee, and, if not, that it should be passed under an understanding that it ►hould, ' at some ftiture period, be revived, and those parts which he cocoa• dereJ objectionable altered. • The ilou•e then resolved itself into a Committee, Lord StIAfTW. al 'YT ht the Chair. After the two first clauses had been agreed to, The Duke of RICHMOND moved for the introduction of a • clause to the ef.•et that this Bill should not affect the existing right of any bone fide forty-shilling freeholder pox :sing his freehold previous to the pa►.iag of this The Earl of D.% ItNIXY allowed that the system of Forty &Mit% Freehold. hi Ireland was liable to abuse, and required con. rye rho). lie , hquhl• suppot t the present Bill, defective as he thought it on account or its connection with the Rebel Bill. . Lord Olt I I•L rose to make some remarks on fee-simple estates, but resumed his seat int being intotmed, by the Duke of Web. nv that the proposed ausentlineut did not relate to freeholds in fve.simple The Duke of RICH AIOND further explained, that the object of his umendment was to preserve the right of voting to the existing bona fide F. try Freeholders. Lord CAItBEItRY objected to soy amendment of the pals Ogl • the ground of its connection with the other great Ball. The Duke of HA MILTON having supported the Belief Bill In principle, could nut reconcile with that vice any captions ob jection to particular clau-es of the present Bill. The Ktri of NI A 1..11 ESII It Y considered the Bill to be an un etsii.tirutionel violation of vested rights, and utterly unsupported by authority or precedent. Ile bad opposed the Relief Bill for that anu•ng other re 1%011, ; and he would upper this. Lord PLUNK E•l' did net think that, in supporting this mese sure, he violated any yriociple of justice or Constitutional privie lege. The eective franchise was not a private property, bet a - political right, which might be regulated by Parliament. The present Bill was warranted by •precedents, by the Acts of Henry VIIL and Henry VI. and the Acts of Union with Scotland and Ireland, which regulated the elective franchise of Boroughs in • those Kingdoms. He should support the Bill u a salutary ima gine of rational reform. lbe Duke of It ICHSIOND called on Noble Lords toproduce, in the Muses proofs of the abuse of the forty shilling franchise, it such abuse existed. The forty shilling freeholders bad a just opinion of the value of their franchise, and had often shown, since 1825, that they knew how and when to exercise it—for instance, the election for the county of Clare. They were not such &sve l te' as they ware new described to he, though not long ago they were called a magnanimous nation—(Laughter). He could not believe that any essential connection existed between the Relief Bill and the present. lie was sure the former would be carried whatever became of the latter ; for though Noble Lords may change t►eir opinions in three wet ks, it was more than could be expected that they should change their opinions in the COUThe of the three ensuing d. , ye. Ile hoped Noble Lords would vote against the MI on the table if they thought it stirrer, without tepid to the consequences. • The Karl of LONGFORD thought there was ample evidence in the conduct of the forty shilling freeholders, since 1825,thit they Fad abused their iranchiee. YoligyAO necessity demanded an cod of the precut system. The Marque. of SA LISDURV thuaght the elective franchise • was an inseparable part of Ike forty @Witte freehold. He could not consent to the Dill on the table, on account of its connectlon with the- Helier Dill, as be dill net think it right to pass one mes siest merely on the merits of another. Vwsount SIDMOUTH thought Ms Noble and Learned Friend (Lord Plunkett) bad clearly provad the conirtitutsonal justice and • policy to the measure. 1044 lIOLI. AND was of opinion that the measure was war ranted in paint of precedent by the Act of Henry the Sixth. which thsfraiici ised. on account of abuses, all threws holding rittebuitis under the value of forty shillings. The Karl of MA LMRSBUDY quoted the opinion of Mr. O'Connell against meddling with the rights of forty shillin g . free holders of fee-simple estates. he Duke of ItICIIMOND said, be did not object to de.troy the fictitious forty shilling freeholdeis. All he wanted was to pre _ _ serve the tights of the bole-fele lofty freeholdits. The amendment was then put, and negatived without a division. lhe Duke of RICHMOND then proposed an am, nanient to the effect of preserving the rights of the torty shilling tred•holders bolding in fee simple estate. The LORD CHANCELLOR said that •the Intlividuah to question were the Moo corrupt trerbolders in Ireland, all she: %owe of them prisseemed being a cahin th 4 had erected en the side of • sum* mountain, and without any 4 O except what had then given tte them by time. The hal of MA LMESMIRY contended that the rights of the freeholders In fee ought to be protected. however poor they might be. _ _ Lord ORIEL showed that the greatest always of the elective . franchise had been committed by the forty shillnog freeholders holding in fee. Lott* FA It NHA SI said that that might be the case with these who bad settled on a mountain side as they