The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1818-03-11 00:00:00

PRICE OF PORTER.

Mr. LOCK!' Awr rio.ft to present a Petition, signed
by upwards or 14,000 perilous iuthe Mrtropoltridid
its viciee ey, some or them Magistrate+, others Gen-
iletuett of private property, and the semaintler re-
spectable. tradesmen and a great number of the
loser clabses, who are more immediately allected
•by that of which the Petitioners complained,
'lamely, the late rise in the price of porter. The
high price of beer, the Petitiotiers stated, arose
from the monopoly of the leading brewers in the
metropolis, who, when the price of malt was low,
and the taxes mein it reduced, wide no adequate
rviluet in the p. ice of their beer, becauars
they .Hid) their stock oil hand must first be die.
posed of. In addition In the evil of the price, the
article suffered a deterioration of its quality, anal

. -
was nu longer that exlidartstisig Ireverage to cheer
the heirs of mat which it w.is wont to be, but a
hyoid contsi ll i o ig deleterious iii4redienta. injurious
to the consumer. It was also stated, that the
brewers met together regularly mid fixed the price.
This. however, did not appear in any evidence Ira -
fore the Roller Report, which touched on this sob-
jvct. All combisiatitais were iujariuus to the prin-
ciples of trade. and had liter' so described by the
best writers ea political economy. If the artisan date
not enlist-alma) raise the price al aiiy article °Emote.
1111111M,sunde tin person of higher station and choose-
ter in society could have that privilege, and lie trusted
no Gesitlemaii would eVrt attempt to exervise U.
f lie Pctitioucil coinplaintA that
1... s ,yratetu of inv.

10. That a tltsire to prevent an unnecessary number of
houses, Overissue generally assigned fur refuiug premiss'
to open houses, built fur public-houses, •hive the reasona-
ble wants attar public require them, is evidently ;
because the same licensers grata breasts to publie-boasts 111
clutters where the interest of their friends is thereby upheld,
although meth houses can only be supported by allowiug and
eucouragiog had practices.
11. That Abe similar pretence, that conspetitiosi is pre-
vented in ortkr that the landlords of the favoured hour
may flourish, and not be induced through necessity to suf-
fer disorderly conduct on their premises, is equally falla-
cious ; I. cause the owners of the favoured houses, who are
generally brewers Of apirit.slealers, aistas require premiums
of their truants, espial to the value of lime usossopuly to
them, or an odslitionel rent, thus keeping the tenauls' pro-
fits down, however valuable the license may he to the prin-
cipal.
12. That the supposition of correcting the licentiousness
encouraged at *time public-houses by denying liren••es for
others, is why calculated in benefit them mily system;
it being evideist, iso principle, that mess will out dritili
or be less disorderly when drawn together in our honst• than
they would be if divided among two or three ; and siutorions
io practice, that some of the houses which command a su-
perior share of custom and profit, are among those which
are most 'Omit/stabs the public health and initials.

11. That inch is the valor, husierer, of the prohibition
of competitions, that thousands of pounds are fostpwootly
given Aw the consioletatiou of a (mom to a house. in other
words for perioissitm to Mae, which expenot, logo slur wish
Ile extra psalm secureJ by the monopoly, fall upon she two-
somes., and become • goitrous harden to the lower classes
of the community.
_

14. That it is nitrivisonable to invest Jostle. it of the Peace
with the right of issuing 11111111.1 WC poems fir 'oline in
virtual*, when the issuing of %welt poorer, by the &emir'
hite•elf at deeberol lo be raid in hue.
Thal it is equally unreasonable to suihori-ir tic said
iii.tires to '4 ilisseize 1111.11 of their liberties and free cue.
6.1144," it duir uw•n wall and pleasure, v Would being at.
'imitable to any huiscui Ia int. while the Kin( Qui has
1111011, is interdicted Aunt hurting or injuring' Ilse

