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Mem     of the late James Thomson, Esq., F.S., of Clitheroe.        71 
tor enjoys the profits of his invention as the reward of his genius; and
when it haa 
been proved to the legislature that the remuneration has not been adequate
to the 
importance of the invention, as in the greatest of all patent inventions,
the Steam 
Engine of Watt, the term has been extended by act of Parliament; a recent
act of 
Lord Brougham's simplifies the extension of a patent by referring it to a
Committee 
of the Privy Council. 
" I look in vain, Sir, to the copyright of designs for anything analogous
in prin- 
ciple to the two foregoing examples. I look in vain to new and original designs
for 
anything analogous in kind to those intellectual efforts of genius destined
to improve 
and delight mankind for ages yet to come ; or to those inventions by which
labour is 
abridged, human power increased, and the comforts and luxuries of life, by
being 
made more cheap, are diffused more widely over the surface of the earth,
and the 
Sum of human happiness augmented. In these things the public has the deepest
in- 
terest, and that interest is guarded by wise and cautious legislation. 
"Where, Sir, are the points of resemblance between these great objects
and that 
which forms the subject of this letter, and of the investigation now going
on before a 
Committee of the House ? I see none but what arises from a mistaken and a
mis- 
chievous association of the idea of xONOPOLY with COPYRIGHT in designs, at
which the 
legislature feels alarm for the public interest. 
"If a pattern were an enduring thing, like an engine or a book, a reversionary
interest in it for the public would be desirable and just; but patterns are
for the most 
part like soap-bubbles blown in the sunshine ; glittering and iridescent,
they burst 
almost at the moment of their birth, and leave not a trace behind.- NOVELTY,
the 
handmaid of FASHION, and sometimes the enemy of TASTE, enjoys but a short
and 
fleeting existence-it is, of its very essence, quickly to fade and pass away.
Some 
exceptions, ' few and far between,' affect not the general truth of this
statement. 
"The interest of the public then consists, not in wresting a short-lived
copyright 
from  the hands of the original designer, but in obtaining a succession of
patterns, 
the best, the purest in taste, the most original in design that can possibly
be produced, 
and this, Sir, after long experience and much reflection, I venture confidently
to 
pronounce to be attainable osxy by such an extension of the term of copyright
in de- 
signs, as will give the printer sec'ity for his property and a remunerating
interest in his 
labours. 
"Then, Sir, will arise an active and honourable competition, beneficial
alike to 
both, between two classes of printers, till then so hostile to each other.
Necessity is 
the mother of invention, and those who have hitherto been content to copy,
will then 
be compelled to invent, and those who have led the race must then redouble
their 
speed. 
" It is in the power of the legislature to place us on the scale of
taste and refine- 
ment in industrial art, at that point precisely, which it shall choose we
should 
occupy amongst the manufacturing nations of Europe. Reject the prayer of
our 
petition, and we sink still lower on the scale ; for to be stationary, whilst
all around 
am advancing, is to retrograde. Grant half our prayer, and you remedy not
half the 
evil; whilst some are relieved, the burden of the rest is rendered still
more intoler- 
able. Six months' copyright would protect the home trade printer from the
effects of 
piracy on his home demand, but not on his foreign; there are many distant
and im- 
portant markets for his prints, which a six months' copyright could not include,
and 
furniture printing, an important branch, would be left just where it now
is. A six 
months' act would be a partial, ungracious, ungenerous boon to one portion
of the 
trade, and an act of injustice to another. Give us then twelve months, which
will 
include every class of printers in the trade; it will be received, not merely
a. an act of 
justice, which if delayed would at no distant period become an act of necessity,
but as 
an act of grace. 
" It will form the commencement of a new era in our art, when placed
for the 
first time on a footing of equality with our rivals of France, who have long
enjoyed a 
twelve months' protection, we can enter the lists with them in the department
of TASTE 
in a fair and honourable competition. 
" Then, Sir, we will attend your schools of design, we will raise the
character of 
our artists by a more careful and liberal education, and a higher recompense;
and 
we will seek wherever it is to found, in schools, in academies, and amongst
artists 
of the highest grade both at home and abroad, for those materials and that
character 
of art, which infused into our designs will by degrees, I hope not slow degrees,
free 
us from that reproach, which is but too well deserved, of NATIONAL INFERIORITY
OF 
TASTE AND FANCY." 
"This is abundantly shewn by the evidence of Mr. Aldermau Kershaw, before
the select com- 
mitte."