measure. to a purchaser, and afterwards making art encountered no such impediment. a replica four or five times over of the He thought, then, that in works of same picture, each succeeding purchaser art, and still more in the case of not being aware that it had been already books, this privilege should be revived. the subject of sale. This would be While he should rejoice at the extenchecked by the 3rd clause, and various sion of copyright to foreign artists, he frauds to which the public had been sub- doubted the fairness of such an extension jected would be repressed, while dealings in the absence of reciprocity. Their between artists and purchasers would be Lordships would remember that Mr. facilitated, and proper protection would Motley, who had lately been appointed be given to the authors of original works. United States Minister to this country, He believed the Bill, after consideration had derived great advantage from obby a Select Committee, would succeed taining copyright for his works in in gathering up the loose and uncertain England; and he (Earl Stanhope) could enactments already in existence, and in not refrain from mentioning the high combining them into one harmonious honour in which that gentleman was held by literary men in England, and Mored, “That the Bill be now read their sincere desire that he would display 22.”—(The Lord Westbury.) a fairness and justice in diplomatic ne gotiations equal to his great ability as EARL STANHOPE said, he was glad an historian. He (Earl Stanhope) would that this subject had been taken up by suggest that, both as regard literary and the noble and learned Lord, whose legal fine art copyright, power should be eminence and taste for art combined to reserved to Her Majesty in Council to fit him for the task. An assimilation of grant privileges of copyright to foreign the law respecting the fine arts to the nations which were willing to concede law of literary copyright would be a similar privileges in return. With regreat improvement, and it was grati- gard to the definitions, he thought some fying to learn that the Bill had received of those in the Bill were open to objecsupport and encouragement from the tion. The noble and learned Lord had great body of artists. But, although the defined an author to be “he who has general principle was readily admitted, designed or made any original work of the difficulty of dealing with the details design;" but where the merit of an was very great, and the propriety of con- engraving of a celebrated work was very sidering these details very carefully in a great, and a large sum had been exSelect Committee was apparent from the pended on it, it was not fair that it fact that the noble and learned Lord has should be re-produced by photographs. found it expedient to withdraw the first There might be no copyright in the Bill on the subject which he introduced original picture; but protection should early in the present Session. He (Earl be given to a valuable engraving of it in Stanhope) desired first, to notice the pro- the same way as if it were an original vision in the 3rd clause, that copyright design. [Lord WESTBURY said, he shall be granted, not only to any British thought the Bill as it stood would prosubject, but to any foreigner residing at vide for such a case.] It did not seem the time in the British dominions. Yet to him that this was in any manner, or in many of the foreign countries, and at any place, provided for in the Bill. above all in the United States, nothing The subject was rather intricate, and at all of the kind was granted our sub- perhaps he had not sufficiently explained jects there residing. He (Earl Stanhope) it, but a particular instance would make most readily agreed that we should re- his meaning clear. Take that magniturn the advantages given to British ficent picture of Raphael, the Madonna di artists on the Continent, but surely it San Sisto, in the gallery at Dresden. was open to question whether we should Of that picture one engraving was by offer great advantages to artists living M. Müller, an engraving of exquisite in countries which gave us nothing skill—the very finest engraving, accordin return. International copyright was ing to some connoisseurs, ever yet promore important in the case of works of duced. A proof of it could not be purart than of books, for differences of chased at this moment for less than £80 language limited the appreciation of or £90. Now the picture itself was, he literary productions, whereas works of presumed, publici juris. Anyone was free to take a photograph from it. But if M. Müller were still alive, and had an interest in his engraving, no one ought to be free to take a photograph from that without his permission. On the whole, he (Earl Stanhope) would say that he anticipated great benefit from a comprehensive Act on this subject, which was especially opportune now that the spread of photography threatened a decline in the best class of engravings; and from the noble and learned Lord's readiness to consider any Amendments, he felt confident that the Bill would be brought to a satisfactory issue. THE EARL OF KIMBERLEY also thanked his noble and learned Friend for taking up so difficult and complicated a subject, and quite concurred with him in thinking that it was a most judicious course, to refer the Bill, after the second reading, to a Select Committee. He could scarcely take so decided a view of the rights of property