“The manufacturers of earthenware are justly alarmed at the prospect of extending the term of the patent, because, without improvements, the sale of their manufactures must certainly decline in favour of foreign manufacturers, who may not be deprived of the free use of the materials their countries produce; for the consideration in this case is not whether one manufacturer or manufactory shall be supported against another, but whether the earthenware and porcelain manufactories of Great Britain shall be supported in their improvements against those of every other country in the world. Upon the whole, the petitioners against the bill humbly presume this monopoly will appear to be contrary to good policy, highly injurious to the public, and generally inconvenient; that the extension of the monopoly, supposing any patent to be valid, would be greater increasing the injury; that the bill now depending is not only calculated to extend, but to confirm it, and therefore they humbly hope it will not be suffered to pass into a law.”
Despite all this factious opposition—for it was factious in the extreme—to his petition by Wedgwood, as the representative of the potters, and by the members of parliament for the county of Stafford, and others who had been moved by the exertions of Wedgwood and his friends, the bill passed the House of Commons, and was sent up to the lords without amendment. The “case” just given, along with extracts from the bill, with comments, showing, among other things, that the passing of the Act, as originally framed, conferred the full benefits of Cookworthy’s patent on Champion, without compelling him to enrol anew any specification of his process of manufacture, was printed for circulation among the members of the Upper House. With reference to this important point, it was shown that Cookworthy, having enrolled his specification, and having afterwards assigned the patent right to Champion, the bill enacted that all and every the powers, liberties, privileges, authorities, and advantages which in and by the said letters patent were originally granted to the said William Cookworthy, shall be held, exercised, and enjoyed by the said Richard Champion for the present term of fourteen years, granted by the said letters patent, and after the expiration thereof, for the further term of fourteen years, in as full, ample, and beneficial a manner as the said Richard Champion could have held the same in case the said letters patent had originally been granted to him. The view of the bill is manifestly to confirm to Mr. Champion the letters patent for the present term of fourteen years, as well as to grant him fourteen years more. Had it been intended only to enlarge the term, and that the letters patent should have stood upon their own ground, such words of confirmation would not have been necessary; or if they had been thought so, they should have been succeeded by words to the effect following:—“Subject, nevertheless, to the same provisoes, conditions, limitations, and agreements, as the said William Cookworthy held and enjoyed the same before the date of the said assignment.” But these being omitted, and the bill having stated that the “said William Cookworthy had described the nature of his said invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed,” it is evident that the design of the bill is not only to confirm absolutely the letters patent, and consequently the monopoly of these materials for the present term of fourteen years, but also to grant it to him for fourteen years more; and the Act is to have this operation, even though the letters patent may be void by the discovery not being a new invention, according to the statute of James I., or by Mr. Cookworthy’s not having conformed to the terms and conditions of the letters patent, by having described and ascertained the nature of the said invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed. That the making of porcelain is not a new invention is too evident to need any proof; that the letters patent are not within the intent of the statute is manifest by a cursory perusal of it. That Mr. Cookworthy has not described and ascertained the nature of this invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed (unless the discovery of the materials can alone be deemed so), will appear by what he has been pleased to call his specification. But it will appear in evidence that even the discovery of the materials was not, at the time of granting the letters patent to Mr. Cookworthy, “new and his own,” but that they were at that time, and had been long before, applied to the uses of pottery.
“Is it therefore reasonable that Parliament should confirm to Mr. Champion the present term of fourteen years, and also grant him fourteen years more, in the monopoly of an immense quantity of materials, the natural products of the earth, for the making of porcelain, which no person is to imitate or resemble; but also virtually the sole privilege of vending and disposing of these materials at what price and in what manner he thinks proper? For no person can use them in any respect but they will produce (if not the same effect) an effect that will resemble what he may call his patent porcelain; and it is not to conceive how he can be deprived of the exclusive right of selling as well as using these materials if the bill now depending should pass into a law.”
