are imperfect apart, either from additions to the original, or from the succession of several works falling in at different times, their common interest would unite them? One of the arguments used, whether on behalf of the trade or the public I scarcely know, against the extension of the term, is derived from a supposed analogy between the works of an author and the discoveries of an inventor, whence it is inferred that the term which suffices for the protection of the one is long enough for the recompense of the other. It remains to be proved that the protection granted to patentees is sufficient; but supposing it to be so, although there are points of similarity between the cases, there are grounds of essential and obvious distinction. In cases of patent, the merits of the invention are palpable; the demand is usually immediate; and the recompense of the inventer, in proportion to the utility of his work, speedy and certain. In cases of patent, the subject is generally one to which many minds are at once applied; the invention is often no more than a step in a series of processes, the first of which being given, the consequence will almost certainly present itself sooner or later to some of those minds; and if it were not hit on this year by one, would probably be discovered the next by another; but who will suggest that if Shakspeare had not written Lear, or Richardson Clarissa, other poets or novelists would have invented them? In practical science every discovery is a step to something more perfect; and to give to the inventor of each a protracted monopoly would be to shut out improvement by others. But who can improve the masterpieces of genius? They stand perfect; apart from all things else; self-sustained; the models for imitation; the sources whence rules of art take their origin. Still they are ours in a sense in which no mechanical invention can be;-ours not only to ponder over and converse with-ours not only as furnishing our minds with thoughts, and peopling our weary seasons with ever-delightful acquaintances; but ours as suggesting principles of composition which we may freely strive to apply, opening new regions of speculation which we may delightfully explore, and defining the magic circle, within which, if we are bold and happy enough to tread, we may discern some traces of the visions they have invoked, to imbody for our own profit and honour; for the benefit of the printers and publishers who may send forth the products of these secondary inspirations to the world; and of all who may become refined or exalted by reading them. But it may be said that this argument applies only to works of invention, which spring wholly or chiefly from the author's mind, as poems and romances; and that works which exhibit the results of historical search, of medical or scientific skill, and of philosophic thought, ought to be governed by the same law as improvements in mechanics employed on timber and metal. The analogy here is, to a certain extent, correct, so far as it applies to the fact discovered, the principle developed, the mode invented; the fallacy consists in this, that 'while the patent for fourteen years secures to the inventor the entire benefit of his discovery, the copyright does not give it to the author for a single hour, but, when published, it is the free unincumbent property of the world at once and for ever; all that the author retains is the sole right of publishing his own view of it in the style of illustration or argument which he has chosen. A fact ascertained by laborious inquiry becomes, on the instant, the property of every historian; a rule of grammar, of criticism, or of art, takes its place at once in the common treasury of human knowledge; nay, a theory in political economy or morals, once published, is the property of any man to accept, to analyze, to reason on, to carry out, to make the foundation of other kindred speculations. No one ever dreamed that to assume a position which another had discovered; to reject what another had proved to be fallacious; to occupy the table-land of recognised truths and erect upon it new theories, was an invasion of the copyright of the original thinker, without whose discoveries his successors might labour in vain. How earnest, how severe, how protracted, has been the mental toil by which the noblest speculations in regard to the human mind and its destiny have been conducted! Even when they attain to no certain results, they are no less than the beatings of the soul against the bars of its clay tenement, which show by their strength and their failure that it is destined and propertied for a higher sphere of action. Yet what right does the author retain in these, when he has once suggested them? The divine philosophy, won by years of patient thought, melts into the intellectual atmosphere which it encircles; tinges the dreams and strengthens the assurances of thousands. The truth is, that the law of copyright adapts itself, by its very nature, to the various descriptions of composition, preserving to the author, in every case, only that which he ought to retain. Regard it from its operation on the lowest species of authorship-mere compilation, in which it can protect nothing but the particular arrangements, leaving the materials common to all; through the gradations of history, of science, of criticism, of moral and political philosophy, of divinity, up to the highest efforts of the imagination, and it will be found to preserve nothing to the author, except that which is properly his own; while the free use of his materials is open to those who would follow in his steps. When I am asked, why should the inventor of the steam-engine have an exclusive right to multiply its form for only fourteen years, while a longer time is claimed for the author of a book? I may retort, why should he have for fourteen years what the discoverer of a principle in politics or morals, or of a chain of proof in divinity, or a canon of criticism, has not the protection of as many hours, except for the mere mode of exposition which he has adopted? Where, then, the analogy between literature