in works of fine art as his noble and learned Friend had done-with every desire to uphold that right to the utmost, he thought his noble and learned Friend had placed it too high for whereas the property of an ordinary article rested in the possessor for the time being, the peculiar privilege of preventing the possessors of works of art from making the use of them which they otherwise might be disposed to do, was not so much an inherent right attaching to property as a special right created for the purpose of encouraging such productions. Within certain limits it was desirable as a matter of public policy that encouragement should be given, not only to works of literature but also to works of fine art, and he also thought that the present law was in such a confused and unsatisfactory state that it required to be consolidated and amended; but the House, while securing to really fine productions their due pecuniary encouragement, should beware of passing indiscriminate enactments, such as would confer rights on undeserving works, seriously interfere with the general enjoyment of the public, and lead to much litigation and embarrassment. The first great difficulty arising in the consideration of this question was the definitions contained in the Bill. Great difficulty always attached to definitions. The noble and learned Lord, for example, had defined sculpture in these terms "Every original work, - either in the round, in relief, or intaglio, made in any material, and by any process." Such a definition would include a variety of designs which would more properly come under the Copyright of Designs Act, which gave a protection of four or five years. The next portion of the Bill demanding serious consideration was the length of period for which the rights of property in those valuable works would be protected. At present the periods vary; for example, in the case of painting and drawing the period was seven years; whereas in that of sculpture it was twenty-eight years. In the case of painting and drawing the Bill proposed to give a protection for the life of the author and thirty years after; but, as by an Act brought in by the noble and learned Lord photographs were put on the same footing as painting and drawing, he thought it was worthy of consideration whether it was desirable to give so long a protection to photographs. There never was a time when better prices were given for works of art in this country; and he doubted whether any considerable extension of the period during which copyright was now enjoyed was essentially necessary. By the Bill copyright was extended to the whole of the dominions of the Queen; and he wished to point out that in respect to a great many of the colonies there really existed no power on the part of this country to enforce such a Bill as the present. The Bill, therefore, would remain a dead letter as far as many of the colonies were concerned. The Bill seemed to be conceived in the interest of engravers to a great extent, rather than in the interest of authors or of the fine arts generally. By a previous Act of Parliament-the Act of 1852—it was provided that whenever no precise stipulation was made between the author and the buyer of a work of art, then the copyright should exist in the work. The present Bill, however, declared that the copyright should exist in the work, whether there were any stipulation or not between the author and the buyer. He thought the existing provision of the law was preferable. He thought that his noble and learned Friend had not given sufficient consideration to some of the details of his Bill-for example, there was a clause authorizing the issue of a search warrant to enter a house suspected of harbouring such works, to search for them, and, if found, to seize | provision would have met the increasthem and destroy them. He could not ing needs of the place, and as the assent to the granting of any such power. Charity Commissioners remarked, the It was not for the public interests that duties of the sisters bore a strong rethese copyrights should be created, and semblance to the duties of mission he thought it better to leave the law as women employed in the destitute district it stood. There was one extraordinary for which the Hospital was originally clause in the Bill, to the effect that in all founded. Henry VI. confirmed and excases where any person should sell a tended the privileges and immunities of work of fine art there should be a dis- the Hospital; and that monarch's object, tinctly implied contract, on the part of no doubt, was to carry on a good work the person selling, that it was an original among the seafaring population in the work. Considering how difficult it was neighbourhood of the Tower. At the to decide what were and what were not time of the Reformation this Hospital original works, he thought such a clause was saved from the general destruction would operate harshly on sellers. The of monasteries and other religious instiBill required careful consideration, and tutions, and though not turned to all the he trusted that the Select Committee advantage it might have been, it, neverwould examine the details with the ut-theless, must have done eminent good most caution. so long as it remained in the locality where it was founded. That it had been of some benefit to the locality was shewn by the fact that when the first Bill to transfer the Hospital from the East of London, in order to allow of the