Part 11 (2/2)

I knew, from the commencement of my candidature, hoould be

Of course that well-trained gentleent, had understood the case, and I ought to have taken his thoroughly kind advice He had seen it all, and had told hi that one so innocent in such ways as I, so utterly unable to fight such a battle, should be carried down into Yorkshi+re merely to spend money and to be annoyed He could not have said more than he did say, and I suffered for my obstinacy Of course I was not elected Sir Henry Edwards and his comrade became members for Beverley, and I was at the bottom of the poll I paid 400 for ent in his raillery had of course exaggerated the cost

He had, when I arrived at Beverley, asked me for a cheque for 400, and told me that that sum would suffice It did suffice How it came to pass that exactly that sum should be required I never knew, but such was the case Then there came a petition,--not froentleh was disfranchised, Sir Henry Edwards was put on his trial for some kind of Parliamentary offence and was acquitted In this way Beverley's privilege as a borough and ht to an end at the saret it It ht to political confusion and Sir Henry Edwards relegated to private life without the expenditure of ht of ether, as it was natural that I should do, I did flatter ood It had seeovernh of Beverley It had come to pass that political cleanliness was odious to the citizens There was so Liberal there turned up his nose at me when I told hi, not even a pot of beer on one side It was a matter for study to see how at Beverley politics were appreciated because they ht subserve electoral purposes, and how little it was understood that electoral purposes, which are in themselves a nuisance, should be endured in order that they may subserve politics

And then the tiy, which had been expended in entleman who had realised the idea that it would becoh seeenerally The inhabitants had taught thehs were intended! To have assisted in putting an end to this, even in one toas to a certain extent a satisfaction

CHAPTER XVII

THE AMERICAN POSTAL TREATY--THE QUESTION OF COPYRIGHT WITH AMERICA--FOUR MORE NOVELS

In the spring of 1868,--before the affair of Beverley, which, as being the first direct result of ht in a little out of its turn,--I was requested to go over to the United States and ton This, as I had left the service, I regarded as a compliment, and of course I went It was my third visit to America, and I have made two since

As far as the Post Office as concerned, it was very far froton, a place I do not love, and was harassed by delays, annoyed by incompetence, and opposed by what I felt to be personal and not national views I had to deal with twoofficer of the American Post Office, than whoe, a more honest public servant He had his views and I hadat heart the welfare of the service in regard to his own country,--each of us also having certain orders which ere bound to obey But the other gentleman, as in rank the superior,--whose executive position was dependent on his official status, as is the case with our own Ministers,--did not recommend himself to me equally He would make appointments with rievously, that I declared at the Washi+ngton Post Office that if this treatment were continued, I would write home to say that any further action on my part was impossible I think I should have done so had it not occurred to ht in this way serve his purpose rather than my own, or the purposes of those who had sent me The treaty, however, was at lastpossible should be done, at a heavy expenditure on the part of England, to expedite theshould be done by America to expedite the mails from thence to us The expedition I believe to be now equal both ways; but it could not be maintained as it is without the payment of a heavy subsidy from Great Britain, whereas no subsidy is paid by the States[11]

[Footnote 11: This was a state of things which may probably have appeared to American politicians to be exactly that which they should try to obtain The whole arrangeain been altered since the time of which I have spoken]

I had also a con Office, for which I had asked, to ht between the United States and Great Britain,--the want of which is the one great impediment to pecuniary success which still stands in the way of successful English authors I cannot say that I have never had a shi+lling of American money on behalf of reprints offound le on the subject, being then in the States, the details of which are sufficiently a with Alish publishers; and though I do not know that I have raised ainst them on that score, I e from the American market But I do know that what the publishers have received here is very trifling I doubt whether Messrs Chapet for early sheets sent to the States as much as 5 per cent on the price they pay me for my manuscript But the A theet 1000 for a book here (exclusive of their et as much there If a man supply 600 customers with shoes in place of 300, there is no question as to such result Why not, then, if I can supply 60,000 readers instead of 30,000?

[Footnote 12: In answer to a question from myself, a certain American publisher--he who usually reprinted my works--promised me that if any other American publisher republishedout a coh there would be no law to hinder hiree to supply hi to supply me a certain royalty on his sales, and to supply etic punctuality, and the as brought out with equal energy and precision--by entleman who made the promise had not broken his word No other Aot any account, and, of course, never received a dollar]

I fancied that I knew that the opposition to an international copyright was by no , but was confined to the bosoms of a few interested Americans All that I did and heard in reference to the subject on this further visit,--and having a certain authority from the British Secretary of State with ether confirmed me in this view

