The Press.
London, England, 1853-05-21 00:00:00

CURRANTS r. RAISINS.

Tim duty On raisins is a discriminative one--
Mem shillinys a huudred-weight on foreign,
and half that amount On tllO produce of British

possessions. It serves also a purpose of pro-
teetion as regards the currants of the lonian
Islands : and under these circumstances it.
appeared in the free-trade budget of Mr.
GI.AU►sTOSE its an item for reduction. Raisins,
it was announced by his notice of resolutions,
were to be reduced to ten *killings a hundred-
weight ; and, as a natural consequence, the
intelligence was expressed with all the rapidity
of steam and electricity to Spain, to Italy, anti
Turkey, and arrangements have been entered
into for the coining vintage to meet the neees-

satily increased demand tbr the United King.
dom. But the mails had scarcely left ere au
amended draft was laid upon the table by the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, reealling the
intinuttion, and announcing that no change
whatsoever was to be made in the import duty

upon raisins.
The market has been fluttered, and confusion
spread over an important branch of foreign
trade, by this sudden change of intention ; and
the merchants of London have held an
"indignation meeting" iu consequence, and
threaten measures to bind Mr. GLADBTONE to
his original project.
It is to be regretted that any after eonsidera

tion should have led to its abandonment
Raisins are essentially the modest dessert 41
the middle ranks, and one of the luxuries c

the trailing classes. The duty upon such an
article has been at all times too high, and,
until very recently, it was monstrously so ; but
in 1831 it was reduced from two guineas on the
finest and twenty shillings on the inferior
descriptions, to fifteen shillings on all sorts,
and the boon was so acceptable that the con-
sumption nearly doubled in consequence. It
was 160,000 cwt. in 1535, and it has risen to
230,000 cwt. in 1533. But the duty is still
enormous, equal to 100 per cent. on a vast bulk
of what is used by the middle classes, whilst it
falls with the slightest pressure on the muses-
. tels, blooms, and sultanas which reach the
tables of the rich. It will not fail to be
grudgingly noticed that, whilst Mr. GLAD-
STONE.B budget will have reduced the cost of
the rich desserts of Mayfair and Belgravia, no
relief is to be extended to the humbler indul-
gences of the industrious poor. Some jealous
finger will point in the schedule to the intro-
duction ditty free of truffles, olives, and pome-
granates; and then turn with disappointment
to the enforced impost upon raisins and figs. It
is true that plums, if dried in the sun, for the

51

poor tuan's feast, are to be admitted at fifteen
shillings a ewt. instead of twenty ; but if, to tit
them for the banquet of wealth. they undergo
the further proeess of beim.; etwinsted with

crystals Of or frosted with sparkles of
candy, they are, under the new tiara to pay
but three•haVpruee per pound, 1% hereas they
pay siaTence under the Add.
The Utuseci.a.os of the EXcIIEQUER has not
yet disclosed to the House of Commons the
reasons on which he has retracted the proffered
favour to the pidle, but it is conjectured to
have reference to the maintenance of the duty
upon (gamuts, which, though at present
double the value of raisins, yet have no higher
tax than their humbler rivals. This may he

the ground of his altered intention, but it.
strikes us as insufficient ; and there aru causes
still wore urgent for reducing the duty upon
currants as well its raisins. Currants are eta-

phatieally one of the chief enjoyments of tho
people's table ; lint a mysterious eiremustunee
has lately raised their cost to an unheard. of
and exorbitmit amount. Thu Almighty has
‘isiteil the two countries of their growtholie

lonian Islands and the M►►mu, with a blight
which hats well-nigh exterminated the currant
vines. The eonsequenees have been ealamitons
to both. The Senate of the lonian Republie
has addressed the Crown to reduce the impost
exacted on the entry of their 1n•otluee into this
eountry, and thus feebly counterbalance the
visitation of ov ideneo ; and tireece, which
in her poverty derives an important portion
of her revenue front an export duty ou cur-
rants, has not only I'olllllokt' to reduce
the tax, but to grant a twelvemonth's delay to
the growers for the payment of her elaim.
At no other moment could a eoneemsion of

this nature have been made by Groat Britain
more acceptable to our own dependency in tho
lonian' Islands, or one which would be fit.
more gratefully by the struggling tioverninent
of °weave ; whilst the labouring clinosch. of

our own country, already tdmost exeluded
from the use of eurnints by their present ex-
travagant post, are not only entitled to claim
front the CHANciii.l.on or the FacHEQUER this
small concession in their favour in the article
of cumutts, but, in the titer of a deficient sup-
ply, they are equally entitled to the interme-
diate boon of a reduction of the duty on raisins,
in order to afford them a vilely substitute for
the humble luxury which Providence fur the
Inolneld. has eurtailetl.
Past experience has shown that the revenue
would lose nothing by the chomp ; on the con-
trary, the supply of raisins 'wing almost uu
limited, and the consumption subject to no
cheek, except from the excessive import duty,
there is no shadow of doubt that the increased
demand would replace manifold the amount
apparently surrendered. Even within the last
three months the quantity entered fin• home
consumption has been nearly 37,000 cwt. ;
whilst m the corresponding quarter of last
year it was 311,000, and 25,000 the year pre
eeding. We confidently hope and trust that
Mr. (11.AnsroNK, should his reasons for rescind-
ing his first annoUneelneld prove nisalleient
for• the satisfaction of the House, will be pre-
pared to adopt the Faure liberal course which
we have indieated, and whieh would be felt a*
an appreciable boon by the country.

