The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. I
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—When Sir Robert Peel prescribed the
bitter pill of the income tax, he offered the tariff as
a lump of sugar to be taken with or immediately after
it ; and it is therefore desirable to know—first,
whether we are to have the tariff in its promised
shape ; and secondly, whether, when it is obtained,
it will prove a corrective to the nausea occasioned by
the measure with which it is accompanied. Th 3
question was pertinently put to Sir Robert Peel,
whether " it had crossed his mind" to postpone the
consideration of the tariff? And the Premier replied
that it had not ; though he added, that as " many
important interests would be seriously affected by the
alterations proposed, it was considered but just to give
the parties an opportunity to have the subject duly
weighed before the measure was introduced, in order
that the tariff might undergo such changes as circum-
stances seemed to demand: The Premier is at present
the Tory oracle, and he keeps up the oracular charac-
ter extremely well, as far as ambiguity is concerned,
for the celebrated
Aio, to 2Eacide Romanos vincere posse,
was no more calculated to puzzle the son of 2-acus, as
to whether the Romans should conquer him or he the
Romans, than is the answer of Sir Robert well adapted
to encourage the people who ask for cheap food, or to
sustain the hopes of the monopolists. Allowing that
the tariff would be a boon to the masses, it is yet
very problematical, from the Premier's declaration on
Monday night, whether the nation is to have the full
benefit of it in the shape in which it was at first pro-
posed, or whether, in consideration to the " important
interests that are seriously affected by it,' such
changes are to be made as will protect the agricul-
tural, at the expense of the general interest. It is diffi-
cult to say whether the modifications he is willing
to make will be in a right or a wrong direCtion, with
regard to their effect on the public good ; his observa-
tions of Tuesday night may be designed either to
cajole the landed interest into a belief that he intends
to maintain much of the monopoly that the tariff
would have partly broken down, or, in the event of
his eventually succumbing to the party that still
keeps the sword suspended over his head, he may in-
tend to refer the country hereafter to the declaration
made last night as a proof of his consistency.
STANDARD.—The House was for the greater
part of the evening occupied in Committee upon Lord
Mahon's " Copyright Bill." Upon the reading of the
third clause as follows :
"That the copyright in every book which shall, after
the passing of this Act, be published in the lifetime of its
author, shall endure for the natural life of such author,
and for the further term of 25 years, commen.ing at the
time of his death, and shall be the property of such
author and his assigns : Provided always, That in no
case shall the whole term be less than 28 years ; and
that the copyright in every book which shall be published
after the death of its author shall endure for the term of
30 years from the first publication thereof; end shall be
the property of the proprietor of the manuscript from
which such book shall be first published and his assigns."
Lord Mahon addressed the House at considerable
length, and with great force. llis Lordship replied
to most of the arguments which had been ad-
vanced against a similar measure when proposed
by Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, particularly to the pre-
tence that the suppression of valuable books might
be the effect of allowing a longer enjoyment
of copyright, showing that the danger supposed
to be threatened to Richardson's works, for
example, amounted to no more than this—that a
pious clergyman, a descendant of the novelist,
had declared that he had never read the
works of his ancestor, or any other works of the
same class. This was conclusive as to the particular
objection ; but we think that Lord Mahon migti
have gone a great deal further. If D. Inan's
books are in any sense his property, ti...te public
has no more right to inquire whet.ier he shall
vo actor, or a favouriteurite
use it, or squander it, or lock it up, than
it has to control his mode of disposing of
any
to forbidotherprola)erly —no more right than it
has
fiddler or singer to retire from his profession ; such
tyrannical prohibitions, by the way, were among
the earliest subjects of complaint against the tyrant
Roman Emperors. The case, is, however, really
worse as regards books. Men may for the best rea-
sons wish to extinguish for ever the memory of books
which, surviving them, may cause them, as it were,
"to sin in their graves." Theodore Reza wrote licen-
tious verses in his youth : can there be a doubt that
that good man, as he afterwards became, would "in
dying wish to blot" out these licentious verses ? But
this he could not do, without having over them the
right of an absolute proprietor.