The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-06 00:00:00

broke's corks; they were eagerly sought for at a high
price whin they first came out, but in 1810 they were
eo longer thought of. He would say, therefore, that
there was no species of property that would be parted
with to the booksellers at a price so far below the bur-
den of the tax imposed upon the public as copyrights.
If he could select instances of the absurdity of such
protection he should mention a case which had been
referred to more than once by his Hon. and Learned
Friend, he meant Milton's granddaughter, They
were all aware that Tonron the bookseller went to the
Court of Equity and obtained an injunction to restrain the
printing of " Paradise Lost." The injunctian was ob-
tained it) 1752, and Clumps was performed for the be-
nefit of Milton's granddaughter in 17.50. If they went
round the whole course of literature, they could not
find so striking an instance of the inutility of such pro-
tection. The party who printed a cheap edition of
Milton's works was punished ; and, in the meantime,
what became cf the only person in whose welfare, if
living, Mdton would have felt an interest ? His grand-
daughter was starving, while the public were compelled
to pay an exorbitant sum for his works, and they were
also compelled to pay a sum of money in cherity for the
relief of his granddaugliter.—(heers.) But there was
another danger, as far as his knowledge went, that had
not been adverted to in the strong manner it ought—it
was a matter which some believed chimerical, but
which he believed to be real, and it was a
danger likely to arise, whether the copyright got
into the hands of the booksellers, or remained in the
bands of the descendants of the author. He spoke
not of mutilation but of the utter suppression of valu-
able works.—( Hear, hear.) He believed there were a
great many persons who, if they had their own way,
Fielding's novels and Gibbon's H;storv, never
would have been printed.—(Hear, bear.) There was
another author to whom he should also refer, and he
was sure his Hon. and Learned Friend would
admit, that Richardson's novels were among the most
original and striking of all the English writers, and no
one went closer to nature, with the exception of Shak-
speare, while none had spread the fame of English
literature more widely. Mr. Wilberforce, in speaking
of the anti-Christian tendency of works of that nature,
marks Richardson's as an exception ; and Mrs. Hannah
Moore declared that it was from the writings of
Richardson she first derived those principles of piety
that were her guide through life. Non no one could
suppose that a book like that could be suppressed, and
yet his firm belief was that if the copyright had been in
the hands of his descendants it would have been sup-
pressed. He was intimately acquainted with Rechard-
son's grandson, a clergyman of the Established Church.
That gentleman had a strong feeling that novels were
frivolous reading, and he would not admit them into
his house. He would not read his grandfather's works,
and if he had the power ho was satisfied he would never
allow them to be printed, and that a Clarissa, or a Sir
Charles Grandison would have been as hard to have
come at as a Caxton.—(Loud cheers and laughter )
Another question would arise—what did an edition
consist of ? Would 12 copies on large paper, at 20
guineas each, be considered an edition, or were they
to lay down precise rules as to the number and price ?
Every body knew what were the feelings of the eldest
son of Boswell. He thought the greatest blot on his
escutcheon was the whole of the relation that existed
between his father and Johnson. It was his (Mr.
Macaulay's) belief that actuated with that strong feeling
of vanity and pride, Boswell's son would have, if not
altogether suppressed his father's work, rendered it so
difficult to be obtained that it would be in the hands of
but very few at the present time, had the Bill now pro-
posed been then the law. It would indeed be as diffi-
cult to come at any of the works he had mentioned as
at the first edition of Camden's " Britannia." But if
the present law was to he superseded by the Hon. and
Learned Gentleman's Bill, what was to become of
books affecting the great sectarian and political parties ?
It was now, he believed, just fifty years since the great
John Wesley founded that sect which was one of the
greatest and most flourishing ever founded, whose mem-
bers were now counted by hundreds of thousands. That
sect was indeed a union in the highest degree remark-
able, and its power and influence on all public occasions,
such as political elections, &c., were counted upon
as of the greatest importance to every party. The me-
mory of the founder of that sect was held in the greatest
veneration by his followers, and his journals were of the
highest interest, as containing the whole history of the
rise and progress, in its infancy, of that important sect ;
his hymns, too, were such as would be read with interest
by all persons. Suppose, then, that the copyright of
the works of Wesley were to come, in the course of
transfer, into the hands of persons entertaining the feel-
ings which many persons did entertain and publicly ex-
pressed respecting Wesley—why it was only the other day
he took up a book in which he saw Wesley called a for-
sworn priest—suppose, then, the copyright of Wesley's
works came into the hands of persons who thus felt and
spoke, how difficult it would be to obtain those works,
so much regarded, and to which such interest attached,
if indeed they were not suppressed altogether ? Again,
suppose the case of the Book of Common Prayer being
suppressed for any period of time, why the price would
mount to five guineas, and such a monopoly as that, in
his opinion, his Hon. Friend's Bill would go to esta-
blish. What he (M Macauley) apprehended was,
that if his Hon. Friend's Bill should pass, if it produced
one-tenth of the grievances that its passing into a law
was certainly calculated to produce, the evil would be
great indeed. He would say that if that Bill became
the law of the land—that as the posher evaded the
Game-laws—as the smuggler evaded the Itsvenue-laws
—so would the piratical bookseller evade the law now
sought to be enacted. After some further observations
on the grievances that would arise to the public in ge-
neral from the passing of the Bill, the Right lion. Gen-
tleman concluded by moving that the Bill be read a
second time that day six months.
