The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-02 00:00:00

Otto-vino "1-'6llll.

LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1851.

Endeavours of the most laudable kind are now-a
days being made for the emancipation of knowledge
and the development of the national intellect. It is
understood, among other wholesome changes in pre-
paration, that an effort- will be made in Parliament
for the abandonment of the duty on paper, and for
the diminution, at least, of the duty on advertise-
ments. Whether both or either of these reforms may
be realized during the next session it would, of course,
be somewhat difficult to predict with any dis-
tinctness—so frequently have we looked for ward to the
same end, and so often have we been disappointed.
There seems, however, just now to be a better pro-
spect than we can ever call to mind of the legislative
abandonment of these melancholy padlocks upon
*knowledge. The conviction of their injustice has been
long extending itself among the multitude, and by this
time may be said to have penetrated into the esoteric
circle of the Administration. All this has been ac-
complished by the discussions provoked of late years
and especially during the last few months, upon the,
subject, in connexion with the cause o.
popular self-education. In the daily press the
.injuri-
ous consequences of this species of taxation hove been
exposed until denial
argument was carriedbeoeuarat eilllnatporacticable. The
e columns of our
weekly contemporaries. It found advocates in several
of the monthly periodicals ; and obtained also in one
or two instances a share of attention from theor
all
suc h
reviewers. Upon the depressing influence quarterly
taxes upon knowledge, moreover, a variety of
ener-
getic pamphleteers became eloquent and argumenta-
tive. Among the latter not one writer assumed
a loftier tone or a more practical energy
than CIIARLNS KNIGHT, the Good Genius of Cheap
Literature anti Popular Publications. After the
" History of a Book," in which that distinguished
publisher exposed the miseries and failures resulting
from the short-sighted policy of the Legislature, but
little, indeed, remained to be said in illustration of
the malign effects of these same taxes upon know-
ledge. The atrocity of such a mode of taxation has
by him and others been removed for ever from the
reach of being gainsaid ; and hence it is that, in
spite of so many bygone disappointments, we are
sanguine of witnessing . the long-desired reform ex-
torted next session from the Imperial Parliament.
Together with these satisfactory cir.nges in regard
to the paper duty and the duty on advertisements,
we continue to he hopeful of observing another
beneficial innovation referring to the popular intel-
ljgence. The innovation we are now alluding to is
0 ..y e frequently taken occasion to discuss of
..,1149, columns, we mean that relating to the
. 1., _ _ .
(---
ea.
...4
sjyriglitt f ventors. Hitherto, as we have already
,431:, iffbatedly, those rights have been either
vill.l
I ::.-7 eL altogether or subjected to the
'la; ... . :0 _es of the most injurious and extortionate
=
tiscriptiimr; The abolition of those fees has at length
fitt i grop-1440C Aecessity, The zhibition of Indgetry,
fit:. .

THE

to take place during the course of the present year, •
will doubtless act as an additional incentive to those
who are now endeavouring, in concert with ourselves,
to force the reform here indicated upon the recogni-
tion and acceptance of the Legislature. In the
Crystal Palace of the Exposition will be visible, for
instance, a multitude of assurances that the acknowledg-
ment of the rights of inventors would be most desirable,
if only with a view to the encouragement of scientific
enterprise and the furtherance of mechanical experi-
ments. Speaking upon the subject of these rights,
the recent report of the Committee appointed by the
Society of Arts, observes :—" Inventive labour is a
right which no power in the State ought to have any
option in the recognition of. If the exercise of the
right be useless and frivolous, the public are sure to
pass it by with contempt ; if it be contrary to estab-
lished law, then. the proprietor is checked by the
law itself. As a general principle, it must be
conceded that inventors are entitled as fully to a
positive recognition of their labours as pro-
perty, as any other description of working people in
the commonwealth. It would seem to be unnecessary
to argue this point even at all whilst the State recog-
niz,:s right of property in literature of all kinds—
books, articles in newspapers, and reviews; in songs ;
even in lecturing ; in any unpublished manuscripts ;
in engravings, although not published ; in ornamental
designs of the simplest character ; in mere arrange-
ments of geometric forms ; and, lastly, in the inven-
tion of the form or configuration' of any article of
utility, in the shape of a steel pen, or of a toothpick.
But the producer of a mechanical action or chemicel
discovery has no right of property in it at all, if the
Attorney-General should think fit to refuse it, or he
should be unable to pay the toll of 1001. for a patent ! "
Further on, in the same sagacious argument,
the Committee remarks—" Upon the intrinsic
merits of an invention the public at large
are the best and only judges, but it is prophesied
that if inventive rights were easily recognised, they
would generate endless litigation, and there are ad-
vocates for the establishment of a tribunal to pro-
nounce judgment on the legal validity of a claim
before it should be recognised. There are many
strong objections to such a course. It is clear that
any tribunal would entail cost—and, probably, very
heavy cost. Its mere existence would encourage dis-
putes, because there are always parties who live by
such disputes, and whose interest would be to keep
the tribunal in a plentiful supply of work whose
interest it would be, in fact, to dispute every claim
for rights. Such a tribunal to investigate all
claims might, perhaps, usefully negative a few ; but
its cost and its practical working would be a tax
upon all upon those which were sound and
unimpregnable and those which were invalid. So far
as it was a general tax, it would discourage inven-
tion. To be of any use the decision of this state
tribunal—this Pope over inventions—must be final
and absolute. Is its infallibility to be trusted ?
And is the whole progress of invention to be regu-
lated by it ? It has yet to be proved that affixing a
legal respect on small rights begets a moral disrespect
for them, And if litigation should increase, as is
predicted, to an insupportable extent, we may
assume that a remedy will be found. Let us
first have proof of the evil before we legis-
late in the dark to remedy it, for it may never come
to pass. It will be time enough," continues the report,
"to investigate the legal validity of the claim when it is
questioned." From these and a variety of other
equally cogent considerations it must be obvious that
justice is on the side of those who advocate the rights
of inventors, and not on that of their antagonists ; and
knowing thig, we may rest confident in the ultimate
triumph of those who are struggling to destroy the
ulious and ruinous routine necessary for the obtaining
of letters patent. More ostentatious improvements than
these will be brought under the consideration of the
Legislature during the ensuing session, but none more
largely affecting the interests of humanity, connected
as they are with the emancipation of the popular in-
telligence.

