The Express.
London, England, 1851-01-08 00:00:00

Slur Uwe ia ISIS

Inerenoe.

9;9,6141

TALLOW MARKET.-TlllB DAY.

The market s steads each's, et the quntettons subjoined,
vie.:—Town T.liow, 37r. sett ash; Peterebtrg Y. C. oe.
the sjat, 37t. 9c1.; Jan., 11.1; , and March, 37p. Gd.; bus
three mouths of Mo.

MARK-LANE—THIS DAY.
The little English Wheat at market this morning reprised
Moodas's quotatioza, ar d there nap rattier rote deinsnd toe
choke qualities of old red tireign Wow, at late rates. The
trade was slow for ether dump'- a.r.
Four onntinues difficult or .I,sposid.
Barley was unchangel in veer.

Oats ire tabors by the der.' rs and colletiattri with Muth
caution, at the same time toy could not succeed 14 purchas-
ing es • trier terms.
Beaus aid P.s. neglected.
A 11111TAL0 LI TO LONDON ,!1.09 6th JAN. TO 11th JAN.
gr4o•h. iket..h. lruh. .un.en.
tl/hat 910
I I h 1100
:14
.. 111.0 14N1 I 4(4)
item, linesman; bunts, Mal; vs.
COAL MAltlifilr.—THlS DAY.
Ede• illehs,ll6s„ 2d.; West Harley, 13s 6d. • W. la End
Braddyll's Hemet, 16.. 6d. ; Wells End lissweli, 12,.;
Walls El.d lietton, 174.; Walls Ead Laabton, ICs. (U;
Walls End SteW4TVIN 12..—Szlips at 'casket, 240.

Every SATURDAY Attains"' will be pablished,
THE EXHIBITION EXPRESS,

Sill OF A DAILY MORNING DOUBLZ PPPPP ,
PRICE FOURPENCE,

COST.UMCO

WIRT ?OISIILI INFORMATION ULATITI TO TIII
GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851,
R/ mums, PROSPICTS, !WINDED DON•
TUTS, AkIANOIMMIT ♦rrIAIANiCII, tAIMIRINA.
PANT ♦ND YUTCRI.

THE enormous number of persons interested in the
fwthc,ming Great Exhibition of the World's Industry
having hither' o had an satisfactory repriseniative in the
Prep—no Parer suffirently large, and with mechanism
nimprehensivemsongb to OOP and exemplify the forthcoming
ispoaition with falares worthv of so grand an event—the
Propricon of Ws "EXPRESi" have determined upon
/Ming, every ftwarday afternoon, a double short of that
Paw, to contain the knew a.:el latest infamatiou relative
In the Eshivitioe, together with a rams of other matter
assaptablei to the multitude of p.rions isterer lid either as
General and Local Commit. amen and Secretaries, Member'
of Provincial Travelliog Clubs, Exhibit:4s, Friends of
Inhibitor+, Rivals of Ezhi:ntors, anti the still larger ai.d
wider circle of these who are to tie the hundreds of thousands
t 4 Vienne, to the Met:Nellie during the forthcoming Con. I
greet of ladaetry of all Nations. In addition to everything
relative to ire Evp onion, this D nage Sheet will gine
Or natal News, sad will, stonier:or, esp.cially attend to all
entreat Events In Literature, Selmer, and Art.
Oa every day 'root Saturday the pries of the EXPRESS
MU he Threepence, as hetetetere.
ADVERTISEMENTS.

TM great value of the EXHIBITION EXPRESS"
Y a swains:. molt he evident to advertivin.
aderrtiseint at. moat bu et the °thee is Whitefrian at
ft Were Eight is t..e Eve,ine of each Friday, to nesse is
=dm la As Lumber it the toll.wing day.

Elie eroveoo.

TO cORRESPONDINTB:

Alvartiremestilate;ded ial.7ll.•iiprin. " laids• E paper.
gam be rt Ur Ulla. 111. Illeverkusual. b Teo Aka ea the
Ist at yablisitims.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIMS.
Taos GAT—Morslag, ft. 113a—.....Aftsraina. IS. &la
le4taurow—lloralag. IS. Oa —...thanars.ll6 I.

LONDON. WiDNZSDAY, JANUARY 8.