Sir R. H. INGLIS felt great difficulty in following
the Right Hon. Gentlemen, after an exhibition of so
much eloquence, so much research, and powers of il-
lustration, perhaps unequalled in that House.—(Cheers.)
But he could not but think the larger part of the Right
Hon. Gentleman's argument applied as strongly to the
existing system as it did to the measure proposed by his
Hon. and Learned Friend. The arguments of the
Right Hon. Gentlemen were not arguments of prin-
ciple, but of expediency. The Right Hon. Gentleman
had entered largely into the subject of the origin of pro-
perty, but there was not a word about this in the Bill of
his lion. and Learned Friend. This being the case, all
the illustrations of his Hon. Friend would be as appli-
cable to the term of 28 years, under the existing law, if
applied to all works produced in the last year of an
author's life. Exactly in proportion as a man works
not for the day, but fbr posterity, would he be benefited
by the Bill of his Honourable and Learned Friend.
He thought the course taken by his lion. Fri nd was
most inconsistent, since he understood his objections to
the Bill to be founded, not on its principle, but on
degrees. The boon that was asked could only apply
to those whose works deserved well of their country.
Every argument that had teen used by the Hon. and
Learned Gentleman against the sixty years, would
equally apply to the twenty-eight years. lie hoped,
therefore, the House would allow the Bill to he read a
second time.—(Cries of " Divide, divide.")
Mr. Sergeant TALFOU RD replied. Ile thought
that if the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite had
really cherished those deep and strong convictions that
the Bill was calculated to inflict those injuries he had
mentioned, he would have expressed those convictions
upon some of the many former occasions the subject
had undergone discussion. The observations which his
Right Hon. Friend had made, and the doctrine
he had laid down with respect to property in works,
might be equally urged against all property. It would
apply to all who were endeavouring in this transitory
life to accumulate property for themselves or their
posterity. Was it authors only who had prodigal
sons ? Might not others have descendants who
might dissipate their property ? The Ilouse might just
as well refuse to a Marlborough or a Wellington those
honours which their illustrious services entitled them to,
because they might, perchance, have unworthy descend-
ants. He would, therefore, dismiss that argument as
being unworthy of attention. Then with respect to the
supposition that books would be suppressed. There
again the same argument would apply to the 28 years.
But he would ask, might not works which the author
might desire to suppress be brought forward ? Was it
no evil to an author, if he had published some imma-
ture misconception, or written something of which in
riper and maturer years he had repented—was it, no
evil, that if he written one line which, dying, he would
blot out, but could riot blot out when dying, to have
that continued before the world ? His Right Ho-
nourable Friend had not attempted to grapple with
any one of the great examples which had
been adduced in support of the Bill. He had
not grappled wittiqdre` cases of pica like Mr.
Wordsworth, who Waa suffering under undeserved /en-
glect, and Who, of too noble a mind to pander to
taste of the public, had waited his time, and who
foundt
that, when he had arrived at a venerable time of
f his
works were beginning to be profitable, that at _ that
the _ Legislature
• the profit was snatched from him.—(Hear,
hear.) Was it not just and noble of
and could see
the future in the past ?—(Hear,
•to rid men who looked beyond time grave,hear.)
His Right,
Hon. Friend supposed that the monopoly
books dear ; but experience had shown
would make
that it. ,had no
such tendency. The extension of the monopoly from
s far from being attended
fourteen to twenty-eight y
reduction, and it was natural to expect that
dosed a
by an advance in the
hep.riecaer of books, had rather pro-
it would do so ; as books could be produced more cheaply
if his Right
by one press, one set of publishers, and one set of
thobservations,
weight
ad-
vertisers than by fifty. He would not have troubled the
ofe
his autho-
Hlloont
Fartietnhdishatdimenowt
itthhioasnvyn
rity,• the grace of his eloquence, and the fascination of
his style, into the scald in opposition to this measure.
.He ( Mr. Sergeant I'.), however, thought the voiced of
Wordsworth, Southey, of Moore and Rof
Rogers' Col-
eridge,l,l •
speae.ng, as it were, from the grave, and of the
son of Sir Walter Scott—(Cheers)—would weigh
against all the poWers and genius of • Hight Hon.
Friend' his s address.—(Cheers.)