At the time of the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1878, the French _Societe des Gens de Lettres_ issued invitations for an International Literary Congress, which was held in Paris, under the presidency of Victor Hugo, commencing June 4, 1878. From this came the _Association Litteraire et Artistique Internationale_, which held subsequent congresses at London in 1879, at Lisbon in 1880, at Vienna in 1881, at Rome in 1882, at Amsterdam in 1883, at Brussels in 1884, and at Antwerp in 1885, at which the extension of international copyright was discussed and advocated. {Sidenote: Fundamental proposition} The Congress at Antwerp, in 1885, ratified the following proposition: "The author's right in his work constitutes an inherent right of property. The law does not create, but merely regulates it." {Sidenote: Preliminary official conference, 1883} Partly at the initiative of this association and at the invitation of the Swiss government, a preliminary conference of official representatives of the several nations was held at Berne in September, 1883, at which the following draft, submitted by the International Literary and Artistic Association, was substantially adopted as the basis for a general convention on the part of civilized nations: "1. The authors of literary or artistic works published, represented, or executed in one of the contracting States, shall enjoy, upon the sole condition of accomplishing the formalities required by the laws of that State, the same rights for the protection of their works in the other States of the Union, whatever the nationality of the authors may be, as are enjoyed by natives of the States. {Sidenote: Propositions of 1883} "2. The term literary or artistic works comprises books, pamphlets, and all other writings; dramatic and dramatico-musical works; musical compositions, with or without words, and arrangements of music; drawings, paintings, sculptures, engravings, lithographs, maps, plans, scientific sketches, and generally all other literary, artistic, and scientific works whatsoever, which may be published by any system of impression or reproduction whatsoever. "3. The rights of authors extend to manuscript or unpublished works. "4. The legal representatives and assignees of authors shall enjoy in all respects the same rights as are awarded by this convention to authors themselves. "5. The subjects of one of the contracting States shall enjoy in all the other States of the Union during the subsistence of their rights in their original works the exclusive right of translation. This right comprises the right of publication, representation, or execution. "6. Authorized translations are protected in the same manner as original works. When the translation is of a work which has become public property, the translator cannot prevent the work from being translated by others.