Nor one dust Meet pleasant and agreeable inci-
Slats of Sir JANIS EAMON TENN ENT 9 varied life
is, it may be presumed, his late appointment to the
government of St. Helena: for the salary by which
his labours there will be repaid is after the rate of
2,00 t it. a year, besides allowances for saran's, mess-
enger., and Lose repairs, to the tone of somewhat
sear 2501. a year more.
To the government of St. Helena there is not, to be
sure, soy retiring pension attached, as there wee to
the Secretaryship of Ceylon after a lengthened ser-
vice. But, on the other band, the climate of S.
Helena is just as salubrious as that of Ceylon is try-
ing,. and on the Mitotic reek Sir JAMES will have
ao Lord 'fotiftpiortre to worry, to tease, end to fret
him ; no faults to answer for but his own ; no excit-
able native y.pulation to frighten : not many veran-
dahs to license ; very few dogs to tax. lie has,
therefore, an immediate increase of dignity and of
authority—an immediate decrease of labour and re-
spousibility ; a better climate and undivided sove-
reignty to compensate him for the chances of small
pension if be had survived the heat and the plague
et Ceyl.:n some fifven yeers.
Toe appointment is not an important, yet it is in
several respects a singular and a suggestive one. The
Secretaryship of Ceylon was bestowed on Sir JAMES
Lord STANLEY for services in the House of
Commons, all tending to the overthrow of the MEI,
*MINNS administration ; and though, no doubt, Sir
Janes is a person of some ability, the general cha-
racter of the Ceylon government, whilst he was the
secretary, has not been such as to confer much repu-
tation ..o any one connected with it. In transferring
then S r JAMES EMEhtiON TENNENT from an inferior
office in Ceylon to the supreme government of
at. lieleria, Lord GREY can have been actuated
neither by political sympathies for, tor by claims
of superior fitness in, the gentleman he has
thus promoted. In the elevation we must, there-
fore, recogoise that principle of promotion which
Lewd GREY has once or twice announced as a rule of
his conduct, and as this principle has on the present
occasion prevailed so strongly as to lead to the pro
amnion of Sir GEOIME ANIMISM( from the Nlauritine
to Ceylon, of Mr. Hti:oissos from llotduras to the
Mauritius, of Mr. Woositooss from the Civil Service
of Ceylon to llondwas, and of Mr. NPARTIIT from
the useless Treasuryship to the useful Secretaryship
of Ceylon, it has become, it may be inferred, not
merely the rule of L .rd GREY'S personal conduct, but,
more important still, of the Colouial-office, irrespective
of its chief.

It is pleasant and ercouregieg to discover a great
principle, or any principle at ell, in the administra-
tion of cur colonial offices, and if, by followieg out
this IVA., modified and edapted, of course, to the per-
sonal qualifications of those brought within its influ-
ence, the Colonial Office can lay the foundation of a
school of colonial service, and, through it, rear a race
of colonial governors competent to the task of de-
veloping the colonial greatness of this empire, it will
not merely recompense the country for some of its
past mischief, but do much to compensate England for
the lasso( that European influence consequent on the
predominance of absolutism on the cintinent. For
forth it is on maritime power and colonial great-
ness that our position as a nation of the first class
must repose.
Still, it may be doubted, without in the least envy-
ing Sir EMERSON TENSEST his good fortune, or
decrying his reputation, whether his elevation to the
government of St. 'Jolene is a very felicitous example
of this new principle in actual operation. For, St.
Helena is in no sense of the word, a colony; it is
chiefly a military post in the Atlantic Ocean, con-
nected with, and professed to be held for the defence '
ef, India: and secondly, but subordinately, a water-
ing place for vessels. Now, in the former capacity,
it requires and has hitherto always had a military
governor, and in the latter it can scarcely require any
civil establishment at all.
For the lain half century a fortune has been spent
on the defences of this rock ; and without, it is
believed, a single exception, the government has been
entrusted to old soldiers and conducted on military

