The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-12 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 12, 1851.

customs duty on tobacco and the Excise duties
on malt and spirits. Now, how did the honourable
gentleman propose to supply the deficiency which the
remission of these duties wuuld occasion? Ile (the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer) repeated that no method at all
had been pointed out. (Hear, hear.) How would the hon.
member (Mr. Disraeli) arrange matters with the leader of
the protectionist party in the other house (Lord Stanley) ?
He (Laid Stanley) had ignored the repeal of the malt tax—
be was not prepared to secede to it. He (the Chancellor
of the Exchequer) should have liked that something
more definite had been brought before the house.
The honourable gentleman referred to the excise duties
levied on the produce of land, and moved for aconunittee with
a view of removing those grievances, and imposing in some
way or other those charges which he 'imposed to abolish.
Now that could but be done by:reversiog our legislation ;
and before they did that, be begged of them to consider
what had been the effect of that legislation ? He would
not go further back than the year 1819, the year which the
hon. gentleman himself selected. It was not necessary to
go into details to convince the house of the general pro,
perity of the country. The lion. gentleman who denied it
in 1819 admitted it now. Now, what was the result, fir-t,
with regard to homer ? Ile found that for the year ending
Jan.& 1831, the revenue was 48,48,1,0001. In 15.50 it was
52,810,0010/., showing an increase of 4.726,0001. (Hear,
hear.) Now, what had been, in the course of those years,
the relief from taxation—what had been the taxes repealed
and reduced—and what bad been the taxes imposed ? lie

EVERT PATLIBDAY AFTERNOON WILL BE PUBLIANNDi
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Containing every possibleinirsiatioci relative to the
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Appeariume, Fromm., panned future.
The anorrnmis Lumber of persons intoreeted in the fart emning
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HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tins Dor—Wornint. 105. ant. Aftnrsaon, 100. 47a.
To-itossow—lfurning, 11b. tea Aternooo, 1211.

LONDON, IYEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12.

THERE is not a doubt of it. The cultivators of the
soil have encountered hard times. Of certain por-
tions of their produce the price is low. But farmers
throughout the country--those who could do it--
have maintaincsl a stout heart against that turn of
fortune which certainly in this realm, as in the
world, has spared no condition, no calling, no trade.
There is evidence, that at the same time the land-
owners have but little lowered their demands or
abandoned their advantages. Whilst the effect of
low prices upon one class of occupiers has been to
compel them to concentrate their capital upon smaller
holdings, a larger class have nought to compensate
diminished profits by extending the area of their
occupation ; competition for laud has not diminished.
And we know, from irrefragable proof, that more
labour, more capital, inure manure, have been spent
upon the land.
Now, in giving the cultivators of the soil full
credit for this spirit, this energy, and this enter-
prise, let us consider what results could naturally
and justly be expected frpm such efforts? Were
these efforts made in the hope of high prices?
Who will say so? Were they not rather made
with the view of so increasing and cheapening pro-
duction, that the current rate of prices would he
made remunerative? Agricultural orators in parlia-
ment may compare the price of cattle and the price
of corn in one year and in another, but they forget
to tell I 1-.4 how much more can be raised from the
land, or how many more cattle were brought to
market from the same fields, in consequence of the
great and acknowledged efforts of the British farmer.
Without this, we submit that the calculations of Mr.
Dim: %ELI are wanting in the essential figures. They
go altogether upon the as,uniption that there has
• been effort without improvement, and speculation

volunteers from the opposite side. In such sallies we
can only wish Mr. DISRAELI every success. Whtn
we are quite sure what he means, it may be that we
can give him cordial support. But really in the
present session of parliament it has become no easy
task to ascertain exactly what are really persona'
polities or aims.

IT is understood that the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
cnEut Ea has determined on proposing some measure
fur the repression of the fraudulent adulteration of
coffee.

The satisfaction which this announcement has
created is not without alloy. Not satisfied with the
restraints which the law already imposes upon the
fraudulent practice, and the penalties by which it
enforces these, it is said that Sir CHARLES WOOD
means to superadd new measures of a fiscal kind,
whereby coffee the taxed, and chicory the untaxed,
may for the future be placed on the same level of
market price, and the encouragement which the
actual disproportion of value now offers to the frau-
duknt substitution of chicory for coffee be removed.
This he proposes to do, not by taking the customs'
duty off coffee, but by laying an excise duty on chi-
cory. We seriously doubt the fitness of such a tax ;
and we arc quite sure that it is by no means neces-
sary to the accomplishment of thi; desired object.
It appears to have been assumed that the de-
crease in the consumption of coffee is attributable to
one of these causes—decreasing supply or decreasing
demand, or to both. Upon that assumption it is
argued, not without plausibility, that the diminution
or even the total abolition of the import duty on
coffee will he found effectual. Since 1846 there has
been

