had wished to argue this motion upon grounds entirely independant of the merits of the general question; and, upon these grounds, he should give his vote against it.

Lord Lauderdale warmly supported the motion, on the same grounds as lord Grenville..

Lord Stanhope urged nearly the same reasons in favour of it.

The Earl of Westmoreland opposed the motion, on the general grounds that no further concessions whatever should, under the present circumstances, be granted to the catholics; and he was surprised to see such motions so often brought forward by those who, when they were themselves in power, employed every exertion to deprecate and prevent such discussions. They were the real anthors of any ill consequences which might arise from a refusal to accede to such claims.

Lard Redesdale could not but repeat his former objections to such claims. The more you were ready to grant them, the more power and pretension you gave to catbolics to come forward with fresh claims, and perhaps to insist upon them. The writers among the catholics of Ireland gave repeated proofs of what were their real intentions. In a book published by one of them, Mr. M'Kenna, it was proposed, that provision should be made for the catholic clergy out of the property of the established church; was there then no danger to be feared for our establish

ments?

The Marquis of Buckingham imagined the noble lord who spoke last, had addressed much of his speech to him, and he therefore would not remain silent. With regard to the insinuation thrown out by that learned lord, be could assure the house that there was not the smallest foundation for it. He had lived long in Ireland, and was intimately acquainted with a great number of catholics, and be could safely say, upon his honour, he had never heard such a sentiment drop from the lips of any one of them, nor ever had he heard from any protestant in Ireland, that such an opinion was entertained by the catholic clergy of that country; and that if such an opinion ́had prevailed among them, it was most probable he should have been acquainted with it. As to the question before the house, he was surprised to hear so much reasoning advanced, which applied to the general question of what

was called catholic emancipation, but which did not at all touch on the point under discussion. It was rather strange that the dangers and apprehensions which were so much dwelt upon now, seemed by no means to have entered the minds of the protestants of Ireland, when the institution of the bank of that country was first established in 1782. So far indeed to the contrary, that at a meeting of the subscribers, who then proposed to purchase the charter from government, the exclusion of the catho lics was carried only by a single dissentient voice. Let their lordships now recollect that, in 1782, the bills had not yet passed which have since granted so many conces sions to the catholics; let them recollect, that at that period not the fear, but the actual danger of immediate invasion hung upon the coast of Ireland; that the army of Ireland was then without pay; the navy that was to protect it, without provisions; and that the treasury of Ireland was without money to answer either object. Above all, let them recollect, that, under these exigent circumstances, it was an Irish catholic (Mr. Gold, of Cork) who cheerfully stood forward and advanced the money to victual the fleet and pay the army, though the govern ment of Ireland were bankrupt at the moment. He could' adduce a hundred more instances, were it necessary, of a similar disposition to aid government in every way, on the part of those towards whom we were now disposed to act with such injustice and ingratitude. Even then, when it was proposed to introduce the clause to exclude the catholics, it was done with reluctance by the then chancellor and the chief justice of the common pleas in Ireland; but assented to by no one with so much pain and reluctance as by himself. He knew the loyalty and patriotism of the Irish catholics; he knew their allegiance was unshakeable under every sort of deprivation and oppression; he also knew their physical strength, and cominercial opulence; every one knew that they composed in a great measure the army and navy of the empire, and that they also contributed largely to its financial resources. Yet, with the consciousness of all these means, their con duct was highly exemplary as loyal and submissive sub jects; and sure he was, that they never would evince any other sentiment. Uuder such impressions, he should act unjustly, if he did not give his most cordial support to the present motion.

Lord Redesdale shortly explained.

Lord Grenville then replied, at some length, to the different objections urged against his motion; after which the house divided on it;

The southern whale fishery bill, and the silk duty bill, were read a third time and passed: as were also the exchequer bills bill, the Tower hamlets bill, M'Dowall's estate bill, and the Irish jail bill.

The reprisal bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed to-morrow.

The Madeira and Brazil postage bill was reported, and ordered to be read a third time to-morrow; as were also the coffee customs bill, the coffee excise bill, and the Scotch judicature bill, which latter was ordered to be read a third time on Friday.

