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WHAT LONDON IS COMING TO.
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¦ ¦ ¦ WINE. A
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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reader , however , can make this addition for himself , at . least in opinion ; and then , how momentous a natural endowment is our British coal !
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7 \ TUjxC JEST MLJJJXJ UJjl . a «« .. «« J- V upon these isles . Everybody is to drink his fill , and nobody is to get drunk . A philanthropic Chancellor of the Exchequer , far from seeking to rob the poor man of his beer , offers him potations much more noble in addition . England is to become temperately adopting , not the ungrateful process of abstinence , but the inviting system of indulgence . Has not Adam Smith said—and ¦ wh o may dare in these days to gainsay that sage—that if we consult experience ; the cheapness of wine seems to be a cause of sobriety i * The real golden age will soon be here if churls who grumble at a tenpenny income tax , and hop planters who object to sacrifice themfor the benefit of their t
selves , as good citizens gladly should , counry , do not stop its way . In a short time spirited wine merchants will be giving- us a foretaste of our happiness , and the whole country , abandoning itself to " innocent exhilaration , " will listen only to the poets , whose natural aliment is the juice of the grape , and whose genius must have been sadly dimmed these two hundred years by their inability to get at it ; . John Bakleycobn , with all his virtues , having little poetic inspiration , except perhaps , as our hyperborean friends stoutly contend , when he assumes the shape of whisky . En attendant , let us who deal in facts and figures gossip a little , whilst we can still find serious listeners , about the quantities of wine
our fathers consumed , and the capabilities of the countries to which we / must look for our promised feast . Our in ore remote ancestors , although they laid a duty upon wine , -were too fond of the " drink divine" to let it be at all heavy . At ihe commencement of the reign of the merry monarch , when the population of England could not have exceeded five millions , some 45 , 00 Qtuns are said to liave been annually consumed ; that is , half as much again as the whole consumption of the thirty millions of the United Kingdom in 1859 . At least 20 X > 00 tuns were French ; the rest were Portuguese , Spanish , and Bhenish—the first named , liovrevciv in but very small proportion , as the taste for it only grew iip towards the close of the seventeenth century . Its first introduction wag probably coincident . with , the marriage of Charles with
Catherine of Braganza ; and a conclusive proof of its novelty , as well as of the antiquity of the " blending" and doctoring systems , is to be found in an early act of his reign , which prohibits the mixing of ' .- ; wine with another , or with cider , sugar , &c ., ami , referring particularly to Spanish , French , and . " Rinish" wines , makes no mention of those of Portugal ; In 1688 , however , in the first year of William and MABY . an act was passed , prohibiting all trade and intercourse with France , and Portuguese wines had therefore their own way , except so far as French were smuggled . We should observe here that the port wine of tliat day was a very different article from that which the Oporto Wine Company compels us to drink now . Whilst possessing , of course , tlie flavour of the Portuguese grape it partook rather of the character of Burgundies or clarets . . This prohibitive
act lasted only three' years , but in 1693 the system of differential duties began , French wine being charged 2 s . Id ., and Portuguese and Spanish Is . 8 d . per gallon , according to most authorities , for there is a great difference between ^ the rates of duty as given by difl ' erent authors and officials , arising partly from the adoption by some of the imperial , and by the others of the wine gallon ; and partly , perhaps , by the omission of some to include all the nuiltifarions duties levied in virtue of so many acts of Parliament up to Mr . Pitt ' s consolidation of the tariff in 1787 . In 1697 the duty on French wine was further increased , and the total importation was only 13 , 000 tuns according to Mr . Pouter , or about 2 , 700 , 000 imperial gallons according to the Customs' authorities- ^ -whose figures we shall henceforth quote—of which only "> J 0 gallons were-French , as wo were then at war with that country .