had heard desciihed; • but it was not theme with the descendants of Cromwell's 'Addicts, who 1.4 d received small grants of land from him. Lord ELLENELIROUG /I thought the general advantage ought not to be put in the scale with the political right of the few, whom it appeared, by all the evidence, were not accused of cos• noption. Atter a few words from Lord PLUNK ETT, The Douse divided on the Duke of 'insomnia amendment, when there appeared For it I se I Against it 66 I !Majority 54. On the neat clause bring read. t- kiii•lSP 1.44 31 rupusett amendment. by which cities and bomogn. sere to be 'nought cruder the operation of the Bill. 11 be &Juke et IS ELLINGTON &stook:it he bad not included cface and bor4u6hs, a, he had not thought it necessary- Then' might be great abuse of the elective franchise in cities and boroughs. but they could be remedied at another time. After a few words from Lurd Onse. the amendment was nip. tivcd without a division. - -------- On the next clause, relative to the the** and places at which the Assistant Bspieter was to hold his endow, Lord FAUN HAM said, that be did net mean to cast any Immo tation upon the Assistant Banisters; but considering that they re coked payment from the Crown for their set vice, and were semen. able at Will, he could not consider them altogether as the fittest tribunal to decide finally upon the validity of the qualification of all the voters. He said decide Study, because the expense of an appeal would not be less than four or five pounds, which it would be utterly beyond the power of the greater part of the freeholders to Incur. He should move as so amendment, therefore, that two or more Magistrates be empowered to act with the Assistant Barrister. The LORD CHANCELLOR said that the object of the Go vernment had been to give the best possible tribunal for the decision of Mr qualification, and certainly the assistant Banisters were muck fitter for the task imposed on them than the Magistracy, who must have local connection and partialities. With respect to the assistant Barristers being paid by the Crown it was not a permanent payment, but merely for the first heavy duty of registration, in the perform. ance of which they could have no interest to depart from the strict line of justice. With respect to the expense attending an appeal, he had been informed by professional Gentlemen that the average ex. penes would net 'steed 101. Nu harm couldarise from the Judge admitting an Improper person to have a qualificiltion, as a candidate could object to him at the election. After a few observations from Lord Lounortosaav and Lord PLIINZOTT, Lard FARNHAM said that ten shillings might be the amount of legal expenses attending an appeal ; but it would not carry a man a distance of forty or fifty mike from his native place to the county town, nor pay the expense of four or five days living there. After a few wards from the Marquis of LOIDO DDDDD T and Lord Piesexarr, the amendment was negatived, and the clause agreed to. On the proposition of the dome providing that the Clerk of the Peace shall enter notices in his list and in the newspapers, Lord FARNHAM thought the lists ought to be kept open in the office of the Clerk of the Peace, because there were some counties in Ireland in which no newspapers were published. and consequently no other mode of publication remained. He did not mean, however, to trouble their Lordships with moving an amend ment to that skeet ; fur If, as it appeared, It was determined to caery the Dill without amendments, there would be no use in pro. posing one. He should, however, move it on the btinging .op of the Report.—The clause was then agreed to. The next clause respected the registry of freeholds at Sessions. Lord GORT said much inconvenience might arise to freeholders from the long intervals (in some instances twelve months) that oc curred between the Sessions. The Duke of WELLINGTON said be believed that in the county of Galway it sometimes happened that the Assistant Barris ter did not attend more than once a year. The Lord Lieutenant, however, bad the power of ',Merin him to go as frequently as be should deem necessary. The subjrct of proportioning the remuoe raLion the duties of Assistant Barrister was also under considera tion. so that he was pretty sure no cause for complaint would arise On this point alluded to by the Noble Lord. Ilse clause was then agreed to. The next clause referred to the mode of swearing freeholders. The Earl of hi OU NTC IE L said. there were in the county of Attains persons called •• Covenanters," who had a religious ob jection to taking an oath. He should propose, therefore, that they should be excused in the same manner as Quakers and Moravians. The LOUD CHANCELLOR wished to know on what autho rity the Noble Earl stated that Covenanters refused to take oaths. They were frequently sworn in Court by bolding up their bands, in the same manner as Presbyterians were sworn. The clause was agreed to. The clause respecting the registry or fifty pound freeholder, having been read, Lord FARNHAM asked, was the future registry of fifty pound freeholders to be, as at present, required only once? The LORI) CIIANCELLOR answered in the affirmative, and the clause was agreed to. Respecting the next clause, also referring to fifty pound free holders. Lord FARNHAM thought it would be desirable to provide that new existing freeholders of the value of fifty pounds, late Insh car rency, should be recognised as fifty pound freeholders. Lord PLUNKETT and the LORD CHANCELLOR said the object of the Noble Lord was secured by the 6th Geo. IV. called the Currency Act. After a few words co the same effect from the Earl of ROSS- N, the clause was agreed to.