teaches that Canada should be retained as a British colony, because of the
facility it affords for violation of our laws; or that which would have us
regard smugglers, in general, as the great reformers of the age. We stand
in need of no such morality as this. We can afford to pay for what we
want; but, even were it otherwise, our motto here, and everywhere, should
be the old French one: "_Fais ce que doy, advienne que pourra_"--Act
justly, and leave the result to Providence. Before acting, however, we
should determine on which side justice lies. Unless I am greatly in error,
it is not on the side of international copyright. My reasons for this
belief will now be given.

The facts or ideas contained in a book constitute its body. The language
in which they are conveyed to the reader constitute the clothing of the
body. For the first no copyright is allowed. Humboldt spent many years of
his life in collecting facts relative to the southern portion of this
continent; yet so soon as he gave them to the light they ceased to be his,
and became the common property of all mankind. Captain Wilkes and his
companions spent several years in exploring the Southern Ocean, and
brought from there a vast amount of new facts, all of which became at once
common property. Sir John Franklin made numerous expeditions to the North,
during which he collected many facts of high importance, for which he had
no copyright. So with Park, Burkhard, and others, who lost their lives in
the exploration of Africa. Captain McClure has just accomplished the
Northwest Passage, yet has he no exclusive right to the publication of the
fact. So has it ever been. For thousands of years men like these--
working men, abroad and at home--have been engaged in the collection of
facts; and thus there has been accumulated a vast body of them, all of
which have become common property, while even the names of most of the men
by whom they were collected have passed away. Next to these come the men
who have been engaged in the arrangement of facts and in their comparison,