and mechanical science really exists, that is, wherever the essence of the literary work is, like mechanism, capable of being used and improved on by others, the legal protection will be found far more liberally applied to the latter-necessarily and justly so applied-but affording no reason why we should take from | tice; but the principle is eternal. True it is the author that which is not only his own, but can never, from its nature, be another's. that in many instances, if the boon be granted, the errors and frailties which often attend genius may render it vain; true it is that in multitudes of cases it will not operate; but by conceding it we shall give to authors and to readers a great lesson of justice; we shall show that where virtue and genius combine we are ready to protect their noble offspring, and that we do not desire a miserable advantage at the cost of the ornaments and benefac It has, sir, been asserted, that authors themselves have little interest in this question, and that they are, in fact, indifferent or hostile to the measure. True it is, that the greatest living writers have felt reluctant to appear as petitioners for it, as a personal boon; but I believe there are few who do not feel the honour of literature embarked in the cause, and earnestly desire its success. Mr. Words-tors of the world. I call on each party in this worth, emerging for a moment from the seclusion he has courted, has publicly declared his conviction of its justice. Mr. Lockhart has stated his apprehension that the complete emancipation of the estate of Sir Walter Scott from its encumbrances depends on the issue; and, although I agree that we ought not to legislate for these cases, I contend that we ought to legislate by the light of their examples. While I admit that I should rejoice if the immediate effect of this measure were to cheer the evening of a great poet's life, to whom I am under intellectual obligations beyond all price, and to enlarge the rewards of other living authors whose fame will endure, I do not ask support to this measure on their behalf; but I present these as the proofs of the subsisting wrong. The instances pass away; successive generations do successive injus house to unite in rendering this tribute to the minds by which even party associations are dignified. I call on those who anticipate suc cessive changes in society, to acknowledge their debt to those who expand the vista of the future, and people it with goodly visions; on those who fondly linger on the past, and repose on time-hallowed institutions, to consider how much that is ennobling in their creed has been drawn from minds which have clothed the usages and forms of other days with the symbols of venerableness and beauty; on all, if they cannot find some common ground on which they may unite in drawing assurance of progressive good for the future from the glories of the past, to recognise their obli gation to those, the products of whose intellect shall grace, and soften, and dignify the struggle! The motion was opposed by Mr. Hume, Mr. Warburton, the Solicitor-General, Mr. Pryne, Mr. Warde, Mr. Grote, the Attorney-General, Mr. John Jervis, and Sir Edward Sugden; and supported by Sir Robert Inglis, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. D'Israeli, Mr. Milnes, and Mr. Wynn. On the division, the numbers were, for the second reading, 39; against it, 34. On the question that the bill should be committed, Mr. Philip Howard, who had voted in favour of the second reading, moved that it be referred to a select committee. This was declined by the mover: and after a short conversation, the house divided-for the committal of the bill in the usual course, 38; against it, 31,-upon which the bill was ordered to be committed on the following Wednesday. On Wednesday, 2d of May, for which day the committee was fixed, there was no house; and the "dropped order" was fixed for the following Wednesday. On that day, Mr. Wakley, adverting to the thinness of the house on the second reading of the bill, and the small majority by which it was carried,-pursuant to notice previously given, opposed the motion for the speaker leaving the chair. His speech on this occasion consisted chiefly of statements with which he had been supplied by Mr. Tegg, of the low prices at which he had purchased several popular works of living authors, some of whom were members of the house; a series of per sonalities which afforded that kind of amusement which attend such allusions, and which, being delivered without ill-nature, gave no pain to the authors who were the subject of them; but not tending with very exact logic to show that the extension of the copyright, which protected all these works, would injure the public by maintaining a price beyond its reach. The motion for going into committee was also opposed by Mr. Warburton and Mr. Strutt, and supported by Mr. Wolverly Attwood, Mr. Milnes, and Sir Robert Inglis. On a division the numbers were, for the committee, 116; against it, 64. In a desultory conversation which followed, Sir Edward Sugden complained that, as the bill then stood, the children of an author who had assigned his copyright to them "in consideration of natural love and affection," would be precluded from enjoying the proposed extension-the justice of which was felt by the supporters of the bill-and obviated in its further progress. The house then resolved itself into committee; but the lateness of the hour rendered it impossible to proceed with details; and the evening was spent without the measure having made any progress, except in the great increase of the majority by which it was supported. The state of public business on the following Wednesdays-for which day the bill was always, without objection, fixed, and on which alone it had any chance of being discussedprevented its further consideration till Wednesday, 6th of June. In the interval, an anxious consideration of the objections of the publishers of London and Edinburgh to the clause whereby a reverting interest in copyrights absolutely assigned was created in favour of authors, convinced those who had