The National Register.
London, England, 1818-02-02 00:00:00

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TO liationat

No. 521.—V0i.. XI

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

ON THE PERNICIOUS PRACTICES OF THE CONT.
MON BREWERS. WITH HINTS TO THE LEGIS-
LATURE FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THESE
ABUSES.

WE made, in our last number, some allusion to a
Meeting which has since been held in the Metropolis,
4". to consoler the best means of counteracting the.
Monopoly of the Brewers," at the seine time, recom-
mending the subject as one deserving the immediate
conside.•ation of Parliament. The cowhi•attiou which
formed the subject matter of discussion at the above
Meeting, however important in itself; and however
contrary to Law, if the fact can be established. against
them, is certainly of miner importance to the cs it which
has been so justly complained of in regard to their
practice of sophisticating the common beverage, so as to
render it prejudicial to the health of its consumers. It
hiss beets asserted, anti probably with some truth, that
the alarming number of apoplexies, paralytic affec-
tions, sudden deaths, and maniacal disorders, which
have prevailed of late years, are to be attributed to
the deleterioim articles now introduced into the manu-
facture of the common necessaries of life. There ap-
pears, italeed, ton much reason to apprehend that the
evil proceeds from this cause,—indeed we do not think
it can be traced to any other source, upon rational or
p:tilosophical pritriples. Bakers have been frequently
detected, and out slightly punished, fin• an offence which
Nke.ald have induced our ancestors to have visited them
w›.ll the heaviest itlnietions. There car., indeed, be little
r!..:bt that the iniquitoua practice, by no 111C..11S uncom-
.
:eon in our day, of mixing calcareous matter, pulver.
'sea stone, &c, in the flour constituting the staff of life,
would have excited our forefathers to enact laws of the
re..,ct rigorous kind, to meet so enormous, so diabolical
a crime. Nor would the Brewer who should have been
Detected in the admixture of Grains of Paradise, lux
k ondea, Extract of Nicotiana, or any of the numerous
drugs and poisons with whi,ll the trade are so well ac-
(painted, in their br:wage, have escaped a punish-
ment equally.. severe ; to t.ay nothing of their being fur
ever after held up to tl:e scorn and detestation o man-
Lind. The story of Old Booty, the brewer of War-
who was hunted by the Devil into the crater of
a horning mountain fur sins of this kind, by him com-
mitted, is too well known to need repeating ;—it, how-
ever, serves to skew the abhorrence with which our
forefathers viewed transgressors of this sett.

But these offences, at which our common nature
shudders, were in former times of very trifling import,
compared with the wholesale iniquitous practices which
are going on in the present day ; the trade of a Brew-
er's Druggist is now openly carried on under the very
nose of Magistracy, by persons who do not hesitate to
avow that they have made their fortunes r.t the business.
Surely the lei;islature would do well to take into their
serious consideration a subject so pregnant with. evil to
the great mass cf the population of this country, whose
gaily support is in a great measure derived from the
common beverage PouTra; which in former times pos-
sessed sufficient strength and body to afford the nou-
rishment of both meat and drink to the hard-working
and labouring classes. This is not merely a subject
which as a Reverend Gentleman has said, " concerns
only Ale-drinkers ;"—it is one of natioanl importance
in various points of view. If these practices are not
suppressed, diseases will multiply, and become more
ill-mid:title in their attacks ; tile physical streni;th of
the pe.)ple ‘rilt be diminished; ;roil the number of poor
will be inct eased, front inability to obtain their sup-
port, by reason of the pukka, pandyzetl, ,tld I.4tnzrally
pArbid state to which they will th.reklueeti Lv tiro dele-
terious mixtures w.lti;:!, imbibe. It the petty erinY:s