The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-15 00:00:00

FELONS' GOODS.

Mr. MiDwINTER presented a petition from Messrs. Bate-
man Brothers, of 82, St. John-street, Smithfield, praying the
Court to direct the delivery to them of money and property
taken from certain persons convicted of burglary, and which
is supposed to have been stolen from their premises.
It will be remembered that a short time back several no-
torious burglars were convicted of committing an extensive
burglary at Mr. Walker's, a jeweller, in Cornhill. When
they were committed a large sum of money was found in
their possession, and since their conviction the wives of three
of the prisoners, it appears, have applied to the Treasury
for some portion of the money to be given to them. The
Treasury authorities, however, declined to interfere, as, by
ancient charter, the property of all felons convicted in the
city of London is handed over to the sheriffs.

Since then it appears that Messrs. Baum, of Lombard-
street, who were also robbed of a large amount of property,
it is supposed by the same parties, have applied to the
sheriffs for a portion of the money, and a similar applica-
tion was now made on behalf of Messrs. Bateman.

Mr. Alderman and Sheriff BESLEY explained the circum-
stances as above mentioned, and caused a good deal of
laughter by stating that, by ancient charters, and indeed
almost from time immemorial, the sheriffs of London had
been the receivers of felons' goods, and this was one of
their rights and privileges. He wished it, however, to be
understood that the sheriffs did not receive a single sixpence
benefit from them, and when any property found upon a
convicted person was identified as having been stolen it was
always given up. In the present instance the money found
upon the prisoners was supposed to have been the produce
of different robberies, and this created great difficulty in the
way of dealing with the question. The sheriffs, however,
would be responsible to the Lords of the Treasury for any
course they might take in the matter.
Mr. H. L. TAYLOR and several other members suggested
to Mr. Midwinter, after the explanation that had been
given by the sheriff, that it would be better to withdraw
the petition and confer privately with the sheriffs, but he
declined to do so.

Mr. HARTRIDGE then moved, that the petition do lie on
the table, as an amendment. The original motion, that the
petition should be referred to the same committee as that
of the Messrs. Baum, was then put and agreed to, after
which the Court adjourned.

International Festivities at Poole.

- .T

The example lately offered by the naval service of France
and England in interchanging hospitalities has been fol-
lowed by communities essentially peaceful on both sides of
the Channel. The people of Poole and the people of Cher-
bourg have paid mutual visits,•and each has professed the
warmest friendship for the neighbouring nation. In this
instance there is, indeed, something beyond a general sen-
timent of goodwill, because it happens that a new lino of
communication across the Channel, which has been opened
between the two ports, intimately affects the interests of
both. One is apt to think of Cherbourg only as a great naval
station formed with the view of checking, if not threaten-
ing, Portsmouth; but it must be remembered that besides

