The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1818-06-27 00:00:00

‘I
test, the EAcise Gum being d, frandeJ, mil the
litr trader* from being prejudiced, us had been vit.
f.ortuisately fix IIICIII the case far the last eight ur
tea year*.
Air. I)€.rnw, the Counsel for the Defendant,
in his cru**-exa ttt i t lawns. required the . wittiewt to
stair ih. remain he believed the sample, Nu. I, was

asiorioua description of coffee, but the witness
avoided going soy explawition upon the subject,
sbitipa that he cooihrtered it might be prejoidicial
to the revenge und.soeirty at lair, shoeild lie r I
the process by which he hid been enabled .to detect
the adulteration. He 'Omitted there were as many
abscrapii•ins of coffee, the produce of various coon-
tries, es of almost soy oilier articte 'of trrlontal
certainly was a kind of eoffek
or a very inferior quality, celled triage coffee.,
which, in the raw Stile, contained a portion of
atones, all of winch could not he picked out, and
by pa.sirig through the mill were reduced ton sandy
powder. Brit teen triage coffee, when ground, did
not assume the same appearance upon analytati 0000 ,
a. the 4amole marked No. 1. No genuine coffee
could be so•ii at •• low • prier as three-lialfpruce
an ounce, that at which the °Meets bad purchased
the sample No. I, of the Defendant, so sis to obtain
a living profit upon the article. He did out think
the vendor could ohtsiu a greater profit than one
halfpenny per pound weight, which could never be
considered a fair return fur the employment of his
capital. He had been frequently examined ita
.to
tilt genuine qualities of coffees seised by the offi-
cers of the Excise, and never yet had reason to
repent of any opinion or judgment he had pro,
&maimed upon the article so reseed.
The Court observed, it was remarkable that the
same gritty or sandy substance was found both in
the sample, No. 1, sod in the vegetable powder. •
Upon Mr. DENTON rising to state the case of the
Defendant, Mr. filayow said, he supposed Mr.
Denton did not mean to contend the offence coin-

witted d.d not amount to a forfeiture.
Mr. DENToar replied, certainly he did not mean
to contend any such thing, but he considered the
vise as one of the utmost importance in other
respects--first, us it affected the character of the
Defendant in his line of business; and met, as it
might affect the interests of the trade generally,
and thereby that of the publ►c ■t large It ais
already on record, by the judgment of the Chief
Baron. in the case of the Attorney General *going
Payne, tried before the Exchequer in 1807, that a
party was justifiable in selling a substitute fur cof.
fee. such as that generally known by the name of
the Atnericasi Powder, provided the same were not
sold tinder the denomination of coffee or cocoa,
both which articles being subk•et to duties upon
importation, it was an offence in to,- eye of the low
to imitate by any spurious production. so as to dc.
fraud the E%cise of the duties arisiog upon them.
Ile enoteodell the substance substituted must there-
fore bear the character of a pe►fe, t deception, so as
to deceive the eye of • competent judge, nod be
also sold wider the description of a groupie coffee.
The last of the two Acts of Perba►urut ;tidied upon
this subject, had merely vaned the description of
such adulterated coffee, by adding the word.," or
resembling the said genuine article in any respect ;"
but l►e would prove it resembled it only so far as
one hrowu powder naturally resembled another, in
the same manner at the content* of a stuff box
might be said to resemble coffee. Coffee was of an
oily nature when felt in the hind o► applied to the
palate. This composition was of a gritty and dry
nature. and could deceive no one as coffee. 111
fact, i► had never been challenged, though publicly
sold like any other art►cle in trade, ever since the
Exchequer had in three instances decided upon its
being a marketable commodity. the last of which
was the decision alluded to ►n 1807. Ile then pro-
ceeded to examine his witness/v.

IVilliam Cliiiinery, a dealer in raw toff.-e, for
several years, }teed that he was perfectly well °e-
go:voted with the article culled triage coffee, in
the whole atate, before being ground, and had on
the 1 jib of .lone sold the Defendant 3,172 lbs.
weight of curb coffee. o,i being roast and groom',
he thought it would not appear ur taste better than
the sample produced in Court, and might be sold
at a plait retail so low as I id. all ounce. On
txamiuiug and tasting the ounce of coffee purchay.
ed by Ilse officer, he said he could distinguish
nothing in it hut coffee, except that there certainly
was mime/I:nig gritty in it such as was usual in all
triage cotfrr. Ile recognised the vegetable pow-
der as au article very generally sold without scruple.
It bore a strong resemblance to cocoa. In reply
ton question from the Court, he thought it lows Irle
that a labourer in the docks, or other person unused
to the flavour of coffee, might be deceived, and
purchase the vegetable powder as coffee, provided
they were very ignorant indeed of the flavour of
; but fur his •part he did not thiuk it like
cutri_v either iii taste or smell.

