The Sun.
London, England, 1838-05-22 00:00:00

for years the accommodation of three or four most prosperous
private and sharchold banks, which, had it been placed some
thirty miles nearer Dublin, the monopoly of the Bank of Ire-
land would have deprived it of.
It is hard to say what sort of thing the report of the Joint
Stock Bank Committee will be, or what it will recommend as
regards the renewal of the Bank of Ireland charter. In this
respect it is perhaps unfortunate that there are but three Irish
Members upon that Committee. One is Mr. Jephson, not a
commercial man, ;and probably knowing little of banking affairs.
Another, Mr. Spring Rice, certainly was, until he became
Finance Minister, a Director of the Provincial Bank of Ire-
land : it is thought he will have a leaning to the monopoly of
the Bank of Ireland, or else, should he be disposed to allow a
Joint Stock Bank to become its rival as an issuable one, will
be favourable to the granting of a charter, by the Board of
Trade, to the Provincial. (This the Board of Trade can do
by a late Act of Parliament.) The third Irish Member is
Mr. O'Connell, a shareholder in the National Joint. Stock
Company Bank : as it is notorious that this gentleman's
name, when employed to frighten the Bank Directors in their
parlour, procured two large sums for the use of the National
during the panic, it is felt that he is not placed in the most
favourable circumstances for perfect impartiality and inde-
pendence.
The withdrawal of that portion of the exclusive privileges of
the Bank of Ireland which gives it a monopoly in Dublin and
for fifty miles round, and the passing of one law for the regu-
lation of Joint Stock Banks throughout the United Kingdom,
placing Ireland upon the same footing as Scotland, would be
a greater benefit to the country than all the fractions of " jus-
tice," or " instalments" upon Irish questions, yet propounded,
whether earnestly and in good faith, or in party pretence.
As a proof that there is plenty of unemployed capital in Ire-
land, it may he mentioned that there is one Savings Bank in
Dublin in which half a million of money is now deposited,
the surplus of the humbler classes.

A Letter on the Copyright Bill of Mr. Sergeant TAL-
FOURD has been sent to us by Messrs. LONGMAN and Co.,
and will be f iund in another part of our paper. These
eminent publishers, it will be perceived, do not join in the
oppssition which these disinterested patriots TEGG, WAK-
LEY, and Co., are endeavoung, to stir up against the Bid.
They object not to a law which has for its object to restore
to a highly deserving class of the community those rights
of which they have been unjustly deprived, and to place
them on a footing of equality with their fellow-citizens.
The Messrs. LONGMAN, with that liberality of feeling
which characterises all their transactions with literary men,
disclaim all intention or wish to interfere with any enact-
ment which may be intended to benefit authors, provided it
involves no injustice to other persons. Certain clauses of
the Bill in question will, in their opinion, operate most un-
justly on the interests of publishers, and they state their
objections to those clauses in forcible but not intemperate
language. Objections thus brought forward are entitled
to, and will receive, consideration both from the press and
from the legislature. Messrs. LONGMAN confine their com-
plaints to the injury which will result to them and other
publishers from the retrospective operation proposed to be
given to the new law. They hold that, after having, by
special agreement, already bought up, for large sums, the
whole of the authors' interest, future as well as present in
the copyrights purchased by them, it is highly unjust that
copyrights thus sold out and out, should revert to the au-
thors at the end of the existing term, and again be made
the subject of bargain. They have, it appears, in all their
assignments, a clause expressed in the following terms :
" The author disposes of all and every the entire copyright,
and all reversion, renewal, and extension of copyright, as
well present as future, vested as contingent for the term of
twenty-eight years, and all such further and other term as
the author then had, or should at any time thereafter have
or acquire." Now, we very much doubt whether these
words would convey to a publisher any right which was to
be created for authors by a future law ; but this is a purely
legal question, with which it is hardly within our province
to meddle. Of this, however, we have no doubt, that if
an author meant to assign, and did assign any interest which
a future law might give him in the copyright of his works,
he is morally bound to fulfil the assignment as far as it de-
pends on him. And not only is he morally bound to per-
form his part of the contract ; but were such an assignment
brought into litigation in a Court of Justice, after the pass-
ing of Sergeant TALFOURD'S Bill in its present form, it
would, we are confident, be held to be also binding in law.
Nothing short of an enactment, specially annulling such
assignments, would warrant a judge to dispense with their
obligation. We therefore think that those publishers who
have purchased Copyrights in this manner from authors
now alive need be under no apprehension as to the effect
of Mr. Sergeant TALFOURD'S Bill. If the author is dead,
of course his assignment cannot convey a right which he
never "had or acquired." The Copyright, in such a case,
must, at the expiry of the present term revert to his repre-
sentatives.

