Newspaper Page Text
aiffWO ®IS FAIMEOT.
ATHENS,....SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1848.
International Copy Right.
The newspapers have recently informed the public
that Congress has appointed a Committee to report
, jn this important subject, a movement which has
been too long delayed, but from which, however tar
dy, we are led to hope that justice will at length be
done to foreign authors as well as to our own.
We are aware that the importance of an interna
tional copy right law is not felt, as we think it should
be, by every intelligent person. There are some—
it may bemany —who oppose it, and entrench them
selves, for want of better ground, behind the selfish
barrier of impolicy, pleading that the first fruits of
such a law would be to increase the cost of English
re-prints —which are now furnished for a mere song.
Granting to these objectors their position —which,
however, is not quite so argument-proof as they im
agine—let us look for a moment at the morality of
their objection. Under the present system of re-print
any book procured in England or on the Continent ,
can be re-produced in this country, independently of
the will or pleasure of its author —the same being
true of an American book in England. Nor is this
all. This very book may, under the same rule, be
so mutilated by the re-publisliers, in its style, lan
guage, and even opinions, as to place the author in
a false position before the transatlantic public. Up
on this very point, hear what the amiable and excel
lent Hood has said —and let it be remembered too,
that while ho wrote, under the pressure of pecuniary
troubles, his inimitable sketches and stories, —the
American public enjoyed his wit, and delighted,
drank in his humor without contributing one far
thing to relieve his necessities —a consideration which
should add force to his plea:
“ There is another injury, however, with which
our authors are threatened besides reprinting, name
ly, translation, —not from English into American, for
there is no such tongue, but from the language of a
Monarchy into that of a Republic. Yes ; our wri
ters are actually to be done into Locofocos, Nullifi
ers, Federalists, Democrats, Sympathisers—nay,
perhaps, into Horse Alligators and Yellow Flowers
of the Forest, according to the taste of the province
in which they may be re-printed, or the predilections
ofthe re-publisher ! In fact, American editions are
to represent in spirit, as well as in form, American
impressions /”
If, however, it be doubted that such latitude is ever
taken, or even contemplated by the interested oppo
nents of an international copyright, let the following
extract dispel the delusion. We quote from a me
morial of sundry publishers and printers—whose craft
was in danger, presented to Congress at a recent ses
sion :
“ We would also suggest another point of vital im
port. If English authors obtain copyrights upon
their works here, and our markets are supplied with
them, it is apparent that having no power to adapt
them to our wants, our institutions, and our state of
society, we must permit their circulation asthey are.
We shall thus have a London literature forced upon
us. at once driving our own out of the field, and sub
jecting the community to its influence, So long as
we have power over it—so long as we can shape it
as may suit our taste and condition, we have nothing
to fear; but when this privilege is taken away, and
the vast preponderance of British capital has driven
our own out of the trade, shall we not have in our bo
som a power at war with our institutions, and dan
gerous to our prosperity 1 Is it not safer and better
to let in this literature freely, but subject'to the
moulding of our wants and wishes, rather than to
give it an ascendancy, and entrench it behind the in
violable privilege of copyright 1”
An American author, too, holds the following lan
guage;
“ I have said nothing—and I might have said much
—of the mutilation of books by our American repub
lishers—that outrageous wrong by which a noble En
glish writer, speaking truths in London, dear to him
38 life, is made to say in New York that which his
eoul abhors!”
Now, however desirable it may be for the interests
of the publisher to remodel the works of transatlantic
authors, we confess that we can discover no morality,
m short, no honesty therein. We certainly call in
question the fairness of “ casting the brains of En
glish authors into American moulds and shapes, with
as little ceremony as so much jelly!” and to adopt
once more the forcible humor of llood :
hor my own part, I think that a man has quite
ns good a right to attach a sum, as a sentiment, to
my signature— to use my name for the supply of his
* as for the support of his principles—to turn
me into cash, as to turn me into a republican. But
there may be more novel notions on these matters on
air sis & &
the opposite side of the Atlantic ; where another
and better world,’ is supposed to be the new one.”
