INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT: THE AMERICAN PIRATES.

THE indefatigable Mr. DICKENS has issued a circular in reference to the law of International Copyright with America: and fortunate it is that he is indefatigable, for he has a long-laborious work be- fore him. To abolish a general practice individually profitable to the members of a community, is under any circumstances a diffi- cult matter mid a work of time ; but with America the circum- stances are as difficult as can be imagined. Among a people where power is lodged in and public opinion greatly influenced by the better-educated classes, the moral tone will be higher, cateris paribus, than if the notions of the mass predominate: the Russian nobility's ideas may be none of the purest, but they will be purer than those of Russian serf's, or at least than the public opinion of Russian serfs. In England, the public tone is influenced by the comparative few—in America, by the many : and, without going into a comparison of the virtues of Englishmen and Americans, this circumstance alone renders any change in any law from which the Americans reap a profit, no matter at whose expense or under what circumstances of discredit or disho- nesty, more difficult than here, unless some tangible pressure can be applied to operate upon their interests in another direction. It might be granted that the bulk of Englishmen are as ready to do dishonest things as the bulk of Americans: some late exposures in the Courts of Bankruptcy and even before the High Court of Par- liament prove that many persons are by no mesas unscrupulous. But the things are done upon a notion of the certainty of not being found out : when discovered, they are condemned by public opi- nion; however the perpetrator may brazen out his deeds, he feels lowered in his own estimation, he knows he is lowered in that of the public, and he probably is injured socially or pecuniarily. In America, on the contrary, we hear from travellers, that offences which would certainly expel a man from society here, are there not at all regarded : not, we may believe, because the majority of the better classes approve of such deeds, or that many of the poorer classes do not pronounce them wrong, but the opinion of the mass forms the test by which they are tried, and the general opinion will always govern the general reception. The same cause operates in regard to a public principle. In England, opinion will not allow a high moral argument to be met by merely pleading the profit to be gained by an opposite course, or even by low ribaldry or abusive attacks. Shameless and unprin- cipled individuals, no doubt, may be found to adopt this or any other line; but they are exceptions ; they do no good to themselves by their conduct, and probably injure their cause. Our Parlia- mentary debates are bad enough, but they do not exhibit that open preference of the utile to the hones-turn which prevails in America : no person of influence in any respectable public assembly in this country would have ventured to promulgate the opinions acted upon in the Repudiating States ; or if he had, they would have- been scouted by the audience. The section of the Chartists ad- vocating "the sponge" do it upon an alleged moral ground—that the original contractors of the National Debt had no right to incite, it, and that it was incurred for immoral purposes by persons who

were forwarding their own views. • The consequence is, that any question of principle which op- poses the prcfit of individuals, or even the bulk of the public, stands a much better chance of progress and eventual success in England than in America. As soon as it can be impressed upon such part of the public as receive no benefit from it, they will move in its favour, so far as they move at all; not with the wordy ex- citement of after-dinner meetings, but the business-like steadi-

ness of men engaged in a good work. What is of much more im- portance, those whose interests are only slightly involved are ashamed to advocate the continuance of the abuse ; and even men who gain largely by it dare not plead their own profit in its favour. They must rest it upon sophistical pleas of public good, or vested right, or evil to be inflicted,—as the opponents of the Colliery Bill talk of the "widows and orphans" it will reduce to the parish ; and Mr. AINSWORTH, "as a County Magistrate, could not be answerable for the peace of the country" if the bill pass. We do not think that in England there is a very refined perception of Copyright— that the number of persons is limited who would scruple at pur- chasing a cheap pirated edition, if they were sure of its correct- ness. But none, out of Parliament, we believe, resisted the ex- tension of the law on any plea of gain to themselves ; and even Mr. Hums, in the House, only spoke of cheapness as it affected the education of the people. No such chapman-like notions entered the minds of any who interested themselves in the discussion : a good deal of false view and nonsense was promulgated on both sides, but little that bore the stamp of naked dishonesty.

It is the lower tone of public opinion in the United States that

will render it difficult to carry the International Copyright question to a successful issue. The leading, at least the highest minds of America, both speculative and practical, appear to be in its favour; so probably are the gentry of the country, speaking of them as a whole. But the latter have no influence on the mass ; and few of the active politicians dare risk offending their constituents by a vote in its support : for, if the American newspapers, as appears from Mr. DICKENS'S circular, make a point of reprinting what they please of our publications, and their readers get all of the British mind that suits their taste in this way, we suspect that the American populace are not so advanced in their notions of right and wrong as to prefer the honest to the profitable, whenever their own gain in at stake.

Looking at the question in this point of view—the difficulty of

agitating the American mind upon the subject—the tours, and dinners, and speeches of Mr. DICKENS, were not badly designed to answer the object of producing some sort of effect upon public opinion : but as this is a medicine which requires repetition, some other orator should go out to keep up the ball. Sir EDWARD LYTTON EDLWER is an advocate of International Copyright ; he has bad "a House of Commons training," is highly popular in America, and moreover seems to have pretty well exhausted him- self in Europe : Sir EDWARD might employ six or eight months very pleasantly as well as usefully in cultivating the field which the return of Boz has left vacant. At all events, there is no other mode of forwarding the International Copyright question but by stimulating or shaming the Americans. The former must be done in the States : the latter may be effected here ; and Mr. DICKENS himself might put the satire into a form to make it circulate the farthest, by hitching an American book-pirate and his practices into a tale, like Squeers in Nickleby. And if we had a Continental voice, we would hint to the Continent that this question is their affair as well as ours : with regard to books they may be pretty safe, but we saw an American advertisement the other day announcing a regular periodical publication of the elite of all new music.

