The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-30 00:00:00

LAW OF COPYRIGHT.

Every one who has taken an interest in the success of
the Bill for the extension of Copyright must have expe-
rienced a proud satisfaction in reading the noble speech of
114 r. Sergeant Talfourd upon the second reading of the
Bill. It was magnificent in eloquence—in argument irre-
sistible ; but, above all, it was distinguished by that most
excellent and delicate quality of the human understanding,
a -fine discriminating judgment, which discerned and ex-
posiid those distinctions which are imperceptible to com-
Etfin-place minds. While we are of opinion that literary
77 len have some reason to complain of the small number of
Members of the House of Commons who attended a
discussion so important to the interests of literature,
yet they have, on the other hand, much reason to be

pro,id of the friends Who did appear upon the occasion.
If Mr. Talfourd had not the support of great numbers he

was yet ably supported, and the literary men of Great Bri-
tain will gratefully bear in mind the powerful aid which
their cause received from the speeches of Sir Robert
Inglis, Mr. 'Wynn, Lord Mahon, Mr. D'lsraeli, and the
Cleancellor of the Exchequer. And second only to the
tettisfaction and pride of having these men as the advocates
'for fn her protection to literary property is the circum-
stance of having had for assailants only those who are
found opposing whatever is just in principle or generous in
sentiment. Of those who spoke against Sergeant Tal-
fourd's Bill Sir Edward Sugden is the only one that we
could have expected, or wished almost, to be in its favour.
We acknowledge our regret to find so eminent a lawyer as
Sir Edward Sugden taking part with the sordid and the
any in this matter, and we are the more surprised, as in the
Fsne of his profession there is no more eminent -writer of
books than himself. Perhaps, however, he feels per-
suaded, that, from the spirit of change now abroad,
there is no chance that books, however admirably written,
which relate to the present state of the law, will be of the
slightest value sixty years hence. Or, perhapi, the
sudiee to which the Learned Gentleman has so exclusively
devoted himself may not have allowed him leisure
for such acquaintance with works of imagination as
leads to sympathy with the authors of them. But—seeing
that there was to be opposition—it was absolutely consol-
ing to behold that opposition led by Mr. Joseph Hume.
-Ever stupid, ever impudent, ever in the wrong, Joseph
the swine-headed, was indeed a most appropriate person to
move the rejection of the Bill for affording additional en-
couragement to authors. The talk of the man on this
occasion was eminently worthy .of his character. It was
something like the writing of the Morning Chronicle upon
the same subject—dull, positive, and most stupid error,
expressed in the old vulgar frenzy cant-language of worn
out Radicalism, which has not been fresh since the Edin-
hmrglt Review was young. Joseph was very consistently
seconded by Mr. Vtrarhurton, a personage who ever doth
" astnize a natural hardness and a prompt alacrity" to op-
pose and thwart every public measure that has the slightest
trace of nobleness, or generosity, or kindness in any of its
pro..'sions. Only that he is not so perseveringly troublesome
as Joseph Hume he would he a more hateful creature, for he
las not the excuse of Mr. Hume's extreme stupidity. He is
.always harsh, presumptuous, irreverentia], and eager to
'destroy. If he were anatomized—as he would be accord-
ing to his own harsh law were he to die in a poorhouse—
we think that which should be his heart would be found to
be an agglomeration of iron fishine-hooks, with double
herbs, and all rusted from the acetic acid that flows in him
itesteed of blood. We do not look for him among the
friends of euthors, and we are quite content to have him for
an enemy. Then there were the two silliest, shallowest,
and most conceited men in the House, Messrs. Pryme,
'of Cambridge town, and Ward, of Sheffield. These
men know nothing—their opinions go for nothing—and
that their votes reckon two must merely be set down as
two among the untoward accidents which will occur even
in Rich faultless systems as the "reformed" representation
of the British people. Of Mr. Grote it is perhaps enough
to say that he is a philosopher, of views so lofty as to
be able to perceiee tlie political welfare of a great na-
tion dependent upon the mechanical contrivance of a
ballot-box. We are not surprised that a gentleman of
this particular description of astuteness should not find
out that an author, however great and valuable may be the
'work he has produced, would have any right to give to his
family after his death the pecuniary benefit arising from its
sale. The last we shall mention in the list ofolvosine
worthies is our sapient Solicitor-General. Of him, poor
man, the Caancellor of the Exchequer (who has, we be-
lieve, some reason to feel himself responsible for his
te Learned Friend") seemed to be more than a little
ashamed. We are sorry for Sir Something- Rolfe, who is
a well-meaniog sort of man, though apparently with but
eery small endowment of brains. We rather think his
opposition to the Bill arose from some mistake. He must ,
have looked at the wrong papers, and have thought, per- 1
haps, felt it was a Bill to render it necessary for all moo
ascending the Bench at Westminster Hall to pass an exa-
mination in law. At all events, we reedily forgive Sir
Something Rolfe. It is seems to us that all the diffi-
culties attempted to be set up is the way of the Bill, the
only one which was not upon the face of it at once eel-
fis't and absurd, was that arising out of the " supposed
en stogy" between the copyright of an author and the patent
right of new inventions in machinery or manufactures.