the.militaly port there is also a commercial harbour capable
of providing for the wants of a larger commerce than it
at present enjoys. Poole, which is exactly opposite to
Cherbourg, also possesses, in the magnificent expanse of
water which forms its harbour, the means of accommodating
a vastly increasing trade. As almost every French Channel
port from Dunkirk to St. Maio is now in direct communi-
cation with its nearest English neighbour, an attempt has
been made to establish a steam communication between
Poole and Cherbourg. For some months a fast steamer has
been running twice weekly between the two ports, and
it is said with encouraging results. Another very important
step has also been taken in the employment of a steam
dredging machine to lessen or to remove the bar of sand at
the mouth of Poole-harbour, which at present entirely pre-
vents the entrance of vessels drawing 15ft. water. It will,
then, be observed that in addition to national sentiments of
good will there is a mutuality of interests existing between
Poole and Cherbourg, which cannot fail to strengthen the
amicable relations existing between them. Soon after the
establishment of the steam service between the two
ports the municipality of Cherbourg, fully appreciating the
importance of the undertaking, invited the corporation of
the borough of Poole to visit their town. The invitation
was cordially accepted, the visit was paid, and the English
guests were received with such generous hospitality that
it was immediately felt a return visit was a necessary con-
sequence. The Mayor and corporation of the borough of
Poole accordingly invited the municipal authorities of
Cherbourg to visit their town on Wednesday. It had origi-
nally been intended that the return visit should have taken
place earlier in the season, but the overruling troubles of the
general election necessarily led to a postponement. It
seemed, however, that the interval of time had not been lost,
as advantage was taken to renovate the Town-hall, where
the French visitors were to be entertained at a splendid
banquet. This building, which externally presents few
architectural beauties, afforded a spacious and even elegant
dining-hall. It had been, as we have said, entirely re-
decorated for the occasion, and a profusion of flags of
both nations were displayed upon the walls, while over the
mayor's seat were placed the busts of the Queen and of the
Emperor. Upon the space in front of the Town-hall a tem-
porary building was erected to serve as a reception-room,
and the arrangements and decorations of this apartment
were in excellent taste. The walls were hung with trico-
loured drapery, and between the double flight of steps
which form ordinarily the exterior entrance to the hall
from the street, but which were now included within the
reception-room, was arranged a beautiful collection of
-barns tura the,
centre. The exterior of the building was also painted in the
three colours, and the front was illuminated by a tracery of
gas jets. The town itself, which usually presents a very
quiet and subdued aspect, was quite transformed. It would
not be correct to say that all business was suspended, be-
uc as uu sael everybodye
nseereami
eesd a
nt od
tbi e
rm oi
nr ed busilyust
rywengaged
ed than
new directions. Many of the houses were decorated with
flowers or exhibited mottoes of welcome, and some half-
dozen triumphal arches were raised in the streets. As for
the display of flags, all that can be said is that the wealth
of Poole in that article must be enormous. Shortly after 3
o'clock the steamer Albion was reported to be in sight, and
she soon entered the harbour, where she was boarded by
Mr. Wanhill and Mr. Rogers, who, accompanied by Lord
G. Lennox, M.P., welcomed, on behalf of the corporation, the
visitors to the port of Poole. When the vessel came along-
side the quay, a detachment of the Poole volunteer rifles,
who attended as a guard of honour, received the French
gentleman with a fee de joie, the report of which was al-
most drowned in the vociferous and enthusiastic cheering
of the crowds on the quays and in the vessels in port. The
Mayor of Poole and the other members of the corporation
then went onboard, and the process of introduction having
been gone through, the guests were conveyed to the lodg-
ings which had been provided for them.
At half-past 6 the company, numbering upwards of 100,
assembled at the Guildhall. The Mayor of Poole (Mr. F.
Styring) presided, and the Mayor of Cherbourg was accom-
panied by about 30 members of the municipality and of the
Chamber of Commerce of that town. Mr. H. D. Seymour,
M.P., Mr. Floyer, M.P., and Sir E. Baker, and several of
the directors of the Somerset and Dorset Railway, and the
Mayors of Dorchester and Blandford were also present.
Upon the removal of the cloth,
The Mayor of POOLE prefaced the first toast by alluding
to the warm reception which he and Lis colleagues had met
with in Cherbourg, and, in the name of hie fellow townsmen,
expressed their gratification at this friendly visit from those
who had so hospitably entertained their representatives.
This year, the jubilee of peace, was 9. fitting time for an
interchange of such visits, and while he rejoiced to see the
war navies of the two countries exchanging welcomes and
courtesies, he thought that those who were engaged in the
peaceful pursuits of commerce ought not to be behind hand

in offering sincere and hearty good wishes to their French
neighbours. (Cheers.) Long might the present friend-
ship continue. The Mayor then gave " The Health of the
Emperor, the Empress, and the Prince Imperial."
The toast was drunk with loud cheers.

The Mayor of CHERBOURG, in response, tendered the
thanks of the municipality and of his fellow-townsmen for
the magnificent reception which had been accorded to them
by the people of Poole. He proposed "The Health of her
Majesty."

This toast was received with marked enthusiasm by the
French guests, who joined in "three times three" with
great heartiness and success.
Sir E. BAKER proposed "The United Armies and Navies
of France and England."

M. DE GASTE, Conseiller-General, briefly expressed a
hope that the present union between the two nations and
their respective military and naval services might long
endure.

M. LE BOURGEOIS, chef d'escradon, expressed a similar
hope, believing that the present amicable relations between
England and France were for the benefit of civilisation,
and promoted the freedom of all peoples.
Mr M. Guest and Capt. Burgess spoke on behalf of the
English service.