The woollen penalty suspension bill passed through a committee, and was ordered to be reported to-morrow.

COPYRIGHT.

Mr. Villiers moved the order of the day for a committee on the copyright bill. On the question that the speaker do leave the chair,

Mr. W. Wynne should not object to the motion, if the bill were to go into a committee, on an understanding that it was merely for filling up the blanks, in order to afford time to the public and the parties concerned to judge how far it might be desirable for their interest, that the bill should pass. He thought that the time ought to be extended within which the copyright should be preserved to the author. This time, he was of opinion, ought to be twenty-eight years, as also, that no author should be allowed to dispose of his copyright for more than fourteen years. As to the other part of the bill, requiring that a copy of each work to be published should be sent

to public libraries, the booksellers, who were the largest publishers, felt it would be so injurious to their interests, that they had prepared a petition against that part of it, which he expected would be ready to present in the course of the evening. He put it therefore to the right honourable gentleman, whether it would not be more desirable to let the bill he over till next session, in order that all parties may have time to consider of its provisions.

Mr. Villiers replied, that the principle of the bill was not new, as the universities were already entitled to copies of all works that shall be published; and it could not be denied, that this circumstance was favourable to learning, as thereby students in the universities were enabled to consult books which otherwise they would be unable to purchase Copyrights were at present protected to the extent of twenty-eight years in two different periods. But the consequence was, that in works requiring time to mature them, the author could not derive from them one half of the advantages that were enjoyed by the authors of the lightest productions. The object of this bill was to remedy this evil.

Mr. Abercrombie concurred with his honourable and learned friend, in requesting the right honourable gentleman not to press the bill at this late period of the session, because many of the booksellers of Scotland, and some of those of Ireland, whose interests would be materially affected by the bill, had not any knowledge of its provisions.

The house then resolved into the committee, Mr. Wharton in the chair. The blanks were filled up, and a clause introduced for extending the provisions of the bill to oriental works, after which the house resumed, and the report was immediately received, when

The Attorney General proposed that the bill be recommitted, and an instruction be given to the committee to divide the bill, in order that the part which provides for the protection of the authors might be pas ed now, and the other might lie over for consideration, though he did not think there was much weight in the objections made to that part which required that a copy of every new publication should be supplied to all libraries open to the public. This would not be a hardship to authors, because this was what was required of them by the sth of

An e, in return for the advantage they derived from the copyright secured to them by that act.

On the question that the bill be recommitted,

Mr. W. Wynne, after stating his several objections to the bill, moved that the further consideration of the report be put off to this day three months.

Lord Henry Petty agreed in the proposition of the attorney general. He thought that the present criterion of the duration of the author's copyright was a very fallacious one; namely, the life of the author; anil required much consideration. But as to the other part of the bill, which required the delivery of a copy of each work to be published, to every library open to the public, it was only to carry into effect the spirit of the act of the 8th of Anne. He therefore thought that the bill ought to be separated, in order that this latter part should be passed, whilst the more delicate and difficult part should be suffered to lie over till next session.

Sir Samuel Romilly contended that the part proposed by the noble lord to be passed this session was the most exceptionable part of the bill. For his part, he did not think there could be any objection to pass that part which was to secure the copyright to authors for twenty-eight years; but that provision which required the delivery of copies of new works to public libraries, would have the effect of levying a tax upon particular individuals, which ought to be defrayed by the public. In many cases of extensive works the publishers were indifferent about copyright, and if the bill were to proceed, he was of opinion that an option should be given to such persons to claim or disclaim such copyright, and, in the latter case, to be exonerated from the necessity of delivering a copy of their works to public libraries.

The Attorney General concurred in the justice of the observations of his honourable and learned friend, and declared his intention to move a clause to that effect in the committee on the bill.

The Solicitor General argued at some length in favour of passing both parts of the bill, even at this late period of the session:

Mr. Stephen observed that the bill, as it first stood, embracing both objects, was unobjectionable. But he contended that, if it were to be divided, it would be ob