a reduction of the prices of cofti•c of from 15 to
22 per cent. consequent upon the reduction of duty;
and yet, whilst the increased consumption of sugar
and every other taxed article has, during the same
period, furnished conclusive evidence of the sound-
ness of the doctrine that every judicious reduction of
taxes must eventually compensate, and more than
compensate, the Exchequer for the temporary sacri-
fice of revenue, coffee alone has presented the
anomalous and exceptional instance of a com-
modity whose consumption has not only not
increased but has actually decreased as its price
has diminished. Of this striking fact, the parlia-
mentary returns fur 1849 and MO, leave no
doubt whatever. It appears that in 1816. there were
entered for home consumption, 36,793,001 lbs. of
ooffee, and in 1819, only 34,431,071 lbs. In 1830, as
appears by the returns of the Board of Trade, the
quantity entered was down to the 3th Ilecember,
20,003.273 lbs. The revenue derived from coffee has
of course also fallen off—from 730,838/. in 1846, to
746,436'. in 1817; from 710,270!. in 1818, to
043,218/. in 1849, and for the eleven months ending
with the 3th December, 1830, to about 3.10,000/. It
is therefore to be intbrred that any further reduction
in the price of coffee consequent upon the reduction
or remission of import duties will be as inefficacious
in stimulating consumption as experience has shown
it to be fur the past.
Hut the same returns also show that the effect of

the reduction of duty has been to stimulate produc-
tion at least, and that, whatever may be said or
thought of the alleged fulling off in de.mand, there
has been, on the contrary, down to the last Spring
sales, a very prodigious increase in the supply.
'faking the same period of years, for an example of
' this, the following is the o;; ciul account of imports:
Years. 144.
1846 51,813,(411
itit7 65,341,011
1418 57,001,431
1849 63,320,106
1850 (elerea months) 48,731,137

By this abstract it appears but too probable indeed
that in 18;i0 there will him, been no increase as in
the preceding years, but rather a falling off in the
amount of imports, a result not to be wondered at if
the discouragements and losses of so many succeed-
ing years of dimished consumption are taken into
account. .

