The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-05-22 00:00:00

TO COILRF.SPONDENTS,

he letter of " Placidus" would subject us to au action for libel
&t inserted.
..The poetry of " M. K. J." has been received.
The request of " A Liberal Prosestint" shallliecomPlied with,
if possible.

be Eiberpool e.tatibarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 22, 1838.

The Publication of the STAN DA r u commenced this morn
iug at 5 o'clock.

THE BUDGET.—The Chancellor of the Exchequer
brought forward his lung deferred budget on Friday last,
and a,horry exhibition, of himself did he make on the oc-
casion. Well might Colonel Sibthorpe, say that he had
never-seen a Chancellor of. the ExcheqUer rise in'the
House of Commons with .such a pallid. countenance:
well might liesay.thathe looked the very picture of de-.
I"'ir• Instead
.of rambling through a speech of six or
.(jee"..olumns, as in former years, dilating upon the gdl-
pron,l7:l'e.ets of the country, and holding out splendid
ll
of a reduction of taxation, Mr. Spring Rice
i):6d)st'Y Contented himself on Friday with an oration of
more moderate dimensions: The exposition which
1-
gave of the thiatiial condition of the country was
111°411°1°1Y in the extreme. He had no bright
1413.°t on which his eye Could 'rest, and in 'descri-
bing which he might lavish his- eloquent self-gratu-
hli'ci°"' All behind was dreary and confused— all
ore him was dark and unprnMising. The revenue of
last Year, compared with the year before last, has declined
to the extent of nearly ,three millions. Tlie expenditUre
()f (11" last year exceeds the receipts by nearly Italia
and (lie deficiency is to be made up by an in-
creased issue of Exchequer bills. Such is the sum and
su:Ptance of Mr. Spring Rice's budget. He stated the
ottiscalculation of the year before at 121,428,090.—an
of'.ll 'dant proof of his utter incapacity for the management
Our financial affairs. But his estimate falls short of
!,I,l.eeactiral truth, as the following figures will detnonstrate:
esti
in, rnalvd Inc.rne for'the year end-
Act ta 5Th April 1838, was L 47,240,000
al 'lh
46,090,000
ThP
Lxp Deficiener
esti!riated Expenditure
46,873,0(X)
enditure 47,511,000
Surplus of Expeuditure.

1,150;000

646.000

p 1,796 000
13tit Mr. Rice insists that the leficien4 and the surplus
Pr expenditure were alike unforeseen, and that it was;
therefore, impossible for him to have formed a better es-
timate than he did. On this point we find the following
apposite remarks in the iadical Spectator:—
"Admitting his great disaiipoitarnent in the aetual_resulti of

the last financial year, Mr. Rice referred to the average of the
last two years—he wished, in fact, to he allowed to spread the
deficiency of 1837-8 over two.years ; and the average excess of
income over expenditure would then be £217,000. Ile attri-
buted the excess of the actual over the estimated expenditure
fOr the last year to the payment of £681,000 on account of the
Canada war, the necessity of providing for the whole amount of
the interest on the West India loan-050,000; the earlier
payment of £200,000 for interest on Exchequer bills, in conse-
quence of a change made to obviate the inconvenience of a
large amount becoming due while parliament was not sitting;
and to the general advance on the interest of Exchequer bills.
Of these items, it is plain that the Canada war expenditure
alone was unexpected. The others must 4r might have been
foreseen when Mr. Rice made hisfinansial statement last pear;
but, taken altogether, they do not make up the amount of the
• deficiency."

We see no reason for conceding that the Canada wac
expenditure was unexpected. To any one thatbestowed
any attention upon the signs of the times,- it was 'long
since evident that the seeds of rebellion had been sown
in Canada before Mr. Rice made his estimate of last
year's expenditure. The Secretary for the Colonies was
at the time in possession of documents which ought to
have put Government upon their guard, and induced
them to make preparations to meet the contingency of
an insurrection. To Joseph Hume such an event was
by no means unexpected, even while he was endeavour-
ing to cripple the resources of the executive by still fur-
ther reductions in the estimated expenditure of the
year.

