The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-18 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.

OXF an, OCT. 17.—The Camden Professor of An-
cient History (Dr. Cardwell) will begin on Tuesday
next, at one o'clock, a course of lectures on the Ro-
mans of the second century and in Britain, consisting
of dissertations on their manners, finance, jurispru-
dence, public works, &c., and on the introduction of
Christianity into Britain.
The lectures will be delivered in the Clarendon on
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and are free of
admission to members of the University.
The Savilian Professor of Astronomy (Mr. W. F.
Donkin, M.A.) proposes to begin a course of lectures
on Tuesday next, the 22d instant, at two o'clock.
The Deputy Reader in Geology will deliver a
course of abut twelve lectures during the present
Term, at the Clarendon Building. The lectures will
commence on Tuesday, the 22d instant, at one
o'clock, and will be continued on Tuesdays, Thurs-
days, and Saturdays, at the same hour. Tne intro-
ductory lecture will be open to all members of the
University.

[ADVERTISEMENT.]
MESSES. HARDING and Co., 81, Pall-mall, beg. to
intimate to the public that, in consequence of the rebuilding
of their premises, it has become imperative on them to
dispose of the whole of their valuable Stock, which they
have deterinined to offer for immediate Sale at a very con-
siderable reduction of price. Messrs. 13. and Co. offer to Ste
public the assurance that the sale thus announced is bona
.fide. Their entir. Stock, consisting of Silks, Ribbons, Lace,
Em
ec Embroidery,
Selection,Shadie,Sc aorfvtiiilinlosal;.
foArlaanlitloesf,
wGhloivcehs,thaenidr
the
e,tabli-liment is so ea inenti) utztiaguished, will be unre-
servedly subjected to the reduction. The Sale commenced
period.
yesterday, the 10th October, to be continued
wa
aati
and
dlefiod
vat:f:re
A wetting cf plastetete was held the other evenin
theN
rrliaenf.
osftsteheet,li widowu
their fellow-Workmen, who came, as alleged, by his death
through the injuries he received at the hands of •
subscription btshceri
pl;:iiocntofro3;,
Ili ( stalled in the public journals. The sum a policeman,
of 'Bl 16e. Was
collected for the widow, and a subscription w *
for the purpose of prosecuting the policeman. ascommenced
to raise
l dlriarmei sniet limited

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LONDON, FRIDAY. OCTOBER 18, 1850.

Mr. CLII,PIikSL, the historian of the law of patents,
should be afforded an opportunity of appending a
supplementary chapter to his masterly work on this
department of our jurisprudence—a chapter record-
ing the triumph of the reforms so long and earnestly
required. Were it possible, we should rejoice to
witness the interposition of the Legislature in behalf
of scientific inventors prior to next year's great
Industrial Exhibition. A suggestion to this effect,
made by an intelligent correspondent of one of our
morning contemporaries, has revived to our remem-
brance an et long the subject of our most
serious consideration, and the almost simultaneous
appearance of a congenial article in the weekly organ
of CuwarAs picsEsts tends to emphasise a necessity
now for a very considerable time recognised. The
pernicious Influence of the present system has been
altogether too long and too painfully experienced to
admit of much cavil or incredulity. Insomuch have
these ill-effects been perceptible that an effort was
made in the Upper House of Parliament to ameliorate
in some metsare the condition of so large and intel-
ligent a portion of the community as that of the con-
trivers of chemical and mechanical inventions. In the
Act for the Provisional Regis'ration of Designs it
was provided by the Lords that inventions hitherto
only prot,,etible by letters patent, should, according to
certain arrangements, be likewise rendered subjects
capable of registration. Unf ztunately the endeavour
proved abortive. Through the obstinite refusal. of
•
the Commons to comply with the prniiosal s2nctioned
by the Lords, patentable inventions were precluded
from the advantage of being provisionally registered.
The consequence of all this is ,obviously disastrous.
Either the public must be the Atifferers or the inven-
tor. Either (trough the inctipability of securing to
himself a certain advantage from the results of
his own ingenuity by reason of the costliness of
the required expenditure), the would-be patentee