principles. It is, therefore, • little startling Low to
see all our old notions of St. Helena overturned by
the appointment of a civilian in the person of Sir
ENESEION TENNENT to its command ; and some ex-
planation
of the view now taken by the Colonial•
office of its possession, of its value, and of its uses,
would be really very timely and instructive. For, if,
in addition to a civil governor, St. Helena has now
also to have a military commandant, large as its local
revenue may be, the application of Lord GMT'S new
priociple of promotion in this case will be accom-
panied by a breach of his old principles of economy.
And if it has no commandant, what become of the
old estimate of ita military importance ?
Now we own to no little curiosity and to some
anxiety in this matter, for two reasons ; 1. There is,
perhaps, nothing in the history of recklees expendi-
ture in a small way more scandalous than the amount
of public, Indian and English and local, money that
has been spent on this little rock; 2. By a little
judicious manipulation, the civil establishments of St.
Helena have been for the last two years, just when
economy became the order of the day, withdrawn
from the annual supervision of parliament; though it
Mill costs England some 10,0001. a year in the shape
of pensions transferred with the island in
1830, by the East India Company to the crown.
St. Helena, it may be necessary to remind our
residers, was originally oxmpied by the Thatch sa an
Indian output; but, given up by them as useless
when they took to the Caps of Good Hope, we resealed
to what the Dutch had abandoned. Tbus, St. Helena
hams a possession of the East fedi& Company, and
a very costly one too. For the company formed its
establishments on their usually liberal scale ; they had
• military establishment, a civil establishment, a me-
dical establishment, and an ecclesiastical establish.
meat on this rock without aboriginal population and
only 27 miles in circumference. Previous to the
breaking out of the French war St. Helena cost the
Company 40,0001. a year, of which upwards of
30,0001. was for military charges; during the height
of the war its experts exceeded 300,0001. 'a year;
the fret year of plum they reached 280,0001.; in the
Jut year (1836) of the company's occupation they
were not less than 88,3201.; of which 50,0001. was
miliWy charges. So the probability is that this

petty rock has oast India and England in the last 601
years several millions sterling.
After the crown took it from the company in 1836,
it set about reducing this frightful expenditure; and
to some extent succeeded, though clogged in its
efforts by the large retiring pensions guaranteed to
the c2mpanys servants. Nevertheless the cost of
St. Helena remains to this hour a scandal on all go-
vernments, and an outrage on all peoples.
The rock contains a population of some 5,000
souls; one-third only Europeans; the rest blacks,
'men of colour, and Caine.' ; and the civil government
of fuel hant:Ttli nitchati in a •athb:!:=
island, where crime is unknown and living cheap,
costs about 13,0001. a year, or about 31. a head. If to
that sum be added the pensions still payable, the coat
will be raised to 23,0001., or U. a head. And if we'
take the military charges at the very low figures of
other 15,000/., we have St. Helena costing, one way
or other, to some one or other, 40,0001. • or 81. a heed
a year on its population ; a state of things probably
without parallel in government.
Who 'says for this? Why, the cost is alma
equally divided between England and St. Helena;
and that is more than we cm say for some of 'our
transmarice possessions. By hook or by crook, about
20,000!. a year are raised on the reek itself, and the
balance is paid by generous Mrs. Mother Country.
Be, as the local revenue is sufficient to defray the
cost of the local government, the civil establishment
no longer appears in the Estimates: but, instead, the
pensions occupy place. Isy this ingenious little
piece of management, annual discussions are averted
from such items as 2,2301. a year for the governor,
1,3901. for the secretariat, 2,2451. for the judicial
charges, 2,5001. for the Customs establishments,
the., &c. _ . _

Forty t6onsand pounds a year for governing 5,000
people on a rock in the Atlantic. Such is the coat of
the spot Sir EMERSON TENNENT is about to govern.
Might we then suggest to Loed GREY that the first
duty of his new governor should be to ucertain
whether the whole duty of its administration, civil,
judicial, fiscal, ecclesiastical, could not be done here-
after, and mach better done than heretofore, for the
salary Sir EMERSON has so conveniently slipped into,
via., 2,0001. a year. Then we might boast of St.
!felons; now we ought to be ashamed of its existence
as a British possession.

IN the law of PATENTS, as in most other portions
of our legal system, it is not so much the subseaneiee
law—i. e., the body of rake by which our rights are
regulated—that urgently presses for revision and
reform, as the law of procedure—or the body of rules
by which those rights are practically enforced. The
old statute of monopolies, for instance, is no doubt
very defective in defining with due precision what
shall be regarded a patentable inveotion ; and it is
much to be wished that the results of judge•made law
upon this important point could be precisely fixed and
determined by some such legislative declaration as
that which the present Chiet Justice of the Common
Pleas endeavoured in vain to introduce in 1833.