Mr. WAINTHILL proposed "The Mayor and Municipality
of Cherbourg," whose magnificent reception of the corpo-
ration of Poole would never be forgotten in that town.
The toast was very cordially received.
Mr. H. SEYMOUR, M.P., proposed " The President and
Chamber of Commerce of Cherbourg." That was a toast,
he said, which all could join in, because all were impressed
with the value of commerce, which shed its benefits on all
alike, rich and poor. He regretted that the President of the
Chamber of Commerce was not present to receive this ac-
knowledgment of the magnificent hospitality of Cherbourg.
He had read with the utmost pleasure the accounts of the
magnificent displays which had recently taken place at
Cherbourg, Brest, and Portsmouth, because he fully believed
that every visit of that kind tended to promote the peace of
the world. (Cheers.) But the visit of their Cherbourg
friends on the present occasion he noted an event of still
greater importance, because no political authority had any-
thing to do with it, but it was the unprompted expression
of the respect entertained towards each other by the com-
mercial classes on either side of the Channel. (Cheers.) A
few years ago the sagacity of statesmen in each country
pointed out to them that the trade relations between Eng-
land and France were not such as they should be between
two such great nations, and the treaty of 1860 told plainly
that such places as Cherbourg and Poole should shake hands.
M. ANJEAU responded, and proposed " Prosperity to the
Town of Poole."

Mr. FLOYER, M.P., in responding to the toast of the
county members, said he hoped that all future meetings of
the English and French navies, magnificent engines of de-
struction as they were, would be in the same spirit in which
they had recently united, and that the only use to be made
of them would be in works of friendship, goodwill, and hos-
pitality. (Cheers.) It was gratifying to hear expressions of
goodwill and friendship, not only from a few distinguished
men in either country, but from those who assisted in the
Government, and by those gallant men who led with the
same vigour and the same valour the navies of the two
nations. (Cheers.) It was above all gratifying to know
that these expressions of goodwill and friendship echoed
the wishes of every man in England, and he hoped that of
every man in France. (Cheers. " Gni.") He believed
that the aspirations of all were that the peace which, by
the blessings of Providence, had now lasted nearly through
two generations might be perpetual. (Cheers.)
Several other toasts were drunk, and the company dis-
persed about 11 o'clock. The dinner and wines, supplied
by Messrs. Ring and Brymer, of Cornhill, were most
sumptuous, quite emulating the banquets of the metropo-
litan corporation.

The occasion was celebrated also by a public dinner at
the Antelope Hotel, where, and at the other principal
hotels, handsome gas illuminations were displayed.
Yesterday the French visitors proceeded by special train
to Blandford, where they met the corporation of that town,
and received an address of congratulation. The party next
proceeded to Bryanstone-square, near Blandford, and paid
a brief visit to Lord Portman ; after which they went on
to Ranstone House, the seat of Sir E.- Baker, who had
provided a handsome de:icemen Upon their return to Poole
the party were invited to a grand ball at the Guildhall, and
they were to leave for Cherbourg early this morning.
Naval and Military Intelligence.

The screw gun-vessel Plover, 5, 80-horse power,
built for the Admiralty by private contract, and
only once commissioned, was sold out of the navy
at Chatham yesterday by private tender, the price
obtained for her being rather more than £5 per ton,
or somewhere about an eighth of her original cost,
including certain parts of her fittings.
The importance attached to the destruction of
vessels by torpedoes during the recent American
war, when so many ships on both sides fell victims
to that agency, altogether new in naval tactics, has
induced our Admiralty to direct their attention to

the subject of destroying ships by means of suba-
queous explosions. Orders have accordingly been
received at Chatham dockyard directing the sailing
frigate Terpsichore, 18, one of the numerous vessels
rotting out their existence in the harbour, and en-
cumbering the navigation of the river, to be dis-
mantled of all her stores, and prepared for removal
to the entrance of the harbour, near Gillingham-
creek, where preparations are in progress by the
Royal Engineers for destroying her by means of
sunken torpedoes.

The Dauntless, 31, Capt. J. N. Strange, having,
been under repair at Sheerness, is now ready to re-
sume her duties as the Costguard ship at the mouth
of the Humber. The Government barge Henry
has proceeded to Tilbury Fort for the ship's powder,
which has been stored at Tilbury- during the time
the Dauntless has been under repair.
The two iron mortar boats Nos. 104 and 110,
built by contract during the Russian war, are
ordered by the Admiralty to be removed from Chat-
ham to Deptford, to be employed as lighters for the
conveyance of Government stores and provisions
for her Majesty's ships fitting out for sea.