We have dwelt upon this point, because it is im
portant to shew the false refuge of those who oppose
this measure. Their whole ground is untenable and
unjust. They advocate a system of intellectual pi
racy. They propose to fatten on the brains of poor,
unprotected authors, who, according to every princi
ple of human justice, have as much right to exclu
sive control over the offspring of those hard-worked
brains, as the artisan has over the products of his
hard-worked hands. Their plea is a libel on human
ity—on benevolence—on equity. We write as we
feel, strongly on this subject, because we have grown
sick of hearing the puny and miserable arguments of
a selfish policy, against the creation of alaw —the very
principle of which is common honesty !
It would seem to be useless to present other argu
ments than the sheer justice of the case, in favor of
the law we are considering. Let us, however, ap
peal to motives and considerations in themselves, less
pure perhaps than that of the simple right, but still,
not unworthy of our regard—we mean the interests
of our own National Literature—if we may use this
expression to designate a comparative nonentity. —
With a few honorable exceptions, our books are
transcripts of those of other lands, and our writers,
unfortunately, in an equal ratio, copyists and imita
tors of foreign authors. And why is this 1 Simply
because the popular taste has been formed and moul
ded to a foreign literature —and to that taste our
writers must truckle, or have their labor for their
pains. If we would have an American Literature,
we must throw around the American author the
guards of an international copy right. We must de
liver him from that alarming competition with the
F iglish novelist and poet and historian, which he
has now to suffer—almost to his exclusion from the
field. However attractive and valuable his book, he
cannot, if unknown to fame, find a publisher, unless
at his own cost, because the publishers have their
hands full of popular books by foreign authors, which
they can pick up as waifs upon the sea of adventure,
the moment they pass the territorial limits of the
country where they are produced; and wtiile they
grow rich upon the sales of the book, its author may
be dragging out a poor subsistence in some garret,
upon the insufficient sum of his home copyright!
Dickens and Hood and James, and a host of others,
have had more readers in America than in Great
Britain; and yet the former have never paid these
authors one dollar, directly or indirectly, for their
delightful works.
If we were the producers, instead of the consumers
of Literature, our eyes would be speedily opened to
the absolute injustice of this system. We can see
no reason why we should not pay foreign authors as
freely as we pay our own ; and especially when we
recollect that this would secure to our writers, in re
turn, a compensation from foreign readers.
While we can have the choicest works of foreign
authors for the mere stealing of them—our own wri
ters may starve or be compelled, as is the fact, in
nine cases out of ten, to abandon Literature, and re
sort, like Fitz Green Ilalleck,
“ to the cotton trade or sugar line.”
Give us, then, we heartily pray, an International
Cop3 r right Law. And we will guarantee that this
monstrous bug-bear of a high priced English and for
eign Literature will vanish into thin air. The price
of a book is regulated less by the copyright paid for
it than by the public demand for it. Hence, under
an equitable system of copyright in America, to for
eign authors, their books w ould be furnished by some
liberal minded publisher, at such a price as would
ensure him a large and rapid sale. A few cents ex
tra, on the price of a book would help to gladden the
sinking heart of its poor author, and give him the
just reward of his arduous and exhausting toil. So
mote it be.
A New Telegraph.
Anew Telegraph is announced as the invention of
Mr Curtis, Editor of the “ Commercial” at Cincin
atti. From the brief descriptions we have seen, we
should suppose it to be an improvement on the plan
of Wheatstone, who used dials with revolving nee
dles ; and Mr. Curtis employs revolving dials —from
which the message is written down. Great speed in
transmitting intelligence, is claimed for this Tele
graph.
Notices to Correspondents.
W. C. W. Your favor is at hand, and we will
publish the Sonnet in an early number.
L. S. D. We cannot do as you suggest, in com
mon justice to ourself.
R. F. We shall take notice of y.onr favor in our
next issue.
L. F. “If at once you dont succeed —Try, try
again.”
R. T. Your sketch of “ Cole the Artist,” is on
file.
E. L. P. The “ Yankee Blade” is Two Dollars
per annum, in advance.
<Dur CKosslp Column.