Thing. Wa!duck, of Wercester-place, Thames.
street, coffee-:leader, and a Quaker, affirmed, be

bad beau tea years in the trade, partly as a general
coffee broker, and partly as to roaster. Ile ex-

arutned the simple No. 1, and mild detect iu it
nothiog hot coffee, with mime witty matter in
which wt.. usual. Hr had known firmly a hundred
weight of sniill stones to he picked nut of a large
quiimity of triage cutler, SO VS to ocrasirol al
(la Tenet of 10/. per cent. in the eultie ut this
Ito compered with other coffee. If ir veartirlile

sn'oioince artfully prepared, were Intermixed
wuli cote... lie could not conceive it pumnhlo by

ut.y chf lineal analysis to deconspofw the two vt.
table substances so as to say which was+ which.
Tltr re.retabir powder was, by itrrlf, of a dui-relit
11,1 ,tir 'tom eatree, anti smatter to ;,,,,r.t;n than ,ottie.
lit h.cci 1.1111‘t•If, its a roaster, beta totf-o employed
to roleft heat,. 111111 !WAS in the Sam. Mail. • r : s

court, hut 11.4.1 liJtat uF liJe

peas or beans so roasted with
John 11. ird lead been • dealer tor thirty yeafS nS
coffer, griterady. The sample, Nu. 1, he euti•nlertil
bail coke, lost still rofTee only. If origioally eery
hoe cottr. it would aimontr slow verb inferior Irmo
tieing tot long ground. As to the rr.eiiiiiki.ire he-
t wrest entree and the vegetable inivoler. hr th.,tight
it n juin bear such a resemblance to collet us u

crash dill to on
By tlu CoOtt7—" Or perlitip, fer a bad apple to
• wool one."
Perhaps it might he sold as coffee
to au I,4l.oraiit person. bait t% hen that person g,ot
In•me and prepared it fur •sr, he •hvuld expect to

see the cheat who sold it as such, have his shop-
windows broken.
Mr. James Greenscre, grocer, of London-road,
Borough, corroborated the last witness's statement,
and knew that gee tttttt e coffee might be sold it three-
helfpence per ounce, real the grocer obtain a fair
trade profit upon the article.
The shop-porter of the Defendant was then eta.
rtaiered, but could riot give any positive evidence re-
lative to the parcels produced,--Drre the Court
requested to know ►f it was intended by the Defen-
dant to produce hi. lor..man ?
The Drferielutit replied, he had left him in
charge of the shop.
Thorns* Robson Ellerhy, surgeon and apothe-
cary, Cannon-st • et, considered it ienposeible for
riser cheeriest to detect airy trephine substance,
*itch had undergone precisely the same .opera•
lion as coffee, when artfully compounded with ge-
nuinr'i•olfee, because they were both, at least io this
cese, the produce of farinaceous seeds. The taste
utosse, or odour, could in such a case he risiitril
to as a criterion ; but it was a most precaririOs cri-

triton. In pursuing chemical analysis, its con-
brcted with his proleston, he had observed there
was no way of detecting but by the taste one vege-
table liom another, and this was not very easily done.
In reply to the Court, he considered the analysis
of Mr. Herbert, one which was anknown to the
present race of chemical writers, or practitioners ;
and he could not he iticluCed to credit, even on
oath, the assertion that person had made as to the
certainty of being able to detect and decompose
each part respectively of such a composition.
Here a 'taper of powder resembling coffee was
handed to I by Mr. Mayow, which, un ricamins-
lion, he pronounced not to be genuine coffee, but
mixed with an earthy substancf.
This sample was severally produced to Mr. *al-
dock, and Mr. Ch iiiii ere, who confessed they could
not distinguish any difference between it and the
sample, No. I.

Mr. Ilerbert stated, that he hid compounded the
sample now preseuted to the Defendant's wit►tesses
in the presence of the seizing officers, during the
proceeding- iu this case, and that it cusiiitterl of
one part of vegetable powder, and two parts of
grottioe
Mr. DENTon remarked the extreme eagerness
of the ILIA witness to make out a case for the
Crown, which had been exhib:ted more particu-
larly by the that► be had laid so slyly for the De-
fendant'd witnesae4 by the mixture now produced,
of which the Court could know nothing hut wluat
he pleased to inform them, reserving for ever the
secret, whereby lie affected to detect the alleged
fraud, in his own bosom,
Mr. Msvow contended the Defendant bad put
himself out of Court by not producing his acting
u►auat;er in the slump. He wad bournd to make out
a clear case in his defence, viol he should have
sent to Pollect material evidence even to the Laud 'a
End.

The Court, upon a review of the evidence, found
the Defendant Guilty on the second count, as
having a spurious cotter in his possession, and con-
demned hint to pay a mitigated penalty of 901.
Mr. DENTON. for Ihe Defendant. said, he
should appeal vgaiicit the decision.