—Tke remaining clauses were then respectively agreed to. Their Lordships baying resumed, the Report was brought eel received, and agreed to. On the motion of the Duke of WELLINGTON, the Bill was ordered to be read a third time on Monday next.—The motion was'. agreed to. The Duke of WELLINGTON requested to know from the Noble Earl (Farnham) if be had any objection to the third reading ot the Bill to-morrow (this day)?—(A laugh). Lord FA RN HA Al— None in the world. The third reading of the Bill was then fixed for tomorrow (this day); and their Lordships adjourned at a QUA ITSII t • gLINSIG HOUSE OF COMMONS. Mr Danvers, from the East India llosee, presented a return of the sale of raw silk for the last year. SILIC Mr. VESEY FITZGER ALD requested of the Hon. Member foe Coventry to postpone his modal) on the Silk Trade till Monday. It was requested by the persons in the silk trade that he (Mr.lritz ',raid) should on that day make known the course intended to be pursued by his Majesty's Government, which he intended to do. Mr. FY LER said, he should not object to the postponement it he were certain that no fanher delay should take place. Mr. V. FITZGERALD said be should be fully prepared. lad as far as he could answer there should be no interference. He cobld only answer that no Government orders should interfere with the lion. Gentleman's motion. The discussion was then fixed for Monday. Mr. DICKINSON presented a Perkin.' from the Silk Manu facturers of Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltshire, complaining of the distressed state of their trAile. Mr. DA WSON moved for a copy of the Report of the Com missioners of Revenue, relative to the Post ()Med.—Ordered. Mr. H. G It.trrAN presented a Petition from the Roman Ca. thollc. of Lublin against the clause in the Relief 13111 ag dust meas. tic institutions ; and similar petitions from three parishes in Ireland. Mr. ROBINSON presented a Petition from the Silk Throw. sten of London and it. vich.ity, praying for additional protection. Mr. GRATTAN presented a Petition from the Catholic Bishops of Irelands praying that education might be er ended to the Catho• lie people of Ireland, without aoy interference with their religious principles. ChWieral GASCOYNE said, the petition being from Ronnie Catholic Bishops, and praying fur public money, appeared to him to be contrary to law. Mr. SPRING RICE said the petitioners had often petitioned the House in the present charicrer of Bishops professing the 11oin4n Catholic religion resident in Ireland. Tile prayer of the petition was, that the House would act on the recommendation of its Men Committee. Ur. G. DANKES t►ought there could be no objection to t►e prayer of the Petition; but t►.t 'he Petitioners assuming the tide of Bidlops was contrary to law. anti that their Petition ought not to be received. Oti the mocking, General G ASCOYNR, the Partition was read at length. Mr. TRA NT called for thr Solicitor General of Ireland to state bate thr law stood respecting the titles of Catholic bishops in this country. The'SOLICITOIL GENERAL for Ireland said, there were some doubts on the point at prevent but if his Hoe. Friend should put the same question to him this day week, he would bays infinite satisfaction in teifing him bow the law then stood. • Mr. M. FITZGERALD contended that the Petition should be received as all others from the same persons bad been received. Mi. PEEL said the only question was, whether the petition was informal? It bad been formally decided by the House of Lords, [bat the redritmers should reflect petitions is the manner the pro. alga we. wurded—ebet is, Bishops of the Catholic March in Ire land ; but not as Roman Catholic Bishops of Ireland; and as the petitioner, had conformed to that decision, be thought there could fie no sufficient reason for rejecting the petition.—The petition was then ordered to lie on the table, and he painted. Mr. R. LLMEIL ptesented a Petition from the Oergy of Berkshire, against any further grant to the College of Alarm& Mr. BA It gave notice that, to•aturrow, be would ask leave to bring in a Bill to make the accepting Mt olive in the .service of the East India Compaq abroad, by a Meshes of Parliament, a vacating of hii seat in Parl•ament. Mr. TEN.. YSON gave notice, that on Tuesday next be should move for a Select Committee to take into conaideradoo the state of the Orphan's Fund of the City of London. LAW GIP PATANT INMITIoNS. Mr. LENNARD rose to n.. ve fns a Committee to inquire into the present state tf the law and prat:ice al granting patents lig ingenuous. He had no intention of impugning the principle on which the law in regard to patents was fu tided. nor ut encroaching on the prerogative of the King to grant theta. The preroga tire in that ;civet was as old as the Constitution; it was cl.