is compelled to abandon the idea of publishing his
design, and is thereby inflicting an injury upon the
public, that might otherwise have benefited from his
powers of constructiveness ; or (through the same
lamentable and sometimes insurmountable difficulty)
the unfortunate inventor is induced to reveal the na-
ture of his design without previously securing to
himself a sort of copyright possession in it, and is
thereby doomed to witness the proceeds of his own
skill enriching others without bringing to himself
anything more substantial than a barren celebrity.
The alternative is to the last degree deplorable, and is
unfortunately but of too frequent occurrence.
Some adequate conjecture may be formed of the
exorbitant charges levied upon all those ingenious
men wbo are for protecting under letters patent their
chemical or mechanical inventions-some conjecture,
we say, may be formed of these exorbitant and un-
conscionable charges from the graphic picture just
given in the miscellany of the distinguished writer
before mentioned. The paper from which we are
about to extract an epitomized quotation is entitled,
simply but suggestively enough, "A Poor Man's
Tale of a Patent," and recounts in the following manner
the fees and stamp taxes, which gradually swell into
a sum such as many find, when too late, to be alto-
gether ruinous. "After a deal of trouble," says the
poor mechanic who gives a history of his misfortunes,
I found out a Master in Southampton-buildings,
Chancery-lane, nigh Temple-bar, where I made the
declaration, and paid 18d. I was told to take the de-
claration and petition to the Home-office, in White-
hall, where I left it to be signed by the Home Se-
cretary, and where I paid 21. 2s. 6d. In six days he
signed it, and I was told to take it to the Attorney-
General's chambers, and leave it there for a report.
I did so, and paid 4/. 4s. The Attorney-General
made what they called a report of course, and
I was sent back with it to the Home-
office. They made a copy of it, which was
called a warrant. For this warrant I paid 71.135. 6d.
It was sent to the QUEEN to sign. The QUEEN sent
it back signed. The Home Secretary signed it again.
The gentleman throwed it at me when I called, and
said, Now take it to the Patent-office, in Lincoln's
Inn.' At the Patent-office, in Lincoln's Inn, they
made a draught of the QUEEN'S bill" of my inven-
tion, and a docket of the bill.' I paid 51. 103. 6d.
for this. They ' engrossed two copies of the bill,
one fur the Signet-office and one for the Privy Seal-
office.' I paid 11. 7s. 6d. for this. Stamp duty over
and above, 31. The engrossing clerk of the same
office engrossed the QUEEN'S bill for signature. I
paid him 1/. 13. Stamp duty again, 1/. 103. I was
next to take the QUEEN'S bill to the Attorney-Gene-
ral again, and get it signed again. I took it, and paid
51. more. I fetched it away, and took it to the Home
Secretary again. He sent it to the QUEEN again. She
signed it again. I paid 7/. 13s. Gd. more for this.
But I hadn't nigh done yet. The QUEEN'S bill was
to be took to the Signet-office in Somerset. house,
Strand, where the stamp shop is. The Clerk of the
Signet made a Signet Bill for the Lord Keeper of the
Privy Seal.' I paid him 4/. 7e. The Clerk of the
Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal made a Privy Seal
bill for the Lord Chancellor.' I paid him 41 2s. The
Privy Seal bill was handed over to the Clerk of the
Patents, who engrossed the aforesaid. I paid him
Si. 17s. Bd. ; at the same time I paid stamp duty for
the patent, in one lump, 301. I next paid him for
boxes for the patent,' 9s. Gd. I next paid 'fees to
the Deputy, the Lord Chancellor's Purse-bearer,' 2/.
2s. I next paid, fees to the clerk of the Hanaper,
71. 13s. I next paid fees to the Deputy Clerk of
the Hanaper,' 10e. I next paid to the Lord Chancellor
again 1/. 1 Is. 6d. Last of all I paid ' fees to the
Deputy Sealer and Deputy Chaff Wax,' 105. 6d."
Thus, says he, in conclusion, " the unopposed patent
for my invention, for England only, had cost me
961. 7s. Bd. If I bad taken it out for the United
Kingdom, it would have cost me more than 3001."
From this homely catalogue of the expenses in-
curred by the more speculative class of discoverers, it
will be seen how gross and extortionate in its cha-
racter is the existing plan of arrangement. Nor can
a syllable be uttered in its defence on the plea that the
majority of these charges go to swell the amount of
the national revenue. For this they do not. In-
stead of benefiting the Exchequer, they only drop
into the pockets of the different underlings. They
are the sops to the Cerberi of the law. They are
bribes of the most transparent kind, or rather fees and
bonuses equivalent to the " one thousand thanks" of the
advertiser. Against them the indignant fiat of the
Legislature should be pronounced. For, while they
ruin, or at the least grievously embarrass, the in-
ventor, while they perpetuate a rotten and pernicious
system of things, a system directly opposed to all
ideas of justice, and injurious to the cause of public
morality, so far from securing any advantage to the
revenue, they affect it only in the way of its diminu-
tion. Upon this head we are satisfied. We are
satisfied as surely as we are upon the propriety and
policy of diminishing the charge of postage,
and of decreasing the amounts of impost
levied on our importations and exportations. Of the
advantage of this moderating scheme of expense the
tariff of Sir ROBERT PEEL and the penny postage of
Mr. ROWLAND HILL are brilliant illustrations. As
we have witnessed in reference to those two glorious
innovations, so we are convinced it would be were a
similar plan adopted in regard to the patenting of
scientific inventions. Diminish the scale of charges
and the revenue derived from this source
would be very soon conspicuously swelled
by the increase of applicants for such kind of
intellectual protection. Let the sums requisite for
the purchase of letters patent be restricted simply to
the discharge of a moderate stamp tax, and to the
payment of the costs of a specification (abolishing en
,masse the whole of those iniquitous fees), and the
beneficial result of the change would be speedily per-
ceptible. The revenues of the country would be in-
creased instead of being diminished ; the public would
be benefited by the speedier acquisition of new in•
ventions in matters affecting their comfort or conve-
nience, while the inventors themselves, in lieu of
paying, as heretofore, a sort of penalty for their in-
genuity, would receive some portion at least of
the rewards to which they are most indisputably
entitled.