There is, however, another view which may l:e taken of
this particular point. It is possible that the Legislature
may he of opinion that, as it would not be jus'ified in in-
terfering to relieve authors from the consequences of acts
deliberately performed—of deeds signed, sealed and deli-
vered—so neither is it called upon to give effect to
them by a law expressly passed for that purpose.
The Bill for the extension of Copyrights having only two
objects in view, namely the benefit of authors and the
public advantage, it is the duty of the Legislature to
consider whether these objects will be promoted by allow-
ing publishers to retain copyrights beyond the expiry of
the term fixed by the law under which they were pur-
chased. If it shall be found that authors cannot be bene-
fited, and that the interests of the public, to whom the
copyright belongs at the end of the term, would be inju-
riously affected by granting to publishers a continuance of
their exclusive privilege beyond that term, it is not impro-
bable that the class of cases referred to may be entirely
excepted from the operation of the Bill, and allowed to fol-
low the course of the law as it now exists.
It will also be for the Legislature to consider whether,
in order to give the desired effect to the measure, it may
not be necessary to prevent all such assignments in future.
On general principles we are averse to the limitation of the
exercise of a man's right of property ; nor is much good to
be expected, in' ordinary cases, from legislative attempts
to make men provident in spite of themselves. Neverthe-
less, there are exceptions to this rule, and, in our opinion,
one of these is the case of literary property. It is not
merely because an author is almost always in a state of pecu-
niary dependence, and therefore, compelled by the pressure
of immediate circumstances to give in to the publisher's
terms, however grinding they may be, that we would re-
strict him in the disposal of the copyright of his works ; but
because, from the very nature of the property itself, it is ut-
terly impossible to ascertain its real value until years have
elapsed. The humane purpose of the Learned Member
who introduced the Bill was not only that authors should
be benefited in their own persons, but also that their
families should be benefited after their death. On no part
of his subject did he dwell with so much eloquence, or
carry with him more triumphantly the glowing feelings of
the House of Commons, than on this. But it is manifest
that if the copyright of a work is sold for the whole of' the
exteruled term, the author's family will be in no better sit n-
ation than under the present law. Thirty years might
perhaps be a good period to fix fur the publisher's exclu-
sive privilege to subsist, at the end of which time the
copyright might revert to the author's family. At all
events, no one but the author has a right to object to the
limitation, be it what it may; which the Legislature may
impose upon him in the disposal of his property.
There is another class of cases alluded -to by Messrs.
LONGMAN, with which we think it will be by no means so
difficult to deal as they apprehend ; we mean those in
which additions have been made to the original work by
the publisher. It is feared, that, in such cases, the conflict-
ing claims of the author's family and the publisher would
produce results injurious to the latter, as well as to the
cause of literature, because if he did not re-purchase the
copyright of the part furnished by the author, the book
might be pulled to pieces, and he would thus be deprived
of the benefit of his additions. But where is the hardship
in this, or where the insurmountable difficulty ? Arc not
the additions of the publisher as necessary to the author as
the original matter is to the publisher? Neither is of any
use as a marketable commodity without the other, and the
result in this case, as in the thousand similar ones that are
every day taking place, would be a compromise, or settle-
ment of the dispute on terms mutually advantageous.

