The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-14 00:00:00

L'ROPERTY IN ENGLISH COPYRIGHTS,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—The notice in a late number of your Journal of the
infringement of property in English copyrights, and of the
injunction obtained by Mr. Bentley, the pubrsher, against
one of the dealers in fraudulent editions of his publications,
having interested me as a bookseller, I was induced to
examine the Act of Parliament you referred to, and my
surprise at the importation of the surreptitious cDpies is in-
creased on finding that such importation is, unckr any cir-
cumstances, " absolutely prohibited." These are the very
words of the Act, according to which the mere attempt to
import them insure their forfeiture. No duty will enable
them to pass. By what oversight then, or what trick, can
these " absolutely prohibited" articles find their way into
our country to the serious injury of the fair English trader ?
The affair, at any rate, demands investigation on public
grounds. If the Government establishes laws for the pro-
tection of native industry and property, the authorities are
bound to ascertain why such laws are not respected. The
question is, at least, as much between the authorities and
the wrong-doers as between the injured party and the frau-
dulent dealer. The law is violated, when the law should be
enforced.—l am, sir, your constant Reader,
A BOOKSELLER.
Pa`ernoster-row, Oct. 13.

SDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1834.

LORD BROUGHAM.

Lord Chancellor Brougham passed through Portsmouth
on Monday, on his way from Chichester to the Isle of
Wight. Having expressed a wish to visit the literary and
scientific institutions of the town, on his return on Wednes-
day, the members of the Philosophical Society assembled at
eight in the morning, to receive his Lordship, and elect him
an honorary member. After inspecting the Dock-yard,
going on board the flag-ship, and then paying a visit to the
Mechanics' Institute, he proceeded to the Philosophical In-
stitution, and on his entrance was welcomed by the plaudits
of a crowded assembly of both sexes. The President, Mr.
J. W. Williams, in a neat speech, announced to his Lord-
ship that the Society had, in testimony of admiration of his
distinguished zeal in the diffusion of useful knowledge, en-
rolled his name among its members, which the Lord Chan-
cellor acknowledged in a short and appropriate address,
walked round the museum, then visited the parish church,
and shortly afterwards set off for Fareham, whither a depu-
tation had invited him to attend the opening of a building
erected for the promotion of science and literature.
VISIT TO THE FAREHAM LITERARY AND PHI-

LOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
On Wednesday, deputations from the Institution having
previously waited on the Lord Chancellor, that distin-
guished statesman and scholar honoured Fareham with his
presence, where he arrived at twelve o'clock. After par-
taking of au elegant dejeune at the house of the Rev. Sir
Henry Thompson, Bart., in company with the Vice-Presi-
dents, and officers of the Society, together with several of
the most distinguished inhabitants of the town, his Lordship
walked with the President to the New Hall, where, at his
entrance, he was greeted with the hearty cheers of the po-
pulace. A highly respectable and crowded audience, con-
sisting of more than 500 individuals, received his Lordship
with the most flattering testimony of respect.
The President having assumed the Chair, with the Lord
Chancellor on his right, and surrounded by the Vice-
Presidents and officers of the Institution, then addressed
his Lordship at some length, and concluded thus :—To my
friends before me, I now officially announce with the pride
which as their President I naturally feel, that we may
henceforth claim as our associate, th 3 Lord High Chancellor
of Great Britain.
The Lord Chancellor then rose and replied as follows :
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,—l can hardly
express the pleasure I felt at meeting you and the other
members and friends of the Fareham Institution. on this
most interesting occasion. lam filled with astonishment
when I think of the progress your Institution has made ; in
the whole course of my experience I have never met with
a similar instance, and I think very few instances, if any,
can be found, in which like success has attended similar
undertakings—that this society should have been esta-
blished on so extensive a basis, and this beautiful and com-
modious Hall erected in a less period than a year, I be-
lieve, indeed, not more than nine months. I have, during
this journey, for the first time visited the southern parts of
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and I have learnt that
literature in general flourishes in these parts, perhaps in a
greater ratio than in any corresponding population in the
kingdom. I has:e also this morning been on board the
ship Victory, and saw the spot where Nelson,the most illus-
trious of our naval heroes, received his mortal wound. The
celebrated naval arsenal of our country, Portsmouth, claimed
my particular observation, where I saw much to remind me
of the zealous preparations made there during the long and
triumphant war that was waged against the enemies of our
country. I am no friend to war, and consider it as the great-
est scourge that can afflict a country, though, should our
nation's honour, or our self-defence require it, neither our
courage nor our means would be found wanting ; yet, Sir,
I found at Portsmouth the most active preparations going
on for another campaign, but it was the campaign of know-
ledge against ignorance. Here a few enemies might still
be found, but the diffusion of information will soon vanquish
prejudice, and drive every enemy of knowledge from the
field. In the town of Fareham I see you emulating your
neighbours of PoUsmouth, and making the same zealous
preparations, and I most cordially accept the honour of be-
ing enrolled among the members of this Institution."—
Mr. Commissioner WILLIAMS then moved, and Admiral
OMMANNEY seconded, " That the most cordial thanks of
the Fareham Institution be offered to his Lordship," which
was carried by acclarnation. His Lordship then departed
amidst the cheers of the people, and the meeting adjourned.
-Hampshire Advertiser.