charge of the bill that it was impossible by any arrangements to pre vent the inconvenience and loss which they suggested as consequential on such a boon to authors. They, therefore, determined to confine the operation of the bill on subsisting copyrights to cases in which the author had retained some interest on which it might operate; and with this, to their honour, the publishers were satisfied. Other alterations in matters of detail were suggested, which induced the mover to listen to the wishes of both friends and opponents of the bill, that it should be reprinted and committed again. When, therefore, on Wednesday, 6th of June, the bill again was before the house, and Mr. Warburton urged that it should be reprinted, the mover at once acceded to his desire; briefly stated the principal alterations which he had accorded to the wishes of the publishers, and did justice to the spirit of fairness and moderation with which they had foreborne to ask for themselves any share of the benefits proposed for authors; and had only desired that these benefits should not be attended by undeserved injury to themselves. Lord John Russell, who had hitherto refrained from expressing any opinion on the measure, took this opportunity of throwing out a hesitating disapproval, or rather, doubt, but did not object to the course proposed. The bill was accordingly committed pro forma, ordered to be reprinted, and its further consideration adjourned to Wednesday, 20th of June. In pursuance of this arrangement, the bill was reprinted in nearly its present form; and came on for discussion at a late hour on the 28th of June. It was then obvious that,— considering the opposition with which its details were menaced by Mr. Warburton and others, and the state of the order-book,-no reasonable hope remained of carrying it through committee, and the subsequent stages, during the session. When, therefore, the period of its discussion arrived, it was, on the friendly recommendation of Mr. Gladstone, withdrawn, with a pledge for its early introduction in the ensuing year. On Tuesday, 12th of February, in the session of 1839, leave was obtained to bring in the bill, which, nearly in the state in which it had been settled the preceding year, was introduced the same evening. On Wednesday, 28th of February, its second reading was moved;-after the presentation of the petitions which are alluded to in the following sheets. SPEECH ON MOVING THE SECOND READING OF A BILL TO AMEND THE LAW OF COPYRIGHT, DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1839. MR. SPEAKER-After the attention which, in | be expressed by many others, whose feelings I past sessions, has been rendered by this House know, if you permit this bill to proceed. When to the interests of literature, as affected by the I first solicited for these arguments the notice laws of copyright-an attention gratefully ac- of this House, I thought they rested on princiknowledged in the petitions which I have just ples so general; that the interests of those who presented I shall best discharge my duty by labour to instruct and illustrate the age in reminding you, without preface, of the question which they live are so inseparably blended which we once more are called on to decide, with all that affects its morality and its happiand by stating the position in which it stands, ness; that the due reward of the greatest of its and the materials which we have to assist us authors is so identified with the impulses they in answering it. That question is, Whether the quicken-with the traits of character they present limitation of copyright is just? I will sum mirror-with the deeds of generosity, of couup my reasons for contending for the negative rage and of virtue, which they celebrate, and in language adopted by some of the distin- with the multitudes whom they delight and reguished persons whose petitions are before fine, that I felt it was not for them alone that I you. They allege-"That the term during asked the shelter of the law, and I did not wish which the law secures to the authors the profits to see them soliciting it as a personal boon. arising from the productions of their own in- The appeal, though thus unsupported, was not dustry and genius is insufficient to provide for unfelt; and the bill proceeded, without a hint the fair reward of works written to endure that of opposition, until the demise of the crown the extension of the term proposed by this bill closed the session and stopped its progress. In would encourage such compositions; that it the interval which thus occurred, a number of would enable individuals to devote their pow-eminent publishers saw reason to apprehend ers to the lasting benefit and delight of man- that certain clauses in the bill, by which it was kind, without the apprehension that in so doing they shall impoverish their own descendants; and, that, while it would tend to the profit only of the greatest and the best of those engaged in literature, it would confer dignity and honour on the pursuits of all." : These propositions, to which I seek your assent, are now for the first time imbodied by Some of the most distinguished authors as the grounds of their own prayer, and will probably proposed to give to authors who had assigned their copyrights under the subsisting law a reverting interest after the expiration of its term, would injuriously affect their vested rights, and they naturally prepared to oppose it. They were accompanied or followed in this opposition by various persons connected with the mechanical appliances of literatureby master-printers, compositors, pressmen, type-founders, paper-makers, and book-bind sion. ers, smitten with the strange fear that to ex- stances peculiarly within the range of their tend the term of copyright (though they all experience; they are mere speculators, like agree that the extension would operate only in ourselves, on the probabilities of the distant one case out of five hundred) would destroy future. All their apprehensions centre in one their trade, and their petitions were plenteously—that if the term of copyright be extended, showered