The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-04 00:00:00

THE SUN,

obtain the general assent to the immediate remission
of this the most objectionable of the " taxes on know-
ledge" and of the " taxes on industry ;" for the
paper duty is a tax "both on knowledge and
on industry. By increasing the price of
books, of newspapers, and other periodicals, it
"impedes the progress of knowledge and the educa-
tion of the people," and necessarily so, because it
limits and confines the demand ; and, therefore, as a
naturally consequence contracts the supply. And
unfortunately it is the most useful and instructive
publications that are practically prohibited from
appearing by this intolerable burden. The
progress of works mainly directed to the
popular improvement, and combining instruction
with amusement, is necessarily slow, and the pay-
ment to the contributors is assessed on a very
different scale from that of a great portion of the
cheap trash that is circulated throughout the country.
Some persons contend that it is this latter class of
publications that would derive the chief benefit from
the change ; but we totally deny the assertion, and
boldly join issue as to the fact. If there were a greater
proportion of really good as well as cheap periodicals
such as Eliza Cook's Journal, Household Words,
and others of a similar description, we should see
less of works that pave a demoralizing tendency, and
which are only tolerated because the taste of the less
wealthy classes has not as yet been sufficiently
elevated to turn with disgust and loathing from the
filthy garbage provided for their intellectual food. It
is not " the Holywell-street" school of literature that
would flourish by the reduction of the cost
of the raw material for the manufacture of books ; on
the contrary, we are fully convinced that that
which may be considered the scandal and reproach
of the country would receive " a heavy blo w
and great discouragement" by the alteration.
But it is not merely the amount of the duty which
falls with greatly increased force upon the consumer,
who has to pay a series of profits to all the interme-
diate bands through which the article passes,
not only on the cost of production, but on the duty
paid to the Government, that is the most objection-
able result of the tax. There are a number of the
most vexatious regulations established by the Excise in
order to insure the punctual payment of the duty,
that seriously injure the manufacturer, and which
must necessarily be taken into account
in regulating the price of the article.
Nets are spread at every stage to entrap
the unwary into ruinous penalties. The paper must
be labelled" and marked in a peculiar manner, and
must remain on the hands of the manufacturer a
greater time than is necessary for purchasing the
rags of which it is made, bringing them to the mills,
working them up, and sending them to market. All
these things have most injurious consequences, and
prevent the extension of the manufacture of
an article the whole cost of which would
be expended in labour. It also acts as a
practical prohibition to the manufacture of
papier macho articles, which might otherwise afford
a source of employment to the unfortunate semp-
stresses, whose miserable condition excites our heart-
felt sympathies. On the whole, of all the obnoxious
imposts demanding the immediate attention of Par-
liament, there is perhaps none having so many claims
to its favourable consideration as the " paper duty,"
which we earnestly hope and believe will be abolished
during the approaching session.

Participating, as we have done ourselves, from its
very commencement, in the earnest requirement of
changes in the patent law of the United Kingdom—
we are, nevertheless, anything but averse to listen to
the arguments of a dissentient to our eagerness for
improvement. Such an opponent to the present
agitation we find in the author of a very able and
temperate essay recently published on the subjects of
"Patentable Invention and Scientific Evidence."
An opponent we call him, because he himself chooses
to be so designated; although, according to our
thinking, we see in him no opponent at all, but rather
one with whose opinions upon the question of Patent
Law Reform ours coincide entirely. What Mr. SPENCE
endeavours to deprecate with all the emphasis of a
deliberate and unimpassioned judgment is that hasty
and blundering legislation which has already so very
frequently blurred the statute-books of this realm of
England. Against all such precipitate and ill-con-
sidered interference with the law as it at present stands,
we are as energetically inclined as himself—anxious
as we must ever continue to preserve in their full
integrity those great fundamental principles upon
which has been built up the fabric of the constitution.
Our, essayist premises at the very outset of his argu-
ment that he entertains a rooted " conviction of the
paramount importance of treating patent law re-
form as a question relating to change of practice,
rather than of essential law, believing the settled
points to involve a body of legal doctrine amply suffi-
cient for adaptation by intelligent minds to the cases
likely to arise." The declaration is significant enough
and debateable enough we cannot still help believing,
when we remember the abuses which are every day
arising out of these very boasted doctrines. Fully du
we agree with Mr. SPENCE at the same time in re-
probating the mischievous alterations made by in-
competent legislators in the laws built up origi-
nally with so much profound premeditation—assent-
ing :heartily .to the view taken by Sir EDWARD
COME of most defective Acts of Parliament, namely,
that their inefficiency in securing equitable,decisions
arise in almost every instance from the fact of their
being "overladen with provisoes and additions, and
many times and on a sudden penned or corrected by
men of none or very little judgment in law." No doubt
this is the radical secret of the flaws and blottings of
our statutes; and against the multiplication of such
lamentable innovations every imaginable precaution
should of course be taken. Yet, at the same time we
should shun the growth of that equally pernicious
timidity which may be inspired by a dread of these erro-
neous interpolations. Hardihood and decision are chief
qualities requisite for the severing in twain of the
stubborn laws afflicting the community. Remember
those words recorded in Roman history as having
been pronounced by the Augur when the KING told
his dream about the flint-stone, —" Take up thy knife
and cut boldly 1" So it must always be if we are
to hope for wholesome reforms in our legislation.
The ingenious essay to which we would here
direct the attention of all those who are in
any way interested in Patent Law improve.
ments, though assuming to itself the air
of a moderator of the present excitement,
is in reality a most powerful auxiliary in forwarding
the movement in behalf of the proposed innovations.
It treats exclusively of first principles, and hence is,
perhaps, the more welcome to the conscientious advo-
cate of the intended change, seeing that their argu-
ments have hitherto been almost entirely restricted to
the evil consequence of the law referring to patent-
able inventions. " The present work," therefore, as
the author himself avows, " does not interfere with
the books already written relating to patents,
but rather suggests points which may as-
sist in making them understoood." It may
be regarded, in fact, as a kind of illustrative
sequel or companion to the two important works upon
patent cases produced, the one by Mr. WEBSTER and
the other by Mr. CABPMAEL. As a labourer in the
same intellectual field with those writers, Mr.
SPENCE deserves to be welcomed with all earnestness,
the more especially, perchance, from the circumstance
of his venturing upon the consideration of the subject
at a period SO
peculiarly opportune. His " proposals
as
,to improved practice in
ion—are relation to scientific
ervidencer--forming the principal part of his lucubra-
tion—are
scrutiny.
peculiarly deserving of a careful and
knowledges, " may occur Ahe ac-
that they
would increase expense
eubr to some minds" n objection,"
the number ei
witnesses at each trial;"Y inere"ing
but, he continues, 6' one
answer to this i., that the arrangement would tend
to lessen the grounds for new trials
first one more complete than making the
heretofore." To the
cogency and reasonableness of the reply
whatever can be said in objection. With asomewthiha ng
larger outlay at the commencement, an ultimate
method oft economizing in the end would be secured,
Another sentence oecurring in the Introductory
Preface is especially deserving of attention : it is
this—" Patents," says Mr. SPENCE, "for a shorter
term than fourteen years may be granted as the law
stands, and the question of fees may be regulated by