The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING JANUARY 30, 1856,

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,pavement of the infernal regions bad received a vast au_
cumulation of material during the past two or three
years, considering the expression of feeling, and passing

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resolutions at public meetings, and the perpetual under-
current of diplomacy, which he illustrated by re-
ferring to the meetings that had been held declar-
ing the war should be carried on with vigour, whilst

Lord Clarendon (who acted under orders the same as
Lord Stratford de Redclitfu) was acting as a diplomatist
in a contrary direction. The only resolution that should
be on their lips and in their hearts was "impeachment."
(Cheers.)
The CHAIM/IN then pat the resolution above moved
to the meeting, when Mr. 'Millen again came forward to
move an amendment, and was favourably received at
first.

Mr. FINLEN said he went heart and soul with the

spirit of the meeting, and agreed with the resolution so
far as it went. What he held in his hand he had sub-
mitted to the gentlemen who had called the meeting,
and asked them to attach it to the resolution as an ad-
denda, but, as they had demurred, he submitted it to
the meeting. It was as follows :—" That this meeting
has no hopes that any indemnity for the expenses of war
will be exacted from Russia, or that the terms of peace
which England ought to accept will be agreed on unless
the Ministers who have entered on the present nogotia-
tions are deprived of office and impeached. (Loud and
continued cheers.) The time had now come when they
should do something that would have a positive and
advantageous effect. Now that England was placed in
a critical position—now that her honour and martial
fame were alike both exposed to jeopardy--when the
men of England could witness their country likely to
become -humiliated by her Ministers, it was time that the
great body of the men of England, who made England,
worked for England, and supported England in times of
peace and in times of war, should speak out. The
English people bad made sacrifices to have Turkey con-
served, and the Russian power humbled, but now, at
the end of twe years' hard fighting, they found strange
terms proposed, and they were urged to conclude peace
in keeping with the honour of the Russian Czar, and
the interests of the Russian people. (Cries of " Shame.")
They went to war to preserve Turkey, which had been
jeopardised by the policy of Russia, and he did not
think that in considering the terms of peace they should
consider whether they were advantageous to England,
but whether they had procured for Turkey the object
for which they went to war. (Cheers.) Alexander II
was a criminal at the' bar of public' opinion, and
let the people gi►e their verdict without asking the
Czar what would please him, and be compatible
with his honour. (Cheerx,)-- The Czar had trespassed
as a burglar on the possessions of Turkey, and wished
to appropriate the property of another to himself. He
was, therefore, a burglar—an Imperial one if they
pleased. (Cheers.) Ministers were about to have an
interregnum which was likely to be disadvantageous to
this country, and the men who could countenance such
a thing ought to be outlaived. (Cheers.) Already had
100,000 men fallen in the Crimea by the doings of English
Russians, Lord Aberdeen, Lord Palmerston, and
others, and it was time to prevent its repetition.
(Cheers.) After some further remarks he moved the
amendment.

The CHAIRMAN then came forward and said, as this
was a meeting of the people of Westminster, it had
been decided that none but inhabitants should speak. A
gentleman named Hart bad expressed a wish to address
the meeting ; he therefore wished to know if it was
not their wish he should proceed. The assent of the
meeting having been given,
Mr. Hata came forward to second the amendment.
In doing so, he asserted that industry should be re-
solutely insisted on. Impeachment had been mentioned,
and he thought very justly. The terms of peace themselves
furnished a reason why the Ministers should be im-
peached. What did those terms admit of ? Why, that
the Principalities should be allowed to fortify themselves
against Turkey. Would the people of this country.
who took a king into the open court, tried him,
took him to the block, and rolled his head on
the scaffold, now shrink from impeaching those
who had committed worse crimes. (Loud cries of
"Treason.") Trial, verdict, sentence, and execution
should follow close upon One another. (Immense
cheering.) The terms of peace now about to be sub-
mitted to were Russia's -own, submitted to this great
country by her English Rusaiau agents. (Immense
cheering.) The neutralisation of the Black Sea—what
does it mean ? Why, that sea as far as Russia
is concerned is neutralised already, but the real
meaning was that it should be neutralised as
far as regarded Turkey—it meant nothing else than
that npvvards of 2,00 miles of Circassian coast should be
given to Russia. (Cries of" blear, hear," " That's it,
that's it.") The speaker,then detailed the proceedings
of the British army on its first arrival at Gallipoli. They
never knew, he said, till Sir G. Brown told them, that
the troops went there to protect Turkey. What had
they been landed at Gallipoli for ? Why, it was like
landing troops at the most remote part of the British
coast, and fortifying York, for the protection 'of
London. (Laughter.) At the time the troops were first
sent out it wig strongly urged upon the Government to
avoid the valley of the Devna, as a plague spot. Colonel
Chesney and Omer Pacha both told the Government so ;
yet what did they do ? Why, they encamped the army
in that dreadful place, and the hundreds of graves that
were to be found there at the present moment were not
filled with Russians or Mahounnedans, but Englishmen
taken from amongst themselves. Ebglishrnel3, for whom
prayers had been said, tears shed, and the lamentable
English wail had gone forth. (Shame.) He said these
brave men had been murdered. (Tremendous cheers.)
He hoped the men of Westminster would this day be-
have themselves in such a manner as to show their rulers
that they still posiessad the spirit which led them on
to behead one who bad committed crimes equal
—not worse—than those perpetrated by their present
rulers. (Immense applause.)
Mr. JAMES COBBETT, M. P., said there were two re-
markable circumstances amongst the many hundred
connected with this war, which were that a late Minis-
ter, a few months since, admitted that we were agreed
with our enemy Russia, but not with our ally Turkey ;
that it had been recently admitted, in what was sup
posed to be a Ministerial point, that no reason was de-
scribed for going to war other than that England
" drifted into war ;" but whether they drifted or
slipped into war head foremost or heels foremost was
immaterial, but it was evident they went to
war with their fists only half clenched and with quiver.
ing jaws.

