ds the discouragement of
literary exertions. Indeed, I can probably say nothing on this subject
that you have not said or thought; at least I presume you have often
contemplated this subject in all its bearings.

"'The British Parliament, about ten or twelve years ago, passed a new
act on this subject, giving to authors and proprietors of new works an
absolute right to the exclusive use of the copyright for twenty-eight
years, with some other provisions which I do not recollect; but the act
makes or continues the condition that the author or proprietor shall
deposit _eleven copies_ of the work in Stationers' Hall, for the benefit
of certain public libraries. This premium will often amount to _fifty
pounds sterling_, or more. An effort was made by publishers to obtain a
repeal of this provision; but it was opposed by the institutions which
were to receive the benefit, and the attempt failed.

"'I have a great interest in this question, and I think the interest of
science and literature in this question are by no means inconsiderable.
I sincerely wish our legislature would come at once to the line of right
and justice on this subject, and pass a new act, the preamble to which
shall admit the principle that an author has, by common law, or natural
justice, the sole and _permanent_ right to make profit by his own labor,
and that his heirs and assigns shall enjoy the right unclogged with
conditions. The act thus admitting the right would prescribe only the
_mode_ by which it shall be ascertained, secured, and enjoyed, and
violations of the right punished; and perhaps make some provisions for
the case of attempts to elude the statute by slight alterations of books
by mutilations and transpositions.'

"To this letter Mr. Webster returned the following answer:--

"'BOSTON, _October 14, 1826_.

"'DEAR SIR,--I have received yours of the 30th of September, and shall,
with your permission, lay it before the committee of the judiciary next
session, as that committee has in contemplation some important changes
in the law respecting copyright. Your opinion, in the abstract, is
certainly right and uncontrovertible. Authorship is, in its nature,
ground of property. Most people, I think, are as well satisfied (or
better) with the reasoning of Mr. Justice Yates as with that of Lord
Mansfield in the great case of Miller and Taylor. But after all,
property, in the social state, must be the creature of law; and it is a
question of exped