The National Register. — London, England, 1818-02-01 00:00:00

, • rbit O ation.l •Xi Our ilinct, Concititution atU Ual» - -- ;-ter------. • es: z 7 r t itstrr+ No. 5 6 21.—V0L. XI POLITICAL DISQUISITION. ON THE PERNICIOUS PRACTICES OF THE COM MON BREWERS, WITH HINTS TO THE LEGIS LATURE FOIL THE SUPPRESSION OF THESE ABUSES. WE made, in our last number, some artu'liott to a Meeting which has since been held in the Metropolis, "to consider the best means of counteracting the Monopoly of the Brewers," at the same time, recom mending the subject as one deserving the immediate 'consideration of Parliament. The combination which formed the subject matter of discussion at the above Meeting, however important in itself, and however contrary to Law, if the fact can be established against them, is certainly of minor importance to the evil which has been so justly complained of in regard to their practice of sophisticating the common beverage, so as to render it prejudicial to the health of its'constuners. It has been asserted, and probably with some truth, that the alarming number of apoplexies, paralytic affec tions, sudden deaths, and maniacal disorders, which have prevailed of late years, are to be attributed to the deleterioss articles now introduced into the manu facture of the common necessaries of life. There ap-. pears, indeed, too much reason to apprehend that the evil proceeds from this cause,—indeed we do not think it can be traced to any other source, upeu rational or philosophical principles. Baler: have been frequently detected, and but slightly puuished, fur an oXence which would have ieductel our ancestors to have visited them with the heaviest inflictions. There can, indeed, be little doubt that the iniquitous practice, by uo means uncom mon in our day, of mixing calcareous matter, pulver. ized.stmee, is the flout constituting the seaff of life, would have excited our forefathers to enact laws of the most rigorous kind, to meet so enormous, so diabolical a crime. Nor would the Brewer who should have been eieteCted in the admixture of Grains of Paradise, Nux VoMisa, Extract of Nicotiana, or any of the numerous drugs and poisons with which the trade are so well ac quainteeLain their brewugee have escaped a punish ment equally severe ; to'saf nothing of their being fur ever after held up to the scorn and detestation le,. man kind. The story of Old Booty, the brewer of Vt'ap ping, who was hunted by the Devil into the crater of a Laming mountain for sins of this kind, by him corn an' iited, is too well known to need repeating how ever, serves to shew the abhorrence with - which our forefathers viewed transgressors of this sort. Bat these offences, at which onr common nature shudders, were in former times of very trifling I port, compared with the whoh.sale initioitous practices which arc going on in the present day ; the trade of a Brew er's Druggist is now openly car►ied on under the very tong,' illagiaracy, by persons who do not hesitate to avow that they have made their fortunes at the business. Surely the legislature would do well to take into their serious consideration a subject so pregnant with evil to the great mass of the population of this country, whose daily support is iu a great measure derived from the common beverage Purist:; which in former times pos sessed sufficient strciigth and body to afford the nou rishment of both meat and drink to the hard-working and labouting classes. This is not merely a subject which as u Reverend Gentleman has said, " conccrtis only Ale-thinkers ;"—it is one of natioanl importance in :onions points of view. If these practices are not suppressed, diseases will multiply, and become more funnitlable in their attacks ; the physical strength of tli . c people will be diminished; and the number of pour will be im.rea.sed, from inability to obtain their sup port, by reason of the palsied, paralyzed, and guncrally Illorloal state to which they will be reduced by the dele teeiotis mixtures which they imbibe. If the retty crimes SUNDAY FEBItUAP' 1. 