The Arkansas banner., 1844-03-13
From Me Soa4Ieym Literary Messenger.


 From Me So,ahern Literary Messenger.
 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW.
 Views in regard to an extension of the
 privileges of Copy-right in the United States,
 to the citizens of other countries, in Letter
 to the Hon. Isaac E. Holmes, of South Car olina, member of Congress. By the author of'sThe emassee," sThe Kinsmen," "Rich-
 ard Hurdis.'' s.Damsel of Darien,o Sc.
 HoN l. E. HOLMES:
 : House Of Representatives WashiRgton. I DEAR SlR:-Y ou have done me the hon. or to request my views of the effect of the
 Copyright Law, as it exists at present, upon the interests of domestic authorship, and of
 such an extension of its privileges, as will
 enable the citizens of foreign countries to
 partake of its securities, i'll common with our
 own. Upon subject of so much doubt and
 disputation, should have been better pleased
 to refer you to more experienced writers than myself-to those whose greater knowledge of the business of Literature, and higher distinc- .tion in its walks, would entitle them to speak
 with more authority, and with less doubtful claims to the respect and consideration ofthe } country But, regarding the question as a
 vital one, and in the silence of those whom
 1 myself should much prefer to hear, do
 not feel altogether at liberty to decline the task to which am invited. Believing as do, that the condition of the law as 1t now stands, endangers, and will long continue to leopard, the best interests of the country, as regards it's intellectual progress, not less than the minor, but still important interests of the American author, considered simply as an individual, ,-I feel, as an additional incentive to your application, the sense of pressing, not to say imperious duty, which obliges me
 to speak l am not conscious, however, that can throw any new lights upon the subject. 1 do not know that can furnish one additional argument to those which have been so frequently set before the American : people, and, seemingly, in vain but, l can, at least, in good faith, present an additional witness in the cause, and array, in simple
 order, those suggestions of my reason and i, my experience, which have inclined me, af- ter frequent deliberation, to place myself on the present side of the question.
 Perhaps, as preliminary to this discus sion, important, if not absolutely essential to
 just perception of all it's bearings, it would : be well to take nasty survey of the past T history and present condition of American t Literature. It is important to show, that . something has been done by native author ship, to justify what might else seem to be an imporunate and impertnent clamoring at = the doors of Congress, for species of boun- ty and shows of favor, for the benefit ofthose : who can exhibit no proper title to consider ation. We admit the necessity, on the thresh- old, of showing that American Literature, Is : not a name merely, but thing ;-that 1t has been a thing of works and triumphs ;-tha it has honored the country abroad, and has been serving 1t at home; and that, to Amer ican authorship, not yet thirty years old, the nation is largely indebted for much of its public morality, it's private virtues, its indi- vidual independence, and that social tone
 which prevents the absolute and general
 usurpation of opinion, in matters of taste, by foreign and inferior models ito the rank ill., : huence of which we are particularly expos s ed by the premature and excessive growth o i our commercial tendencies.
 trust that 1t will not be demanding toe . violent concession from any ciizen, when Q we assume, that a Literature of some kind is absolutely necessary to every nation that pro- 7 iesses to be civilized. It is, perhaps, the highest, if not the only definite proof of na- l tional civilization It is contended that for : eign Literature is not only not enough for the wants of such people, but that, in all cases where 1t Is suffered to supersede their own, in must prove ultimately fatal to their moral, if not their political independence It is contended, and on sufficient grounds, , that people, who receive their Literature exclusively from foreign land, are, in fact. : if not in form, essentially governed from a. broad ;-that their laws are furnished, if not 2 prescribed, by a foreign and, frequently, a hostile power; and that, as it is only through . our own minds that we can be free, so, when these arc surrendered to the tuteage of stran- CTS, we are, to all intents and purposes, peo- pie in bondage.
 : The proposition, however startling 1t may seem, Is by no means too strongly put Un- happily, our own national experience furn- lshes us with an illustration, which is beyond the denial of the most bigoted mind. It ap-
 plies, with singular force and directness to
 the actual relation, in which we have long stood, and still measureably stand, to the controlling intellect of Great Britain. There
 IS no disguising the pernicious influence, Mhich.- to this day, she maintains over our
 moral and mental character. There is no
 ooHCedllil9, ds tiierc IS Ao uelelulug, tnc Oul-
 ous servllity with which large portion of
 our population, in the great cities, contem-
 plate her naughty aristocracy borrow their
 allectations, ape their arrogances, adopt their
 prejudices, and shackle themselves, hand and
 foot, in the miserable folds of their meretri-
 cious and highly artificial society. The dis
 gusting gmeanness which hangs upon the heels
 of her travelers,-which beslayers them with
 caresses, and subsequently,, requites their na-
 tural scorn with blackguardsm, is shocking
 to the national pride and debasing to the na-
 tonal character. Unhappily l am
 pleased to think that the great body of our
 people, particularly the rural portions-re-
 volt at such proceedings and keep from par
 tcipation in hin,--the few who are guilty of
 this seryility find too facle d sanction for it's
 exercise, in the readiness with which, as II whole we reciye inc onnions adont tho h VIC