When a few years since the amended Irish Poor-
law was carried through Parliament by large and
overwhelming majorities, it was reasonably antici-
pated that the nation would thenceforward be spared
the heartrending intelligence of human beings
perishing by the way-side of actual starvation. It
was said that the poverty of the country was at
length a charge upon its property, and that the
necessities of all should be provided for before any
thing was allocated to luxury or even comfort. It
might possibly occur, in extraordinary cases,
that persons unwilling to enrol themselves among
the pauper herd might linger on until
their constitution had become so greatly enfeebled
from inanition, that they could scarcely recover their
former health and strength, or that they might even
have died before they claimed or obtained the assist-
ance to which every destitute person is entitled in the
British isles. Such things have happened iu this
more favoured land, where a poor-law has been in
practical operation for three centuries, and would be
of course, still more probable in Ireland, where the
humane enactment had only been in force for three
years. But it could not be supposed that
when once a person had been admitted into
a workhouse, when his claims to support and mainte-
nance were recognized, that he could, under any
possible combination of circumstances, be suffered to
die from want of the commonest necessaries of ex-
istence, a sufficient supply of the coarsest and cheapest
food. That such is the fact has, however, been
proved beyond the possibility of doubt by the evi-
dence taken before the coroner of the county of Clare
and a jury empannelled to inquire into the circum-
stances attending the death of an unfortunate child,
named bErsis KEARSg, which the verdict declared to
have been occasioned "by exhaustion from want offood
and exposure to cold, and from the neglect of the
officers connected with the present house and auxiliary
house at Afiltown, together with the neglect of the Batty-
voughan guardians."