The Paris Papers of Sunday have all been received, but
their contents, with the exception of the annexed brief ex-
tracts, are quite unimportant. The Chamber of Deputies
was engaged on Saturday with the budget for 1839. The
Bill for reducing the interest on the Five per Cents., was
under discussion in the Chamber of Peers :
FRONTIER,; OF SPAIN.— A telegraphic despatch announces, as we
know, the departure of Don Carlos from Estella for Onate, in ccnke.
quence of the mutiny of the troops. Yet the news from the frontier re.
ceived this morning shews that he was at Estella on the 13th ; this is
explained by the Bayonne Journal of the 17th.
On the 11th, in the morning, Dan Carlos left Estella, with a eirall

escort, but having met on the way General Guergue at the head of seven
battalions of Biscay and Alava, which had been sent the day before he
returned to the town with them. He ordered a grand review cf all the
troops in the plain of Decastello, where he harangued them and ex-
horted them to return to order and observe the discipline which is so
necessary in an army.
As the spirit of insubordination continued Guergue made all the
troops which had manifested their discontent, and cried Death to the
Juntas and Peace! go on the 12th to Carrascal. They are composed
of six Navarre Battalions, including the three which mutinied the day
before. No punishment hadbeen ventured upon, and caresses and pro-
mises have been lavished on the troops, to induce them to depart. It
is doubtful whether this measure will quiet them, they are too exaspe-
rated against the Junta. Want of money, distress, heavy contributions,
and the failure of the expedition, are calculated to add to the embar-
rassment of Don Carlos. He was to review on the 13th the battalions
brought by Guergue. Though the Navarrese battalions were sent away
it was still affirmed that Don Carlos would leave Estella for Onate,
where he would be more secure from attacks by the Queen's Generals,
and from insurrectionary movements.
The Phare de Bayonne says, that the cause of the mutiny was the
news brought by Baron Los Valles, of the suspension of the subsidies
from Russia and the Italian Princes.—Comnzerce.

We have received a file of the Jamaica Gazette to the
sth ultimo, and the Austral-Asiatic Review to the 6th o
December, but in neither du we find any intelligence of
public interest.

A. Morning Contemporary has published, in Second
Edition, the following important intelligence from the ports
of Kingston, Mexico, and Rio Janeiro :

FALMOUTH, MAY 30—Her Majesty's packet Star, Lieut. Smith,
arrived here at noon from the West Indies, with a mail, having left St.
Thomas's on the 24th April, and only bringing on freight 3,0001. The
news by her is not important, although much anxiety continued to be
felt as regards the question connected with the apprenticing system, and
its being annulled on the Ist August next. The Governor of Jamaica,
Sir Lionel Smith, it is understood, will remain until the expiration of
that period, when he would retire from the Governorship, and return to
Ei;gland.

Her Majesty's packet Pandora, Lieut. Innis, has arrived this after-
noon from M.xico. She left Vera Cruz on the 7th of April, Tam-
pico on the 14th, and the Havannah on the 22d, ssith mails, and on
freight 600,000 dollars. At the time of her leaving Vera Cruz the
French force were still off that port, and were determined in their inter).
lions to blockade the ports of the Republic on the 15th of April, in case
the Government did not yield to their terms by that date. The
French Minister continued on board one of the ships of the squadron,
and the authorities in Mexico had unequivocally refused to negotiate
respecting the demand made, more particularly so whilst it was sought
to be enforced with such a maritime power in the Mexican seas.
Her Majesty's packet Opossum, Lieut. Peters, has arrived from
the Brazils. She 1,11 Rio de Janeiro on the 22d March, bringing
117,000 dollars, and the usual mails. The exchange at date of her leay.
ing was at ‘2,q, showing a decline of one penny since last dated advices.
The city was tranquil.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

(FRom OUR CORRESPONDENT.)

PORTSMOUTH, MAT 21.—Last evening an unfortunate occurrence
took place alongside the Rainbow, 28, which ship, together with the
Dublin, 50, and Childers, 1 S, came into harbour on Saturday last, for the
purpose of being paid off. It appears that a Waterman in his boat, en.
deavoured to get alongside the ship, and that the sentry on duty at the
gangway, had received orders not to allow shore boats of any description
to do so. Notwithstanding the repeated warnings which the Waterman
received, he still persisted in endeavouring to accomplish his object,
when the First Lieutenant gave orders for the sentry to fire, and the ball
passed through the body of the man, without killing him, but leaving
him in a hopeless state. Although the right of firing into a boat under
such circumstances cannot be defended, yet if it shall appear (as is stated)
that the Lieutenant directed the sentry not to load with ball, it is to be
hoped that the same will be favourably considered, even should the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty direct a Court Martial hereon, or should
(more unfortunately) the Coroner have to summon a Jury on the body.
The Thalia, 411, with the flag of Rear-Admiral Campbell from the Cape
of Good Hope, arrived yesterday, and will proceed to the eastward lobe
paid off. The Pantaloon, 10, will sail to-morrow with dispatches for the
North Coast of Spain.

