The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-10 00:00:00

SICILY.

I❑ reply to Mr. URQUHART,
Lord PALMERSTON stated that the whole of the
Sicilian papers would be laid before the House when
the existing negotiations had terminated.
INTRAMURAL BURIALS.
Mr. MACKINNON stated, in reply to Mr. Henry
Berkeley, that after the promises which had been made
by the Government, it was not his intention to bring in
any Bill on the subject of intramural interments.
Mt LDA VIA AND WALLACHIA.

Lord PALMERSTON, in reply to Mr. Anstey, said
that he had received no official information of fortifica-
tions being erected in the provinces of Moldavia and
Wallachia by the Russians, although he had heard, but
not officially, that barracks had been erected.
ADULTERATION OF COFFEE WITH CHICORY..
Mr. ANSTEY rose to move the following resolu-
tions:—That this House views with serious concern and
disapprobation the great and growing inerease of the
consumption of the plant chicory in the adulteration of
coffee, contrary to Act of Parliament; such increase
having been, in the opinion of this House, chiefly
owing to the orders given by the Administration to the
officers of Excise not to enforce the said Act.
That the direct results of such orders have been the
fraudulent sale of ground chicory, under the name and
at the current prices of ground coffee; a corresponding
depreciation of the value and decrease in the con-
sumption of coffee; increased depression and distres in
Ceylon and other coffee growing colonies; a perma-
nent loss of revenue to the actual amount of some
hundreds of thousands of pounds annually, and which
loss in the last year was augmented by the addition
of about forty thousand pounds more ; the prejudice of
the fair dealer ; discontent and disaffection in the colo-
nies ; and the encouragement of the evil-disposed, both
at home and abroad to disobey laws which must appear
to them to depend upon the arbitrary pleasure of ad-
ministration for sanction and enforcement. He proceeded
, to state that there were certain Acts of Parliament, of
no ancient date, passed for the double purpose of
protecting revenue and the trade of the colonies, and
also of preventing the frauds of individuals. Those
Acts had in view the prevention of mixing certain dele-
terious ingredients with tea and coffee, and particularly
the adulteration of coffee with chicory powder. By the
3d George IV., cap. 53, there was a recital, that it was
expedient to allow the manufacture and sale of scorched
and roasted vegetable substances by persons not being
dealers in coffee and cocoa ; and then it enacted that
persons, not being dealers in coffee, might roast and
sell such substances: and there was a clause which for-
bid the Excise to grant any licenses for that purpose to
any person being a dealer in coffee or cocoa. The ob-
ject of the enactment was not to deprive the poor of the
right to manufacture those substances for themselves if
they chose, and it had in view the prevention of grocers
making money at the expense of the public by selling
cheap substances roasted and ground in that manner
under the name and at the selling price of coffee.
The Lords of the Treasary he said, had, in a minute,
allowed the sale of chicory, and by doing so, had taken
a most extraordinary view, which was opposed not only
to eta of Parliament, but also to be principles
of finnnce and to public moralty. After that
minute there were no more prosecutions with
regard to the use of chicory; and the consequence
was that ground chicory was sold under the name and
at the current prices of ground coffee, thus producing a
great depression in the coffee market. That, however,
was not the only evil, for a great loss resulted the revenue;
and supposing that one pound of chicory was sold for
every pound of coffee, the difference annually in the re-
venue would be 600,0001. Ile did not complain of the
growth of chicory: the Legislature sanctioned it; but the
Legislature, whilst it did not forbid, regulated the sale
of chicory; and he called upon the house to enforce its
own laws on this subject. The amount of coffee brought
into our market in 1848 was greater than in any former
year, and the price was much less ; and yet the con-
sumption of coffee hal been gradually declining
for years. Down to the 21st April, 1848, the
amount of coffee entered for consumption in the port of
London, and five of the principal outports of the United
Kingdom was 9,721,618 lbs.; whereas at the same ports
the amoudt entered for consumption down to the
same day in 1849 was 9,224,879, showing a decrease
for that short period of 496,7391b5., or in round numbers
about 221 tons below the already depreciated amount of
last year. It that were so, why was not the law imme-
diately enforced against those frauds which were carried
on in direct violation of an act of the Legislature?
The properties of chicory were not of a nature to make
a wholesome beverage, much less to justify its being
safely used as a substitute for coffee, for it was nothing
more than the cultivated root of the dandelion. It ap-
peared from a memorial which was presented to the House
that the dealers in it were in the habit of ;mixing at least
one-Third, and, in many instances, a half with the coffee
which they sold. So profitable had this nuisance be-
come, that parties had already begun to adul-
terate it, and dealers were now selling to the
poor of this country, burnt and ground biscuits,
burnt and ground clay, burnt and ground rags,
and burnt and ground rope yarn, for chicory.—
(A laugh.) The amount of coffee imported being greater
than in any preceding year, and the amount
consumed in 1848 being so much less, was
not affected by any statement made :up to the end of
last year, much less by any statement made up to the
period of the last returns; because the result
would simply be, that at coffee prices
that coffee scarcely had any sale at all ;
and what sales had been effected, had
seen at the expense of the unfortunate party who was
permitted to sell by the chicory laws. Now, he put it
to the ifooe whether any statement of the Right Hon.
Baronet founded on the apparent increase during the
past year in the consumption of one or two
descriptions of colonial coffee could out-balance the fact
that the supposed increase bore no proportion to the in-
crease in the import ; and the fact that there
had been a decrease in the amount of
colonial coffee consumed in that period ?
The most obvious course which could be taken to
avoid all these evils was to ascertain whether the
existing law, the 3d of Geo. IV., which was found sut•
ficient in 1832, was not sufficient now. But as
the Right Honourable Gentleman (the Chancellor
lof the Exchequer) did not seem disposed to
adopt ibg gvursa there were Om e others open to him;
first, to pra;iik4i,FliG sr.wth of chicory, altogether in this
country;
1.4,044 the customs duty of 4d. which
Few
and, thirdly,
operated
second,ntO dliogcourag ~,,,i;jklimption of colonial
eo
thirdly, to impose au eiiK,fw duty upon
Britisic.grown chiccory, equivalent to the cus:uaus,-,;;Lty
upon cease,
hid optllton, tL,ef,ll,,ieulie
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'.1.h0C1:41 aAsNCELLOII of the EXCIILQUEit then
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CLEFT SPEAKING.]