formation of St. Katherine's Docks on its site was defeated, the feeling of the locality was so strong in favour of the Hospital that there were great rejoicings on the occasion of the defeat of the Bill. In 1825, the Hospital was removed from St. Katherine's Docks to the Regent's Park at a cost of £125,000, and a curse seems to have rested upon it ever since, for although the large sum of £44,709 was expended upon the new buildings, a sum of no less than £32,088 was spent EARL NELSON asked the Lord Chan-in repairs of the new buildings from cellor, When the Report of the Royal Commission issued last Session on St. Katherine's Hospital is likely to be made? St. Katherine's Hospital was a distinctly religious foundation. It was originally built near the Tower of London and endowed by Queen Matilda, in 1148; and afterwards received a charter from Queen Eleanor in 1273. It was founded for a master, three brethren, who were to be priests, three sisters, six poor scholars, twenty-four poor men, and ten poor women. In the charter of Queen Eleanor there was this important provision that if in future times the possessions of the Hospital should be increased, the number of chaplains, poor men, clerks, laymen, and women should be augmented, according to the means of augmentations of the goods of the Hospital. Unfortunately, that provision had been shamefully neglected. Such 1826 to 1857. In December, 1865, the reported, from the poor district of the sion, he had caused inquiry to be made East end of London. There were besides as to the course of its labours and when chapel services, which were conducted they might be supposed likely to termi. for the benefit of the rich people living nate. The Commission was appointed in the neighbourhood of the Regent's in March last to inquire into the rePark, who paid for pew rents £100 per sources of the establishment, it having annum, which went to pay a curate to appeared from the Report made by the help in the services. There were also Charity Commissioners in 1865, which schools for thirty-three boys and eighteen would be found in the library, that those girls, who came from a district which resources were very likely to increase. was perfectly capable of supporting its The Commissioners had begun to inform own schools. It was admitted that the themselves on the subject, and had proHospital might again be placed in the ceeded so far as to be in a condition to neighbourhood of the Docks; and one take measures for considering what scheme, among many, had been devised, should be a proper Report to make by which churches, almshouses, penis under the circumstances of the case, tentiaries, and schools might be built when a change occurred in Her Main time, as leases fell in, and an income jesty's Government, and it appeared to would still be left for the Hospital of the Commissioners that it might be demore than £8,350 a year. It was asked sirable, before the final Report, to make that this income, in compliance with application to the Crown in reference to the original foundation and that special the constitution of the Commission-in clause in Queen Eleanor's charter to which other words, whether the Chancellor of he had drawn their Lordships attention, the late Government, or of the Governmight be devoted to the maintenance of ment for the time being, should be at fifteen missionary clergy, with a body of its head. The circumstances of the case sisters, teachers, and lay helpers, while were somewhat peculiar. The present £3,000 a year would be left for the sup- state of things in connection with the port of the schools and reformatories . charity was entirely under the direction It was not to be wondered at that those of Her Majesty, and the Lord Chancelwho were interested in the temporal and lor had only such authority as from spiritual welfare of the seafaring popu- time time to time might be given him to lation of the East end, for the benefit visit the charity. The Report, howof whom this Hospital was originally ever, would be made before long. He founded, and who, when any check would not say a single word as to the came upon trade, were peculiarly liable Report the Commissioners should make. to great distress, should have rejoiced He would leave that entirely to themvery much when last Session, at the selves. instance of Her Majesty's late Government, a Commission was appointed, THE MAYOR OF CORK-ASSASSINAwith the then Lord Chancellor at its TIONS IN IRELAND.-QUESTIONS. head, for the purpose of seeing what could be done with this foundation. VISCOUNT LIFFORD, who had given They were anxious that whatever scheme notice to ask the Colonial Secretary, might be adopted it should be one which Whether the attention of Her Majesty's would at least insure the return of the Government has been called to a speech Hospital to the place where it might do reported to have been made by the so much good; and that, in accordance Mayor of Cork at a banquet given to with the spirit of the original founda- the Fenian convicts lately released from tion, it might be such as to enable the imprisonment; and what steps the Gopoor people of the district to benefit, vernment mean to take in consequence ? spiritually and temporally, by the insti- rose and said: My Lords, some of your tution. He begged to ask the noble and Lordships may remember that two years learned Lord when the Report of the ago I presented a Petition to this House Royal Commission issued last