The presenting these papers to the Lords produced more effect, it would seem, than the efforts in a similar direction had apparently done in the Commons. The consequence was, that “Lord Gower and some other noble lords, having fully informed themselves of the facts upon which the merits of the case depended, and having considered the subject with a degree of attention proportioned to its importance, saw clearly the injurious nature of the bill, and were determined to oppose it.” This determination brought on a conference between the two noble lords who took the most active part for and against the bill, and the result was the introduction of two clauses, the first making it imperative on Champion to enrol anew his specification of both body and glaze within the usual period of four months; the second throwing open the use of the raw materials to potters for any purpose except the manufacture of porcelain, was as follows:—
“Provided, also, that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to hinder or prevent any potter or potters, or any other person or persons, from making use of any such raw materials, or any mixture or mixtures thereof (except such mixture of raw materials, and in such proportions, as are described in the specification hereinbefore directed to be enrolled), anything in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding.”
The Act being obtained (specimens of his skill in making porcelain having been submitted to the Committee by Champion), the specification was duly prepared and enrolled according to the provisions of the Act. It is dated the 12th of September, 1775, and was duly enrolled on the 15th of the same month. The following is the specification, which will be found to contain much matter of interest; and, taken in conjunction with that of Cookworthy, given in my account of the Plymouth works, completes the important series of papers in connection with this manufactory:—
“To all to whom these presents shall come, I, Richard Champion, of Bristol, Merchant, send greeting, and so forth.
“Whereas his present Majesty, King George the Third, in the eighth year of his reign, did grant his Royal Letters Patent to William Cookworthy, of Plymouth, chymist, for the sole use and exercise of ‘A Discovery of Certain Materials for Making of Porcelain,’ which Letters Patent have been duly assigned to me the said Richard Champion; and whereas by a certain Act of Parliament (intitled an Act for enlarging the Term of Letters Patent granted by his present Majesty to William Cookworthy, of Plymouth, chymist, for the sole Use and Exercise of a Discovery of certain Materials for making Porcelain, in order to enable Richard Champion, of Bristol, Merchant—to whom the said Letters Patent have been assigned—to carry the said Discovery into execution for the Benefit of the Public), all and every the powers, liberties, rights, and advantages by the said Letters Patent granted to the said William Cookworthy are granted to me, the said Richard Champion, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the remainder of the term of the said Letters Patent, and from the expiration thereof for a further term therein mentioned, provided I, the said Richard Champion, should cause to be inrolled in the High Court of Chancery, within four months after passing the said Act, a specification of the mixture of the raw materials of which my porcelain is composed, and likewise of the mixture and proportions of the raw materials which compose the glaze of the same, which specification was in the hands of the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain:
“Now know ye therefore, that I, the said Richard Champion, do hereby testify and declare that the specification hereinafter contained is the true and just specification of the mixture and proportions of the raw materials of which my porcelain is composed, and likewise of the mixture and proportions of the raw materials which compose the glaze of the same, and which, at the time of passing the before-mentioned Act, was in the hands of the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (that is to say):—
“The raw materials of the above porcelain are plastic clay, generally found mixed with mica and a coarse gravelly matter. It is known in the counties of Devon and Cornwall by the name of growan clay. The other raw material is a mixed micarious earth or stone called in the aforesaid countries moor-stone and growan. The gravel found in the growan clay is of the same nature, and is used for the same purpose in making the body of my porcelain as the moor-stone and growan. The mixture of these materials to make the body of the porcelain is according to the common potter’s method, and has no peculiar art in it. The proportions are as follow:—The largest proportion of the stone or gravel aforesaid to the clay aforesaid is four parts of stone to one of clay. The largest proportion of clay to stone is sixteen parts of clay to one part of stone mixed together. I use these and every proportion intermediate, between the foregoing proportions of the stone to the clay and the clay to the stone, and all this variation I make without taking away from the ware the distinguishing appearance and properties of Dresden and Oriental porcelains, which is the appearance and are the properties of mine. The raw materials of which the glaze is composed are, the stone or gravel aforesaid, and the clay aforesaid, magnesia, nitre, lime, gypsum, fusible spar, arsenic, lead, and tin ashes.