W 474 by due misuse of law; and is &naive:l'i le
in 'the 'ini,tsisis of his ilinoilsi•s.
these exiiipsrilmary sissirosseimatitutional pnweril;
purest heats, are wholly inefficient roe the ..b.
mg metbnlbug.l in good order; herawm
i• action on one slay its the year, when
tat& Ilse past, is ea..ilyui.risi of by shifiiu. tau
as regardsthe Adult., IL is as iMpossible I'r the
kilo. that 'heti houses as they'pair ' • will Ise
ted,':is it is that those which they refuse to !ji-
be disorderly. •
is therefore equally In vain hi expert an cA r.
or. r poirlie.bousrs, or • terns.untiou of the
'tad on the Garnets of I Pen, oil e'raiatt, ra, and
se at large, 'miler the presesit heeling.; sissem.....
which is proved hi be allimpotent 'fur g..iod yell.-
' all-powerful Tor bast bnewi-erieting a despnlic
rr the cosefutts. the itropkty, and the delta of she
which 'it..antymalssus is the coso.titotiunal guerru-
' elau;ttry, and which is believed to be Lipkin/wit
. to firsolo.Ce a remedy, it in necessary foi the 11.:.
power It' be hi moved f the isatruiine oP the
victualling, to the correction of the "lino del s wants
rise nut of 1t..--frum she execrate of their own
e lit the administration of beislative
applicable and extending to a:I, and lit whit lt
ate proportioned to the 'Seim's, and are ape.
insinediutely.
as far an if is deemed expesll.tst to reatu'ct the
Otibliclisoiser, that end *ill be most fairly and
y accomplished by imposilor a large duty un • the
open any or* house, shna diverting the valise or
Wijoll Guns the pueleto of the lies use-jobbers to Om
one of else Stale. •
2* That with a large duty imposed on leave to open a
new Ilona, and slue 'neat.. proviibil fur immediately stop-
ping a trade conducted to a disaderlY manner, uu perstai
would risk the capital neerasary to establish a new trade,
milts, he mild du it upon safe grounds, and therefore no
g 1 reovis ear he as:vanced agaiust mom iog to 114 psis .c
Ow benefit Of • free centipetstiou, Mid to nit-twiner' the CUill-
tiloss rights of their comitry. men—namely. the libeity
carry sin their trade in such places as they find muss ruralise
Oat being locally uffiusivsl) and to purchase their 'nods of
moth manufacture's as offs r to supply them esu the best
terms..
You.r fletition.frs hambly submit life above propesitlijnis
to the wisdom owl paternal care of your Hu 11111 l Malt Floi&e,
in the hope that your Honourable House finny restore to the
public generally the right of a free Slade in Isner, and to the
victualler in particular, the protection or. tows. iossepeet or
the rills of isidividesals, subj. ct to such le7islatire regisla.
lions for the trade as shall bt deemed contliatite to the put).
lie welfare.
And your Petitioners will 'ter pray, ike.
On the motion that it do lie on the told+,
Mr. BARCLAY rose ku.4.1 said, lie gi emit. :,.ore t.,
that the I Gentleman had nut d isiye7l pre -
seeding this Petition until the hour when his Ala.
jenny's M.isisters were present, that they 'lmola
have the op,iortunity 01 hearing the expl raison
which this Petition called for, and which he was
must anxious to give. It was tour, thr. questioie
concerned the great body of the public—it wos
equally true, it concerned a very large Humber or
individuals embarked in a particular trade, sod
also eleven principal houses in the Hiesropolis, who
contributed to the State 1-So.lt p rt of its *kelt. r -
venue, by annually furnislcug it, from their own
business, nu less a sum than 900,000 f. It w *
known to the House, that about two or fleece
mouth. ogee, the high price of hops nerd malt com-
pelled the brewers to raise the price of purser one
halfpenny per pot. Soon after theit citeuiustance
Itesolutions (of which this Petition is a coley) were
pittlished iii the public Papers, and a liositicatimi
was given, Illat a Magistrate of Lonelan imam to
convene a public meeting at the Crown and Ali-
char, to cotisider the rise in the price. The inert_
ing was then called, cud Mr. Beaumont appears ii
the leading individual in the business. Th...
meeting was shortly held, and as the suit', ti
Wm* one immediately touching the chord of
popular feeling, of course whatever resolutions
were piesecited to plea e the people, were easily
.aclopted. This meeting, lie understood, was not
iitiiiieruissly attended, but every thing went on as
the, pr ter* of it wished. liodeed nutliiiig eke
could hale been expected, after the severe phi_
fipple with which lie betted the Chairman opened
the business of the day, against is net of torn of
whose transactions it was clear he knew nodding.
The Petition, framed in this mower, was, no doubt,
numerously signed, naked los astonishment was
not so much at the numbers it now had, but shut it
hod nut duce times their amount, consideriog
the nature of the subject, the peculiar pain*
by public appeals its the metropolis and its envi-
rons, to obtain signatures, for which purpose ad.
vertisements of every kind were ciiculatcd, mid
rsosis were sent about the streets with 111/wards
on their backs, on which was pointed " Free Trade
and a Fair Trial." He himself had the curiosity t e
look in at one of the stations where sheets lay fir
signature, and on asking the statute of the Pet..
tom, lie war answered that it was " to lower the
price of porter." It was from the whole business
clear that every stiutulus was used to procure the
greutest number of sigoatures it was possible l's
obtain. Mr. Beaumont, who took ass active pent
at the Mtetitig, subsequently published the iretch
which lie now heli its leis hand, and as it was mut, -
rod to his purpose, lie hoped, with the peritinision
of the house, to be allowed tee make occasional
allusion to It. On the subject of the alleged mo-
nopoly, it might to be ieitiembered, that though
the eleveii chief houses iu the metropolis were to it
large exteset the owsiess of public houses, yet the
trade Oa the country WWI not conducted us this
maiener. The Police Committee had been referred
to. The House would do well to look at that evi-
dence ; it would there be found, on the teutisnos y
of the three priticipal brewers, who brewed e
than
shall* the beer sold in the metropolis, how this
alleged motitepoly, as it was called, stood. II II
house (Barclay and Co ) possessed one public-
house iss eight of those us the trade, Whitbec.et rust
I laiebsery only ow its eaten, mod of e,600 insular hi
hit 111111111/011, only between d anti 300 ester the Pro-
perty of l.reorrs; the others, lie firmly coestroded,
were to all totems used ism punts ft rt and cool I
deal with wh they pleased. It was true a prsc-
tire prevailed of lending publicatis a suin of money
me their leaser, but it was a cioopleie mistake t-s
btiPin.be that 'this melted the pistil can to a pee c
Li Wetter, front whom Le could out thus Ls ; i.,r