CRIMINAL COURT.-(THIS DAY.)

The cases hi this Court, before Mr. Sergeant Arabin, were totally de.
void of any interest.
The Session, it is expected, will terminate to-day.

TIIE NEWCASTLE ELECTION.—The trial of Robert Gallimore. aged
48, indicted (with Enoch Wall and Samuel Plant) for perjury, was
resumed yesterday, and, after a long trial, the defendant was found
guilty.

MONEY AND COMMERCIAL NEWS.

CITY (THIS DAY), TWELVE O'CLOCK.
Hobart Town nape's have been received to the 16th December. The
Bussorah Merchant, from Ireland, with emigrants, arrived out.
Great havoc was made on the passage by the Veall pox and the measles
—not less than four adults and fifty.eight children having died. The
pilot who conducted the ship up the river very unguardedly brought her
right into the harbour, and was now kept under strict quarantine, and
proceeded to the Snug river, there to remain until the medical officer
shall have reported her free from infection.
We have arrivals of packets from the West Indies and Vera Cruz,
bringing a number of papers from the Leeward Islands and Jamaica.
On a perusal of them, we find that they do net contain any news of im.
porta n cc.

Thedebate in the House of Lords last night, with the meeting at the
Croon and Anchor, prove more interesting to the public than the
details Gom the above papers.
FUNDS.

Consols opened this morning at the same prices they closed at yes-
terday, 941 a for the Account ; Money the same. Little doing as yet.
Exchequer Bills, 67 69; India Bonds, 77; Bank Stock, 204 to 205;
India ditto, 2701.

In the Foreign Market, Spanish Active 211 22 ; Portuguese, 35i 36
Three per Cents., 24i ; Brazilian, Hi ; Mexican, 28i; Columbian;
271 2S'; Dutch Two.and-a-Half, 5.41. 1.
.:, ICE:, ti I. ,s;:irkiZk.s 1•4•:S IJA Y AT ONF: O'CLOCK
Paid. Per Sha: c.
Uniti.d Mexican (issued at 21. pm.)
i•ristol :Inc' Exeter Railway Company lO 8% 8
3.l.i.iiton li aiiwal Company
London and Blackwall Railway
London and i:ititliarnpton Railway Company 5O 45
i,ondon and Southampton (New) Railway lO 30 ~,
Ml:nchester and Birmingham Railway 7 9+/, 9
North Midland Railway Company 35 41%
Asphalte, Claridge's Patent 2
Do. Scotch 2 2%
Bitumen, Bastenne and Gaujac

Do. Robinson
Do. Polonceau
Galvanized Iron Company
Provincial Bank of Ireland 25 43
HALF-PAST ONE.
To the present hour, we do not hear of any feature worth noticing
either in the British or Foreign Market.
Consols may be quoted at the prices of the early part of the morning,
94i I for the Account and Money, with little doing. Exchequer Bills
lower, 68 66; India Bonds also, 78 76; Bank Stock, 204.1 205; India
Stock, 2701.

In the Foreign Market Spanish Active receded from 2114 22 to
21 y, N, with Coupons; Portuguese also lower—receded from 35i 36
to 35} ; Three per Cents., 231 24-.1 ; Brazilian steady at 80; ; Mexican,
28; ; Colombian, 271 28 ; Dutch Two-and-a-Half per Cents., 544 L.

The Share Market very flat, with little doing. Prices much the
same as yesterday.

THREE O'CLOCK.

