150 REVIEWS AMERICAN REPRINTS. 



by the accredited provincial authorities to the British Custom House, 

 being the duties collected in the interval from the passing of the 

 Provincial Act, on American reprints of British authors, introduced 

 into the Province. In 1856, a further sum of £313 6s. lOd., was in 

 like manner transferred to the supposed agent and receiver on be- 

 hoof of the British author ; and there now lies a further sum ready 

 for disposal in like manner. But the awkward bit of the business is 

 that the duties on imported reprints are not collected, so much on 

 Macaulay, so much on Meg Dods, so much on Tennyson and Firmil- 

 lian, on Thackeray and James, on Dr. Livingstone and the Hon. 

 Miss Murray, but all in a lump ; so that, while we pay this compo- 

 sition to our self- constituted representative of the literary home- 

 creditor, and wash our hands clear of the whole business with all 

 good conscience, one does not see how the poor literary gentleman, 

 in his Grub Street attic, is to be in any degree benefited by such 

 vicarious transaction. Did any English author, we wonder, ever 

 hear of this Canadian " conscience money " ? Does it go to provide 

 the Poet Laureat's annual butt of Canary, or is it engulphed in the 

 mysterious disbursements of the Literary Pund"? 



Meanwhile we have recently had rather an unpleasant illustration of 

 the one-sided operation of non-international copyright law. The 

 well-known popularity of Mrs. Stowe's " Uncle Tom," naturally drew 

 attention to her forth-coming " Dred," and no sooner did it make its 

 appearance, than two enterprising Canadian publishers, — one in Mon- 

 treal, and another in Toronto, — issued editions of it. Mrs. Stowe 

 had, it seemed, published simultaneously in Britain and America, to 

 secure a double copyright ; but the Canadian publisher having copied 

 the American edition, vrith its special preface, dreamt of no danger. 

 In this, however, he was mistaken. The American authoress inter- 

 fered, and through her British publisher, appealed to the law of Eng- 

 land as applicable throughout the Empire. The claim, at the first 

 blush, seemed a bit of American impudence, worthy of Barnum's 

 effrontery. Calm consideration, however, showed that it involved a 

 high principle, not to be decided by mere motives of personal interest ; 

 and, as was to be expected, justice prevailed. The Canadian publisher 

 found himself compelled, however loth, not only to suppress his edi- 

 tion, but to pay dSlOO damages to avert further legal process. The 

 case may seem a hard one, which thus allows the piratical publisher of 

 the United States to steal, and even protects him in the sale of his 

 stolen goods ; and yet when the Canadian publisher makes reprisals 

 on the American author, the law steps in to protect such alien rights. 