Dear reader, is it not marvellous that here in the
interior of Georgia, we should be sitting in our sanc
tum on the 21st of June, looking with eager plea
sure over the London Punch for the third of this
month 1 Seventeen days after it is printed, it is read
in remote parts of this western world. How wonderful
is the agency of steam—nor does the wonder dimin
ish to us with familiarity. We are just as much af
fected now by the sight of a railroad train, or a mam
moth vessel propelled by steam, as when we first be
held the phenomenon. But we meant to speak of
the miracle of the splendid steamship America. Last
week we gave the palm for speed to Brother Jona
than by virtue of the performance of his elegant ship,
the United States. Now ive must withdraw it, and
give it again to John Bull, who has had, and means
to keep, the lead in ocean steamers ! Well, it mat
ters little whether John or Jonathan builds tho no
ble vessel so that we are enabled to cross the bosom
of the mighty Atlantic in eight days. Think of it,
ye who have laughed a*. the idea as preposterous, and
declared it impossible! The America really crossed
the ocean—from Liverpool to Halifax—in eight days,
and but for detention near Nova Scotia, she had
reached her wharf in Boston within ten days of her
departure from Liverpool. It is said that when the
Boston telegrapher directed the New-York operator
to prepare to read tho “ news by the America,” the
latter wrote with his instrument the significant word,
“ Gammon !” It is wonderful indeed that ten days
will now suffice to unite the mother and daughter j
land. Who doubts that the Atlantic will be crossed
by passenger ships in five days before the nineteenth
century closes'? Not we certainly We have
furnished our readers with a “ Bowl of Punch” this
week, but as a late number has reached us, we will
furnish them with an extra draught, assuring them
that our Punch never intoxicates, however much it
exhilirates. The leading pictorial feature of Punch
this week is entitled, “Lord Morpeth throwing
pearls before Aldermen.” Doubtless the rea
der would have finished the sentence otherwise, and
the picture proves that he would be right. The “ al
dermen” are huge, porcine figures, in gay trappings
with armorial bearings, and Lord M. is dispensing
among them his varions Sanatory Measures. Be
fore one of the huge, unwieldy animals lies a Bill on
Cleanliness; before another, a Bill on Improved
Sewerage, and before still another the Health of
Towns Bill. The picture tells its own story without
any text. Punch gives the following piece of
“ smoke:” “ The Rtformc gives us the statistics of
the Fete of Fraternity at Paris. Amongst other
curious facts, there is one which illustrates rather
cleverly the movements of France at the present mo
ment. It tells us that, ‘ between the arrival of the
National Assembly in the Champ de Mars and elev
en o’clock at night, thore were 8402 cannon shot
fired.' 1 Here was noise enough to last France all its
life ! It strikes us that each of these cannons ought
to be ranked with the 900 mouth-pieces that have
yet spoken out since the opening of the new
Chamber. They ought all to be returned to the Na
tional Assembly. If well primed, the President
might in vain ring his bell to stop their throats. —
They would help, with the other Members, to verify
the old national proverb, ‘ Plus de bruit que de fruit ’
—not a bad motto for their high-sounding proceed
ings.”
ttfeUi IMUorllr.
The Presidential Canvass.
The two great parties are now entering with spirit
upon the campaign, which is to place one or the oth
er in power for the next fouryears, from March next.
Ratification meetings, as they are called, are being
held in all sections by both parties, and despite of
some dissatisfaction with the action of the two Con
ventions, exhibited by some of either party, we sup
pose that the two candidates, Taylor and Cass,
will receive the suffrages of the entire Whig and
Democratic parties respectively. We hope that po
jitical partisans will keeepbool in this canvass, and
remember that their loud swaggering and vaporing
will really affect the grand result no more than the
explosion of a pop-gun would a drawn battle. Let
the motto of every true patriot be, “My country and
her highest .good.”
The Latest News from Mexico.
The “ Treaty” arrived in \Yashington on the 15th.
It was brought by Major Graham in eighteen days
from Mexico. A portion of the 13th Regiment of
Infantry arrived at New Orleans in the “ Portland”
on the 14th, in five days, from Vera Cruz.
The accounts from Yucatan are gloomy. The In.
dians are committing wholesale murder upon the peo
ple, and at the latest advices, had captured the town
of Ysemal, and slaughtered its inhabitants.
Postmasters will, we trust, comply with the
requirements of their office, and inform us when our
paper is not taken out, and for what reason —as in
case of removal especially, this is important.
(Due iJoofc STablc.
