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We have received the printed copy of an able remonstrance to Congress, praying that body not to grant the late petition of Samuel Colt for a renewal or extension of his patent for seven years, which we trust will be freely circulated for signature among the great body of our people, who, although fully alive to their obligations to the meritorious class of inventors with which our country fortunately abounds, are yet sensible and jealous of their own privileges, and ever ready to check and rebuke the attempts of one individual or company to establish an unjust monopoly at their expense, or in any manner curb or check the inventive genius of others The exercise of this duty is peculiarly called for at this time when numbers are endeavoring to secure to themselves for a longer period than the ingenuity, skill, time and expense exercised and expended would justify, an exclusive right to combinations and arrangements of parts essentially necessary to the production of certain results, but susceptible of greater improvement We have always opposed the system of special legislation in relation to existing or expired patents, except so far as is necessary to correct errors developed by judicial decisions, or to grant pecuniary rewards or indemnity, or cases of an analogous character We have not hesitated on former occasions to animadvert with such a degree of firmness against the attempted renewal by Congress of many patents, as to produce the strongest feelings of pain and resentment in the minds of previously personal friends interested in their success In many of these cases some substantial grounds for the interposition of Congress were adduced, although not sufficient in our opinion to justify the granting of the extension applied for, but in the case of this last appeal of Mr Colt for the reestablishment of a monopoly, whose exclusive enjoyment for twentyone years has brought millions to his coffers, after the law has virtually given all claim to the invention to the public, we can only see additional reasons for the previous animadversions we have thought it our duty to make The injury which the consummation of this measure would inflict upon the public at large, although great, would be but trifling compared with that which it would have upon the many enterprising and deserving manufacturers in the East and West, who have commenced tne manufacture of revolving pistols, different in the construction and arrangement of many of their parts to Colt's, yet embodying the main features secured under his expired patent Such an act of injustice would not only be fraught with the evils we have heretofore stated, but in direct opposition to the very spirit and genius of our laws, and the objects for which they are formed In the grounds assumed for the additional renewal, Mr Colt does not deny that the pecuniary reward he has derived has compensated him in a most extraordinary degree for the ingenuity, skill and expense bestowed upon his invention, nor does he deny the oftrepeated statement that the long, exclusive protection he has enjoyed, has enabled him to realize such an immense capital, and construct such perfect machinery for the fabrication of the most intricate parts of his pistol, as to preeminently place him in a superior position to compete with all rival manufacturers Indeed, the necessity of what he has now more than accomplished, in these respects, by his last seven years' protection, was one of the main arguments he used to Commissioner Burke in 1850 ; and common fairness to his colaborers in the field of invention and enterprise, if not the desire to adhere to a tacitly implied promise, should have prevented him from making this additional demand The granting of this extension would place in the hands of Mr Colt a supreme power over the actions of a large number of manufacturers, who have in good faith, and under manifest disadvantages, invested their all in their establishments It would, moreover, deprive the public of the use of many improvements, which ingenious mechanics throughout the country have devised, and at many sacrifices of time and money, put into successful practice, under the firm conviction that they would be allowed to use the very base of their contrivances, the revolving chambers, after the expiration of the patent in February, 1857 We commend this remonstrance, as well as the able opinion of Judge Mason attached thereto, to the perusal and signature of our readers, and trust that when the consummation of the grave outrages, which it is intended to avert, is attempted in Congress, the Representatives of the people will properly comprehend the mission entrusted them by their constituents, and defeat this odious scheme By such a coursethey will vindicate the purity of their motives from the improper imputations cast upon many of them by the press throughout the country