Session on in favour of the remission of the capital the St. Katharine's Hospital was likely part of the sentence of the Fenian prito be made ? soners ; and more than one of your THE LORD CHANCELLOR said, he Lordships are aware of the deep interest had, in the first place, to state that, not I took in the subject. I have, therebeing himself a member of the Commis- fore, not been one of those who have soners. found fault with the Government for / which portion is to be driven out by the remitting the sentences on these pri- other. I will now read the Mayor of Further than this, I may say Cork's notion of the crime of murderthat, at the time the Prince of Wales “He believed that a spirit of concession had was in Ireland, I was in hopes that, as been aroused on the part of the dominant race. the Fenian conspiracy had entirely He did not say it was owing to Fenianism or to blown up, and it had been shown how the barrel placed under the prison at Clerkenwell, futile were the efforts of those connected his own countrymen—as solemn an act of justice but he believed he paid a solemn act of justice to with it against the power of England, as if he were a high priest—when he said those the sentence on these prisoners would noble men-Allan, Barrett, Larkin, and O'Brien, have been remitted. I mention this on who sacrificed their lives for their country, ought the present occasion only to show that to be remembered and respected as good Catholics in the Question I am now going to put I moment in the country a young Prince of the and good patriots. (Cheers.) There was at this am actuated by no party spirit or by any English nation. (Voice: He be —d).” animosity against the unfortunate men At least there was one gentleman prenow in confinement. But I must now sent, for I am thankful to say that a say that, in my opinion, and in that of voice cried out—"No, he is welcome.” others who know well the circumstances However, the Mayor, taking no notice of the country, Her Majesty's clemency of the welcome, continued to sayin respect of the Fenian prisoners was “When that noble Irishman, O'Farrell, fired at entirely misplaced. Since these men the Prince in Australia, he was imbued with as have been set at liberty they have, al- noble and patriotic feelings as Larkin, Allen, and most without cessation, done their ut- O'Brien were. (Great cheering, and cries of · Ho most to disquiet the country which they was.?) De believed that O'Farrell would be as have already so much injured. They ficed their lives for Ireland. (Loud shouts of highly thought of as any of the men who had sacrihave done all they could to drive away Bravo :') They all saw how a noble Pole had capital from Ireland and to drive away fired at the Emperor of Russia because he thought the thousands who are annually forced that the Emperor was trampling upon the liberties to leave Ireland from the want of em of the people. (Cheers.) Well, O'Farrell, proployment there. I will say nothing fur- when he fired at the Prince. O'Farrell was as bably, was actuated by the same noble impulses ther of them ; but will it be believed noble an Irishman as the Pole, and as true to his that a person holding Her Majesty's country, for each was impelled by the same sentiCommission of the Peace—the Mayor of ments to do what they did. (Cheers.)" the second city in Ireland—a person This was said by a gentleman holding who has taken the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty's Commission of an unofHer Majesty–has actually presided at fending Prince who was doing his duty a dinner where these misguided men in obedience to Her Majesty's orders in have been entertained, and has uttered visiting various parts of Her Majesty's the words of which your Lordships have dominions. I need not remind your no doubt heard ? I will not trouble Lordships of the horror and disgust with your Lordships with the rubbish, the which all the civilized world received the bombast, and the disloyalty spoken by accounts of that crime. I will now leave these Fenians at the dinner. I will con- the disloyalty of this man to be dealt fine myself to what is reported to have with by Her Majesty's Ministers, the been said by the Mayor of Cork-and I more fitting protectors of Her Majesty's will quote, not from any Conservative honour, and I will confine myself entirely paper, but from a paper of his own side to the social condition of Ireland in conin politics sequence of such sentiments as these "The Mayor continued to say the company being diffused. That condition is deplormust be indebted to Mr. M'Auliffe for the bril able. Assassination is rife; the murderers liant address he had favoured them with, and in walk off undetected ; and I distinctly say which he had graphically described the driving of the Moors from Grenada by the Spaniards, as the that this arises from the tampering wită Irish would drive the English out of this country the laws of property, from the undue to morrow if they were strong enough. (Loud expectations continually held out to the cheers).” Irish people, and from the too great Who are the Irish and who are the delicacy shown in repressing crime. English? I have never yet been able These assassinations are the result of an to discover this; and, remembering that organized conspiracy of which the seat, one-half the British army is composed of I believe, is not in Ireland, but in EngIrish Roman Catholics, I want to know land. And so completely organized |