This one formidable difficulty was, however, quite dispesed
of by the masterly distinction laid down in Mr. Talfourd's
speech. If any of our readers have not this distinction
clearly in their minds, the following extract will be satisfac-
tory to them :
" Oeo of the arenments used—whether on behalf of the trade
or t.:.e public I scarcely know—against the extension of the term
is derived from a supposed analogy between the works of an
author and the digcoveticia of an inventor, whence it is inferred
that the term which suffices for the protection of the one is long
enough for the comp:mat:on of the other. It remains to be
proved that the protection granted to patentees is sufficiern ;
but supposing it to he so, although there are points of simila-
rity between the cases, there are grounds of essential and ob-
vious diitinetion. In cs'ss of patent the invents of the inven-
tion are palpable, the demand is usually immediate, and the
recom:iens, of the inventor, in proportion to the utility cf his
work, speedy anecertain. In cases of patent the subject is
generally one to which many minds are at once applied ; the
iinvention is often no more than a step in a series of processes,
-the firs, of which being given the consequence will almost
certainly present itself, sooner or later, to same of these in quire,-s, and if it were not in this year by one, would probably
be discovered the next by another; but who will suggest that
if Shakspeare had not written Lear, or Richardson Clarissa,
other poets or novellists would have invented them ? In prac-
tical science every discovery is a step to something more per-
fect; and to give to the inventor of each a protracted mono.
poly would he to shut out all improvements by others. But
who can improve the masterpieces of genius ? They stand per-
fect, apart from all things else, self-sustained, the models for
imitation, the sources whence rules of art take their origin.
And if we apply the analogy of mechanical invention to
literature, we shall find that in so far as it extends
there is featly in the latter no monopoly at all, however
brief. For example, historical or critical research hears
:a close analogy to the process of mechanical discovery;
and how does the law of copyright apply to the trea-
sures it may reveal ? The fact discovered, the truth
ascertained, becomes at once the property of mankind ;
to accept, to state, to reason on, and all that remains
in the author is the style in which it is expressed."
The distinction is here most conclusively established,
and the Chancellor of the Exchequer added to the force-of
-the argument by reminding the House, that an invention
which was valuable in 1830 might be of no value at all in
1837, in consequence of further discovery ; an accident
which cannot occur to works of genius. The real ground
of opposition—we mean that tvlich proceeds from pub-
lishers, end we believe there is no other of any importance—
was happily Lit off by Sergeant Talfourd in the following
passage
" If, S'tr, I were called to state in a sentence the most powerful
Argent, nt against the objection raised to the extension of copy-
right-en the part or the public I would answer, the opposition of
the eeublishers. If they have ground to complain ()floss the public
car. have none. The objection supposes that the works would
73/: sold at something more than the price of the materials, the
-workmanship, and a fair profit on the outlay, if the copyright
be continued to the author, and of course, also supposes that
works of which the copyrights have expired are sold without
profit beyond those charges—that, in fact, the author's super-
added gain will be the measure of the public loss. Where,
then% (fees the publisher interfere ? Is the truth this—that
Live usage of the publishing; trade at this moment indefinitely
?prolongs the monopoly, by a mutual understanding of its mem-
bers, and that besides the term of twenty-eight years which
the publisher has bought and paid for, he has something more ?
