The Sun.
London, England, 1830-05-04 00:00:00

Iran cat

The H
ceived tt
political

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and the
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consider

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Bank s
India
3 Per C
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Ditto

Braailis
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Chilian
Colon*
banigh
French
Ditto 3

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Consul
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mat
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"locks it
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held on

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in the (I
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private,

that au(

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pulpits
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In
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of the
persons

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continue
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riated.
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fined,"
pub-
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uar"

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1 that

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free
o the .
le ab-
e that
o pay
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their
ice of
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e its

of its

every
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'ported
vh*t is

al ra-
nt UP,
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ne re'

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31 11r.

sum
value,
•chase,
nstead
bs. It
exceed
open,
not be
whole
,ion of

en its
2 l'us.
is per
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and
n hos-

cation-
on the
being
r than

tion. Experience might teach us to expect that such
atipp4, might be worse, but in the fiscal history of nations
there is not a shadow of precedent to warrant us in ima-
lining it should he better. The salt of France was dear
and execrable under the gabelle, and immediately improved
ja quality as it did in cheapness, when the trade was thrown
open, and moderate duties only levied upon it. There is
at present a monopoly of tobacco in France ; and hence
French tobacco is the dearest and worst in Europe. The
Company itself exercises a monopoly of salt in its Indian
possessions : their salt is exorbitant in price, and the qua-
lity such that a respectable farmer in this country would
hardly give it to his hogs. These, to be sure, are royal
or sovereign monopolies; and I admit at once, that the
monopoly of the East India Company in tea, which is not
", does not labour under equal disadvantages. The Com-
Pany has the fear of public opinion before its eyes, in a
country where public opinion is sometimes pret'y loudly
expressed ; and it has before its eyes, above all, the fear of
loan= its monopoly. These are some checks upon the
quality of the supply, but, as experience has sufficiently
Proved, none at all upon the price exacted. Our tea is
ant se had as if it had been a royal monopoly ; but this is
altogether a very different matter from claiming for it a
superiority over what is furnished in conformity to the
tastes, habits, and wealth of the consumer, in an unfet-
tered commerce.
" The superiority claimed for the Company's teas seems
Modestly to have been kept in the back-ground for more
than a hundred years, and was first loudly insisted upon
about the year 1824, shortly after the appearance of an
able and convincing article in a celebrated journal, and in
which the writer made it appear, on a calculation for the
year 1823, when the average price of the Company's
teas Was 2s. 10d., that the nation was taxed by the Com-
pany .2,218,C001. per annum. It was impossible to
resist the array of figures, chiefly derived front the Com-
pany's own records, by which this mortifying result was
proved. The advocates of the Company, wholly unable
to combat such a statement on fair grounds, were com-
pelled to shift their position, and take refuge on the de-
bateable ground of quality. The hundreds of travellers
who have visited the continent of Europe, since the year
1817, can attest the utter groundlessness of the assertion
of superiority claimed for the Company's teas. I myself
earl testify to the equality always, and to the superiority
generally, of the teas of France, the Netherlands, Idol-
land, and Switzerland.
" The modest and reasonable pretext of the advocates of
the monopoly amounts to this, that, lay some indescribable
magic in the Company's system, that system contrives,
somehow or other, to secure every ounce of good exportable
tea in the Chinese empire, leaving to the rations of the
earth at large little better than mere refuse. The expor-
tation of tea from China has been increasing, year after
year, for more than a century back ; and still the produc-
tion of tea in that country has steadily kept pace with the
demand in foreign countries. In short, there seems no
visible limit to it, but the limit of demand ; and it may
be had of any quality, or of any description, that suits
the taste or the means of the purchaser. The East India
Company could not, if it had the means or the desire,
monopolise all the goad teas in the Chinese market. Upon
4 point so obvious, it is hardly requisite to insist at
length ; yet, considering the boldness of the allegations
Which have been made, a few facts may be necessary, in
torroborat;on of what is here stated.
" Tea is produced throughout the whole empire of
China from the 20th to the 45th degree of latitude. It is
spread, and not very thinly spread either, over an area of
1,372,450 square miles. It is not a delicate but a hardy
plant, easily and cheaply reared : like the vine in tem-
perate regions, or the pepper and coffee plants in tropical
ones, it prefers the acclivities of hil's where food fur
man cannot be grown, or where, if grown, it would be
cheaper to import it. The English, Americans, and
others, receive their supply from one portion of the empire;
the Russians from a second, and the Asiatic neighbours of
China from a third. Two centuries ago, the use—hardly
the name of tea, was known in Europe and America.
All that is now consumed, therefore, by the European
race, good and bad, is produced by the soil of
China beyond what the soil of Cbira produced pre-
vious to that era. Five-and-forty years ago the
Consumption of all Europe and all America (Russia
included) did not exceed 19,948,665115. weight. On
ohe average of the three years, ending with 1826-27, the
nglish and Americans alone exportel teas from Canton
ththe amount of 43,940,6691b5, indicating an increase in
e consumption of Europe and America, exclusive of the
PPly furnished by Dutch, Danes, French, and Swedes,
'tud of the supply to European possessions in the East, of
abnve 130 per cent. In 1784 the actual consumption of
iGtreir
now
and Ireland was short of 13,000,0001b5. ;
ow near 28,000,0001b5. On the average of the
tibheurtiyenired ending with 1793, the actual consumption of
States was but 2,164,1891b5. Five-and -thirty
it sited States
or on the average of the years 1827 and 1828,
Was 6,141,2681br., or had increased by 183 per cent."