-ar that at common law the Crown had the powm of granting to the inventor of any new and useful ma. nufacture or art, theesclusive right of using or vending it for a reasonable time. Such a grant was no violation of the rule laid down by Lord Coke, that no one is of be restrained of any freedom or liberty he had before, or hindered in his lawful ceiling ; such a grant. yo far from being injurious to the public, was, on the.con trary, beneficial Cur it, by tending to encourage useful discoveries. But this power having been greatly abused. Particularly in the reigns of Queen Elisabeth and King James, having been made the means sometimes of en riching a favour ire at the expense of the public, some times of raisi g a revenue for the Prince , having. in the words of Queen Elisabeth, when she :evoked >rime monopolies which had been complained of by t'or li it was at length found necessary to define amt imerit, " been repeatedly mated to the hurt of the p limit it by statute, and to reduce it within its an. tent and constitutional limit , which was done by the well known Statute of hiJnopolies, passed in the 21st of James the First. That Statute suppressed all mono polies generally; but the sixth clause in it autho rised the Crown to grant letters patent, or giants' of privilege, for fourteen years or mailer, of the sore, working or making of any new manufacture within the realm, to the true And first inventor of such marm• lactate. It was upon that 'clause that the right now exercised by tile Crown, of granting those letters, which confer upon an inventor the right to the exclusive bent fit of his own invention for 14 years, was wholly founded. Whenever that power was exercised, the privilege or protection thus granted was the result of what mi g ht be called a compromise beta een the Crown, or rather, he should say, the public on the one hand. and ventor on the other. That clause, which ctid no more tiros) &elate that it should be in the potter of the Crown to make such grants if it should think fit, left it to the I Crown to prescribe those terms on which it would make the grant. Accordingly, in the reign of Queen Anne, a condition was introduced into the ()steal, which had always since been insisted .on, that the itieentor should, within a certain time, generally within one or two,' sometimes six moLtbs after the grant of the patent,, enrol in the Court of Chancery such a description of his invention, that the public might, at the expiration of the patent, have the use of it in as cheap and beneficial a manner as the patentee himself used it. By obtaining that statement, the public derived a benefit. and an equivalent in return for the bei.efit the patentee derived from his limi•ed monopoly. In louleng at the limited and peculiar privilege granted by letters patent, which he had spoken of as a monopoly, they must not con. found it with the common no ion of a monopoly, which it was not, being merely a bargain between the ii,- ventor and t' e public; the public acquired s •mething which it had not before, or acquired it in a better form, or at a cheaper rate. Arid it was manife.t that it was equally just, as it was p litic. tliot those %%I A. had emplot ed their time and spent their money in the production of some new thing, ifs hick was to be useful to the community, ought to be rewarded; that he who informed the public of a r.ew method of increasing their wealth or their comforts, should obtain a compensation or recompense fur his labours and ingenuity. The best and most approi riote method of doing this seemed to be that which was marked out by the statute—namely, the giving an inventor a limited monopoly in his own manufacture; for, in propoit on as his inve..tion was valuable to society, so would the amount of his profits increase. He considered, therefore, that the principle was a sound one on which our patent laws were founded, and which were inten.:ed, on the one hand, to stimulate industry and ingenuity by securing to inventors a reward proportionate to the value of their inventions, and, on the other, to secure to the public the per fect knowledge of such useful inventions or discove ries as might be made. His object was, to make the law efficient for these purposes, which it was n. t at present. He should not say any thing in iegard to ilk expense of taking out a patent—he had heard it spoken of as a grievance, but he was not prepared to say that the law required any alteration in that respect. It was his own .pinion at present, and he knew it war that of many persons who had great experience in that part of our laws, that it was not desirable to facilitate over much the obtaining of patents by any reduction of ex pense ; but what he did contend for was, that a hen a patent was obtained, rit should be perfectly effectual lot its purpose—naneely, the security of this limited monopoly to the inventor, and of so perfect a know ledge of the invention to the public, that every one might use it when the term of the patent was ex pired. Such being the case, lie would 1 r teed to the consideration of those parts of tste law a hich he thought the most important to bring under the attention of tire House, in which he thought it possible some im provement, on mature deliberation, might be made.