Is it a cemventional copyright that is in danger? Is the real
question whether the author shall hereafter have the full term
tee dispose of, 'or shall sell a smaller term, and really assign a
greater ? Now, either the publishers have no interest in the
main question, or this is that interest. If this is that in.
terest, how will the public loos by paying their extra sixpence
-to the author who crested the stork, instead of the gentleman
-who prinks his name at the foot of the title-page, and who will
Mill lake his 25 per cent. on the copies he may sell?"
We rejoice that this Bill has passed the second reading
is, for so much, a triumph of justice, and a real tri-
bute to that which is most noble, and steadfast, and worthy
'of national respect in this our time. If they who manu-
facture literature for the circulating libraries merely can
obtain no more for their works with a twenty-eight years'
«copyright than with a sixty years', let them be content—an
alteration of the law will, at all events, do them no harm.
But every man of elevated and generous mind—every one
'whose heart throbs as he remembers that he is the country-
:man of Shakspeare and of Scott—that it is in his vernacular
'tongue that Milton and Wordsworth have written—will
;rejoice to think that the Legislature is likely to give such
Encouragement as it can give to the literary genius of the
land, by extending the duration of literary property to the
descendants of authors for at all events sixty years.
..,3forning Post.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Tories are'about as inconsistent as their would-be
organ the Times, and they gave a striking proof of it in the
House of Commons on Friday night. They have been loudly
crying out against Ministers for having done nothing this
session, and this has been the tedious burden of the vagrant
Burdett's song at Leeds, Liverpool, &c., during the recess.
When it suits their purpose they can pass over the settle-
ment of the Civil List, the discussions on the Canada Go-
vernment Bill, the Slavery Bill, the Irish Poor-law Bill,
and the whole arrear legislative business, left by
the last Parliament in consequence of the demise
of the Crown, as matters of no moment—mere
trifles not worth mentioning in comparison with the
wonderful feats they would have performed had they
been in office. Last evening Lord John Russell
" played the touch" with them upon this point,
and it will he seen how well they stood the test. The
proposal of his Lordship was that for the purpose of ex-
pediting the progress of great public measures, for one
month after the 14th May, when much private business
will have been disposed of, another day should be set apart
for the consideration of Government motions and Bills, in
addition to the Mondays and Fridays already so allotted.
There seems nothing very unreasonable in such a sugges-
tion, and one would have thought that the general feeling
of the House, but most especially of the OppJsition side of
it, which has been so full of complaints of procrastination,
would have been at once and decidedly in favour of it.
But no, this would have deprived the enemy of one,
though a sorry, ground of attack, but still a ground
which, under the present unpromising appearances,
ought not to be abandoned. First gets up Mr.
Goulburn, and says, " You, the Ministers, have not
used due diligence in the conduct of public business."
Very well : be it so for the sake of argument. If Minis-
ters " have not used due diligence," the more necessary it.
is that they should snot now be thwarted. But Lord
John Russell contended, and contended so unanswerably
that nobody attempted to contradict him, that Ministers
had, in fact, lost no time ; and he enumerated the impor-
tant subjects they had urgently pressed, night after night,
upon the attention of Parliament, in the face of the most
obstinate, not to call it factious, opposition. He also ad-
verted to the measure regarding Irish tithes, municipal cor-
poration, pluralities, and non-residence of the clergy,
church leases, and ecclesiastical reform, still to be deli-
berately discussed, and appealed to the House whether he
was asking more than under the circumstances he was fairly
warranted in requiring ? The wily leader of the Tories
now plainly saw that Mr. Goulburn's ground of re-
sistance could not sustain him, and he therefore took up
another position. " I admit (he observed) that since No-
vember we have patiently devoted ourselves to legislation ;
but I object to the motion, because if one more day in each
week for a month after the 14th May be now granted, next
session you will demand more ; you will make your claim
earlier, and you will impede the business of individual
Members longer." Now this was all a gratis dictum by
the Right Honourable Baronet ; but it was evident that it
had its weight with not a few Members on both sides of the
House, who had motions or bills pending, and Mr. Wil-
liams and Mr. Hume had already expressed a degree of un-
willingness to give way. It was, moreover, the sort of pro-
position which was rather to be suggested for acceptance
than enforced by vote, and Lord John Russell at once
gave way and withdraw it. Let it not be forgotten here-
after, if the session be protracted, or if measures of impor-
tance be sent up to the Lords late in the session, that the
fault will not lie with the Ministers, and that they did their
best to forward public business, so that the other House
might not have it to say that time was not allowed for due
deliberation. Let it be remembered also, as was pointed
out by Lord John Russell, that since the Whigs came into
office, seven or eight years ago, the business before the
House of Commons has very much increased and changed.