on the table of the House. Regard fewer books will be printed; fewer hands will to the state of public business, and a belief be required; fewer presses set up; fewer that, although supported by increasing majori- types cast; fewer reams of paper needed; and ties, the nature of the opposition with which (though I know not whether the panic has pethe bill was threatened would multiply and netrated to the iron-mine or ascended to the prolong the discussions beyond the bounds of rag-loft) that a paralysis will affect all these the time which could be applied to such an ob- departments of trade. Now, if there were ject, induced me, at the suggestion of my ho- any real ground for these busy fears, they nourable friend the member for Newark, again would not want facts to support them. In the to withdraw it. Having been taunted with the year, 1814, when the term of copyright was absence of petitions in favour of the measure, I extended from fourteen to twenty-eight years, have now the support I did not before seek; the same classes expressed similar alarms. and I doubt not, the example once set will be The projected change was far more likely to followed by many who feel deeply the justice be prejudicial to them than the present, as the of the cause, and are indignant at the grounds number of books on which it operated was on which it has been opposed. Few as these much larger; and yet there is no suggestion petitions are, compared with the number of in their petitions that a single press remained those who desire the success of this bill, I unemployed, or a paper-mill stood still; and, shall not fear to oppose the facts they state, indeed, it is a matter of notoriety, that since the reasonings they suggest, or the authority then publications have greatly multiplied, and with which they are stamped, with those accu- that books have been reduced in price with mulated by its opponents during the last ses- the increase of readers. The general arguments of these petitions are those which the Having carefully perused the petitions opponents of the measure urge, all resolving against us, I am surprised to find how utterly themselves into the assumptions, that if copydestitute they are of information really bear-rights be extended, books will be dearer; that ing on the case, with an exception which does not now apply to the bill; for I may dismiss the complaints of the eminent members of the publishing trade, and of all who sympathized in their fears. Impressed with the force of some of their objections, I proposed various means by which I hoped to remove them, without denying to authors who had assigned their subsisting interest the benefits of that extended term which it was proposed to create. But I was compelled to abandon the attempt as hopeless, and to content myself with applying the extension to the cases of authors who had retained an interest in their works, and to books hereafter to be written. In this alteration I have offered nothing to the publishers, except in the rare and peculiar case of a joint interest co-extensive with the entire copyright, in which case, unable to sever the benefit without extreme inconvenience to the publisher, I have chosen rather to grant it to both than to neither; and it is to the honour of the publishers, that, instead of seeking an unworthy compromise, they have been satisfied with the mere withdrawal of clauses which would have subjected them to certain inconvenience, and probable loss. Their opposition has ceased with the provisions which raised it; and with it all the allegations in the petitions which relate to it may be dismissed. There remain those of the printers and their allies, persons whose interests deserve the careful regard of the legislature, but whose opinions have no authority beyond the reasonings they adduce to support them. They are not like persons engaged in some occupation on which there is an immediate pressure, which they who feel most keenly can most vividly explain; nor like persons apprehending some change directly affecting their profits, under circum cheap books are necessarily a benefit to the public; and that the public interest should prevail over the claims of those who create the materials of its instruction. But there is one petition which illustrates so curiously the knowledge which these petitioners possess on the subject of their fears, and the modesty with which they urge them, that I must trespass on the patience of the House while I offer a specimen of its allegations. It is a petition presented by the honourable member for Kilkenny, agreed on at a public meeting at the Mechanics' Institute, Southampton-buildings, by 'compositors, pressmen, and others engaged in the printing profession." After a sweeping assumption of the whole question between authors and readers, these petitioners thus desig nate the application made to this House on behalf of literature:-"The books to which it is assumed the present law does not afford sufficient protection are those of a trashy and meretricious character, whose present popu larity deludes their writers with a vain hope of an immortal reputation." Now, the works which were named by way of example, when this bill was introduced, were those of Coleridge, of Words worth, and of Sir Walter Scott; and if these are intended by the petitioners, I fear they have made no good use of cheap books, or that the books they have read are dear at any price. If the object of the bill is the protection of "trashy and meretricious " works, it may be absurd, but it must be harmless; for, as to such works, it must be a dead letter. The printers who fear that one set of "trashy and meretricious" works should en dure after the lapse of twenty-eight years, and should thus deprive them of the opportunity of printing a brilliant succession of such works, to which they do not refuse the aid of ceasing labours of a single mind-that of Sir Walter Scott-exhausted, fading, glimmering, perishing from this world in their service! their types, partake an apprehension like the alarm of some nervous remainderman, who should take fright at the creation of a