Page:A Letter on the Subject of the Cause (1797).djvu/74

 the ſaving as their ſelling price. But behold, my Lord, the ſtrange reverſe! They boldly ſay (as I can prove in their own writing they have ſaid) we will not fix a price on or ſell our method, for which we have a patent, but we will, and muſt, make the Engine you want; and you muſt, in addition to our profit on the Engine, pay us, annually, one third part of the ſaving made thereby, as a price for the uſe of the principle. Your Lordſhip cannot but obſerve the extreme fairneſs and liberality of this propoſition! They firſt refuſe to ſell their method, which, in fact, they have no right to ſell—They will proſecute any, who, conceiving they underſtand it, attempt to uſe it without their licence. Then what is the conſequence? Why the public are compelled to purchaſe the Engine they call theirs, at any price they chuſe to fix, (which is in general very exorbitant) and after all, pay them annually the enormous ſurplus of one third of the ſaving made; although in many, if not in all inſtances, this ſaving is greatly enhanced by the œconomy reſulting from more knowledge, and longer experience, in every department of the Engine concern: with which they can have nothing to do. Here, my Lord, you ſee clearly that while other men, having patents, ſit down