Such a decision is sufficiently startling to demand
the closest and most stringent inquiry, not merely into
the particular circumstances of that melancholy case,
but into the practical administration of the law which
ivid led to such untoward results. The verdict above
alluded to would, OR this side of St. George's
Channel, be considered equivalent to one

of manslaughter, and a warrant would have
been immediately issued for the apprehension
of the parties implicated, who would have had to
answer before a judge of the land and a jury of their
countrymen for their conduct. It does not, however,
appear that any step has yet been taken to bring the
offenders to justice, or to teach other boards of
guardians and their subordinates the salutary and
much-required lesson, that the lives of her MAJESTY'S
subjects are not to be sacrificed with impunity, and
that even pauper children are not placed beyond the
pale of the law's protection.
The evidence showed that the principal workhouse of
the Ballyvoughan Union is situated at Ennistymon,
and that there is an auxiliary establishment at Miltown
Malbray, a distance of seven Irish miles, or rather
more than nine English miles—the Irish mile being
2,240 yards, while the English is but 1,760. The
inmates of the Miltown establishment consisted
chiefly of children from .5 to 14 years of age, and
there were also a few adults, male and female. The
Ballyvoughan guardians desired to inspect the entire
body of paupers for the purpose of deciding on their
chargeability, and accordingly an edict went forth,
that all paupers not sick were to appear at the En-
❑istymon workhouse on Monday,the 30zh September.
Nothing was thought of the sufferings that would be
encountered by the miserable herd in journeying to
and fro. No provision was made for food on the
road, nor was it taken into consideration how children
of five or six years of age, whose strength had been
previously reduced to the utmost degree, could walk
more than eighteen miles on a bleak cold day, and
that without anything to nourish or sustain them on
their painful journey. It was sufficient that
the august board desired it, and no alter-
native remained. There is no such word as " im-
possibility " in the vocabulary of these excellent
personages. In accordance with the irrevocable fiat,
the wretched party, consisting of fourteen men, three
women, and eighty-fire boys, varying from five
to fourteen years of age, set out on their weary
pilgrimage. Having received an early breakfast, if a
few spoonfuls of thin stirabout to each could be so
denominated, they started at a little after eight
o'clock in the morning, and reached their destination
between twelve and one o'clock, after something more
than four hours' toil. There they were " checked off,'
but no food or refreshment of any description was
given to the sinking travellers, it being the
opinion of the erudite clerk to the board
of guardians that " the law does not allow paupers to
be fed in the parent house, nor anywhere except in the
house where they are located." The funds of the
union received the benefit of the legal doubt, and
nothing whatsoever was given. The wretched
children were kept on parade until between five and
six o'clock in the evening, and were then dismissed on
what the porter of the workhouse describ?d to be
" a hard, cold, dark night," to return to their cheer-
ful abode at Miltown.

It may easily be anticipated that many of the
parties began to fail on their homeward route. The
porter was obliged to take two of the boys in his
arms, and to leave them at a house on the road until
the next morning, when a horse and car were sent
for them. But all were not so fortunate. A person
named SLATTERY, returning to Miltown from
Ennistymon fair, encountered the ghastly crew.
Lie first met a man against the wall at Raneen-hill,
on the side of the road, who said "he was weak and
not able to walk." Another, a little further on,
declared "his sight was darkening, he was so
weak from hunger." He then met a number of
boys, and asked if they were able to walk home;
''some were, and some were weak." A sheaf of
beans, purloined from a neighbouring field
most probably enabled several of the party to reach
their destination. Again, be overtook three boys—
two of them endeavouring to bring on the third, who was
not able to walk. SLATTERY took " the little boy that
was weak by the arm, and led him along ;" but
speedily one of those, who had endeavoured to sus-
tain his comrade told him that "he was falling
dead with weakness." His road lay in a different
direction, and he let the boys he had been holding
go, when he heard a cry, and he again went forward
out of his way to assist them. Before him was poor DENIS
KEARNE staggering forward, he fell violently against
a wall and was dead before he could be raised up.
Re lay on the spot where he had fallen for the night,
not being missed until "roll call" the next morning.
Between nine and ten the survivors reached the
workhouse, and the porter, ITENNESEY, declares that
" but for the exertions of Miss SHINE (the matron)
more of them would have died." On the postmortem
examination no particle of food was found in poor
KEARNE'S stomach, and the medical gentleman de-
clared that "death was caused from inanition." Such
Are the facts of this ts ingular ly painful and distressing
case, facts which are sufficient to excite the indigna-
tion of every parent, of every man of ordinary hu-
manity in the British dominions, and to imperiously-
demand a Parliamentary investigation into the work-
ing of the Lich Poor-law.

