A KKVIKW. 



his jjiivilcgc. Were all men eciually capable of producing. leuer 

 would be foiiiul en_L(a_L(ecl in plimcleiiiij^r imentioiis which belong to 

 Ills nei<,dibor. Such, however, not beine^ the case, unfortunatel\' the 

 lack of inventive talent is in many instances supplied only by the de- 

 sire for t^'^ain, and ini^enuit)' in attainin<^f it, at the sacrifice of the real 

 machinist. 



" The public mind, interested in the progress of the arts, as fos- 

 tered by the establishment of this office, is now turned towards a 

 remedy of the evil; and to the undersigned it seems but justice that 

 the remedy should be apjilied. 



" Inadequacy of protection, is what is chietl\' complained of — the 

 violation of a right as sacred as any personal possession, without the 

 remedy guaranteed against a petty larceny. It is manifestly unjust 

 that the time and means of the inventor should be expended in de- 

 fending that which Government accords as peculiarly his own, in 

 every instance where a willful trespasser is called upon to respond in 

 damages for infringement. He is thus subjected to all the horrors of 

 interminable and ruinous litigation; and, if his assailants are more 

 fortunate in ha\'ing the means of attack than he of defence, his case 

 is hopeless, and he may be likened, as once were chancery clients, to 

 sheep tliat, having taken shelter in the hedge, come forth "piteously 

 comjjlaining," leaving their fleece upon the bush. 



" It may be contended that ail other titles to ]:)roperty are justly 

 subject to investigation without limitation; — and that an exception in 

 this instance would be a departure from the well settled principles of 

 practice and law. The argument might be good, were all property 

 equally the result of mental creation and equally susceptible of public 

 invasion. Unlike a chaLtc', it can be stolen by one, or a thousand, and 

 by all at the same time. Its appropriation by one interposes no ob- 

 stacle to its larceny by another, and thus the inventor is subject to 

 be plundered by every person who chooses to violate his right. He 

 appeals to the law for redress, and the remedy he adopts proves to 

 be one of self-immolation." 



The foregoing views, alike just as they are to inventors, and hon- 

 orable to the intelligent and independent minds so conversant with 

 the subject, must strike the reader as peculiarly applicable to this 

 case: — where an inventor after unremitting toil and privation for a 

 long course of years, — now near a quarter of a centur\' — has com- 

 pletely succeeded in perfecting, and introducing into general use one 

 of the most useful and valuable imj)ro\'ements of this, or indeed 

 of any age, and when he might now deri\e some advantage there- 

 from in his declining years, his motives and private character are 

 ruthlessly assailed, his rights infringed on, and a barefaced attempt 

 made by special pleading, insinuations, and perversion of facts, to de- 

 prive him of his rights altogether; and we leave it to the judgment of 

 the reader to decide, whether in the language of the Hon. Edmund 

 Burke, it is done " by that unscrupulous and unprincipled class of 

 persons, who make it a jiractice wilfully to depretlate upon patent 

 rights, and who from the basely criminal character of the offence 



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