But alterations of this kind, however desirable as
an ulterior step towards the improvement of our pre-
sent system, are of far less momentous urgency than
those which the outraged common sense of our great
mercantile community now imperatively demands in
ur law of patent procedure. Codify, if you will, all
our existing jurisprudence on patent law—condense
our reports into clauses, and the dicta of our judges
into articles, but do not, in the meantime, leave the
inventive genius of the country to fight its way
through the tortuosities of the Enrolment-office, the
Petty Bog-office, and the Signet-office, under a per-
petual fire of small vexations from Third Clerks,
First Record Keepers, Private Scats, l'ublio Seals,
Chaff-wax Sealers, and Deputies of the Ilene-
per. It is from the pillige and the oppression
of these iccubi on industry that we ask in the first
place to be delivered ; and we suspect those scribes
and lawyers who would either recommend the amend-
ment rather then the abolition of the present methods
of c.niceding patent rights, or chargo the venue of the
grievance by directing attention rather to the defects
in the substantive law, than to the far more crying
abuses of the existing modes of procedure.
In a subject like that of patent taw reform, which
for a space of more than 20 years has been again and
again pressed upon the attention of the legislature
without any prael:cal result, something like unani-
mity of opinion ou the nature of the proposed
changes is a point of great importance to the
tree interests of the cause. In this view
we regard it as a great step gained that but one feel-
leg appears to exist among those who are really
earnest in the movement as to the necessity of alto-
gether abolishing the existing offices and the present
proceedings for obtaining patents, and substituting in
their stead a single office of Registration, and a single
efficial act by which the patent-right should be entered
or recorded. Upon the further points as to what the
exact nature of this court should be,what amount should
be demanded for primary registration, or subsequent
renewal, whether the former should be payable at
once or by fixed yearly instalments ; whether a com-
pleted specification should in every instance be depo-
sited before registration, or whether nothing further
should be required in the first instance than a deposit
of outlines or heads of the invention, leaving the per
fectieg of the specification and the final act of registra-
tion to be postponed until time shall be given' to
hear such objectors es would non be entitled to enter
• caveat—all these are points on which great diversity
of opinion exists, and perhaps mast continue to exist,
until the whole question in its lull extent has been
fairly brought before the consideration of the legis-
lature.

Another matter of great importance, on which
there seems also to exist considerable agreement of
opinion, is the principle, that the new Registration-
office should be confined to the purposes of granting
registrations, enrolling, classifying, and publishing
specification., titles of inventions, B:c., and should
have no concern whatever with the functions of judi-
cially pronouncing, in the first instance, on the
novelty or utility of the invention, as is the cue under
the existing patent law of the United States. At
first sight, indeed, there seems to be some plausibility I
in the suggestion, that every claim to the conces-
sion of patent right for a novel or useful inven-
tion should be investigated by a board of 'Men-
title examiners, who should report upon the novelty
and utility which the assumed invention is asserted
to possess: but in the countries where this system
has been established, as in Prussis, Belgium, and the
United States, it is not found to work satisfactorily,
and there is an obvious danger that, by insisting upon
such preliminary investigation, many useful inven-
tions might be lost to the state, either directly from
the adverse decision of incompetent examiners, or
indirectly from the delay, uncertainty, and expense
thus thrown over the first step in the process of at-
tempting to obtain concession of patent right.
Court, board, office then, or by whatever other title
it may be called, it seems conceded on all hands
that the body to which is entrusted the function of
the primary registration of patent rights, should
have no concern with the question, whether that in
respect of which the right is claimed, be in the legal
sense a novel or useful invention. A simple form of
entry, and a simple certificate that such form has been
complied with, to be granted to the applicant on pay-
ment of whatever sum the legislature shall see fit to
impose as the legal purchase-money for a patent
right—such ought to be all that is required for
obtaining and evidencing the public grant of a patent
right.
It has indeed been proposed that this concession of
eight should only be provisional in the first instance
'and place have been suggested for the purpose of
giving notice to objectors and hearing objections, in
lieu of the present system of lodging caveats in the
offices of the Attorney and Solicitor-General. The
Registrar, it has been proposed (assuming such to be
the style of the new functionary), shall, atter grant-
ing provisional registration of the patent, and
having deposited with him an outline scheme of
the invention, publish its title in the Ga-
Wee, together with notice to all such parties as
may have any bona fide grounds of objection,
that, on deposit at the registration-office within a
specified time of written heads of their objections,
they will be heard before him in opposition to the
, complete registration of the patent rights.
This would, in point of fact, be •continuance, under
other foetus and altered tames, of the present prac-
tice with regard to caveats as imposed by the recent
regulation introduced last November by Sir JOHN
ROMILLT. With the evidence of the report of the
committee on patent inventions full on our mind
as to this point, together with the returns
to the Commons moved for by Mr. BOUVERIE in
1819—we mast confess we very much doubt the po-

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