MR. DICKENS'S LETTER.

1. Devonshire Terrace, York Gate, Regent's Park, 7th July 1842. "Dear Sir—You may perhaps be aware that during my stay in America, I lost no opportunity of endeavouring to awaken the public mind to a sense of the unjust and iniquitous state of the law in that country in reference to the wholesale piracy of British works.

"Having been successful in making the subject one of general discussion in

the United States, I carried to Washington, for presentation to Congress by Mr. Clay, a petition from the whole body of American authors, earnestly pray- ing for the enactment of an International Copyright-law. It was signed by Mr. Washington Irving, Mr. Prescott, Mr. Cooper, and every man who has distinguished himself in the literature of America; and has since been referred to a Select Committee of the House of Representatives.

"To counteract any effect which might be produced by that petition, a

meeting was held in Boston—which you will remember is the seat and strong- hold of learning and letters in the United States—at which a memorial against any change in the existing state of things in this respect was agreed to with but one dissentient voice. This document, which, incredible as it may appear to you, was actually forwarded to Congress and received, deliberately stated that if English authors were invested with any control over the republication of their own books, it would be no longer possible for American editors to alter and adapt them (as they do now) to the American taste!

"This memorial was, without loss of time, replied to by Mr. Prescott ; who commented with the natural indignation of a gentleman and a man of letters Upon its extraordinary dishonesty. I am satisfied that this brief mention of its tone and spirit is sufficient to impress you with the conviction that it be- comes all those who are in any way connected with the literature of England, to take that high stand to which the nature of their pursuits and the extent

of their sphere of usefulness justly entitle them, to discourage the upholders of such doctrines by every means in their power, and to hold themselves aloof from the remotest participation in a system from which the moral sense and honourable feeling of all just ME must instinctively recoil.

"For myself, I have resolved that I will never from this time enter into ne-

gotiation with any person for the transmission across the Atlantic of early proofs of any thing I may write, and that I will forego all profit derivable from such a source. I do not venture to urge this line of proceeding upon you ; but I would beg to suggest, and to lay great stress upon time necessity of observing one other coarse of action, So which i cannot too emphatically call your attention.

"The persons who exert themselves to mislead the American public on this question, to put down its discussion, and to suppress and distort the truth in reference to it in .every possible way, are (as you may easily suppose) those who have a strong interest in the existing system of piracy and plunder ; inas- much as, so long as it continues, they can gain a very comfortable living out of the brains of other men, while they would hod it very difficult to earn bread by the exercise of their own. These are the editors and proprietors of newspapers almost exclusively devoted to the republication of popular English works. They are for the most part men of very low attainments, and of more than indiffer- ent reputation; and I have frequently seen them, in the same sheet in which they boast of the rapid sale of many thousand copies of an English reprint, coarsely and insolently attacking the author of that very book, and heaping scurrility and slander upon his head.

"I would therefore entreat you, in the name of the honourable pursuit with which you are so intimately connected, never to hold correspondence with any of these men, and never to negotiate with them for the sale of early proofs of any work over which you have control ; but to treat on all occasions with some respectable American publishing-house, and with such an establishment only.

"Our common interest in this subject, and my advocacy of it single-handed on every occasion that has presented itself during my absence from Europe, form my excuse for addressing you. And I am faithfully yours,

"To the Editor of the Spectator." " Camas DICKENS."

Perhaps a more striking instance of the American notions of honesty in the matter of copyright is furnished by Mr. DOLMAN, the Roman Catholic bookseller, than any thing adduced by Mr. DICKENS. The peculiar nature of property in an intellectual production may be one reason why the generality feel less scrupulous about profit- ing by piracy than by any other mode of robbery. As soon, how- ever, as the thing takes a material shape, the conscience is alarmed : the man who, if he could evade the law, would not scruple to sell ten thousand copies provided he printed them himself, might shrink from purchasing one which was to be fraudulently substituted for another edition. Mr. FITHIAN of Philadelphia seems to have got over this refinement. The frankness, too, with which he requests that his reprints may be sent to the respective authors is worth noting.

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE.

"Sir—To give another instance of the necessity of an international law of copyright to arrest the system of literary piracy so shamefully followed in the United States, I send you a copy of a letter just received by me from Phila- delphia. "It requires little comment of mine. To the injustice of' the piracies is added the insult of endeavouring to induce me to aid in extending the injury already inflicted on the property of two well-known authors. "The works thus pirated are—The Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, by the Reverend Dr. lLingard; and Historical Lectures on the Reformation, by the Reverend J. Waterworth.

" I am, Sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES DOLMAN, Publiahet. "61 New Bond Street, 12th July 1842."

" C. Demean. ESQ.

"Sir—By the politeness of a friend I am enabled to forward a copy of each of two new works which I have recently republished here from English copies, which I will thank you to forward to the respective authors, Reverend Dr. Liugard and Reverend J. Waterworth.

•• Should it be of advantage to you, as I have both wor/tt srsturcrrsexo. I should be happy to furnish you with five bundled copies of each in sheets, to be exchanged for your best Catholic works in sheets as fares possible, or otherwise, as I mighCfrom time to time order. THE ITTLE•FORM COULD BE OMITTED AND PRINTED by yourself, whereby few persons would be the wiser of haring been printed elsewhere. The only great 0181 culty is the duties each way.

" If the proposition meets your approbation, you will have the kindness to write im- mediately.

•• Very respectfully your obedient servant,