The Imperial Russian screw frigate Peresuett, 51
guns, Capt. Kopitoff, sailed from the Motherbank,
off Ryde, Isle of Wight, yesterday, under steam for
the Mediterranean.

Mirza Syed Hassan Ali, Mirza Syed Hoosan Ali,
and Mirza Syed Mahommed Ali, sons of his High-
ness the Nawab Nazim of Bengal, attended by Lieut.-
Col. C. Herbert, arrived at Portsmouth yesterday
afternoon from London, on a visit of several days,
to enable them to see the dockyard and other pub-
lic establishments, the ships afloat, constructing,
and under repair, with the fortifications and other
objects of interest. Yesterday the Prince, after
calling upon Rear-Admiral Superintendent George
Wellesley, C. 8., embarked at the King's Stairs of
the dockyard, and proceeded on board the Royal
yachts Victoria and Albert and the Osborne, the
Admiralty yacht Enchantress, and the training
three-decker Duke of Wellington, Capt. John Sec-
combe. On again landing at the dockyard, the
iron-cased frigate Royal Alfred, in No. 3 dock, was
visited, as was afterwards the saw-mills, the beauti-
ful block-making machinery of Brunel, the steam-
factory, smithery, &c., all of which was evidently
viewed with great interest by the distinguished
visitors.

The Whole of the recruiting parties in the United
Kingdom not recruiting for their own corps, and the
recruiting staff and pensioners employed on the re-
cruiting service, have been ordered to raise men for
the 2d battalion, 4th King's Own, whose numbers
have been considerably reduced in the service com-
panies by the late attack of cholera at Malta.

On Wednesday a detachment of Royal Engi-
neers left headquarters, Chatham, and embarked at
St. Helena, for the purpose of augmenting the com-
pany of Royal Engineers now employed in the
repair of the defences and the construction of addi-
tional fortifications at that island.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Commander C. G. Jones, Com-
mander Henry N. Knox, and Commander Robert
Sterne, to be Inspecting Commanders in the Coast-
guard ; and John Cox, Acting Second-class Engi-
neer, to the Dromedary.
In the naval appointments published in The Sun
of yesterday, the name " Henry S. Mills," naval
cadet, should have have been " Henry Smiles."

LIBERTY OF THE PRESS IN PRUSSIA..—The _Demo-
crate Socialiste of Berlin announces that its printing office
has received a visit from the police to ascertain the names
of the persons to whom the journal was sent. All packets
or portfolios in the possession of the workmen or appren-
tices were also searched. The printer has given notice of
an appeal to the authorities against this interference with
his business.

[ADVERTISEMENT.]—HoIIoway's Pills.—Bilious affec-
tions and stomach complaints, induced by atmospheric
heat or too liberal diet, if not early checked, are often at-
tended with serious consequences. When any one finds
his ideas less clear than usual, his eyesight dimmed and his
head dizzy, while he is indisposed for all exertion, physical
or mental, he may be quite sure that he is in immediate
need of some cooling and purifying medicine. Let him
send at once for a box )f Holloway's pills, after a few doses
of which his head will be clear again, his spirits be ele-
vated, and all his energies be restored. Printed directions
for the guidance of patients in the use of this admirable
medicine are gazed to every box.

SPIRIT OF THE YOBLlCioiriNeLs.