The notices and measures of individual Members uncon-
nected with Government are more numerous, and less room
is left for the introduction and discussion of Ministerial
plans. When the Tories were formerly at the head of
affairs, and they wished to press forward any of their
schemes, such for instance as that for the suspension of the
Habeas Corpus, they brought it on night after night until
it had passed through all its stages, end no Mem-
ber thought of interposing any business in which he was
particularly interested. Lord John Russell, under the cir-
cumstances, had no alternative but to relinquish his pro-
posal, and the Tories seemed to fancy that they had thereby
gained a paint. So they have—that of making themsslves
answerable for the possible postponement of important pub-
lic questions until late in the session. Ministers will, of
course, do what they can to avoid this evil, but at all events
they will not be to blame. The public will put the sadde
on the right horse. Lord John Russell afterwards ob-
tained leave to bring in a Bill " for the better ordering of
prisons," which he generally explained to be an amendment,
in some not very important respects, of the Act paused two
years ago at the instance of the Duke of Richmond. His
Lordship expressed his great satisfaction at the recent im-
provements in prison discipline in all parts of the empire.
A successful motion of a sir-141,1r kind, for establishing- a
prison in the Isle of Wight for juvenile offenders, pro-
duced some interesting convsersation respecting the best
anode of dealing with criminals under a certain age. It was
agreed on all hands that the plan of Lord John Russell,
as far as it went, was unexceptionable ; hut Sir Eardley
Wilmot and Sir Robert Peel urged that the great mischief
was the confinement of boys and girls before trial among
ol,,ier and more hardened offenders. It was suggested thao
'a summary jurisdiction might be given to magistrates
cases of minor crime ; and we think the objection, that'
it would prevent the intervention of a jury,of comp isatively
:little value, especially if the magisterial system be
`altered and reformed as proposed by Lord John Russell
shortly previous to the holidays. The instances are few in
which the propriety of commitment by stipendiary magis-
trates is not subssquently confirmed by verdict, although,
Juries now and then recommend to mercy, or even acquit
oil account of the. youth of the delinquent. Sir Robert
Peel was disposed to think a summary jurisdiction necesi
sary ; and Sir Eardley Wilmot mentioned an institution id
Warwickshire fo: reforming juvenile offenders, in n-hiclei
only half were reclaimed if they had been imprisoned fat!
say length of time anterior to trial, while all were converted,
ito habits of honesty and industry if sent at once to the{
asylum without first undergoing the contamination of al
gaol.—slim-eine Chronicle.
On Wednesday the Rev. Dr. Chalmers delivered hi
ilrst lecture, in Hanover-square Rooms, expository of cer
tain prevalent misconceptions upon the subject of Churelt
Establishments ; and certainly, whether we regard thsi,
depth and precision of his analysis, or the breadth •andl
luminousness of his general views, or the pertinence and
picturesqueness of his illustrations, it is not too much W 1
say that this introductory address was one of the finest,
specimens of fervid and argumentative eloquence we'
`ever listened to. If the interior of the structure cor-
respond in any degree with the simple and massive
grandeur of the porch, these lectures will doubtles
challenge the admiration of after ages, scarcely mot-cr!
as an imperishable monument of the Doctor's geniussi
than as an invaluable contribution to the permanent
mature, and, above all, to the higher interests of the coml.
try. From the first word that escaped the lips of the
lecturer till the concluding sentence, which died away
amidst the acclamations of his audience. the vivid interest
awakened by the ingenious analogy which he traced lse•
tween the processes of agriculture and those of " spiritual'
husbandry" was sustained by him throughout the entire
lecture with a deep and unflagging intensity. To meet the
objection that an ecclesiastical establishment is a mere hu-
man device, based on an assumed independence of divine,
influences, and virtually disowning their necessity, Dr.