The directors of the London and North-Western
Railway have, by their judicious, and, at the same
time, vigorous and uncompromising conduct emi-
nently entitled themselves to the thanks and gratitude
not only of the directors of other railway companies,
but of every employer of labour throughout the entire
country. They have emulated the noble conduct of
their brethren of the Eastern Counties, by resisting,
at every hazard, the unwarrantable dictation that was
attempted to be enforced by their own servants.
By so doing they have inflicted a formidable
blow on the mischievous system which has been
productive of the . most injurious consequences to
masters and w ()Amer, employers and employed.
The latter have invariably been the deep( st sufferers,
by their own folly in permitting themselves to be
made the tools of designing men, who, reckless of
.the consequences to their unfortunate dupes, make
use of them as passive instruments to work out their
own nefarious projects; but the former have also sus-
tained considerable damage. Heavy pecuniary losses to
both parties must be the inevitable result. The master
will see his works . remaining idle, his capital un-
productive at a time when he might be realizing
handsome profits, and he may even be liable to
d images for the non-completion of some contract into
which he had entered, perhaps, for the purpose of
keeping those very persons in employment who have
acted with such gross ingratitude towards him as to
,‘ turn out" without reasonable cause ; but there the
evil ends, so far as he is concerned, he is only injured
while the hands are on the strike. But with the opera-
tives the case is very different. They enjoy no
peace, the grievance never ends. The most amicable
relations may exist between themselves and their em-
ployers. Each may be willing to discharge their own
duties in an exemplary manner, and to respect the
rights of the other party. But the men must con-
tribute largely from their earnings towards the ex
pen/es of a grand central executive committee--
composed of a pack of scoundrels, too idle
to work themselves, who exercise despotic
authority, and view with suspicion every act
of the masters, compelling the workmen
to offer a combined resistance in matters, the chief end
and object whereof was the benefit of the men them-
selves. But this is by no means the worst part of
the system. They have to support a•parcel of idle
drones who are "on the strike " in obedience to the
dictates of the secret conclave who pull the wires
behind the scenes. There are also heavy potations
during the club meetings at the public-houses
where the discussions are carried on. The
men are taken from their families dur-
ing the leisure hours that might be more
profitably and agreeably spent in the
pleasures of domestic intercourse, and they incur
habits of intemperance and expenditure fatal to the
happiness of themselves and families. We may say
it advisedly, and with the most perfect conviction
of the accuracy of our assertion, that the greatest
advantages to the working population of the country
that was ever anticipated by the most sanguine
' from " combination," either in keeping up wages,
or intimidating employers, are not equivalent to
the tithe of the evils that necessarily attend

the system, and it is as real friends to the labouring
population that we earnestly entreat them to eschew,
henceforward and for ever, all illegal confederacies
and trade clubs, that must be productive of the
greatest misery to themselves. I
The complete and decisive victory gained by the
London
and North-Western directors during the
present triumph, and the success of the Eastern
Counties Board in, August last, must con-
vince railway d
Yee '
aeusnd: more
There especiallylongeren
gine-driv.rs an
intimidation are employees,
an -
firemen that the days of
any terror in a threatened' strikt." Its only effect,
s
is to consoli,late the power of the directors end to
enable them to get rid of the more inefficient nt and
worthless men, who are made examples
of
others from offending in like manner. Let
ttho deter
just consider the occurrences of the last ten days,men
and
they will see the utter inutility of their
proceeding
proceedings which were commenced without
any
adequate cause, for none had been imposed, but from
y
an absurd and unreasonable jealousy of their
employers. In their remonstrance they say, "it
is reported currently over the whole length of
the London and North-Western Railway, that on a
future occasion you will do all the injury you can to
your memorialists." And it is on such vague, silly,
and unfounded rumours that rational men, in the
enjoyment of comfortable wages, far more than could