Mr. W. J. O'CONNELL said he believed the Irish sol-
diers bad nobly done their duty in the Crimea. (Cheers.)
So strongly did he feel on the war that he wrote a letter
to Prince Albert, offering to raise an Irish regiment to
assist in the war. He was referred by his Royal High-
ness to the Commander-in-Chief, and the result was that
his offer was refused because it would interfere with
the Government raising a foreign legion. (Hear, bear.)
He stood there as an independent man, and he
warned them against setting a bad precedent that day,
by impeaching the Ministers of England. (Cries of
" Shame," and hisses.)
Four or five gentlemen came forward to address the
assembly, when the Chairman appealed to the meeting
to decide whether they should be heard, or the resolution
put to the meeting. Some confusion arose, and one of
the gentlemen persisted in addressing the meeting
amidst cries of "Sit down," &c. After gesticulating for
some time he retired, when the Chairman pro-
ceeded to put the resolution and amendment to
the meeting amidst cries of " Amendment, amendment
only." At length the demand of the meeting was coin-
plied with, and the amendment was put and carried
amidst the most ♦ociferous cheering and waving of hats
and handkerchiefs. The original resolution was conse-
quently abandoned.
A vote of thanks was then given to the chairman,
and the proceedings terminated.

THE QUARTERLIES,

The .National Revleiv. No. 111.

The queerest oddity of a critic has penned the
opening contribution to the third number of this
new quarterly—the Nationa/. A biographical
paper upon "Edward Gibbon," beginning with
these words—" Papa, I wish I was the Roman
Empire !" Going on to tell us that the paternal
property descending to the historian was " enor-
mously less than 140,0001." Describing Gibbon's
riother rather unpleasantly as "a faint inoffensive
woman." Talking of Mr. Burke as "the Cobden
of that ere—the ,Cobden, for ooth ! And with
similar running ;commentaries of absurdity recount-
ing the principal events which transpired during
the career of Edward Gibbon, from his birth ou the
27th of April, 1737, to his .death on the 16th of
January, 1794--conspicuous among those events,
of course, the iscue, in the spring of 1776, of the
first volume of his immortal " Decline and Fall"—
a quarto, one-sixth of the whole famous master-
piece. Another contribution to the National in-
dulges its readers with a disquisition upon " The
Present State of France," through the which many
oracular words of advice are vouchsafe(' to the
third Napoleon for his future guidance ! Mr.
Arthur He by his two recent volumes about
"The SpanisliVonquest in America," has suggested
to yet another reviewer the subject of a rather in-
teresting chapter upon an epoch in history always
fraught to us with a peculiar fascination. The
account given in a separate article relating to the
" Life and Writings of Dr. Thomas Young" is
truly marvellous revealing that gifted man to
us as another Admirable Crichton in his way, a
veritable paragon, a phenomenon of most varied
learning and accomplishment—philosopher, dis-
coverer, experimentalist, astronomer, electrician,
linguist, equestrian (after the manner of Ducrow),
tight-rope dancer (after that of Madame Sacqui),
chemist, optician, metaphysician, archaeologist,
geographer, antiquary, Harlequin ! Such were
among a few of the characters sustained, and all
of them admirably sustained, at intervals by Dr.
Thomas Young during his extended and remark-
able life from June 13, 1773, wheii he was born at
Milverton, in Somersetshire, to the date of his
lamented decease, shortly after which his _Wage was
pronounced by M. Arago. Besides an essay on
" Atheism," and another on " Phoenicia," the
_National contains an ingenious argument upon
" Foreign Policy and the. next Campaiyn ! " and,
all things considered, one of the justest and
shrewdest criticisms yet written upon the genius of
" W. M. Thackeray"—viewing that great writer
at once as an Artist and as a Moralist.