FRENCH ANI► ENGLISH ROOKERIES.
EXTRAORDINARY 111111 despotic powers can only
be exercised, in a country where opinion is
powerful, for extraordinary and popular pur-
poses. France has a dietator—true ; but a
dictator whom she three times elected, whose
acts of violene.. site lms ratified, whose autho-
rity, in appearance self-sustained, rests wholly
on her will. To him the democracy, with a
blind faith common to multitudes, but of
which educated individuals are for the most
part incapable, has delegated its sovereignty,
and even its freedom. It remains to see what
use Louts Naret.xox will make of this great
trust. Last year Europe anticipated war ; that
fear has passed away ; a pacific policy is pro-
mised, expected, believed in. But for the
French EMPEROH the conditions of so% ereignty

k

52

are still the same. He cannot be a king after
the fashion of legitimate monarchs, whose
ride it is to make things pleasant and keep
things quiet—ex Oficia Conservatives, because,
when revolution comes, they themselves are
the first to be swept away. Of such men and
such measures France has hail enough. She
will not be content on these easy terms. Her
ruler, if he be not I. conqueror, must be a re
former ; if ho cannot dazzle his subjects, he
must endeavour to benefit them in seine form
which shall not only satisfy their wants, but
strike their imaginations. To this necessity
NAcui.hos 11h. is alive; and not less so to the
precarious tenure by which he holds his
throne. Nene(' the same week has witnessed
two projects of law, opposite in character, but
in their object not dissimilar : one, by which
the death punishment is restored for offences
against the State—the other, that which now
concerns us, intended to ameliorate the condi-
tion of the Parisian working-man. Punish-
ment in one hand, prevention in the other ;
such is the aspect under which the Freneh
Government presents itself. Nor is it neces-
sary, in order to explain the motives of the
Imperial philanthropy, to suppose that the
chief object of building model lodging-houses
is to place them under the surveillance of a
vigilant police. French statesmen know, us
well as those of Englund, that political troubles
have generally their origin in social evils ; and
that if dens of vice and disease can be broken
up, not so as to throw their inmates on the
world more destitute than before, but so as to
replace them by dwellings fit for civilised men
to inhabit, a great step will have been taken
towards pacifying Paris, and avoiding a repe,
tition of such scenes as those of 184 m and
1851.

- -
Is there nothing in all this from which we
may take a lesson? Doubtless, the evil is not
here so much before our eyes ; we have no
socialist demonstrations, no processions of
workmen demanding the organisation of la-
bour. Our 10th of April is a memento, not of
threatened disorder, but of exuberant. loyalty
and unnecessary panic ; but it is bad logic,
and worse morality, to show the misses of
this country that bemuse they are quiet, in-
dustrious, and well-affeeted, therefore their
grievances shall not be redressed. Doubtless,
too, the powers of Government are in every
sense eircumseribed ; we leave more to
the community, trust more to individual
efforts; but, unless these efforts be sus-
tained and etketual, how shall we vindi-
cate this wise principle of non-intertlT-
mice ? how exonerate Parliament from the
charge of negleeting the poor? Something. it
may be said, has been done among us already
like that which the Frying' EMPEIIOR designs.
Something—but how much? What propor
tion do the model lodging-houses of Loudon
bear to those thousand upon thousands of ha-
bitations which are models in quite a contrary
sense—ingenious devices to breed pestilence,
to harbour it, to give concealment and refuge
to crime, to destroy by the continual con-
tact of impurity, and by the crowding Of
multitudes into narrow spaces, all sense and
desire of cleanliness among working-men?
Forty-six thousand Parisian mit. rient, it. is stated
offieiadly, live in hired rooms, mostly shared
among several families. We are mistaken if
this number might not be trebled or quadru-
pled with ease for Toulon ; and equally mis-
taken if the character of these habitations be
not worse among us than among our neigh-
bours. Mr. IlEsmr.s's work of last year. the
reports of the Statistical Society, and the re-
searches of some of our contempomies, give
startling testimony on these points. An in-
vestigation into the districts immediately sur-
rounding New Oxford street indicated, on an
average of twenty seven houses, a space of only
175 cubic feet for each individual inhabiting
them, while the space assigned to a felon in
gaol is not less than 1,000 cubic feet. 111 St.