Chalmers argued, with infinite beauty and power, that the
co-operation of supernatural and human instrumentality in
the diffusion of religion was just as legitimate, compa-•
tible, and necessary as the concurrent working of nature's:
munificence and man's industry for fully cultivating the
productive capabilities of the earth : and that whereas
the appliances of a parochial culture are no more a d.s-
paragement to the necessity of divine influence than are the'
toils of the husbandman to the necessity of sunshine and.
shower, so the promise and descent of Heaven's benignities,•
like the annual overflowings of the Nile, form at once our
obligation and recompense, to impel us to open up the
fittest channels of distribution for irrigating and improving
the whole of the circumjacent territory. In the hurried .1
notice which was all we could afford to give of this admi-
rable lecture, we found it impossible even to glance at the
many original and profound observations which pervaded it
throughout. With that truly philosophic spirit which cha-
racterizes all Dr. Chalmer's reasonings, he never missed an
opportunity, as far as his subject permitted, of making his
appeal to experience, and of resting his case upon its
results ; nor could anything be more forcible or felicitous
than the contrast which such an appeal enabled him
to draw between the noble and high-principled strug-
gle engaged in by the father of the reformation, and
the fatuous insanities now so rife and rampant among the
pigmies and pismires of voluntaryism. Luther and Knoll
(said be) addressed their giant efforts, not to the destruc-
tion
of the ducts and channels which had been skilfully con-
structed for the distribution of the waters of life, but to the
purification of the element they were fitted and intended to
diffuse : while, on the other hand, your modern Church
Reformers, careless of the poisonous or deleterious charac-
ter of the article conveyed, content themselves with
" falling foul of the pipes." These ruthless demagogues
(he added) were mere " machine breakers," or, as we
should say, spiritual Luddites : and thus, prosecuting the
contrast in a strain of the most pungent and refined
satire, the Doctor left nothing to be desired upon this
point, either by friends or foes among his auditors, except
that all England could have participated in the ex-
cellent diversion of the former, and that the latter

could have stolen out of the crowd to revive themselves
with a mouthful of air. Reverting to the mra of the Em-
peror Constantine, when Christianity was first established
by law, it was ably shown, not only that the corruptions
which subsequently appeared in the Church had arisen out
of causes antecedent to, and wholly independent of, the
civil establishment of religion, but that, in point of fact, the
legal maintenance provided for a national priesthood was a
wise and efficient precaution to protect the people against
the mercenary extortions and the obsequious wheedling too
often practised under spiritual pretences by the grasping
and .unendowed ecclesiastic. This point was put and
argesed with triumphant power, and when we recol-
lect that Lord Melbourne recently refused to increase
the clergy of Scotland, on this declared ground, among
others, that he doubted the propriety of multiplying an
order of men to go into people's houses and exact pecuniary
sacrifices for the professed spread of religion, we could not
hut, ish that his Lordship had heard the inimitable descrip-
tion which Dr. Chalmers gave of the regulated and re.
'ponsible movements of an endowed hierarchy, compared
• with the endless temptations and - facilities of the voluntary
preacher to make Merchandise' of his ghostly influences, to
sponge the weak and credulous, and to practise those death-
bed tamperings against which, as a protection against the
voluntary system, the Statute of Mortmain was originally
enacted. But we must close. We were glad to observe
that his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, with a
multitude of other distinguished persons, was present at the
lecture, which imparted, we are quite sure, conviction and
delight to every impartial person who heard it.—Times.