CLERICAL VELIN4IJEZCY.—The other day we met
with a paragraph in a newspaPz:. tiPltled " Alleged
murder for the sake of burial tees." The ease turned
out to be that of a woman supposed to have poisoned
her husband and children, in order to obtain funeral
money from a benefit club, We expected to find the
murder for the sake of burial fees was the wholesale
destruction of human life which is caused by intra-mural
interment—Plinth.

ALARMING STATE of GERMANY.

The German jouenals represent that the public
agitation is increasing in nearly all parts of Ger-
many. At Frankfurt the excitement on the 6th was
so great that the authorities had to take military
precautions. At Darmstadt the democratic asso-
ciations resolved on the 6th to form a free corps
to defend the Constitution, and a great number
of the inhabitants had published an earnest
appeal to the soldiers not to oppose the people.
Ihe Constitutional Associations of the Rhenish and
Westphalian provinces at a meeting, held at Cologne
on the 6th, resolved that the German Constitution
could only be legally modified by the National As-
sembly, and declared that the present Prussian Minis-
try ought to be dismissed. At Hoffenback, Hesse,
and Brunswick, popular meeting had declared that
the National Guard ought to defend the Constitution
against the attacks of the princes. In the Grand
Duchy of Baden, meetings of nineteen different
towns were convoked to make the like declaration.
At Linden, Osterode, Burgdorff, and other towns of
Hanover, demonstrations in favour of the Constitution
had taken place. The National Guard of Alfeld and
Weisbaden had declared themselves ready to defend
the Constitution. At Carlsrhuhe, the Baben officers
had declared that they would defend the Constitution
at all risks, and had invited their brothers in arms of all
Germany to do so likewise. In all parts of Bavaria,
and especially the Palatinate, the agitation was very
great, and the Central Governments had considered
it necessary to send off troops. The Bavarian Govern-
ment had published a proclamation stating that it
intended seriously to take part in terminating the
Constitution, but with modifications; and adding
that it would maintain the laws by all means in its
power.