In dilating on the causes of the deficiency in the reve-
nue during the past year the Chancellor of the EXche;
quer was equally blundering and unfortunate. The bur-
den of interest payable on the West Indian loan and the
increased outlay occasioned by a high rate of interest on
ExChequer bills ought to have been anticipated in his
estimate of last year. if Mr. Spring Rice had been a
wise and prudent statesman
lje. would have taken these
circumstances into his calculation ; but Mr. Spring Rice
happens to be anything but a wise and prudent man, and
that has caused a very great difference between his es-
timate and the actual results.

Mr. Rice's allusion to the fever of speculation which
pervaded the country in 1836 is exceedingly comical.
At the time when that speculative ,spirit was manifested
the whiff, Chancellor of the Exchequer, boasted of it as a
proof of the prosperity of tile criiintry—as a proof of the
Supebundance of capital, for which it was difficult to
provide adequate employment. The same whig financier
now imputes a large share of our late depression to that
very system—a system to. which, for temporary objects,
the whig government had afforded every encouragement
in their-power.
As to the future Mr. Rice could holdout none of those
splendid .promises in which it has been his habit to in-
dulge •He could not promise any reduction of taxation.
The improvident and
.culpable. conduct of the govern-
ment in reference to the affairs of Canada will eventu-
ally entail upon the country an extraordinary expendi-
ture of. upwards of one million. All this might have
been saved if the whigs had not connived at the promo-
ters of the rebellion.. but - as it is" impossible for the
wliigs to carry on their measures without the assistance
of Hume and his tail, the vVhigs are contented to saddle
the country with all this unnecessary expense in order
to purchase the support of the traitorous faction.

SERGEANT TALFOURD'S COPYRIGHT BItL.—AS this is
•a measure which,. in a greater or less degree, affects
every individual in Great Britain, we feel called upon to
ofter a few remarks upon the .subject. In doing so we
shall endeavour to abstain as much as possible from any
of those coarse personalities in which the radical repre-
sentative of Finsbury recently indulged in the House of
Commons. The bill ought to be judged upon its own
merits, irrespectively ,of any isolated instances which
might be adduced to show the operation of the present
law of copyright.
That the Bill of Mr.: Sergeant Talfourd will materially
affect the literature of the country is, of course, obvious.
To prevent speculation in the art of bookselling may be
legitimate employment for the legislature; but it cannot
be injurious to such labours to notice one or two evils
Which the proposed bill will pnsiti7Ply inflict, whether
the expected benefits to authors be realised or not.
It is a sound maxim in political economy, that no one
department of art is independent:of some other ; and the
relation between authors, publishers, and printers, is so
iutimate,.that it ,may well..be asserted, that no one. of
them could exist without the other. In Mr. Talfourd's
the hook' s spoken of as theaUthoes, sole property .;
but before it can become a book; a few transforming
processes.are.neessary ;' every man, however remotely,
connected in its getting up, could with all propfiety lay
his hand upon it, and say;' this is my work."
asurnplibn of fMr. Tal fOrd, therefore, is
untrue,

a second maxim in politiCal economy equally
unquestionable, that no one branch of art or manufacture
can be -unduly advanced, but at the expense of some
others. Mr. Talfourd proposes to grant by law, what
can only accrue by fact, and which no law can prevent,
if just,—an additional endowment to authors, at the ex-
pense of the other parties engaged in the production of
bboks.

Mr. TalfOurd's purpose is.t4elefore unjust.

--On this pact of the subject, at least in so far as the
Printing business is concerned, a few illustrations may
not be out of place.. By the present law, a book is pro-
perty for twenty-eight years; and the result
.is, that
Many books, which one publisher might print and circu-
late during that time lie dormant, because the ,present
holder of the copyright either will not,, or cannot, do it
himself. This evil, sufficiently glaring, is proposed to be
increased, by adding sixty years to the term of copy-
right;—on the plea that authors should have a longer
perSonal interest in their own works. No man need de-
sire that an author should be paid less than he can get,
for that is to desire what is impossible. The question is,
has Mr. Talfourd proved that authors will be more highly
remunerated under the proposed bill ? • The evidence of
a few of the leading publishers has already settled this
point.