not last long . The duties were raised in 1795 , and again . in 1796 , until they stood in the latter year at 10 s . 6 d ., for French , and 6 s . lid . " for Portuguese and Spanish . The taste for wine had grown , however , during these years of low 'duty * and although the importation fell considerably during 1796 , , 1797 , and 1 / 98 ,. it increased again rapidly , and in 1803 we find the importation 9 , 394 , 000 , of which 410 , 000 were French , and the quantity retained for home consumption 8 , 226 , 000 gallons . The duty was again increased in 1803 and 1804 * until it stood at 13 s . Sd . French , and 9 s . Id . Portuguese -and Spanish ; but the importation instead of diminishing increased up to 1811 , when it fell from 10 , 818 , 000 gallons , the amount in 1810 , to 4 , 624 , 000 ; rising , however , in the next year to eight millions , the consumption being all tlie while steadily maintained at from five to six million gallons . In 1813 the duty on French wines was raised to the enormous sum . of 19 s . 8 d . the gallon ; but the increase was taken off the followingyear and no great effect seems to have followed it . A new claimant for public favour had , meanwhile , been forcing its pretensions upon the notice of the public . Cape wine , which was incuded with ¦ " wine of other sorts" up to 1801 , and then appeared only with the modest figure of ten thousand gallons , was , in 1813 , favoured with a reduction to 3 s ., the fostering influence of which soon showed itself . Whilst the total quantity of wine imported sank from eight , million gallons in 1812 , until the average of the years 1819 to 1824 stood at about six millions , the quantity retained for home consumption showing a diminution of a less decided character , the importation of Cape rose from 8500 gallohs'in 1812 to 880 , 000 in 1823 , and 616 , 000 in 1824 . In iS 25 the duties were reduced to more reasonable rates ; Cape coming in at 2 s . 5 d , French at 7 s . 3 d ., and Portuguese and Spanish at 4 s . lOd . the gallon . The result was a considerable increase both in importation and consumption ; the average importation Of the six years , 1825-30 , being over eight millions , and the consumption about six and a-half million gallons . The absurd and unjust system initiated by the Methuen treaty received its death-blow in 1831 , the duties on all wines being : equalised at 5 s . 6 d . the gallon , except Cape , which , m accordance with the protectionist theories then prevailing 1 , was admitted at halt fates , or 2 s . 9 d . An additional five per cent , was added in 184 , 0 , brino-ihg . the rates to their present amount—5 s . 9 id . on Foreign , and % : ' lOhd . on Gape wines . Thequantities imported and retained for home consumption from the equalisation of the duties to 18 ol remained respectively at the dead levels of about eight million and six million gallons ; the most noticeable features being a decline in the quantify of Cape ^ and an increase in that of French wines ; the Cape imported in 1850 being two hundred and thirty-four , and the French six hundred thousand gallons . The ravages of the vine disease since 1 S 51 render the returns for subsequent years comparatively worthless . But we are again approaching- a normal state ot things , and the statistics of the last two years , 1858 and 1859 , are useful for purposes of comparison . The quantities imported and entered for home consumption in 1858 were respectively 5 , 790 , 000 and 6 , 697 , 000 gallons ; showing a large draught upon old stocks ; whilst the Board of Trade returns just published give the importation of 1859 at 8 , 196 , 026 * and the entries for home consumption at 7 , 262 , 965 gallons . Spain , which took the highest place for the first time in 1839 , retains it , sending as her share of the eight millions wo imported last year more than 3 , 600 , 000 gallons ; Portugal sends nearly 1 , 800 , 000 ; France , winning back her old ' market * more than a-million ;• Naples and Sicily , a comparatively new source of supply , 250 , 000 ; and South Africa 786 , 000 , a figure which it will hardly attain when deprived of the protection it now enjoys . r ihe grand result is , that , to leave the seventeenth and eighteenth centimes out of the question , the thirty millions of people inhabiting these islands drank no more wine in 1859 than fifteen millions did in the beginning of the century . So much for the wine Englishmen have drunk ; we will sec next week what they are likely to get in the future . ¦ .. *