TIMES.—The story of Miss Crosse, who ran away
with her father's groom, has been terminated dra-
matically by the marriage of the parties with Mr.
Crosse's consent. This event, which has excited
the greatest interest and sensation among the good
people of Wandsworth, seems to have taken every
one by surprise. After the first inquiry before Mr.
Ingham the young lady had returned to her father's
house, and was said to have bidden an eternal fare-
well to her lover. The romance was thought to be
at an end, especially when the father withdrew from
the prosecution, and George Smith, the object of
Miss Crosse's misplaced affection, was discharged
from custody amid the cheers of a sympathising
crowd. The finale, however, was yet to come. Find-
ing his daughter really attached to Smith, and de-
termined to marry him as soon as she might come
of age, Mr. Crosse wisely relented, the marriage
ceremony was performed yesterday, and the scene
ended by Mr. Smith addressing his admiring friends
from a first-floor window. The charge of abduction
having thus fallen to the ground, we are at liberty
to consider the circumstances under which it was
preferred and entertained, without any fear of pre-
judicing the case. The heroine, Miss Crosse, is
between 20 and 21 years of age, and her father is
the rector of Ockham, in Surrey. The young man,
George Smith, of whose wicked arts she is alleged
to be the victim, is 18 years of age, and had lived
nearly two :years with Mr. Crosse as groom and
general servant. About Christmas last an intimacy
sprang up between him and his young mistress, with
whom he used to ride—a fact which will probably
tend to revive the panic that spread through Bel-
gravia two or three seasons ago. That he did
not make the first advances may be inferred with
tolerable certainty from the young lady's reply to
a question from the magistrate—." I think we
were about equal," That he was not the first
to propose an elopement we know on the posi-
tive testimony of the same witness. Her visits
to the stable had been discovered by her parents,
" there had been a great row," she became very un-
happy, and made up her mind to leave the house,
and protests that she would have done so even " if
George had died." At all events she " arranged"
the whole plan, and on her lover being dismissed at
a moment's notice, told him to come the next night,
August 25, to herbedroom window. She made the
usual signal by lighting paper, and he appeared ;
Miss Crosse let herself down with some little assist-
ance from him, and begged him to accompany her
to Weybridge station. Hitherto it does not appear
that such an idea had occurred to his mind, and he
actually asked her then and there whether she had
not better stay. Miss Crosse, however, was re-
solved, and they went up to London by a night
train, Smith paying the fare out of their common
purse, and proceeded straight to Doctor's-commons.
Smith applied for a marriage licence, but learnt that
it could not be granted to a lady under age without
her father's consent, whereupon, at Miss Crosse's
suggestion, they took lodgings together at Wands-
worth. There they were found by Mr. Crosse and
an Inspector of Police on the sth of September ; but
it is right to state that, although they had occupied
the same room, proof has since been given that they
had never cohabited as man and wife. Anything
less like abduction, according to the popular notion
of that crime, it would not b easy to imagine. The
prisoner was a mere boy, and two years younger
than the lady ; he was not shown to have plotted or
even to have contemplated the elopement, but rather
endeavoured to dissuade her from it at first; he had
carried off none of his master's property, and upon
Miss Constance proposing that they should buy a
business with the money to which she was entitled
on coming of age, he urged that it should be left
untouched ; he did not even propose the going up
to London, or take the initiative in engaging the
lodgings, or avail himself dishonourably of
her confidence in any way whatever. Still there
are strange things in English law, and it is just
possible that an act that wears no very serious
aspect may amount to a legal felony. In this case,
however, there is no colour for any such paradox.
Our criminal law, with its wonted excess of particu-
larity and neglect of symmetry, defines four offences
in the nature of abduction, and provides for their
punishment in three distinct sections. The first of
these makes it felony to take away or detain any
woman, of any age, who may have any interest in
property, against her will, with intent to marry or
seduce her. It also makes it felony " fraudulently