term of 999 years by a tenant for life, overlooking in As the concluding paragraph of this petihis fears the necessary condition “if he should tion merely repeats an analogy of literary so long live" for so surely as natural death works to mechanical inventions, which I have will await the decay of the human frame, shall grappled with before, and which, if necessary, oblivion cover the "trashy and meretricious "I am ready to expose again, I will pass from it book, and leave room for successor after suc- and from the petitions against this bill-which, cessor to employ compositors, to sparkle and I assert, do not present a single fact for the inforexpire. But, the petitioners proceed-" Even mation of the House-to the petitions which dissuppose their success would be permanent, close the grievances and the claims of authors. the present high profits derived by their au- And first, to show, by way of example, how inthors are an ample return for the time em- sufficient the present term is to remunerate auployed in their composition." So these gen- thors who contemplate works of great labour tlemen, forgetting that the chief ground of the and research, I will refer to the petition of Mr. bill is, that the works on behalf of which its Archibald Alison, sheriff of the county of Lanextension is sought often begin to repay their ark. This gentleman, son of the venerable authors only when the copyright is about to author of the celebrated "Essay on Taste," expire, think themselves competent to estimate was brought up to the Scottish bar, and being the anxieties, the heart-aches, the feverish gifted with excellent talents, and above all hopes, the bitter disappointments, the frequent with that most valuable of talents, unwearied failures, the cheerless toils, with which an au- industry, enjoyed the fairest prospects of sucthor's time is filled, and which disturb them cess. Having, however, conceived the design little when they are arranging his words. of writing the history of Europe during the They proceed" while it is proved, that books French Revolution, he resigned those hopes of deep research and intrinsic value would for the office of Sheriff of Lanarkshire, which, not be rendered more valuable by an extension limiting his income to a moderate sum, left of the law of copyright, however extended him at leisure to pursue his scheme. On that that law might be." How not more valuable? work he has now been engaged for twenty-five Not much more valuable to sell, perhaps, but years. To collect materials for its composition more valuable to preserve; else, if there is no he has repeatedly visited the principal cities gain to the author, where is the loss to the of Europe, and his actual expenditure in books public? After a round assertion, "that the and journeys to lay the foundations of his bill must be viewed as one injuriously affect work has already exceeded 2,000l., and will ing the booksellers, book-binders, paper-ma- be doubled if he should live to complete it. kers, type-founders, and all branches con- Seven volumes have successively appeared; nected with the printing business," they then the copyright is unassigned; and as the work proceed to extol their own profession:-"That is making a regular progress, fourteen years the profits derived from a book depend not on must elapse before the pecuniary outlay will the art of writing, but on the art of printing; be repaid. At the expiration of twenty-eight for that, without the facilities which improved years, supposing the work to succeed on an mechanical improvements afford, the number average calculated on its present sale, its of copies would be few and high-priced, and author will only obtain half what he might the profits of the author lower; and, therefore, have acquired by the devotion of the same it is unjust that authors should endeavour to time to ephemeral productions; so that, unless injure by exclusive laws a profession to which his life should be prolonged beyond the ordithey are indebted for the rank they hold and nary lot of man, its labours to his family will the wealth they possess." Surely the old critic be almost in vain, unless you considerably Dennis, who, when he heard the thunder roll extend the term of his property; and then, in over the mimic scenes, and used to claim it as return for his sacrifices, he will leave them a his own, was reasonable, compared to these substantial inheritance. Of a similar nature gentlemen of the Mechanics' Institute. What is the case of another petitioner, Dr. Cook, ever may be the benefit which the art of print- Professor of Moral Philosophy in the Univering has conferred on genius-genius which sity of St. Andrew's, author of the "History of had achieved imperishable triumphs long be- the Reformation in Scotland," a "History of fore its discovery, it is astounding to hear this the Church of Scotland," and of other historical claim made by those who are now engaged in works which are now standard authorities, and a simple mechanical pursuit. The manufac- on the composition of which he has been enturer of bayonets or of gunpowder might as gaged for the last thirty years. In their comwell insist that he, and not the conqueror of position he has incurred great expense. The Waterloo, should be the recipient of national copyrights are vested in himself; but it degratitude. Where would their profession be pends on your decision whether his family if no author had written? There are some shall derive any advantages from them. He things more precious even than knowledge; concludes-" considering this law as at variand, strange as it may seem to the utilitarian ance with the essential principles of justice, philosophers, I venture to think gratitude one; and calculated to impede the course of litera and if it is, I would ask these petitioners to ture and science," by earnestly imploring the consider how many presses have been em- House to "pass this bill for so extending the ployed and honoured, how many families in term of copyright as will secure the interest their own class have been enriched by the un-of the authors of extensive and laborious |