without return.
It was the more unpardonalde of Mr. Disitsrts to
omit this in his comparison of recent years, when
he so fully admitted it with regard to the past. lie
pointed with exultation to what had been done in
Pinner years in the Lothians and in Norfolk; whilst
he rufwies to take into account what may have been
done in the saute dirsetion, and by similar efforts,
throughout the whole breadth of England in MO
and 1850.
After all, the prices of February, 1851, differ very
little from these of February, Pia/. On February-
the 4th, IMSO, the London overage of wheat was
425. 10d.; on February the ith, 11,51, the London
average of wheat was .11s. 11d. (we quote the Econo-
mist). Last year, on the same day, best Scots cattle
are marked 31.1. 101. per Blbs.; this year, 3s. Bd.
With prices thas so little changed, has not produce
increased? Have not skill, and care, and augmented
sharpness, had their results? Have not inanutius-
tured cottons lowered in price, whilst the expense of
the raw material has augmented? Yet exports in-
crease; and the manufacturer, taking the world and
necessities as they go and come, never thinks of
coming to parliament for redress, or to the CILtIc-
CELLOR of the Ext.:lmo:En for annual favour.
Mr. I)isast:Ll made, in truth, no case for the
legislature either to interfere or go back in its reforms,
on the ground of the temporary depression of agri-
culture. He only fathomed and exposed half
the circumstances of its condition. Had he, how-
ever, even proved the first part of his thesis, the
more difficult remained behind, which was to show
the interests of owners and occupiers of the soil to be
identical. This, however, he took for granted, and, ,
wisely, did not seek to prove. All the taxation,
local and general, incident to the landed interest,
according to Mr. DISRAELI, upon the occupier, nay,
ought to fall upon him. For rent was an " economical '
result," quite beyond the consideration of the fiscal en-
quirer: out of it nothing would come, or ought to come,
not even tithes. These as well as all burdens fell upon
the farmer, who took no notice of them whatever in
the rent he stipulated to pay, and who in conse-
quence was overweighted, so that neither his corn nor
his cattle could bring remunerative prices.
This mass of assumption is really not worth an-
swering. Local burdens have been tune out of mind
portions of rent paid for certain special purposes of
road-making, poor-relieving, and church-supporting,
to persons charged with seeing to these necessities, in-
stead of their being paid to the landlord. They are in
truth no burden either to him or to the tenant; for
neither can prove a jwevious or indefeasible right to
them. That it might be a boon and a relief to
whomsoever they were made a present, there is no
doubt; but that they would be a gift, and not a re-
mission, is plain. And it is for parliament to exa-
mine what claim is made out for becoming the object
of such generosity.
As to that immense ocean of a question in which
Mr. DISRAELI fully launched afterwards, whe-
ther the greater part of general taxation was
paid by the land or by industry, that is neither
to be fathomed or traversed in a night's debate ; and
all that Mr. Dlsaasst chose to say on the subject
was a mere series of irrelevant sophisms. Thus it
was alleged that the landed interest paid the five
millions of the tobacco duty, merely because it was
forbidden to grow it. The House was not told how
much tobacco the British farmer would grow or
sell, if the importation was free. Far from ad-
mitting that the land or landed interests pay either
tobacco duty or malt duty, we opine that both are
paid by the working classes, struggling and in-
dustrious, of towns and of places where agriculturists
are few indeed. Half of the 50 millions sterling that
Mr. DISIIAELI spoke of are raised on drinks, such as
beer, spirits, and tea. What proportion the landed
interest consumes of these any one is statistician
enough to tell.
Had Mr. DP,RAELtS speech been confined to such
arguments as these, there would be little novel or
striking in it. It must be confessed, however, that
the hon. member for Bucks did, towards the close
of his oration, make a remarkable and successful
effort to escape from his antiquated notions. After
such reasonings and assertions as those we have com-
mented on, Mr. Disasho turned round and declared
that he was no longer craving for agricultural alms
us he was wont to do. Protection he had long since
abandoned, free trade being an achievement that par-
liament could not reverse, whatever the country
might; and that, however he hail argued the
ease, he would not wind it up by repeating
even his demand of last ;year. What he was anxious
for was to close the old feud between town and
country, and to demand for the country those fair
consequences, that freetraders could not refuse. If
they were to have free imports. he would demand THE STEAMBOAT ES TI OSION AT GLAIIGOW.—Cos
free labour and free capital, an abolitiou of the law son, the fireman, so purrrely. injured on Wednesday morn-
of settlement, ant facilities for the application of tug by the explosion on board the Plover, has since died in
money to land. For such proposals as these ; the infirmary, whither he wa:, conveyed. after the accident.
Mr. DlsaaEtt cannot fail to tied man? . abet- iTchhsyucathe see Ted lost
understands
emont
the
authorities
tors. And though we doubt the possibility of here have received a repo. itunfw:m two competent engineers
his dragging his bucolic friends into a path so new as to the probable cause of the explosion, which has been
to them, he will probably supply their places by I transmitted to Edinburgh.—.Kert/i Britialo