CIRCULAR FROM THE POOR LAW
COMMISSIONERS.

•
The following circular has been issued from the
Central Board of the Poor Law Commissioners
Office of the Poor Law Commissioners for
England and Wales, Oct. 6, 1834.
" The Commissioners of Poor Laws for England and
Wales, on the 4th of September last, directed a letter to
be addressed to the churchwardens and overseers of the
poor throughout England and Wales, in which letter the
Commissioners pointed out to the parish officers that it was
their duty to continue to administer the existing laws for
the relief of the poor of the parish or place for which they
act ; and that, subject to the provisions of the Poor Law
Amendment Act, the general transactions of parochial bu-
siness should (with strict attention to economy, and as far
as the same is authorised by law) be continued in the ac-
customed course until the rules, orders, and regulations,
which the Commissioners are authorised to make, shall
have been duly prepared and promulgated.'
" The Commissioners have been informed that in many
parts of the country erroneous opinions prevail with respect
to the actual state of the existing laws, particularly in rela-
tion to the powers which Magistrates may still exercise in
ordering parochial relief.
" The Commissioners think it expedient, therefore, to
point out, that the Acts of 3 William and Mary, c. 11, and
9 Geo. I, c. 7, are not repealed, and that these Acts still
authorise Justices of the Peace to exercise a controul over
the overseers in the administration of relief to the poor.
But ibis controul can now be exercised only in parishes in
Which there is no Board of Guardians, no Select Vestry,
or other similar body, constituted under any local or gene-

ral Act.
" By the 3d and 4th Wm. and Mary, c. 11., one Magis-
trate has the power of ordering a pauper's name to be
placed on the book which contains the list of those who are
to be relieved by the parish, as directed by the statute 43
Eliz. c. 2. It is to be observed, however, that the power
that granted to the Magistrate is modified by the Ist sec-
tl,oooof the 9th Geo. 1., c. 7, in which it is enacted—
" That no Justice of the Peace shall order relief to any
poor person dwelling in any parish—
]. until oath be made before such Justice of the
Peace, of some matter which he shall judge to be reasonable
cause or ground for having such relief ;
2. ---" and that the same person had, by himself, her-
self, or some other, applied for relief to the parishioners, or
to two of the overseers of the poor of such parish ;
3. ---" and was by them refused to be relieved ;
4. "And until such Justice hath summoned two of the
, to show cause why such relief should
overseers of the poor

not be given ;
.5. " and the person so summoned hath been heard
or made default to appear before such Justice."
" And it is further provided in the second section of the
same Act, " that the person whom any such Justice shall
think fit to order to be relieved, shall receive relief as long
as the cause for such relief continues, and no longer.'
"By the 4th section of the same act it is enacted, that in
any parish in which a workhouse shall have been provided,
if any poor person of such parish shall refuse to be lodged,
maintained, and employed in such house, such person so
refusing shall be put out of the collection-book, and shall
not be entitled to ask or receive any collection or relief from
the churchwardens or overseers of the poor of the same
parish, township, or place.'
" By the 36th Geo. 111., c. 23, the enactments of which
were extended and modified by the 55th Geo. 111., c. 137,
s. 3, and the 59th Geo. 111., c. 12, s. 5, Magistrates were
empowered to order relief to poor persons at their homes,
notwithstanding a workhouse had been provided and con-
tracts entered into for lodging, keeping, maintaining, and
employing the poor. But this stat. (36 Geo. 111., c. 23),
as well as the above-mentioned sections, by which it was so
extended and modified, have been repealed by the Poor
Law Amendment Act, and consequently the powers which
the Justices derived therefrom have terminated.
".With reference to the parishes in which there is no
board of guardians, select vestry, or other similar body con-
stituted under any local or general act, the parish officers
may, until the Commissioners shall issue their rules or
orders, adopt all those modes of relieving the poor which
they might lawfully have adopted before the passing of the
Poor Law Amendment Act.
" With respect however to those parishes or unions in
which a board of guardians, select vestry, or other similar
body, constituted under any local or general Act does ex-
ist, it is sufficient to refer to the 54th section of the Poor
Law Amendment Act, which, for the sake of convenience,
is hereto annexed.

" By order of the Board,
EDWIN CHADWICK, Secretary."
The 54th section of 4 and 5 Will. IV. c. 76.
" And be it further enacted, that from and after the pass-
ing of this Act, the ordering, giving and directing of all re-
lief to the poor of any parish which, according to the pss ro-
yisions of any of the said recited Acts or of an Act paed
in the first and second years of the reign of his present Ma-
jesty, cntituled, ' An Act for the better regulating of Ves-
tries, and for the appointment of Auditors of Accounts in
certain parishes in England and Wales,' or of this Act or of
any local Acts, shall be under the government and controul
of any Guardians of the Poor, or of any select Vestry, and
whether forming any part of any Union or Incorporation or
not (but subject in all cases to, and saving and excepting