The Press.
London, England, 1853-08-06 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

325

THE CHICORY DEBATE.
MIXED, AND DULY LABELLED.
Lord TORRINGTON complained of the Treasury minute which per-
mits chicory to be mixed and sold with coffee. He apologised for
finding fault with the Liberal party, who had behaved so uncommonly
handsomely to him in that little Ceylon affair, when the priest was
hanged in his canonicals, and so on. (" Hear,hearr from Lord Gam)
Yes, and he was very much rejoiced that his other advocate, Sergeant
Murphy, had got a good thing. But about this chicory. The grocers
forced it on the poor in a way which really amounted to tyranny, and
he could tell them what tyranny was—(hlear, hear) ;—aud that it must
be very disagreeable for the people who were undermost.
Lord ABERDEEN said it was a mistake to suppose that chicory was
noxious. Why, chicory was the dandelion, and he had, in the course
of his life, often seen the merest children playing with dandelions.
Therefore, it could not be noxious. Then, a still stronger argument
was, that the French liked it, and everybody was aware that the French
knew what was good to cat and drink. But he detected the real aim
of the complaint. Coffee was a favourite Turkish drink, and Noble
Lords no doubt hoped, by a side wind, to get something out of him
which might bear upon the Turkish question. They would be disap-
pointed, as they usually were when they sought information from him.
Lord MALmessuav assured the Premier that he appreciated his
motives. A Cabinet of fusion was bound to respect other heterogeneous
mixtures. But he thought the labels should be accurate. The
Ministry were very careless in this respect. They wrote "succession"
on what was really confiscation ; and they defended the sale of dirt,
sand, and ashes for salt. He was perfectly aware that the Cabinet
boasted of being a tradesman's Cabinet, but respectable tradesmen did
not practise imposition. There were so many grounds besides coffee
grounds on which the policy of the Cabinet was assailable, that he
was surprised Lord Aberdeen should think they wished to get him
into► hot water over the chicory, or even into the Sweet Waters, in
which certainly surgit amari Illiquid for the Noble Earl.
The Duke of ARGYLL said that it was of no use to sell chicory
separately from coffee, because chicory would not mix, except in
the grinding. There, now he had spoken, and ho trusted, there.
fore, that the question was set at rest for over. Nobody could
think of disputing what he had said ; but he might add that he knew
all about grinding, having ground logic—as he lost no opportunity of
reminding Noble Lords—with much success. He would put the syllo•
gism thus. Good coffee was a desirable thing. Lord Aberdeen's was
a desirable Government. Ergo, the Treasury minute was right.
He hoped he should hear no more nonsense.
Lord MONTEAOLE said that he hated all jobs, and he fancied that
he detected a job in the complaint against chicory. The lower orders
were better off than they had ever been. He could easily prove all
this. Noble Lords might have read in the papers that he had, the other
day, found himself without any money at a railway station in the
country. He had thought he was going to be " treated " with a ride
to London ; but, somehow, he made a mistake. The railway clerk
would not trust him, although knowing that he had been Chancellor
of the Exchequer. He appealed to the public around, but the public
around would not trust him, perhaps because he had been Chancellor
of the Exchequer. Finally, a working man lent him the necessary
ninepence, or whatever it was. Now, when a working man could
lend a nobleman ninepence, free trade policy must have worked well.
Therefore, the complaint ou behalf of the poor was all nonsense.
Lord REDESDALIC spoke chiefly as a business lord, and, only as
matter of business, would remark that this was another of the nu-
merous cases in which the present law and the present Ministry con-
tradicted one another.
Lord BROUGHAM said that he got very good coffee at Cannes, and
as he was half's. Frenchman, and would have been a whole one but for
a very crass and foolish man, of no merit, called Cremieux, he could
say that everybody in France did not drink chicory. He would avail
himself of this opportunity to explain the alterations which he pro-
posed to introduce into the Bankruptcy Laws of the Extra-parochial
Districts in the Isle of Man. (Here the majority of the peers left the
House.) At the end of an hour-and-half's address by the Noble Lord
upon the last-mentioned subject,
Lord TORRINGTON reverted to the previous question. He felt
strongly upon it, and, though he was not habitually an advocate of
violence, he could wish to see every grocer who adulterated coffee
placed on the Mill.
Lord BROUGHAM said that no one but a spoon would stir the coffee
question again ; that the topic had better be buried in oblivion ; that
he had meant his speech as the chasm to his Noble Friend's coffee ; that
café noir was clearly his noble friend's bite noire (whereof there was
good hunting near Cannes) ; and the Noble and Learned Lord con-
tinued to emit jokes of general or local application, with the highest
good-humour, until the lights were turned oft:

THE COALITION BEVERAGE ; OR, COFFEE cm CHICORY.
GMEME, ABERDEEN, and Co. invite
A trial of GLADSTONES mixture,
Whereon, to prove which is the right,
Their label is a fixture.

But we" to try" are disinclined,
Until informed at leisure
Which of its items is combined
Iu "large" or larva measure."