to allure, take away, or detain such woman, being
under the age of 21 years, . . . . against the
will of her father." Now, there was not the shadow
of a pretence for saying that Miss Crosse was taken
away against her own will. Still less could the
young lady's evidence be reconciled with the theory
of any fraudulent allurement or detention. The next
section is directed exclusively against the abduction
or detention of women by force, a supposition which
was not even suggested. The last is confined to the
case of girls under 16 years. With the words of the
act before us, therefore, we are somewhat at a loss
to understand upon what precise charge Smith was
remanded, and upon what point the magistrate
desired to have further evidence. " The question,"
said Mr. Ingham, " was whether she had been
fraudulently taken away," and he threw out a doubt
whether it might not be fraudulent to take away a
young woman without her father's knowledge. If
so, every runaway match would render one of the
,parties liable to 14 years' penal servitude ; but we
may safely say that few runaway matches take place
with so little solicitation on the part of the bride-
groom. If young men could be subjects of abduction,
it would have been at least as reasonable to accuse
Miss Crosse of " taking away" the groom, as the groom
of " taking away" Miss Crosse, for it is quite evident
throughout the whole affair that she played the
part of a principal, and he of a timid accessory. Mr.
Crosse himself at last saw the matter in this light,
though he pleaded in his own defence that he was
led, " by his servants and other persons," to believe
that his daughter had been duped by the prisoner.
What opened his eyes was her own story as told in
Court, and the wonder is that it did not open the
eyes of the magistrate too. It may be an indelicate
question to raise, but one cannot help asking oneself
what was really the head and front of poor Smith's
offending, upon the worst supposition, and in what
respect its enormity was greater than enormities
which are daily condoned. Possibly a chivalrous
groom, conscious of his own unworthiness to be hus-
band of a young lady, would have held back when
she flung herself into his arms, firmly refused to aid
her in an vynterprise which might bring her into dis-
grace, and torn himself away to save her from her
own infatuation. Chivalry, however, is rare now-
a-days, and we are not at all sure that an average
young gentleman in Smith's position would have
behaved with greater propriety. But let us take
the converse case, and suppose the young gentleman
to have fallen in love with a housemaid, a contin-
gency for which precedents are to be found,—on
what principle should greater allowances be made
for him than for this youth ? The difference is
really altogether in favour of the latter, for here the
courting began on the wrong side, and the groom
seems to have known his place until the young lady
paying her addresses to him. Of course it
wasbegan
all very wrong, little less than domestic treason,
and Mr. Crosse, on discovering it naturally expe-
rienced the same feeling as Brabantio when he first
learnt that Desdemona was enamoured of the Moor.
He, like Mr. Crosse, horrified by his daughter's taste,
jumped to the conclusion that some illicit means
must have been employed to win her heart ; but he
was soon convinced out of her own mouth, that she
was " half the wooer." It was surely a.great pity
that Mr. Crosse, instead of proceeding hastily
against the culprit, did not make such inquiries as
would have satisfied him of the true state of the
matter. He would thus have saved himself and his
family the pain of a public scandal, which has greatly
shocked well-regulated minds in the genteel classes
of society, but which, after this brilliant sequel, will
doubtless be the theme of admiring and envious
comment in many a Servants' Hall.
HERALD.—We have already commented on some
of the opinions expressed by Professor Rogers, when
discussing the expediency of patents before the
members of the British Association. We were in-
duced to take so much notice of what Mr. Rogers
had said, rather by the importance of the subject
than by the novelty of the sentiments advanced or
the ability with which they were brought forward.
There was nothing in the views the professor enun-
ciated which had not been said by Sir Win. Arm-
strong at an earlier date, and in a more effective
manner, when the great gunsmith was first ad-
vocating a limited adoption of communistic theories
by a population not generally favourable to their
reception. But the proposal certainly looks better
in the hands of the Northern baronet than in those

