On a Proposal to obtain the Recognition in England of Decorations conferred at the Paris Exhibition of 1855.
February 9, 1856.
I regretted to be under the necessity of declining to sign the memorial that was brought to me by a gentleman introducing himself with your card, without an opportunity of explaining to you my reasons; and it would be difficult to do so satisfactorily without an opportunity of personal explanation. In a few words, however, I will state that I disapprove strongly, and after full consideration, of any introduction into England of the system of distinctions conferred by Government upon individuals, whether engaged in professions, arts, or manufactures, whose merits can be so much better and more surely marked by public opinion. In countries where public opinion is not so searching and so powerful as in England, the evils of favouritism may be out-balanced by the advantages of some means of distinguishing men. I admit the possibility, though I doubt the fact; but I feel sure that the evils would be far greater than the advantages in England. The few cases of knighthood conferred in England generally follow public opinion, though I should not wish to see this system carried further. Such being my opinion, I could not consistently ask for my own letter of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur being recognised here.
On the question of the patent laws, Mr. Brunel held the opinion that the system of protecting inventions by means of letters patent was productive of immense evil. The prominent part which he took in all discussions upon this subject exposed him to much adverse criticism, which was perhaps the more freely bestowed, because it was felt that he was a very formidable opponent, not only from the force of his arguments, but also from the authority with which he spoke.
He was, from the necessity of his position as a civil engineer, himself an inventor; he had in his staff and among those with whom he acted many inventors; he did not, therefore, underrate the benefits conferred on science by those who, by inventing, add to its resources. He was continually being trammelled and thwarted in his various undertakings by patents, and he therefore could judge of their evil effects upon the progress of practical engineering; and, lastly, he had the best possible means of judging of their effects upon the inventors themselves, both from his opportunities of becoming acquainted with the fate of others, and from his own experience. His father, Sir Isambard Brunel, had taken out patents for most of his inventions, and, as Mr. Brunel stated before the House of Lords Committee of 1851, with very unfortunate results, especially in the case of the carbonic-gas engine (see [Note B] to Chapter I); where, if they had not been obliged to work secretly, in order to conceal the process before the patent was granted, they could have obtained valuable advice, which might either have led to an earlier abandonment of the project, or to its improvement in those points in which it failed.
Mr. Brunel drew up the following statement when asked to give evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Lords in 1851. His evidence will be found at p. 246 of the Minutes of Evidence (ordered to be printed July 1, 1851).
Memorandum for Evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Patent Laws, 1851.
I have for many years had considerable experience of the operation of patents.
I have been engaged under my father in the working out of numerous inventions of his, and the taking out of patents on his account, also in advising others professionally with him, and by myself, and have been engaged in numerous questions of disputes resulting from patents; and I have had frequent occasion to use the patents and inventions of others. I have also had to introduce improvements of my own without patents, and to defend my use of them against patents.
I have thus for the last twenty-eight years been in the midst of everything connected with inventions, and in constant contact with the operation of the patent laws.