LA W ITELLIGENCE.—Jan. 29.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

SHENIERD AND ANOTHER V. CONQUEST--3NFEINGniENT

OF DRAMATIC COPTRIGHT-JUDGMENT.

The plaintiffs in this case are the proprietors of the
Surrey Theatre, and the defendant owns the Grecian
Saloon, in the City-road. The action was brought to
recover penalties in consequence of the defendant having
without the consent of the plaintiffs, caused to be repre-
sented at the Grecian Saloon a piece called " (lid Joe and
Young Joe," of which the plaintiffs claimed the copy-
right. At the trial a verdict was found for the plaintiffs,
but subsequently a rule was obtained to enter a nonsuit,
and the matter having been argued at some length, the
Court took time to consider it.

The Chief Justice now gave judgment. Ile said that
it appeared that the plaintiffs had agreed by word
of mouth with a Mr. Courtney, that he should go to
Paris to adapt pieces there in vogue for the English
stage : that they should pay all Courtney's expenses, and
should acquire the right of representing the piece so
produced in London, Mr. Courtney retaining the right
of representation in the provinces. Mr. Courtney pro-
ceeded to Paris, and produced the piece in question,
which was brought out by the plaintiffs at the Surrey
Theatre, and afterwards at the Grecian Saloon, by the
defendant, who had obtained an asslgnneent from Court
ney, aid the question was, whether the plaintiffs, by
the transaction hetvreen them and Courtney, became
entitled to the sole right of representation in London,
'so as to be able to maintain this action. That depended
au the construction of the 3d and 4th William IV., cap.
15, which conferred on the author of any drainatic
piece the right of representation in any part of the king-
dom, and gave to the author or other proprietor of the
copyright, a right of action against any person who
should, contrary to the act, represent or cause to be re•
presented, without the sanction of the author or ether
proprietor, any such production ae aforesaid, or any part
thereof. It could not be successfully contended for the
plaintiff's that the copyright could be assigned without
writing. and there was no assignment in wriVag in this
case. The plaintiffs bad no copyright., therefore, unless it
could be established that theyßiad it by reason of the rela-
tion between them and Courtney, and that the copyright
rested iu them from the moment when the piece was com•
posed. Accordingly it was contended that Courtney was
merely their servant, and that the proiiuce of his talent
became the property of his masters at the moment of pro-
duction ; and the case was likened to that of a patent in-
ventioe, in which the invention of a servant might be
adopted by Lis master, and incorporated into his own tie-
sign, without detracting from its originality. It had been
said that the case of an author stood on other grounds,
and that the intention of the Legislature was to elevate
literary men, and that such an inteetien could only be
effected by holding that the author was the proprietor of
the copyright, and that no relation between him and his
employer, who took no part in the production of the
work, could vest the copyright of the production in the
employer. The rights of authors and inventors were
both creatures of the statute; but they were of a diffe-
rent kind. A person who imported from abroad an in-
vention was entitled to obtain a patent, but a person
who first reprinted a valuable foreign work, though he
employed his mind in the translation, could not acquire
the title of author within the statutes asleting to copy-
right. He did not wish to exprees an opinion whether,
under any circumstances, the copyright (la literary work,
or the right of representation could become vested in the
employer, who was some person other than the person
who composed the work. In the present case, no such
effect could be produced, for here the employer merely
suggested the subject, and the whole resuit was pro-
duced by the mind of the person employed. It appeared
an abuse of terms to say that an employer WAS the au-
thor of a work to which his mind had not contributed a
single idea, and they could net bring theraselves to any
other conclusion than that Courtney was the person
who made the adaptation, and who had acquired for
himself the right of-an author, and it would he to give a
new character to the word -" author" to hold otherwise.
That being so, and in:venue% as there wa,s no st-6signmeut,
in writing of Courtney's right to the plaintiffe, they could
not maintain this action.
Rule for a nonsuit absolute.