After the Methuen treaty of 1703 , a final blow was given to the French wines , the duly upon them being fixed at 4 s . 10 d , tlie yullon , whilst on Spanish and Portuguese it was only 2 s . ; even the In fcter rate , however , was sufficient to prevent theg-eneral consumption which formerly topic place . The quantity of all kinds imported-r-which " in 1700 had been just five millions , of which 430 , 000 were French , and in 1701 four ami a half million gallons—sank in 1706 to two million throe hundred thousand , of , which about 30 , 000 were French ' It then began to rise again ; reached six millions of all sorts in 1728 ; then declined anew , until we . find it touching as low a figure n » 3 , 100 , 000 in 1744 , in which year the duty was again increased . In 1780 the importation was 4 , 300 , 000 gallons , of which 3 . 5 OO . ( . nine from Portugal , 000 , 000 from Spain , und only 80 , 000 from France . In 1782 the duties underwent another increase—that on
Ji ' roiifh was fixed nt 8 s . 9 d ,, and on Portuguese at 4 a . 2 il . the ( imperial ) gallon . Tlie importation , ras wight / have boon expected , declined considerably , and reached in 1784 only 3 , 00 ' .. ) , 000 gallons . In l 787 Mr . Pirr nmdo that memorable reduction of duty which has nuoIj a special similarity to the proposals of the prcaont Chancellor of the JSxchoquor , because it , like them , was the result of a cotnmerpiul treaty with France . The duty on , French was reduced to 4 a . 6 d ., iwnd that on Portuguese and Spanish wines to 3 b . the gallon . * The oonsrimption increased onormouply , so ' much so that the total importation for 1792 Svns 8 , 600 , 000 gallons , 'of which 723 , 000 werto French , and the amount retained i'or homo confiumption—with respect to whieh wo hnvo no statistica before 1787— -was 7 , 850 , 000 gallons ; the net amount of duty received , which in 1787 amounted to # 848 , 000 , reaching £ 1 , 148 , 755 . This period of oljoapnoss did
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NO man , being in a hurry for a . London JLJndg-e , - aded fur ton minutes in Cheapside without having very serious thoughts , indeed , that night . over his port about the l «{« ro of that great ( Jity which is dominated over by the great black bubble of St . Paul ' s , , ¦ « ' . . . What will they do with itP is the queation that passes . . through his - mind-us ho that night pokes out hid Forest Hill fire , hooks on the fire-guard , looks at the whutter bolts , rattles the drag chain on the front door handle , and goes to see if the servants have fastened to
the kitchen window , before ho passes up thoughtfully ana siowjy bed . He goes to uleop , dreaming of that vexatious frozen river of cnbs , coaches , light carts , Picklord ' s vans and waggons laden with flour sacks and hop pudcu , that kept him chafing just under How Church clock , till he hud all but lout the dinner train—the J . SJO . Ho thinks of improvements , and goes to sleep'to dream of the . London ot 1880 , whore they ure all curried out . JNo longer Ho (' t soap or soupor Blimo upon the pavement . Four times a day the tttroofis ftvo scraped by able-bodied men from the pariah workhouaos , trim piulc and white men with Macassar'd hair and simpering mouths , such , as you soo -in water colour paintings of " Happy peasantry , their country's pride , "—no danger , now on crossings , no racing caos , moving one this way und one that , like scissor blades—no loathsomo sweepers to splash you if you are not charitable . Light suspension bridges , at regulated intervals swinging high m air above the principal streets lav from flprinjclinp wheel ami Hying houIh of ni < l and Uoopsakea of dirt flung you generoualy by luvihh <> ' » n » J » ; below that , level with first llopV roonia , terraced footway tui paa-
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Feb . 25 , 1860 . 1 The Leader mid Saturday Anal yst . 181
What London Is Coming To.
WHAT T . ONDOX 1 S COMINGr TO .
¦ ¦ ¦ Wine. A
1 £ 1 \ WINE .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 25, 1860, page 181, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2335/page/9/
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