The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-07 00:00:00

tern of patronage. Wycherly and ' Congreve both
held sinecures ; and Pope, although prevented by
the laws against Catholics from holding any
office under the Crown, yet received a pension from
Secretary Craggs out of the secret service money.
This system of patronage ended under the ad-
ministration of Sir R. Walpole, who said to them
that the reading of books was an idle pastime, and that
no papers were worthy of respect, except those tied up
with red tape, and contained in an official pocket-book.
Sir Robert Walpole withheld all countenance from.
the interests of authors, and the consequence was that
a great many of them took a part against his adminis-
tration. When that administration was overthrown, a
reading public commenced, and then it was that the
question of copyright was brought under the consi-
deration of the public. In the reign of George
the Third the case of Donaldson v. Becket,
and other trials relating to copyright, came before
the tribunals, when it was decided by Chief Justice
Mansfield and Mr. Justice Williams, that according
to the common law of England, authors enjoyed a
perpetual copyright. That was the state of things by
the common law of England, but, in the reign of Queen
Anne, in the year 1709, the perpetual copyright
was inadvertently broken throngh. He said
inadvertantly, because the framers of the Act
had no such intention ; on the contrary, the intention
was to encourage learning, and to afford it the
greatest protection, but by the inadvertent introduc-
tion of three words the right was limited to fourteen
years. In 1735 an injunction had been obtained, re-
straining the publication of the " Whole Duty of Man;"
and in 1739 an injunction was granted, restraining the
publication of " Paradise Lost." The operation of the
Act of 1709 was not altered till 1774, when the subject
came before the Ilouse of Lords, who decided, by 6 to
5, that the operation of the Act of 1709 Jimited the
copyright to 14 years after the author's death, and to
the same extent of time if the author were dead. In the
year 1814 the present Act was passed, which extended
the copyright to 28 years. That was the law which he
sought to alter, as he did not think the term was suffi-
cient. He should observe, in the first place, that there
appeared to be an impression in some quarters
that authors had no claims to an extended
copyright ; the Hon. Member for Derby, for instance,
had argued that an • author was entitled to his work so
long only as it existed in his brain, and that after its
üblication he had no longer any exclusive right to it.
-lie rlard-Malion) entirely differed from that opi-
nion, and it appeared to him that an author was entitled
to the fruits of his labour as much as any other party.
Some men laboured with their hands, and others with
their minds, but in both eases the labour was equally de-
serving of reward—be was equally benefiting the public,
and equally entitled to the protection of th law. For
his part, he was at a loss to know upon what ground it
could be said that.a man who had reclaimed a field from
a waste was afterwards to be its possessor, while another
man was refused a right in those works of which
he was the author. Ile did not, indeed, claim for
writers a perpetual copyright any more than
he would claim for other parties a perpetual en-
tail for an estate ; but he did say that in such case
the right of property was equally just, equally un-
doubted, and should be held equally sacred. • There
were some, however, who, like his Right Hon. Friend
the Member for Edinburgh, while they admitted the ab-
stract right, thought that it should be restrained within
certain limits for the public good. He felt it his duty on
that occasion to allude to the speech made last year by,
his Right Hon. Friend, who had urged his views with
so much eloquence and ability, and who had produced
such an effect upon the House. He believed that the
main objection upon which his Right Hon. Friend re-
lied, while he admitted the just necessity of a copy-
right, was the possible risk of the suppression of works
by the authors heirs. His right Hon. Friend stated
that cases might occur in which the heirs of an author
would be disposed to suppress a work, in the continuance
of which the public were greatly interested ; and he had
given two instances in which that had actually occurred.
One of those instances was that of Boswell. I t
was said that Sir Alexander Boswell was ex-
tremely annoyed to see or hear any reference to
his father's acquaintance with Barwell, and that that
feeling induced him to desire the suppression of his
work. He quite admitted that there were some things in
the writings of Boswell which might create such a de-
sire in the mind of his son ; 'but, when thousands of
copies had already been published, how would it be pos-
sible to effect that object ? To guard, however, against
the possibility of suppression where continuance was
desirable, lie had inserted a clause, giving to the Privy,
Council a control over the publication. The opinion of
Dr. Johnson was in favour, if not of a perpetual, yet of a
very extended copyright ; he certainly was in favour of
extending it to a century. The present Bill considerably
diminished the amount of the time asked for last year.
Mr. Sergeant Talfourd asked for sixty years. He (Lord
M.) limited the claim to twenty-five years ,• but: that in
no case the whole terra should be less than • twenty-
eight years. However, he (Lord Mahon) did not
say the their former proposal was unjust.—(Hear.)