— The patent, as lie had said, was granted on condition that the invention should, in the specification, be accu rately and completely dent. ibed—that it should de .0-kg he best and properest materials, and that the machine, or thing, or sub tolice Cisco/tried, sir. It'd be accurately and completely desceibed.- lie was aware of the neces sity of insisting on that; it was a part of the bargain. and Wily made; but-the different interpretations that had ten put on the law, the doubt what the law was, the different and the fluctuating opinions of Judges as to the ap, licatioa and best mode of construing the law, bad made the property under letters patent very insectire, and had tendtd manifestly to discourage inventors,who, seeing others lose the benefit of their labours, were de terred from bringing for ward their own inventionsit was a sort of proverb among inventors, that he who took out a patent took out a law suit with it; and the issue.of a law suit, in support of a patent, was so exceedingly un certain, that the patent tight was said to be of compa ratively little value, till confirmed by the verdict of a Jury; so that where there was any prob a bili t y o f a dis covery being kept private without a patent, as in che mical discoveries, the secret was thought of far more value than a patent. In mechanical inventions, the machinery would, for the most part, betray the se cret; but in chemical inventions, where the secret could be better concealed, it had been said that no man in his senses would think of disclosing his secret for such an imperfect protection as a patent gave him. The consequence of this was. that many a valuable discovely died with the inventor, and was lost to the public, or was locked up, and formed a perpe tual monopoly in the hands of his representatives.— The principal cause of the insecurity of the patent eon. awed in the difficulty, not to say the impossibility often, of framing a specification which should not be liable to any of the manifold and often technical and formal ob jections which were allowed to prevail against them in Courts of law. He would not weary the House With attempting to enumerate the manifold imperfectionsin specifications, which bad been held to be fatal to the raght ut the patentee. It was sufficient that it was no torious that the drawing a specification was a matter of the greatest possible nicety, and that most of the patents which on judicial trial had been lost, bad been so from mistakes in the framing of that docuasent....The his. , tory of the Courts of Lawaff re o t r b d e ed. PelhP one head of law abouthadalse% me which much difference of ()se ion amongst the Judges..., lb was net contending that the patentee shoidi p t be obliged to give a complete and accurate descrips lion of his invention —far from ill he saw th e per. feet justice and the necessity of this; but wh en man had made a discovery, and was willing to come 7 fotward, and boxer fide make the discovery know; veiich was part of the condition of the gram, he hea right to ask, when he gave the descriptionsioief h t a n d at v d i i i s : ! covery, “ Are y o u satisfied with it? " " Is it cotnpleter . 7 Can you work by it?" and then, fully coccealed some part of the process by which the invention could he better or cheaper made, be rinse ' es be secure of that protection which was to him the bene. fic:al part of the bargain which he had entered iota with the public; and not, afer laying out van sums money, be liable to have to maitstem his righ t b e f ore two or three successive Jinies, and ultim.tt le, pe d lar*, alter a balanced opinion of two Jtities and the Coe n , t • lose the benefit of his invei.teo tin voile technical paint, which might have been tote-een, in which per. hips a as really of no importance. He thought that it would be found r err mate mode f ensuring tl.e vale di:y of the patent when the e!ecification was cum. L I pieta*, or, if inc fliplete. et making the patentee to. quainted with that tact, and of a ll ow i ng 1„,,, b oort n was enrolled to make u c mp'ete, might laitly be te. • quired. The history of the cars se° e.l that suite : of the most meritorious scientifi± men, who bad de voted their time and their fortune to the perfect on of inventions.—to. whim it seas that we owed the Dope. alleled extension of our commerce. the increase cf our manufactures, and the implies. ments in alp icultirre, tho e resources of that est , widinary prosperity mud p .wer to which this cnui try had atiivad—had for sonic technical in •ccuracy iu 0 e .pecification, , e ar l y risked the loss of their [supra/. lie need only icier to the case of Butdroo and Wa.r, whose patent was all lest lost, and that from some techeical rem in the description; such as a description of a method rather than a thing. It a as a fact well known that thinee m i. nent pet 'ens expended between SO 0001. and 40,000 e in the defence of their patents, which never would have been initinged if there bad been persons euthenis t( ' and competent to examine the specification on its en rollment, and to have said, You have taken a patent for a principle rather than a thing, or for a *hole machine, when yours is only an improvement of a part.' If th .t power existe. 