It may be supposed, that by the extension of copy-
right, if the author does,not derive the benefit the pub-
lisher will. But even' this is highly problematical. All
fisCal_ regulations on trade are injurious; and much more
so in departments. where as much depends upon the time
and manner, as or: the matter of publication. The pub-
dre.T.now, to a certain ext6ntYclassified, each pub-
lishing, lea more or leSs degree, books relating to his
own department. But will a scientific publisher, or his
successor, be of that class sixty years hence ? Will his
present copyrights be available to his then connexions ?
This, also, could .be better proved by publishers them-
selves than.hy Mr. Talfourd,
.•
Private interest must give way to public benefit. This
third maxim is one on which the members of the printing
business. have some light to expatiate. By turning from
the law of.copyright to that on patents, it will at once%e
seen, that printing is now accomplished in a somewhat
different manner from what it formerly was, and that to
the injury of operative printers generally.
By the invention of stereotype, the re:composition of
books was rendered unnecessary; and by the introduc-
tion of Machinery, the duplication of the daily newspa-
pers fell into disuke, and long.numberkwere no longer
sent to press. Froth theseinventions, however, the pub-
lic reaped immediate and much advantage, and the inter.,
est or the few gave way to that of the many.

The .judicious and proper publication of any one parti-
cular book k as much a personal invention as the manu-
script of the book itself; and if two or more publishers
can compete in.these inventions, will not the public reap
the benefit ? In this case, such inventions will be for the
Perpetual .adyantage of the printing busides.s, as those
before spoken of were to its temporary injury ; and
hence the paramount interest which printers generally
have,in a tight disposal of the question.
" LeaVe well alone," is an excellent remedy for diffi-
culties which present no outlet, and, so far as practical
skill and individual enterprise are concerned, it would be
better if parliament, instead of proflering assistance,
would stand aloof, anti leave private men to settle their
own private matters.

But if- Mr. Talfourd's purpose is bad, (for the.printing
businvss,) his ina.nner of effecting it is ivorse. He ad-

THE LIVERPOOL

mits, in fact,
.that his plan will not work, and makes a
number of exceptions, which, had he consulted 'praCtiCal
men, he would never have so far committed himself in
making. By the fifth elapse of his ,bill he gives an ex-
isting ccpyright to the publisher for.tWenty- eight years;
and if the author has died in the interim, the copyright
is, after the twenty-eight expire, to revert to the author's
heirs for the balance of sixty years, counted from the
author's death, which may be any,nurnber from 1 to 59.
By the seventh, the publisher can sell, during these sixty
years, whatever number of copies he way have left on
hand at the expiration of, the twenty-eight. Here the
copyright is printed paper, instead of author's manu-
script.

By the eighth clause, under the same circumstances
if the work has been stereotyped, the publisher can prin
from these plates during all the sixty years, provided
only that the plates last so long. It is not an uncommon
circumstance, where immunity from taxation or rent is
given to a particular building so long as it lasts, that
every•sort of repair is given beyond the price of a new
erection, that the immunity may be retained; and, under
such circumstances, the repair of stereotype plates would
be its parallel By this clause the copyright is in plates..
The best authors, therefore, whose works are gene-
rally stereotyped, can derive no benefit whatever from
the act; the public will be compelled to read-coarse and
ill-printed editions—new types will be idle—the art of
printing will retrograde. And this is called—" the en-
couragement of learning." -
Mr. Talfourd, it is true, anticipates that the public will
not be so satisfied, and attempts to provide against it. I
any author or publisher neglect to reprint of republish a
work within five years after the author's death, or five
years after the twenty-eight from the date of its publics.,
tion, any person who may,.remember such a book tti.be
in existence, (thirty-three years after its publication,)
may apply to the Court of Chancery for permission to
print it, after having given one or two years notice' to
the original thirty-five years copyright holder, and the
Lord Chancellor may grant such permiSsion, if the origi-
nal publisher has not then republished it. Thus one
man's idea, that he could make a certain book pay its ex- •
pense of publication, must have entailed upon it a two
years' Chancery suit, and the risk added, that the origi-
nal
publisher, who, in all likelihpod, had himself forgot
it, will avail himself of the said idea, republish the book
on another man's hint, and leave him to digest the ex-
pense of his application to the Lord Chancellor as he best
may. Can this be what the legislators of Mr. Talfourd's
school call " a healthful competition, from which the
public derive much benefit."

