To all who are serving their generation as employers and employed, in the Arts, Manufactures, and Trades, of Leith, Musselburgh, and Portobello, and have seen and felt the evils inherent in the present State method of dealing with Inventions, these pages are inscribed,—with congratulations that in the front rank of statesmen, as well within the Cabinet as beyond it, there are earnest advocates of that emancipation of British productive industry from artificial restraints which is the needful accompaniment and the complement of free trade;—and in hope that public attention will now at length be turned towards procuring such a solution as will satisfy at same time all just pretensions of meritorious inventors and men of science. My own bulky contribution to the attack on the last stronghold of monopoly is to be regarded as but a rough-and-ready earthwork thrown up by a pair of willing hands in front of powerful artillery whose every shot is telling. It comprises the jottings and materials which I collected for a speech intended to be delivered on 28th May, when proposing a motion in favour of abolishing Patents for Inventions. Notwithstanding imperfections in execution, the present compilation may acceptably supply a _desideratum_ and prepare the way for further discussions, and especially for the Committee which Her Majesty’s Government continue to view with favour and will heartily support. R. A. M. _June 9, 1869._ While in the hands of the printer, fresh matter has, through the kindness of honoured fellow-workers in the cause, reached me almost daily, part of which is added. The reader will find in this accession to the testimonies on behalf of freedom of industry, besides some new arguments, such a striking concurrence and oneness in the principles enunciated, and even in the illustrations made use of, as, coming from various quarters independently, may fairly be regarded as presumptive proof of their accuracy. The Government has been so good as agree to produce, in conformity with a request from Parliament, any documents in possession of the Foreign-office which show the reasons or motives of the Prussian and Dutch Governments for proposing the abolition of Patents in Germany and the Netherlands. The adoption in the latter country of abolition pure and simple, without (so far as I can see) the slightest indication of a substitute, may well reconcile professional inventors and all who unite with them to the propositions with which I close my “speech.” Now that the continental stones are dropping out of the arch which forms the System of Patents, the rest cannot long keep their place. The antiquated fabric may be expected to tumble. For public safety, the sooner Parliament and all concerned set themselves to take it down, the better.