The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-13 00:00:00

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authors would not prestune to foist upon their
ooreaudoetrary.garTblheedy. statements enot caricatures. of the
writetorn a narrow
spirit of sarcasm, and would take care
acquainted with their
them-
selves thoroughlymake
subjects.
They would no longer dare to launch ac
Atlantic a book that only proved their ownacross
egrthe
ignorance. Many would seek that field for tt
exercise of their talents, and most of them *mild
remember that the main body of their readers were
there, and not here. The influence would be felt
directly, and most beneficially. We have little
hesitation in stating that more injury has been
wrought to our friendly connection by English
authors than by politicians, or indeed any other class.
IVe hold that the main difficulty of the statesmen of
both countries to keep the peace between them has
arisen from English writing. It is one of the great
sources of evil that would be in the highest degree
judicious to remove, and this could be done most
effectually by establishing an international copy-
right. An English author naturally feels sore at
seeing the product of his brain pilfered. As the law
now stands the American market is a dead letter to
him. He may see an announcement in the Ame-
rican papers that his great work about to be pub-
lished will be issued at New York immediately on
receipt of the first copy. He knows that from the
one book will spring the thousands to be spread
not only over the whole American Continent, but
even over the colonies, and he cannot but feel that
both readers and publishers are defrauding him of
the results of his days and nights of toil. It is
highly improbable that a man so placed can enter..
tain sentiments of satisfaction. He writes for his
bread, and he finds more than half the loaf he has
earned snatched from him. Mr. TROLLOPE shows
that, although so injurious to authors, the system is
in no degree beneficial either to publishers or readers
in America. The man who holds the copyright
protected by law can calculate with a degree of
certainty on what the circulation will be, what the
cost of an edition, and he can easily, therefore, tell
what he can afford to pay the author. By working
with this certainty he can produce the book cheaper
for the reading public than when embarking in the
speculation of publishing with he cannot tell how
many competitors. " The true interest," says Mr.
TROLLOPE, "of international literature between,
" England and America is altogether antagonistic
"to the present system. It stands to reason that
" a certified property in copyright gust enable the
" publishing proprietor of that copyright to do more
"in the way of cheap selling than can be done by
" the unsteady hold of their precarious adventures,
" which the American booksellers now possess. I
" have never met an American publisher who has
"not professed himself to be in favour of interna-
" tioual copyright." Although at the present time
the establishment of an international law, protecting
copyrights, might be held to be a concession on the
part of America to England, the tendency of time
is to equalise the merit and number of authors in both
countries, and may perhaps hereafter give the balance
of the advantage to America. At present their great
authors would benefit largely, and on the whole an
incentive would be given as much to the authors of
America as to those of England. Natural talent in
America, for which something has to be paid, must
work at a disadvantage, if it has to compete against
Eaondgliiishthtealseynette, fmor
whichwhichmnro.thi'ißnoLOPE desires is
gLhas to be paid
beneficial in giving cheap literature to readers, it
must act most injuriously against American writers.
It is hardly probable that an American publisher
would pay a fairly remunerative price to an Ame-
rican author, if he can " crib " from an English
author as good or a better book for nothing. The
true policy is to make the fields one, and to let all
corners enter on equal terms.