success, finds in his countrywoman's treasury of facts the material for a
poem out of which he, too, reaps a harvest. Both of these are protected by
international copyright, _because they have furnished nothing but the
clothing of ideas;_ but the man who supplied them with the ideas finds
that his book is condensed abroad, and given to the public, perhaps,
without even the mention of his name.

The whole tendency of the existing system is to give the largest reward to
those whose labors are lightest, and the smallest to those whose labors
are most severe; and every extension of it must necessarily look in that
direction. The "Mysteries of Paris" were a fortune to Eugene Sue, and
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" has been one to Mrs. Stowe. Byron had 2,000 guineas
for a volume of "Childe Harold," and Moore 3,000 for his "Lalla Rookh;"
and yet a single year should have more than sufficed for the production of
any one of them. Under a system of international copyright, Dumas, already
so largely paid, would be protected, whereas Thierry, who sacrificed his
sight to the gratification of his thirst for knowledge, would not.
Humboldt, the philosopher _par excellence_ of the age, would not, because
he furnishes his readers with things, and not with words alone. Of the
books that record his observations on this continent, but a part has, I
believe, been translated into English, and of these but a small portion
has been republished in this country, although to be had without claim for
copyright. In England their sale has been small, and can have done little
more than pay the cost of translation and publication. Had it been
required to pay for the privilege of translation, but a small part of
even those which have been republished would probably have ever seen the
light in any but the language of the author. This great man inherited a
handsome property which he devoted to the advancement of science, and what
has been his pecuniary reward may be seen in the following statement,
derived from an address recently delivered in New York:--