7 , the public would be 1 as well and better served tuan at pt sent, and inventors would be saved all the cost and the tin :ertaintyas to their i..veution and property. Wh. thet that mite.t be dote by a commission composed of sc en.ific nen amid las. yens, aipe' whether it might be found impracticable, he knew not; but he thought the state of the l a w, and more particuiatly the stare of optiiii.n which existed in scientific men, mete at least goof grouirds for equity 1 . and consideration, and he asked for nothing more. There were other points on which he might say a few words, which was the shortness of the time allowed for the specification. The hittnr y ref nearly all great Myer. lions showed, that the first sketch of the machine, or pea cess, was cumbrous and complex ; the operation of time was to simplify and perfect it. A man made a di co very, he was in hourly danger of being forestalled, or at least of losing his right to obtain a patent for it; Cr any publication of his secret,. in any way, before the patent was rendered safe by passing the Cleat Seal, rendered his right to a patent void, whetter that pulo lication was made malicianbly or accidentally, by a friend to *dm he might have communicated his in vention, or by a servant, whom he might have eat. played to assist him in the experiments nattier, to perfect it ; and that such caution on' that account era thought necessary, Lord Eldon once declared lions the Bench, if he were maturing an invention, and solicit ing a patent, he would not entrost his own brother with the secret until his patent was sealed. The consequence of this' at as, that the moment the idea of some disco. very bad occurred to a. man a .he was tempted to endea vour to secure it by patent, which he immediately applied for, and probably obtained; but he was obliged to specify, often within a time that was insufficient fur the due perfection of his invention, and the result was, he specified foe an imperfect machine. The machine was improved, and he was from time to time compelled to take out a fresh patent for every successive irnprole ment, and at the same Cost. It. in fact, often happened that an inventor had only the alternative of incuraing the expense of taking out seteral patents for one limn tien,ot of waiting before he took out his patent till he bad completed his invention, at the has •ral of losing, through the carelessness or treachery of his friends or servants, his right to a patent at all. Now he thought the law of Fiance might be found worthy of imitation on that head; [bete, though the time for which a patent might be grained, was fixed at fifteen years, jet a patent for five years might be taken out at a third of the expense of one fir fifteen p•ars, which might be renewed from time to time, with all the successive improvements, foe fifteen years.in,the 10914 . 40 at the cost of one patent; ,o that .there a noma d " ira,s i Artabled. without the Costs of many successive .patently-tar haves the fuel benefit of his improvements at the. 'cost of. one, and *ab out the hurry .attrodiug ole the shot tarts of time allowed for specifying. .He was aware that there was 4 disc etiorr as to the •specificat;on in the Att nary and Solicitor.GMeral, bist he alluded to the knows and geneeal practice, and to what was - the known and general evil. He thought that that or something of that sort might be found very- beneficial in this countro-e The only protection Which an inventor had, revioal to his application for a patent, wac by a cav e at, which was nothing =mothers a request, lodged at the offsets of the Anoint, or Solicitor General, that lie might have notice of all applications for patents for the same or the same sort of invention, in order that be might claieu"a patent for it, if found to be really the first inventor. That !was the whole virtue of the caveat, which some persons had erroneously imagined to be a sort of minor patent, capable by its own operation of staying the hands of alt persons engaged in similar inventions. As a protection, ,t was a very hazardous, not to say uncertain one, to resort to. Hazardous, because the mere circum stance of a caveat being entered, was likely to direct Attention and the inquiries of others to the very point which be who bad entered the caveat wasinvistigatiog ; and uncertain, because any description that could be given of an invention, before it was completed, most be defective, and liable to be defeated, on the ground of its being defective. He believed there was a very general opinion, tbat'while a caveat afforded no entails protection, it was a sure means of raisitag oppositions and often of 'defeating its own ends. So muck for the specification, in which the principal movements of the law would be found to lie. He thought, if the inventor really made a fair discovery of his in vention, or described it io a way prescribed to bins, he ought to be guaranteed his property, as moth as the public were guaranteed theirs. As to the priority of diicovery I as to the perindi whether or not the patent Was infringed; as to whether or not the patentee re the true discoverer; as-to -the utility of the lowest"