IRISH TITHES.—THE APPROPRIATION CLAUSE.—After
all the trumpeting of the witig-radical press about the
" glorious majority" obtained by ministers, on Tuesday
last, it appears that the conflict upon the subject of Irish
tithes has issued in a couservative victory. The leading
organ of the government thus prematurely rejoices over
the " prostrate tories"
"After gaining a victory, the next consideration is how to
turn it to the best advantage. We have given the turies a
heavy, fall; and the question is, whether we should not repeat
the blow while they are in a position so convenient to receive
it. Let us hope that their defeat upon the Church question
'will be followed as speedily as possible by another still more
humiliating upon that of Municipal Reform: Since beating is
to their taste, we advise Ministers to give them enough of the
amusement, and allow them as little pause as possible between'
the strokes."

This is certainly bold language; but how has it been
followed up by the ‘,‘ glorious majority"? Let us see.
The following very pithy conversation took place on the
'subject in the House of Commons on Friday last :

Sir Francis Burdett asked Lord John Russell, whether he
intended to go into Committee on the Irish Tithe resolutions
on Monday ?
Lord John Russell said, he did not, but would proceed with
the Irish Municipal Corporation Bill. He did not intend, how-
ever, to abandon the question of Irish Tithes; but if the Com-
mittee on the Municipal Corporation Bill had finished its la_
bours by the Monday following, he would move a simple reso-
lution for converting the tithe into a rent-charge, on which be
should found a bill. •

Sir Robert Peel bat imperfectly understood Lord John Rus-
sell; and it was impossible for him to state at the moment
what course he should take in the altered circumstances.
Would not Lord John Russell defer his Committee on the Mu-
nicipal Corporation Bill till Friday ?

" Lord John Russell assented to this postponement ; and in
further explanation of his tithe plan, repeated that he should
call upon the committee to adopt a resolution consisting solely
of this—that the tithe composition at present existing should be
changed into a rent charge : that would be the only object of
his proposition.
" Sir Robert Peel.—Am Ito understand that the noble lord's
proposition will be limitted to the conversion of tithe-composi-
tion into rent-charge?
" Lord John Russell.—Yes.

Sir Robert Peel--I will meet that concession in the same
spirit in which it was made. I, however, reserve to myself the
right to take, an unfettered course. If I decide on taking a
course on Friday hostile to the municipal bill, I will give full
notice of that intention, to prevent any unfair advantage."
From this conversation it would appear that the Tithe
Bill Committee is to be postlioned to Monday next, and
that the Irish Municipal Bill is to be introduced on Fri-
day. Both measures will, in consequence, pass under the
notice of the House of Commons nearly at the same
time, and it is next to impossible, in the present state of
public business, that these bill can reach the House of
Lords before the Coronation takes place. Although
Lord John Russell declares that his proposition relative
to the Irish church will be limited to the concession of
tithe-composition into rent•charge, it is very probable
that protracted discussions will take place on several of
the details of the,bill. Nor is it unlikely that another
debate a9d another division will take place on the prin-
ciple of the bill.