I have no doubt that if I could poll American readers, or American senators,--or even A could be unbiassed,--or American booksellers,[13] that an assent to an international copyright would be the result The state of things as it is is crushi+ng to American authors, as the publishers will not pay the that they can supply their custo for it The English amount of production so much exceeds the American, that the rate at which the former can be published rules the market It is equally injurious to Areatest houses No s and selling an English book If such a one attempt it, the work is printed instantly by one of the leviathans,--who alone are the gainers The arguainers,--that as they can get for nothing the use of certain property, they would be cutting their own throats were they to pass a law debarring theument all idea of honesty is thrown to the winds It is not that they do not approve of a systereat ht is as stringent as is ours A bold assertion is oods of other people; and that, as in this case, they can do so with iue, co leviathans, and from those politicians whom the leviathans are able to attach to their interests The ordinary Aht variations in price He is at any rate too high-hearted to be affected by the prospect of such variation It is the man ants to make money, not he who fears that he may be called upon to spend it, who controls such e speculator who becomes powerful in the lobbies of the House, and understands hoise it reat expenditure either in the creation of a great business, or in protecting that which he has created fro has been done since (up to 1876) A Royal Coht is now about to sit in this country, of which I have consented to be adone by a Royal Coislators But I do believe that if the ed, the eneradually be overcos, under the presidency of Lord Stanhope, in Mr John Murray's dining-rooht At one of these I discussed this ht with Charles dickens, who strongly declared his conviction that nothing would induce an A British literature But he was aclearly as before hi views Because in thisto his thinking, dishonest, therefore no other than dishonest decision was to be expected froainst that idea I protested, and now protest A a few It is the great misfortune of the coe a portion of the population a which all men can vote, but so few can understand for what they are voting

[Footneote 13: I ht count them by the number of heads, and not by the amount of work done by the firms]

Since this ritten the Coht has sat and ree, and could serve no reader by alluding here at length to ard to this question of international copyright with the United States, I think that ere incorrect in the expression of an opinion that fair justice,--or justice approaching to fairness,--is now done by Alish authors by payments made by them for early sheets I have just found that 20 was paid to land for the use of the early sheets of a novel for which I received 1600 in England

When asked why he accepted so little, he assured ive o to another firive a dollar, because no other firreat fir my books I soon after received a copy of my own novel in the Areat sale was expected can be argued fro necessary for the republication of a three-volume novel could not be supplied Many thousand copies must have been sold But fro I need hardly point out that the sum of 20 would not dothe bargain The publisher here no doubt ht have refused to supply the early sheets, but he had no her price than that offered I mention the circumstance here because it has been boasted, on behalf of the Ah there is no international copyright, they deal so liberally with English authors as to lish author should be so protected With the fact of the 20 just brought to e, and with the copy of my book published at 7d now in ht is very necessary for lishmen who best love and most admire the United States, have felt the the sins of Aenerosity, their active and far-seeking philanthropy, their love of education, their hatred of ignorance, the general convictions in the minds of all of the no one and conscious that he is responsible for his own actions? In what country have grander efforts been s of hulish traveller find any more anxious to assist him than the norlishman to be neither sullen nor fastidious? Who, lastly, is so much an object of heart-felt admiration of the American man and the Alishwolish upperlish traveller as he makes acquaintance with these near relatives Then he becos, of their politics, of their -robberies, of their lobbyings and briberies, and the infinite baseness of their public life There at the top of everything he finds the very h places

A that the very friends he hasof public life as a thing-apart from their own existence, as a state of dirt in which it would be an insult to suppose that they are concerned! In the er, who sees so much that he hates and so much that he loves, hardly kno to express hih that you are personally clean,” he says, hat energy and courage he can coreatly as those gifted with eyesight outnumber the blind, if you that can see allow the blind to lead you It is not by the private lives of the e you, but by the public career of those units whose venality is allowed to debase the naiven than is given here, that it is the duty of every honest citizen to look after the honour of his State”

Personally, I have to own that I have met Americans,--men, but more frequently women,--who have in all respects coetic, having opinions of their own, quick in speech, with soent, sweet to look at (I speak of the women), fond of pleasure, and each with a personality of his or her ohichthe difference between Mrs Walker and Mrs Green, or between Mr Smith and Mr

Johnson They have faults They are self-conscious, and are too prone to prove by ill-concealed struggles that they are as good as you,--whereas you perhaps have been long acknowledging to yourself that they are nity ah in the world which is deliciously ludicrous I reentleh in public estimation,--whose deportment at a public funeral turned the occasion into one for irresistible comedy They are suspicious at first, and fearful of themselves They lack that simplicity of manners which with us has become a habit from our childhood But they are never fools, and I think that they are seldom ill-natured

There is a wo to be a memoir of my own life would be to oraced my later years In the last fifteen years she has been, out of ht toof her I do not know that I should please her or do any good by naes would amount almost to a falsehood I could not write truly ofthat such a friend had been vouchsafed to me I trust she may live to read the words I have noritten, and to wipe away a tear as she thinks ofwhile I write them