1818. of shop-lifting, or merely picking a pock.:l in the street,. is to be visited with transportation, %pit*, or sever imprisonment, those persona whose practices tend to ssi the vigour of the human race, the very foundation of society, in their daily attacks upon raankind'e• best' " The salt of lifc, ivhich does to all a relis'.) give," ought surely to be arraigned bcf,i:e t , • bar cilipaibliti+, justice, and visited with the most :a..r.n.p ary puniSh men t The law, in its present form, i t s,,t i tcrliaps, sufficient to put a stop to this alarming evil-`but it is to be la mented that many good and whole! .r.l enactments of the legislature arc found to be a nte: ; such is the remissness of Magistrates andrirlrers in regard to their application and inforeemear. Tivr exalted station which some of these delinquents het. in society, from their great wealth, it is also to bs Vre‘i, operates too • powerfully in sheltering them from the heavy visita tions to which, there is little dot:1-1, their acts have often subjected them. The laws bearing upon this subject, we do not hesitate to my, t-r.blit to be put in force to the most rigorous and severe so.teut ; and it is imperative on every .lagiutrate and - Excise Officer to attend to this important part of their Parliament will, ne have no doubt, furnish tl .;rid the public with stronger powers to bring tra . ,ep c. r - n puniehtnent such mischievous °fenders, shoulttav • tert laves not be found sufficient fur the puriv of far less con.sequence, that cne half of if Brewers should he deprived of their trade, 1).,' es.position of their vile practices, and mulcted in t n •reekets by the penal inflictions of the law, titan• ert....,e,ite most useful part of the King's subjects should le eq"..Tived of their health, driven to Hospitals and Nve,iifi.; .ses, and de prived of the means ofin existeneo by the slow-worli ing and insidious practices of a set of 'Pleated and over grown Monopolists and poisoners ofsirtrthind. The practices of Common Iqt-we:Ware too notorious to require dwelling upon—the oeer,,ionat detections which have taken place among them ate sufficient to convince the most hesitating, the se , ait unbelieving„ were there not also the opportunity Y#' tssmpexin,g the article which they are in the habit of v: riding, with that which many persons brow for tits use of their own familivs.—Such a comparison canuoefanto bring, the strongest conviction to the mind, that itik,siot the ex tract • of emit and hops, which car r:r li,rce the flavour (to say nothing of the colour) of Be-r mannfactureti by the public brewers.--The in its com position nothing more than the sit:title ,•leriter4 charged •Nititthe vinous extract of 6 . Sarelerine grain, and the tell towecntsiow A"l'llat waves its !lead on ("....!it ;Xs fet,Pidaitts" will be found grateful to the smell aa4pglate, friendly to the stomach and possessing the Itai'uniof both th e vegetable essences used in its compos!iica ; while the other charged with " full Indieus, Nux Vomica, and 4,.k, " The baleful tribe of boporifie druifit " That dull the senses and tin-mane ...batman," will not be found to possess dither the !lawn= of Malt or Hops, but a certain gusto of sweet, flour, or bitter, arrising from the predominancy of for:1;J certain secret article used in prepairing• it, and having withal a most stupifying, intoxicating and lethargic ettect. With some persoos, the drinking of r single pint of Brewer's beer, will produce a greater degree of head ache, nausea, and other unploasont symptoms, than wo nld be omitioned by five times the quantity of home brewed Boer, of Wine, or an equal quantity of Spritu otts Beer well prepared, (as has been ob served by one who hes written on the •übjet.t) should " be limpid and clear ; postiess as due traotity of spirit, " excite no .disagreeable sweet taste, and con taiu no die • " agreeable aeid.---it is distinguished f:-c.n other vinous tapers by the such greater fitututity ~,:mucilagenous PRICE 94 " matter which it has received by extraction from the " malted grain, but which also renders it more nourish " ing."