The material point of inquiry therefore is, what
has caused this gradual diminution in the consump-
tion of an article, the supply of which has been ut
the same time so hugely increased, and its price so
much diminished. The evidence furnished by the
parliamentary returns leaves no doubt on this point.
All the memorialists who have addressed the Trea-
sury—all the officers of government whose attention
has been called to the subject—all the mercantile
and commercial men who have any-thing to do with
it, concur in testifying to a eery great ine..ease in the
home demand for (lee, and in the home consumption
?f what is called eget ; and they also agree
in rating the amount of this increase as equal
to that of the supply. It is, therefore, to
the systematic frauds of the wholesale and retail
deuleis here that in their judgment the actual de-
cline in the quantities of coffee entered for home
consumption is to be attributed. On this head they
' are unanimous. Mr. SAMUEL YOUNGER himself, who
with just pride boasts of being the first' to adulte-
rate with chicory, and claims impunity for that
wholesome practice, does, nevertheless, join with the
rest in demanding that none but his shall be allowed,
and, above all, that chicory itself shall not be
adulterated, and furnishe:i some very curious and use-
ful information of the extent to which these fraudu-
lent practices are carried, showing that bad as the
chicory root may be it is not answerable for above
one-half of the mischief. " There are other roots,
prepared in the same way," he says, " which, when
kiln-dried curl up and assume the same appearance
as the chicory root ; the parsnip, the white carrot,
the beet-root, the radish, or any such. Many of the
growers of chicory have hit upon the plan of adulte-
rating the chicory by adding these roots to the extent
of nerer less than 25 per cent., and frequently to Wiser
cent." This precious parcel, thus prepared by the
British farmer, and " for which," he says, " the full
price is given, and bought by a respectable
house, whose principle of trade is to go with the i
times," is forthwith adulterated anew by the'
respectability aforesaid "with pulse to the extent
of sometimes 25 per cent.. sometimes 50, and some-
times 75 per cent., according to the price at which
orders may be obtained. By the time it gets into
the possession of the grocer the identity of chicory
cannot be traced :it is lost." Mr. YouNGEtt has
reason to be indignant against this shameless viola-
tion of the purity of the chicory root. But we are
equally solicitous for that of the coffee berry ; and
whether the preparation be of the radish or chicory
or pulse kind, we equally object to having it mixed
with our coffee in unknown quantities by the grocer,
who sells the mixture to us under the name of "best
Mocha," and makes us pay for it, too, at " best
Mocha" prices.
According to the most moderate estimates con-
tained in the parliamentary returns the extent to
which chicory (real or mock) is employed by the
grocer in the adulteration of coffee cannot be less
than 33 or 34 per cent., and probably is as much as
60 per cent. Of course this epuriowi ingredient dis-
places an equal quantity of the genuine article.
Thus, but for the baneful impunity accorded to
the practice, the amount of home deliveries fur 1849,
would have been, instead of 34,431,0741b5., at least
46,000,00011 w, and perhaps as much as 53,000,0001b5.,
whilst the total loss of revenue thence arising cannot
have been less than 250,000/., and probably has been'
as much as 500,0001 for that one year.
It must be quite evident that the cure of this tre-
mendous mischief is far beyond the power of a new
excise. On which of the vegetable ingredients of
the mixture will the duty be imposed ? For it is
clear that to tax chicory, and to let acorns, and pulse,
and parsnips go scot-free will be at once absurd and
unjust. Nor do we think that there will be any
practical advantage gained, even if all these useful
inventions of the agricultural mind are included in
the same excise law. " Torrefied vegetables" are
not the only. fraudulent substitutes for coffee, nor the
most deleterious. It is stated be the Messrs. BARING,
and a host of London memorialists of equal respecta-
bility, that the substances most largely used,
"according to the conscience or fancy of the ven-
der." are roasted acorns, peas; beans, red pottery,
earth, sand, mahogany, sawdust, colouring matter,
and fininys." Are all these to be excised ? If not,
the proposed tax must be abortive. It will be better
fur to take off the duty on coffee altogether, and let
competition do the rest.
If ;

I Por Account.
PARIS, Yee. 11. 1 Pie
I Wary. pistils litoiseer Lowest amiss.
——
per Cent.. —..l 66 SS SS IS SR 33 IS 15 58 35
per Cents.
do. New Lams
as ... ...
.is ... ... ... ..•
st,. do. ... ...
per Cents. ..... If if 1 ... -
--

3 per Cent'. —. 38 IS
5 per Cents.
3 do. New is
6 dd. do,
4 per Cvnts.
Padang/oos Lemke: at debt, 14100 g Mdgti 64 if!.
Belgian, S. 1840 181 Wry Naples IWO Money.
Do. 5, 1813 Roman Lam 1650 77
Do. 40
Do. St
Picdmovt 5 p.C4 111173 ... Bank Mares ...... 2211 ...
Dot ISA —Teraalliss OA bank), Irtl 75 ; Paris and Oritane, 88$;
Rouen and Havre, 377 St; klatoilles and Avtgunn, 197 50; Stras-
bourg and Bale, 162 SO ; Dvntre,(Orleans and Bordeaux, 400;
North, 480 ; Ports and Strybourg, 378 75 Tours and Nantes, 555 ;
itontervau and Troyes, 94 23; Dieppe and Vectunp, 22025; kW-
deaua and Taste, 40.

WLDRTD, Fan. s.—Three per Cents., 34 7-15; after
Bolas, 341 cash, 30 paper. Four per Cents., 12k. Fire
per Cents., 10; after Volga, 10 cash. Coupon., 8; after
balsa, $, Passives, 5 ; after Bolsa, 51 cash. Bank of St.
Ferdinand, 97 cult. Exchange on London, 50.65

GERMANY.

The sitting of the Federal Diet at Frankfort will
commence under the presidency of Count Buol Behan-
enstein, the Austrian agent.

BERLIN, FEB. 10.—Voluntary Loan, 106 i • New Loan,
Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 1001 ; National Debt, 841 •
Commercial Manna Society's Premium, 1W ; Hank
Shares, 961.
VIINNA, FRB. B.—Five per Cent. Metalliquea, 97 ;
Pour-and-a-Half per Cents., Sal ; Bank Shares, 1,194.
litcluoge on London, 12.36.