It is no wonder that the people of England should
feel grievously disappointed at the conduct of the Re-
formed Parliament ; but it would say very little for their
good sense, if, instead of reaping such a lesson as they ought
from this disappointment, they should continue to be the
dupes of the sordid and scheming men to whom
the inefficiency of Reform is really attributable. The
present Ministers were outwardly Reformers, and con-
tributed such aid as they were capable of contributing,
to the Reform Bill ; but if ever men's real minds in any
• great matter in which they were engaged might be de-
duced from their subsequent conduct, it may fairly be con-
cluded that these Ministers had in view nothing nobler, or
more extensive, or more nationally useful, than their own
advancement to the direction of state affairs, or their per-
manent establishment therein. It is just possible that they
thought this advantage to themselves, and the advantage of
the nation, either identical or inseparable. Their opinion of
their own capacity may have led to this conclusion ; but if
that were really what they contemplated, the people have had
but too abundant reason to disbelieve utterly the accuracy
of their discernment. Of the 27 public measures now in
some stage or another before the House of Commons, and
of the seven additional measures which have been promised
as likely to be forthcoming, there is not even one, which
can be said to be of any particular interest to the great
body of the people. The condition of the working classes
regarding the practical matters which affect their condition,
whether as to support, to education, or to recreation, would
be almost quite the same, whether the measures in Parlia-
ment, or likely to be in Parliament, this Session, should pass
into law, or never be advanced a single step beyond their
present position. There never was a House of Legislature
owing its existence, or at all events its present mode of
existence, to what may be call a popular movement,
which in its proceedings exhibits less of the popular
character, than the present House of Commons. It would
be unfair, we think, to attribute this to defects in the pre-
senttsttttlllo,l
ee:ae mHuat
obl hraors, e,tueosol
po
immediatesrr ebnoyi:onoswigf.
bhcta.i
which
nc etdhny pclosovraoneeusel:rs:
aetii
ernahstnegi
hiahtti representation.
prevalent
ought
tendencies
uanwyl It may be the fault of
a general flatness and deadness of the public mind, or of
presents
e
l
t
ey
h
gleel
hhacetbteehsalartorrtnood abandonment
iuogfi
donguso nl
itselfmrli
meftfosoaooe onrdnrceelti
aeertesao-not
their
ydf) r"‘
e. . a.
)nhe. money-grasping
Butoi
d‘n.
It
n:tlnsteadtt
u an
pt
spocafnnmdt
oe
tnhb
be inflamed nidoingnafiiaom'nv
gene-
ral principle, or any practical improvement. That they
wish well to sound principles, and to the general good,
we do not mean or desire to dispute, but their wishes
are not so strong as to induce them to make any stre-
nuous exertion, or to disturb that state of things in which
they find themselves tolerably comfortable. As for the
Ministers, when they look upon the remarkably fortunate
circumstances in which they stand—when they consider
that with no particular eminence of talent, or elevation of
character, or felicity of aristocratical influence, they are,
nevertheless, in the highest positions of power, and by no
means the lowest positions of profit in this country—there
can be little question that they think a better state of
effa'rs could scarcely exist, We think it very probable
that each of her Majesty's Ministers may be ready to
exclaim with Othello, when he met Desdemona in the Isle
of Cyprus—
" My sc.nlitath her content so absolute
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate."
'Ph ry cannot be better, but they may be much worse, so
they arc all for a quiet life, and especially for no such
agitating question as might lead to a change of Adminis-
Itration. On the other side, the Conservative leaders
happen to be, by the possession of commanding talents, the
•
principal
men in the House of Commons, and by the pos-
session of ample fortunes, quite indifferent to the emolu-
meats of official station. Their ambition is gratified by the
exhibition of their superiority as Parliament men, and their
self-interest is not piqued by desire of those advantages
which they can so well afford to do without. The
trouble of office would not be recompensed to them
by the gain of office, and if, under these circumstances,
g weakened.
i
the motive to active exertion be not wholly obliterated,
there can be no doubt that it is exceedingly
Men require the impulse of ambition, or of ntercst, or of
enthusiasm for the public good. None of these impulses
appear to bear upon the Conservative leaders. The end of
all this is a kind of stagnation in the House of the repre-
sentatives of the people, upon such questions as km..fifths
of the people are most concerned in. A due protection for
willing industry—a healthful system of careful attention to
the improvement of moral habits, especially in densely-
populated places—a plan of general education (including,
of'course, discipline) for the young—means of healthful
recreation for the masses—all these are, at present,
"dropped motions." The people themselves, through the
press, will have to set about the remedy of these neglect-
ful habits in the Legislature.—Morning Herald.