—We need scarcely observe how widely different is this description of genuine malt liquor, from the arti cle which we in general obtain from the public-house, and which at different times is found to possess all manner of flavours, all manner of consistencies. The result of the meeting before' adverted. to. will, there is no doubt, bo a petition to Parliament on the subject, and we trust that the legislature in the enactment of any measure which may be found necessary to meet the evil complained of by the meeting,' will not lose sigla of a matter of such vast importance to society at large, as the one on which from its peculiarly interesting nature, we have been led to indulge in the foregoing remarks. FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. FRANCE. I PARIA, JAN. 2:5 Scheffer has been sentenced by the Correctional Police, for his work, entitled •`•The state of Litierts in France," to three months' imprisonment, h fine 200 franc , ayear °ram% eillance under the Hi i i Police, and 1,030 trailer' bail tur his good condom. The tv..rk to be sup. pre sed. The printer, Dille, if having been proved to base exammed the work, was acquitted. A ;!rent number of young men of the department of the Lando presented Memorises to their re affective Mayors to be married, as soon a• they heard of the ro:kref Mug law. The Mayors, astonished at the sudden affluence of fi.. Trying men, cOusulted the Prefect, who reminded V:eiff. that there existed no exemption lint in the case where marriages nod lmem em. tracted in the ten days that followed the presentation ol• the "vsnivet, and that the M.frots might to warn lasnilies that ofseey precipitate step wotdd deceive the hopes of the future husbands. _ _ The Paris jonrnats of the lefith instant, announce the final faiiare of the law on the Press. This measure had passed the toacr Chamber with some amendments favourable to the cause ot tltedoni, after a sharp struggb., and by a small ma jority. In the Peers, a series of routeste aro'e on several articles and pirovisi 3111$ of the law, and ou amendments or mo. ditielltiQnS Which were suggested du: Mg the progress of t h e disenssions: but this ptelitoinary trouble proved altogethei fruitless; inasmuch to, when the final deliberation took place, and tLii ipiestinii was put that the law (as a whole) should he ad )pted, or, as wesay in England, " that this bill do pass,' it was decidctl iu ttac negative by Ita toter to Sr. The religious ceremonies that took place at St. Demi% on the in memory of Louis XVI. are described at some length, in all the French papers. The Bishop of Soissops officiated, assisted by the Chapter of St. Dsinis. Another Bishop read the testament of the King. Madame, the daughter of the unfhrtunate Monarch, at tended, and attracted particular attention by her reli. pious devoutness and her tears. In reading Ow testa ment, tin; voice of the Bishop was sometimes stifled by his sorrow. The King, accompanied by the Duchess of Berry, andiwoceeded by the Ministers, assisted at the mass of requiem which was celebrated in the Royal Chapel. The reformed church of Paris celebrated in the • two churches the expiatory service of the 21st inst. GIBRALTAR, JAN. 3.—An official despatch has been received from Oran, dated the :26th of last month, by 1 which it appears that the pho , e continues to desolate . Bona and Constantine, and that li it still rages at Algiers, where the number of deaths amounts to 30 a day. We are particularly sorry to add, that this dreadful discus:: has spread to the towns of Blida, Media, and Mina, all of them situated to the westward of Algiers, aid the last within 25 leagues only of Oran, no fewer than 10 individuals being daily carried off in each of those places. In consequence of this unpleasant intelligence measures of precaution. will be enforced with increased rigour in this port. The expedition to the Arctic regions is to be corn. pletely ready by the Ist of March. The officers and men are w be allowed double pay in the execution of this service. wish every requisite for encountering the climate of those inhospitable regions. Lieut. Franklin, and Lieut. Beechy, son of Sir W. Beechy. are among those already appointed. written by Mr. Millman, of brought out Bath, of interest to ph El exerted produce Tragedy mn ; e d sh v s eat an uncommon College, c i t rn s e 01 i si c a r em , de nnllaoitnnel yd t eg ha r t " ;heatze. We un derstand the fvfinipts of Covent Garden Theatre, anxious to fulfil their duty to the Public, arc prepar ing the play for rt•piesentation, in the belief that the interesting part of Bianca can elcne be rs.•alized by the soul-rending r owe::, of Miss O'Neill. (c_ .ik I • . • • , 1)('