The American Senate has passed a Bill, by 35 votes
to 10, conferring copyright on the owner of a foreign book published in the United States, provided that it is also printed there. This right extends to parts of a book, to periodicals, and to newspapers, and is as complete as the right possessed by citizens of the Union. The importation of a copyright book is absolutely prohibited, a rule intended not only to protect authors, but to reserve to American printers their monopoly. The Bill has still to pass the House of Representatives ; but it is believed that the opposition there has almost died away, the pirating publishers being tired of seeing themselves undersold by other pirates. Should the Bill pass, it will make an appre- ciable difference in the incomes of the more popular English authors, whose public will be, in fact, increased fivefold, the American being compelled, if he wants to read a book, to buy it instead of hiring it from Mudie. A good deal has been said of the loss which will be sustained by Americans in the way of cheap books ; but that cheapness has been purchased at a heavy expense to native authors, whose books are driven out of the market by the publications stolen from Englishmen. We are injured by the practice of theft, but they are rained.
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