The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-12-21 00:00:00

tended, and fraud suppressed. The Clutter Li.oa of
the Exciteurres, in one of his speeches, last Session
we believe, made some very just and impressive ob-
servations on the moral evils produced by the illicit
traffic in contraband articles. The delinquent who begins
with poaching or smuggling, not unfrequently ends his
ignominious career as a felon. Nemo repeole /sit
mos. Nor is this all: the health of the public is injured
by the vile compounds of the home presses, sold under the
false denomination of foreign wine. The extent of the
trade of adulteration is scarcely suspected by those who
have not read the published and authentic details. Mr.
Moaswoon, Surveyor of Excise, in his work on " In-
ebriating Liquors," states that it is commonly estimated that
oree-half of the port, and five-shills of the white wines
consumed in London, are made by the British wine-
brewers. Dr. HENDERSON, in his " [history of Ancient
and Modern Wines," relates the fact that " in the year
1812, according to the Custoar-house books of Oporto,
13.5 pipes, and 20 hogsheads of wine were shipped
for Guernsey. In the same year there were landed
at the London Docks alone, 2,515 pipes, amid 162
hogsheads of wine from that island l But even if the
wine-brewers ceased to wort to-morrow, and all the home
presses were destroyed, the monopoly of Portugal would
still prevent us from obtaining from that country, wine
either as good or as ch..ap as we should have it if the
trade were perfectly free with the world at large. All wine
for exportation in Portugal is raissl within a certain dis-
trict, and the Oporto Company, by charter, hare the sole
right of buying and rolling it. They fix every year the price
fur exportation and for home consumption; and whatever
may be the quality of w inc intended to be en ported, the price,
though somewhat higher than that for home consumption.
is uniform. There exists consequently no motive what-
ever for competition as to quality. 'lb: proprietors Of
superior vineyards adulterate their wines, in order, by re-
ducing them to the average standard, to increase the quan-
tity. "In this way," Dr. HINDERSON remarks, " the
finer products of the Douro vintager have remained in great
measure unknown to us, and Port wine has come to he
considered as a single liquor, if 1 may use the expressi en,
of nearly uniform flavour and strength—varying, it is
true, to a certain extent, in quality, but still always ap-
proaching to a definite standard, and admitting of few de-
grees of excellence. The manipulations, the admixtures,
and, in one word, the adulterations, to which the best wines
of the Cimo Jo Dorn, are subjected, have much the
same eDet as if all the growths of Burgundy were to be
mingled in one immense vat, and sent into the world as
the only true Burgundian wine." The mischiefs result-
ing from the practices of this Company are not of modern
! discovery. In 1767, the Board of Trade laid a memoir
I before the Kura in Council, in which they state—
! " With respect to many particular regulations of the
Oporto Company, which we think justly objected to by
the merchants, as highly grievous and oppresrive, we
have not thought it necessary to enter into a minute
description of them, being of opinion that one general,
and that a fatal objection, lice against them all, viz.—
that they all contribute to establish in the Company a
monopoly against your Majesty's subjects, from which,
by treaty, they have a right to be exempted." We
have only one remark more to make at present on
this subject. We hope that when the duties eremitical
and equalized, they will be imposed ad valorem. There
can be no sound reason stated why the middle and lower
classes should he denied the enjoyment of the cheaper
wines. The more extensively we can increase our com-
mercial intercourse with France, containing ooze, be it re-
membered, thirty millions of inhabitants, all willing to
take some of our manufactures in exchange for their pro-
duce, the more deeply shall we lay the foundations of our
own prosperity. Let us no longer repine at the progress
of our neighbours in wealth and knowledge, but wisely re-
solve to make it tributary to the augmentation of the ad-
vantages we already possess.

An absurd report prevailed yesterday that Mr. Canning
hail resigned. There seems to he a class of profound poli-
ticians in this metropolis, who are determined that affairs
shall nut goon well; that at all events, if Europe is perversely
tranquil, his Mak sty's Ministers shall quarrel among them-
wAscs ; and to work they go, to manufacture changes and
resignations.
There is no truth in the statement in a Morning Paper,
that the Marquis of I handy is going to the Cape of Good
hope, as Governor ; but Sir Richard Plasket is appointed
Colonial &screwy, in the place of Colonel Bird.
It was finally settled, on Saturday, in a Privy Council,
which was held at Windsor, that Parliament is to meet on
the 3d of February. for the despatch of business.
The letters from Madrid, yesterday, by the French mail.
arc dated the Sell inst. They give a sad picture of the state of
the capital, and of the tyranny with which the Government
proceeds against all persons who are suspected of a desire
to 're a difi'crent air l more moderate system adopted. The
police is, fur all good purism s, inefficient, or so connected
with the dissolute characters of the city, that it is almost
impossible to appear in the streets after dark, without dan-
ger of robbery and assass;nation. The Chief of the Police,
after various fruitless etnres to improve thisstatc of things,
particularly by shutting up the drinking-houses at nine
o'clock in the evening, has represented to the Ministry his
total want of means to repress crime. and has auggestell the
formation of a new police upon the French system—a plan
which. it is supposed, will be adopted. In the environs of
Madrid, there are regularly organized bands of robbers,
who plunder passengers in the open day.
Advices arc said to have been received from St. Peters-
burgh, which state that the general number of persons who
perished during the late inundations iu that city, and all
the neighbouring places, was 30,000.
CAT noLlc Asetoet ATlON.—Another meeting of the
Roman Catholic Association took place in Dublin on
Thursday. A letter from Clonmel, signed by John (not
Martin) Luther, inclosed the names of ;4lr rsons, who
were anxious to become Members of the Roman Catholic
Association. The names of the candidates were reed, and
they were unanimously admitted members. Several other
persons were admitted members, including General O'Far-
rell Ambrose. A report was read, recommending that
Mt. O'Connell, Mr. Shied, and Mr. Brie, should proceed to
England, to exert themselves in bringing their question
before Parliament, with every possible effect. Mr. O'Con-
nell frequently address-el the meeting. In the course of
one of his speeches lee said, " Nations have been driven mad
by oppression; he hoped that Ireland would never be
driven to resort to the system pursued hr the Greeks
and South Americans, to obtain their rights ; he muted in
God they we aid never le so thriven. Ile hoped Ireland
would be restored to her rights ; but, if that day should
arrive ; if she were driven mad by persecution, he wished
that a new Bolivar may be found—may arise—that the
spirit of the Greeks, and of the South Americans, may
animate the people of Ireland." Mr. Shiel recommended
that the Roman Catholics should coalesce with the Pres-
byterians, and `• unite in sending to the Legislature one
general, one common remonatrance against the enormous
abuses of the } tablished Church." Committees were
appointed for preparing petitions, and the meeting ad-
journed. The amount of the Catholic rent tor the week
Was stated to be 900/. 9s.
The pawnbrokers of the tnetropolis are required to send
in returns to Government of the name anal sublren3 of such
individuals as should redeem hum pleelg.• any descrire ton
of tire-arms. The pawnbroker ; are Ekere,c ordered to
scull in a list of all the tire-arms they leave actually us !Lea
possess:ors—Dahlia Etc:ring Poe.