It .is now evident that the ministers have thrown the
approptiation clause overboard—that vet)" clause upon
which they have repeatedly staked their official exist-
ence. Passing by the inconsistency of their conduct in
thus deserting a principle to which they were so strongly
pledged, we shall proceed to inquire whether the present
Tithe Bill can be considered a final and satisfactory set-
ment of the Irish church question. -
Will it be satisfactory to the protestants of England
and Ireland—to those who are sincerely attached to the
Established Church and who zealously desire the spread
of the doctrines of the Reformation ? We answer, no !
Every true protestant views the church of Ireland as a
grand instrument for 'the moral and political aineliofit-
Lion of that benighted and --priest-ridden country ; and
that it' has already proved efficient to this great end is
abundantly proved by the criminal statistics of. the
several provinces of Ireland. Those portions of the
island in which popery is predominant are characterised
by an accumulation of the -deepest crimes; those in
which the civilising influence .of protestantism prevails
are comparatively. peaceful. In the province of Munster,
comprising only six counties, and with a population of
2,227,152, the stun of £105,366 was required within the
last year for the repression of cinte; whilst in the pro-
vince of Ulster, comprising nine counties, and with a
population of 2,286,622, the amount required for that
purpose was only £68,090. What has caused this great
disparity? Why is crime so' rampant in Munster?
We unhesitatingly attribute. the pre-eminence in delin-
quency of its population to the malignant, debasing, and
brutalising influence of popery—popery, the greatest
curse which ever afflicted any. nation on the face of the
earth. Seeing, then, that the spread of protestantism in
Ireland is the spread of peace, of virtue, of industry, and
loyalty—that the eradication Of popery is the rooting
out of brutality, vice, indolence, and disaffection; it is
impossible for any one who wishes well to Ireland, or,
in other words, who wishes to see protestantism regnant
in that country, to hail with any degree of satisfaction
any measure which may emanate from a ministry so ob-
sequious to the demands of the popish faction as Lord
John Russell and his associates in office. The English
protestants have reason to deprecate the introduction of
any such measure as that prOpounded by. the leader of
the House of Commons, lest it should afford a precedent
for the spoliation of the Established Church in England
The bill, therefore, must be considered as objectionable
by every sincerely attached friend of Protestantism.

. . _
But will it prove satisfactory to the Irish clergy—the
party most deeply implicated in all its enactments We

TANDARD.

answer, No They are only anxious to secure their
just rights, and wisli•for no legal interference.
That the bill will not prove a final settlement as far as
the Papists, Dissenters, and infidels are concerned we
shall prove in a subsequent. article.

Tim " Aurrox."—Our facetious contemporary of yes-
terday has bestowed nearly a column and a half of his
largest type upon the STANDARD, in which an attemptis
made to reply to our remarks of Tuesday last. We have
said that an attempt is made to answer -the article in
which we animadverted upon the "right dolorousditty"
of the Albion of last week; but really the column and a
half of verbiage which the Albion of yesterday contains
is scarcely entitled to the designation of even an attempt
at a reply. 1f it was meant to be such, it is the most
abortive attempt that we have ever witnessed. It proves
nothing, unless, indeed, it may be said to afford a most
conclusive proof of the weakness of that cause which
the Albion advocates—of the utter impotency of the
editor in any contest in which the interests of truth and
justice are involved. The Albion displays its consum-
mate prUdence by abstaining altogether from even a
show of argument. Instead of reasoning.on the subject
on which we have joined issue with him, the funny editor
prefers enacting the part of Harlequin, and seems to
trust that his ludicrous pranks will have the effect of
withdrawing the attention of his readers from the sub-
ject matter of discussion. We must frankly confess that
we have been highly amused with the extraordinary ca-
pers of our merry-making friend in Castle-street; but,..
though our risibility has been excited, we cannot say that
he has convinced us of any thing—his own exuberant
folly excepted.

We feel extremely sorry that we cannot compliment
our contemporary upon his good temper this week.
There is a degree of soleness in the article to which we
have referred which strongly impresses us with the be-
lief that our remarks of Tuesday last were not quite so
pointless as the Albion would insinuate. However, our
hands are too full to-day to allow us any opportunity for
dandling the slipperkin of the Albion. On Friday next
we hope to have more leisure for the purpose. It is,
perhaps, right to add that we have not yet seen reason to
regret the insertion of the other article to which the
Albion refers. It has already bad its desired effect.