atements of Mr. Thomas in regard to the
action of the United States. The Imperial authorities gave no concession
to secure the passage of the Chace Bill, made no change in British
Copyright Laws, entered into no agreement, and Uncle Sam played no sharp
trick upon the unsuspecting Englishman. All this is pure fiction. What
really happened was this, and it may be easily verified by reference to an
English Blue Book, published in 1891, containing the correspondence
relating to the "United States Copyright Act." The Act of Congress was
passed in March, 1891. On the 27th of May, 1891, the American Ambassador
at London wrote to Lord Salisbury, then Foreign Secretary, enclosing a
copy of the Act of Congress, and pointing out that the benefits of the
Statute only extended to citizens of foreign countries after the
President's proclamation had been issued under conditions specified in the
Act. On the 16th of June, 1891, Lord Salisbury wrote the American
Ambassador as follows:--

"Her Majesty's Government is advised that under existing English law
an alien by first publication in any part of Her Majesty's Dominions
can obtain the benefit of English copyright, and that contemporaneous
publication in a foreign country does not prevent the author from
obtaining English copyright."

"That residence in some part of Her Majesty's Dominions is not a
necessary condition to an alien obtaining copyright under the English
copyright law; and

"That the law of copyright in force in all British possessions permits
to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright
on substantially the same basis as to British subjects."

On the first of July, 1891, and without further communication between the
two Governments, the President issued his proclamation proclaiming, that
as satisfactory official assurance had been given that in Great Britain
and the British possessions the law permitted to citizens of the United
States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to the
citizens of that country, the above condition in the Chace Bill was
fulfilled in respect of British subjects. Thereupon the authors of the
United Kingdom and Canada, and of every other British possession became
entitled to the benefits of copyright in the United States on a perfect
equality with American authors.

It is, therefore, plain that the action of the United States was entirely
voluntary; it wa