In speaking of the decision required on literary works,
he said that in the Council of the Royal Society with
regard to scientific works, and in the Antiquarian
Society with regard to'svorks of research there might be
something like such a tribunal, but still there was no
tribunal for every class of works. It might happen that
all the literary men of a period might be all on one side
in politics. In Scotland, for example, he was sorry to
say that all the political poetry of any merit whatever
was on the side of the Jacobites. How would it hi
possible in similar cases to secure a reputation of fair-
ness, and freedom from bias, towards their political
friends ? For the sake otpreeuring a reputation et' justice
they would sometimes become unjust, and give protec-
t tion to works that did not deserve it, in preference to
works that did. It was alleged as an objection to the
law of copyright that it had a tendency to make books
dear. That this would be the effect of copyrights ho
denied, but he thought that there was one class of works
in which it might have this effect—this was in popular
works requiring prints and maps to illustrate them.
' Expensive editions of works had entirely vanished ; but
he recollected the time when it was otherwise when, to
use the words of Sheridan, they saw " A rivulet of letter-
press meandering through a meadow of margin." If
they were agreed upon the principle that they ought to
adopt some means of more largely rewarding authors
than they at present were, he asked in what manner
could it be effected better than in the mode now proposed?
The reward would be thus fair and proportionate to the
merit. If there was no sale, there would be no profit ;
and if there was little sale, there would be little profit.
He would venture to assert that there was no case in
which there was no admiration for a book without some
degree of sympathy and kindness fur the author.; and
he did think that the great majority of readers to whom
the book would be increased twopence, or threepence.
or sixpence, would consider the payment as no hardship,
but rather as a boon, that they were enabled thus to con-
tribute to the independence and comforts of the authors.
There was another consideration to which he attached great
importance, and one which he thought pointed distinctly to
a considerable extension of the period being necessary,
and that was permanent applause. He thought it was of
great importance to induce authors to look to permanent
applause. There were periods in our history when no
man could deny that authors looked beyond their own
times, and raised their thoughts above the circumstances
surrounding them, and beyond the hopes of the present
time. He was most decidedly of opinion that the ephe-
meral productions of the present day did no good to
literature. They ought to hold out to authors some in-
ducement to look beyond the taste of the day, and to
labour to improve and correct it.—(Cheers.) On that
ground he urged the House to grant a period of at least
twenty-five years after the author's death, as he felt
satisfied that any shorter period would be insufficient.
He should not do his duty to the House if he did not
advert to the general feeling existing on this subject
throughout Europe. From Russia to Spain, either the
period of copyright had been extended, or attempts
had been made to extend it. In France the law gave a
copyright of twenty years after the death of an author
in the event of his leaving any kindred, and a period of
ten years absolutely. He had already alluded to the
eloquent report of that great poet and upright states-
man, M. do la Martine, and he would, with the
permission of the House, again quote from it.
That report stated that " France was more indebted
to the pencil of her artists and to the pen of her authors
for the.high station she held in Europe, than even to the
sword of her warriors. Should injustice be done to
those men ? No ! Let it be the part of France to take
the lead of Europe in this particular, and do justice
to her literary men." What M. de la Martine said of
France, he (Lord Mahon) would say of England—let
England take the lead of Europe, and be the first to
provide encouragement for her literary men by securing
to them a proper reward for their labours. It was well
known that the distresses of literary, men were peculi-
arly heart-rending and afflicting. The same sensibility
which enabled the author to attain to a high point of ex-
cellence in his work, served only to aggravate his suffer-
ings and embitter his situation. The same imagination that
empowered him to describe beautiful scenes, rendered him
the more unfit to contend with the harsh realities of life
—that same imagination which ever made him proud of
his honourable calling, even in his distress, and which
would have placed him in a different position in another
walk of life, was to him the greatest addition to his pain-
ful feelings in a lowly state.—(Hear.) That same power
which, as a manufacturer or merchant, would have
raised him high in the world, was actually turned against
him, and it had been said thatehis genius ought to be suf-
ficient for him of itself, and that he ought not to ask for
more.—(Hear, hear.) He was not drawing an imaginary
picture. He could name many eminent individuals as
illustrations to the contrary, but he would not. He
would spare their feelings ; but he trusted that those in-
dividuals would be present to the minds of Hon. Mem-
bers. Let them take care that in injuring the interests
of authors they were not also injuring the interests of
the nation. Ile would take, for example, such a work as
the " Life of Nelson." They might depend upon it
that that book had animated many a young sailor, and
encourae•ed him to the performance of great exploits.
They might depend upon it that many a 3oung heart
had been inspired by its perusal to betake himself from
the tasks of peaceful industry and to step forward
in defence of his country, under the influence of that
high feeling of enthusiasm and admiration which the
Work stirred up within him. He had just been informed
by his Right lion. Friend near him (Mr. C. Wynn) that
the instance he had supposed was not an imaginary one,
and that the eldest sun of no less a man than the late
Mr. Canning had been induced, by a perusal of the
work to which he had alluded, to enter the naval
service.—(llear, hear.) , Hei might state to the House,
that when Sergeant Itsf o rd had introduced his
Bill, out of the
Sergeant
classes interested in the subject—
viz., the authors,
the publishers, the printers, and the
stationers, three of those classes were strongly opposed
to his measure ; but, by the changes and modifications
which he (Lord Mahon) had introduced, he had been