VtT Publishers arubauthors who may wish to have their
books noticed in the “Gazette,” will please send copies
for the Editor, to Messrs. BcrUess, Stringer & Co.,New
York, who will send a parcel to him weekly by express.
The Lire op Oliver Cromwell, By J. T. Head
ley. 1 vol. 12 mo. jp. 446. New York; Baker &
Scribner.
We have road this handsome volume from begin
ning to end ; and our verdict upon its merits, as a
whole, is that it is a capital book. Mr. Headley has
evidently written it with more care than his former
productions evinced, and yet it contains a great
many offences against rhetoric, and if we err not,
some against grammar. There are frequent inver
sions of style, and frequent obscurities and also inele
gancies of construction, of which it is unnecessary to
point out specimens. While these blemishes are to
be reprehended, and should be avoided, we are free
to say that a more pleasant and taking volume of
biography we have not seen in years. It is written
in a free and flowing style,—not lacking in the inten
sive,—and the author has evidently a very high and
anti-English opinion of the Protector, whom he re
presents as a stern, inflexible, self-denying patriot,
and, at the same time, a severe though somewhat
bigoted religionist. Mr. Headley’s free and
dashing pencil, the dark, gloomy and repulsive fea
tures of Oliver Cromwell assume a more cheerful
and attractive guise, around which the fires of a no
ble generosity of warm affections and unquenchable
honor shed their brilliant light. Mr. Headley dif
fers of course, with the biographers of Cromwell
touching many points in his extraordinary career ;
but of the historical merits of the book, we are not
now prepared to speak.
It is susceptible of much and perhaps severe criti
cism, as we have already hinted—regarded as a lite
rary performance ; but notwithstanding all this, it
is a book which the thousands will read and ad
mire. It is certainly more interesting to us than eith
er the author’s Napoleon or Washington. We may
refer to it again more critically than in this brief no
tice.
1. The Juvenile Choir. 2. The Young Ladies’
llari*. By Geo. Kingsley. New-York :A. S.
Barnes & Cos.
The name of the author of these books is prirnu
facie evidence of their excellence. None who are
acquainted with Kingsley’s Social Choir will ques
tion his ability to compile music books for the fami
ly circle, the parlor, and the young ladies’ school- ;
room. With the first of the books above-named we *
| are quite familiar, and have quite frequently recom
-1 mended it to those who have desired a good collec
tion for young people. The second work is one of
more pretension, containing short and popular pieces
arranged as songs, duetts and trios, with piano ac
companiment. From a slight examination we are
disposed to think it quite as excellent as the “ Social
Choir,” and more than this we certainly need not
say to commend to our young lady friends, and to
teachers of music.
Bullion’s English Grammars. 1. Practical
Lessons in English Grammar. 2. Principles
of English Grammar, with copious exercises, ;
&c. New-York: Pratt, Woodford & Cos.
The choice of text books at the present day is ren
i dered exceedingly difficult by the great number of
! competitors for public favor. We think to do our
scholastic readers a service by commending to their lV
regard Dr. Bullion’s English Grammars, as present
ing in a clear and concise manner the principles and
rules of Grammar, and affording also admirable nx
! amples of the correct and incorrect in practice. The
j Grammar is substantially bound, and yet sold at a
cheap rate.
Bullion’s Latin and Greek Series. 1. Latin
Grammar. 2. Latin Reader. 3.’ CjESar. -4. 1
! Greek Grammar. 5. Greek Reader. New-
York : Pratt, Woodford & Cos.
i The Latin and Greek books of Dr. Bullion have
certainly high claims on teachers not only from the
great learning of their author, but from that intrin
sic excellence which has given them so wide a circu
lation as they have obtained in a few years. We
have not room to speak of them critically, nor is it
necessary we should do so, for the oldest Professors
and the first Reviews of the country have already .
and repeatedly attested their merit. Regarding,
therefore, the character of the books as established
beyond question, we will barely add that no series of
Latin and Greek books issued from the American
press is printed and bound in handsomer style or *t
a less cost than this.
HYMENEAL.
s3= We will always find room to chronicle the
marriages which take place among our patrons and
friends.
Married, at Tranquilla, near Penfield, on Tues
day, the 20th instant, by the Rev. W. Richards, his
eldest daughter, Kate, to Charles W. Dußose,
Esq., of Sparta.
55