The National Register.
London, England, 1815-12-31 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

l*C. Si.

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their morals. and inciting them_to perpetrate all manner of
vicei. and that•these ill consequences were not confined to the
existing generation, but would extend to future ages, and tend
to the ruin and devastation of the kingdom.
The present. Reporter states it as the belief of the Committee,
that the consumption of ardent spirits is not now so great
among the lower classes of people 2s it was at the periods
above alluded to. We doubt this fact ; and it is one which
deserves most serious investigation. The priliciol ground of
our doubt is, that, notwithstanding the rapid increase of popu-
lation since 1782, the consumption of malt has very consider-
ably declined • from whence we infer that the lower classes of
people drink less beer, and supply its place by a more intoxi-
cating beverage. The average quantity of malt charged with
duty in England and Wales, in each of the years 1780, 1781,
and 1782, wa5241,114,361 bushels. The annual consumption,
as estimated by theNlinister on imposing the tax of 1803, was
27,000,000 bushels; and the actual average of the years, eliding
the sth January, 1314 and 1815, as estimated by the produce of
the'tatter tax, was only 23,863,703 bushels. It is to be ob-
served, 'that Id the distillery of spirits, only one-third of malt
is used, even when Sugar and Molasses are prohibited; and
consequently the substitution of spirits for beer must in all
cues produce a considerable diminution in the consumption
*of malt. It is a notorious fact, that many of the inferior
:classes of people who formerly brewed their own small or
-table beer, Lave long since ceased to do so, and are for the'
4rsost part hese= frequenters of the gin-shop. It is well
known too, that the habit of drinking spirits rapidly grows
•on those unhappy persons who once addict themselves to it,
Xnd that they rarely come back to less stimulating li-
'gum until their health is entirely destroyed, the tone of
their stomachs gone. The immediate etf-ects of intoxica-
•tion depend greatly on .the kind of liquor by which it is
produced. tic who sits for hours fuddling over his pot of
kcar is _generally, rendered dull and senseless ; whilst he who
quickly tosses off his drains of gin or whiskey, is rendered
furious, and fit for any active wickedness. This is one great
"muse "of the lamentable abundance of crime .in our Loudon
talendars :Scarce •a street. but presents an ,incitement to the
angst rapid and most petnicious species of drunkenness : while,
the consequences but to. strongly attest the wisdom of the
'divine prayer, " Lead .us not into temptation."

r 7
THE LIGHTING OF 'COAL MINES.

coming in contact with the candle or lump of lire miners. tic prop*.
ses, therefore, to burn the candle or lump within a glass case, tae
lug a small aperture at the top - to admit of the escape of the heated
air and vapour, and having a tube connected with the buttons, whirr
shall bring the air to sustain combustion from the floor of the mine ;
this tube, in fixed lamps, may be of iron or copper; and for move-
able lamps, a flexible tube of prepared leather, varnished, may be
used. The danger is thus completely obviated ; the current of
warm air outwards by the upper aperture prevents any air from
entering by it ; the tribe from beneath will convey air not liable to
be inr.amed; and no accumulation of the inflammable air can ever
take place to that extent as to reach the door of the mine, without
its being obvious by the smell, and by its effect on the respiration of
the miner. Dr. Murray farther stated in his paper, that if any
mixture of inflammable air did enter at any time by the tube at the
bottom, it would not, from the peculiar circumstances of the lamp,
be iuflatued within it, but would extinguish the flame. Or even,
lastly. if it where to inllaine, any explosion must be very feeble
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and be confined within the lamp, without the chance of its being
communicated to the air without. The means of security are thins
multiplied, so as to render it in the highest degree probable, that
no accident would ever occur. If, in situations particularly Ward-
ous, and risk were dreaded, pure air might even be conveyed by is
main tube to the lamps, but this, 'probably would never be required.
We have little doubt that either of these plans, if not finny( eons-
pletely effectual, will at least afford a very great degree of saP..ty
to the poor people who have of late been so miserably exposed to
instantaneous and total destruction. The public are therefore
deeply indebted to the humat.e exertions of the two enlightened in-
dividuals who have turned their attention to a subject which has
been the cause of serious alarm and distress to the nation general.

ACCIDEN rs, OFFENCES, &e.

Yesterday forenoon a fine boy, the son of Mr. Wailing, of the
Strand, fell from a coal barge, near the 3trtaid bridge, mot was
drowned.

DREADFUL ACCIDENT.—On Thursday last one of the boys in the
Royal Naval Asylum, Greenwich, while employed in puttiug Enid
water into a large copper in the kitchen of the iustitution, %slas
was already neatly full of boiling liquid, unfortunately reached be-
yond his strength, and falling into the Copper, was scalded so dread-
fully that he shortly afterwards expired.
Lately, a servant maid of Maidstone, attempting to reach some-
thing from a cupboard over the fireplace, put her foot on the &biter
when her clothes caught fire ; which so alarmed her, that she ran
half frantic into the street, resisting the humane attempt ofa neigh-
bour to stop her progress—her speed naturally proved destructive;
for in an instant she was enveloped in a complete blaze, and her
clothes were literally burnt off, leaving her in an agonizing situa-
don and 3with very faint hopes of recovery.
• Saturday a woman of the name of Mary Cook, living near the
Chapel-house, Chapel-sheet, Islington, continued (kinking gin
during the day; and in the evening, to make a finish, she called
for half a pint of Old Tom, which she drank oil, and iinruedi-
wely afterwards expired.
A terrible fire lately broke out in a little town in Munster;
unfortunately a vinlent storm raged at the time, which aided
the flames ; and we are sorry to add, that 62 of the principal
houses, and many smaller :dwellings, became a sacrifice ; thus
depriving 80 families, in this inclement season, of their habita-
tions, and the produce of their industry.
A violent explosion took place last week in a coal-pit, belonging
to Mr. Parramore, of Swadlincote, near Iturtun-upon-l'rvist, WT4-
slimed by a boy holding a candle near to a wall which separates
the working-place from a part in which slack and loom are depOsit-
ed, and which are supposed to generate hydrogen gas. The awn
in the pit had just time to seize the rope and skip, which were then
One up, and all clinging together, were safely brought to the top.
The ilaitie soon afterwards issued out of the pit's mouth, and sit
horses which were below perished.
We are sorry to learn, that a dreadful catastrophe has taken
place at Dantzic, by the blowing tip of a magazine, containing a
considerable quantity of powder, cannon balls, hilellS, Ail!. Four-
teen artillery men had just belvic entered, who were of course de-
stroved; and the killed and woeudcd, upon the best calcidatioa
winch could be mach:, amounted to 300. The magazine was situat-
ed near St. James's gate, opposite the broad street called Schutsel-
damn, and must of the houses i:r that quarter arc reduced to ruins.
Two churches are materially daningod, one of them so much so,
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that it mint be pulled d,,