of the Oxonian professor. On the question of public
morality there is not much difference between them,
but as a matter of taste we prefer the master of the
school of spoliation to his lastest follower and imi-
tator. When Sir William has anything to say he
says it in language which a plain man can easily
understand, and to which a critic cannot seriously
object. The views may be unsound, but the words
are not inelegant ; the policy suggested may be
unjust, but the sentences indicating it are not
ungrammatical. Far different is our fate when
doomed to hear or to read the vapourings of
Professor Rogers on the same subject. Quite
apart from deficient logic do we complain of faulty
composition. We do not ask a patent law
abolitionist to reason conclusively, but we do
expect him to write and speak grammatically.
It would be too much to require him to be so
skilful in wordy warfare as to conceal the injus-
tice his theory involves, but he ought to have
sufficient knowledge of English to save him from
flagrant offences against Lindley Murray. We

can conceive of persons not unwilling to be satis-
fied with Mr. Rogers' reasoning, but we cannot
imagine one who would be pleased with his diction.
His theories about inventors' interests may or
may not have been drawn from the fount of wisdom
unpolluted, but his manner of expressing them
never came from the well of English undefiled.
The professor's errors have not even the redeeming
qualities of Irish bulls, Scottish singularities, or
Yankee vulgarisms. They are not racy of the soil,
nor of anything else, except perhaps of their author.
They neither show Yankee smartness, Irish geniality,
nor Scotch wit. Mr. Rogers may take as much
pride in his parts of speech as Mrs. Malaprop, but
he has no more reason for pride than the good lady
herself had. Mr. Rogers was not very long in
giving his audience a taste of his quality. Plunging
at once in medias res he began with a violation of
the first rule of syntax, by talking about " what is
called patent rights." A little later,. and he was
speaking of " many cases in which inventions as
laborious as any which is devoted to patented pro-
cesses ;" and again, of " reasoning and method as
cautious and precise as any which is exhibited." In
equal contempt of temporal concord, he remarks,
" the public are certainly anxious to procure the
best examples of the works they had ;" and, with a
finish as remarkable as the commencement was
singular, he ended his sentence by telling his
auditors that, " if they put up with a transparent
imitation, it means that, except under such circum-
stances, they would not have bought the work at
all." We do not know whether our readers can
understand this. We confess we do not, even with
the added light afforded by picking out sundry gems
of the same order from other parts of the essay.
The professor evidently has his own notions about
the graces of composition, which make his willing-
ness to abolish copyright the more praiseworthy.
The Rogerian style is probably the correct one,
but it is certainly very different from that to which
we are accustomed. We say nothing about in-
volved and clumsily constructed sentences, in which
the sense has to be picked out from the midst of
half a dozen parenthetical intercalations ; but we
should like to know what is meant by " some na-
tural power or force, the process or possible value
of which has not been infringed before." Nor is the
professor less incomprehensible when he reproaches
patentees with asserting " a title to the qualities of
matter," and with " laying out their money indraw-
ing blanks." Words in common use may be diffe-
rently understood on the Isis and on the Thames,
but for the life of us we cannot conceive how an
inventor " wins his labour," though he may certainly
win the fruit of it. Nor do we clearly see how a
capitalist can " drive hard terms." Bargains may
be driven, terms may be exacted, or in a technical
sense may be eaten, but never till now did we hear
of their being driven by anybody. We admire me-
taphor, and set a proper value on periphrasis, but
we fail" to understand how " simultaneouA inventions
can be mythical personages ;" or how " litigation,
laid on a colourable imitation, is law." We have
always thought that law is a rule of action, pre-
scribed by competent authority, and that litigation
is the recognised means for enforcing the rule, so
that we have yet to discover how the one can be-
come the other. We have not space to go through
the whole of Professor Rogers' offences. He behaves
very badly to the prepositions, putting them without
stint or scruple into places for which they were
never intended. Hence we read of a " hindrance
upon the powers of other men's minds," and "
remedy to high prices." With equal carelessness
he confounds the province of the indicative and
subjunctive, speaking in the same breath of a
principle, which first " is not incompatible with
public policy, and next that it be of certain ob-
jects." He seems to think well of trade marks,
because the public have a right to know that the
thing they buy is (not what it professes) but what
it proposes to be. An unreliable prophecy with
him is not unverified, but unfounded, and the
machinery of the law is not put in motion, but
is paid by litigating patentees. He does not
doubt whether the effect of copyright is beneficial
or injurious, btt he does doubt " that a single copy
more is sold" through its existence. Mr. Rogers
tells us that " to constitute a right it must be cap-
able of intelligible defence." We hope he has suffi-
cient fairness to admit, as a corollary to this pro-
position, that a theory when advanced against a
right ought to be capable of intelligible statement.
In that case he will agree that the patent law is in
no danger from his efforts, for we question whether
he could understand or explain his own blunders.
We should recommend him to read his paper once
more with not less care than an averagely careful
schoolmaster would bestow upon his own pupil's
exercises. To borrow his own expressions, " be-
cause in case," he should do so, he will probably
feel convinced that not only inventors but professors
may be among the " many men who receive more
from social order than they render to it ;" who,
with no special aptitude for the task come forward
to demand that their neighbours shall make " a
concession to their vanity and selfishness," by listen-
ing to their windy harangues and empty platitudes.
Before the professor ventures again to theorise about
law we advise him to master its first principles, and
not to pronounce dogmatically against giving an
inventor legal rights until he has taken some pains
to understand the subject on which he speaks.
Finally, let us advise him, when not engaged in
teaching the elements of political economy to in-
genuous youth at the University of Oxford, to em-
ploy his time in acquiring at least a rudimentary
acquaintance with the language of educated Eng-
lishmen.