[HE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The different parties into which France is divided
are evidently girding themselves for the conflict which
it appears must inevitably take place at the meeting
of the Assembly.
In the Pouvoir M. GRANTER DE CASSAGNAC (ex-
writer of all-work to M. GUIZOT, but now the obe-
dient, humble servant of the existing " Powers that
be") declares war irreconcileable against the Legiti-
matists, whom he accuses of having brought about
the revolution of February, 1848, and of having been
engaged for the last twenty years in one continued
conspiracy to render all order and government itn-
possible. There can he no doubt of the truth of the
latter accusation. M. GRANIER DE CASSAGNAC,
from his former intimate relations with the
party he now accuses, may perhaps be
in a position to throw some light upon
the causes which led to the outbreak against
the Republic in June, 1848, and to state who were
the real chiefs of that movement, and from what
quarter the funds were supplied. The Legitimatists
are not one whit less vehement in their denunciations
of the Imperialists, and the Opinion Publique, speak-
ing in the name of the Legitimatist party, declares
that the proposition " for the prolongation of the
powers of the PRESIDENT is a ruinous absurdity,
which no one thinks of entertaining," and that on
this subject there is no difference of opinion among
the Legitimatists. The Opinion Publique, however,
does not tell us whether or no MM. DR MONTALEM•
BERT and DE FALLOUY are to be considered
any longer as Legitimatists. In the mean-
time, the PRESIDENT iS playing his cards
with great tact, and never suffers the
slightest opportunity of acquiring personal popu-
larity to escape bins. On Wednesday as he was
riding, unaccompanied by any escort along the
Champs Elysees, a man followed him holding a
paper in his band. The PRESIDENT held out his
hand to receive the petition but missed it, and the
paper fell to the ground. The PRESIDENT at once
drew up, and stopped still until the man handed it to
him. There were numbers of people present who
saw the act, and shouts were raised of " Vive Napo-
leon !" " Vive le President !" which followed him
nearly to the Elys6e. Among the cries were several
of " Vive l'Empereur I"
The Patric publishes an article signed by M.
DELAMARRE, the proprietor of the jsurnal, pledging
suppert to any proposition for prolonging the powers
of the PRESIDENT.
The Gazette de France states that Don CARLOS is
seriously ill at Froshdorff. In the same journal we
find the following:—
" A courier has been dispatched to-day from the
Foreign-office with dispatches to the French ambassa-
dor at the Court of Denmark. Like those which were
}•esterday sent to our ambassador at St. Potersburgh„
sthteln
, yhaand have
tfoorths object
theyhe Pwail d
e fieeamtil ofth the ratification übly.
Denmark of the project of a treaty entered into between.
France and Russia, a treaty to which M. Fialin de Per-
signy has hek n charged to obtain the consent of Prussia."
The Moniteur publishes a decree signed by the
PRESIDENT of the Republic, opening the Custom-
house of Bailleul, in the department of the North, for
the importation and exportation of grain and flour.
The Evenement states that at the meeting of the
Committee of Permanence to be held on Thursday,
and at which M. Dueler is to preside, some questions
are to be addressed to the Ministers. It says further,
that at a Cabinet Council held at the Ely6e on Wed-
nesday it was arranged that M. BAROCHE, the Mi-
nister of the Interior, should attend the Committee
PARIS BOURSE, OCT. 17.—Latest Prices.—Five per
Cents., 92f. 10c. ; Three per Cents , 55f. 55c. ;
Bank Actions, 2,310 f.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, Ocr. 17.
Boulogne and Amiens, B%—Dutch Rhenish, 314—Namur
and Liege, B—Northern of Prance, 14%—Orleans and Bor-
deaux, 2%—Paris and Strasbourg, 75,5.

" THE DECLINE OF ENGLAND."—We only know
one instance, and that is, England's declining to buy DI.
Lenz Rollin's book.