Consols for the Account, 941 i.
THE FUNDS.—CLOSING PRICES.
BRITISH FUNDS.
Bank Stock 2013% India Stock —
3-per Cent. Red 43% Ditto Bonds 76
3 per Cent. Cons B4%' Ditto Old Annuities
ll?,:, per Cent Ditto New Annuities
(3% per Cent. Red 101%'Ex. Bills, 1100/ 254(1 66 pm.
New 314 per Cent 10'2% Ditto 50;1 C 6 pie.
Long Annuities to expire Ditto 5001 66 pm.
Jan. 186 i
Oct. 1850
Jan. 1960
FOREIGN FUNDS.
Austrian, 5 per cent — Portuguese Ronds, 5 per cent.. 72
Belgian, 5 per cent — Ditto, New Ditto -35%
Brazilian Bonds Bl Prussian, 5 per cent
Buenos Ayr. s, 6 per cent Russia% Bonds, 5 per cent
Chilian, 6 per cent — Ditto, Metallic —
Colombiam, 6 per cent 27% Spanish, 5 per cent 21%
Ditto, 1824 Ditto, Consolidated
Danish, 3 per cent French, 5 per cent. 108 f. 50;
Greek Ends, 1825, 5 per cent — Exchange
Mexican, 5 per cent. French, 3 per cent —f. —c.
Ditto, (i per cent.. 1825 — Dutch, 2% per cent.
Peruvian, 1825,6 per cent. — Ditto, 5 per cent. ... lOO%
(CLOSING PRICE OF SHARES.—(THIS DAY).
Bristol and Exeter Railway
London and Brighton Railway
London and Blackwall Railway
London and Birmingham Railway
London and Greenwich Railways l63Ca
London and Southampton Railway
London and Southampton (New) 303
Manchester and Birmingham Railway 9
North Miuland Railway
National Loan Fund

SOUTH AMERICAN PAPERS.

(From the Correio Official.)

RIO DE JANEIRO, MARCH 7.—BAITIA AND Rio Grum:in.—The ac.
counts last received from Bahia are not of a more recent date than those
we published a few days ago, and which gave an account of the favour
able appearance of affairs at that time, and the probability of
the speedy quelling of the insurrection. A private letter states
that the rebels had just proclaimed the freedom of slaves
born in Bahia. In the city the people were dying with hunger.
The Wizard; art English brig, had lately been to Raparica to fetch pro-
visions for the British subjects, tut scarcely had the sailors landed to
convey the provisions to the house of the Consul, when the famished
people fe.l upon the escort and carried off all the provisions.
The accounts from Rio Grande do Sul are snore favourable than
those lately received; they confirm the reports lately spread in the city
of the raising of the sieve of Porto Alegre, and of the desertion of
about 700 rebels who had enlisted under the Imperial standard.
Marten I.l.—The provincial assembly of Rio de Janeiro, held on the
Sth of this month, approved the first articles of the proposal made
by Senor Midosi, for the formation of a Company to introduce iron
railrr ads, to communicate with the interior of the province. The pro-
posal gave rise to a very long debate.
MARCH ?.o.—The Correia contains official dispatches fromPorto Alegre,
dated Feb 19, in which the Governor, Elisiasio de Miranda e Brito, in-
forms the Minister of the Interior of the comFlete suppression of the
rebellion in the province of Rio Grande by the entire dispersion of the
rebels, who had fled in all directions on the approach of the imperial
troops, abandming their caravans and a quantity of cattle and horses,
burning their baggage, &c. The Government troops had not fired a
shot, as they broke up and dispersed as soon as the troops got sight of
them. The inhabitants of the province who had been misled came by
hundreds to testify their revAltance and implore the protection of the
Government.—Correio Official, to March 21 inclusive.

Lord Charles Fitzroy presented on Monday twenty-
three petitions from different places in the county of Suffolk, for the
immediate abolition of the apprenticeship system in our colonies. The
Petition from the inhabitants of Bury St. Edmunds was more numerously
signed than any petition that had ever emanated from that town.

Liberal Members will not forget the debate of Fri-
day, and the reasons why Sir Bobert Peel postponed it until that day, in
order to gather his forces together and try a fresh battle after Tuesday's
defeat. We need not remind them that their presence there will be
also requisite—merely to receive becomingly the Right Hon. Baronet
and his friends.

The Dutch papers mention that 120 emigrnnts,
chiefly frorri Baden and Wirtemburg, arrived at Amsterdam on the 1 lth
inst., to embark in a vessel which was shortly to 8..,1 for North America