The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-02 00:00:00

DUTIES ON WINE.

To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled.
The humble petition of the undersigned inhabitants
of London and Westminster and their vicinities.
That your petitioners, viewing with regret how
the high duties on .v,ine not only impede trade, but ren-
der this best of stimulants totally unattainable by the
poor, and even by those of moderate fortune, humbly
pray that, as no duty exists on home-made wines in
England. and, as our best malt liquor is only subject to
a tax of two pence the gallon (regulated by the duty on
molt and hops), so the duty on our colonial wines should,
in no ia►tui,ce, exceed such an amount.

Indeed, inasmuch as colonies require bounties on pro-
duction to draw population into them, and our domestic
exports are proportionally augmented by its increase, it
becomes
a serious question if any duty on colonial wines
should exist at all, or, at least, if it should exceed that of
beer, particularly as the whole amount of duties collected
on colonial wines has never amounted to more than
50,0001. per annum; while the duty on hops and malt
exceeds 5,000,000/., and if one were substituted for the
other, the national revenue would not be diminished.
Your petitioners humbly call the attention of your
Honourable House to the tact, that since it has been ge-
nerally known what excellent wines can be produced in
Australia, many industrious German settlers have emi-
grated thither. Foreign emigration would, doubtless.
for the same reason be promoted among numerous useful
settlers from southern Europe, who look, in quitting
their native land, for congenial settlements, where they
could profitably follow that labour to which they had
been accustomed. Added to this, all such emigrants
would take with them the knowledge relating to the silk-
worm, the cultivation of the olive and other fruits, which
would greatly add to the future exports of oursouthet
a
colonies.
south Africa, where the vine is already advantage-
ously cultivated, stands most in need of an increased
European population, and which, if engaged to act as a
militia force, would very soon dispense with the neces-
sity of maintaining the large standing army, which costs
arespectfullymillion b sterlingeg tope ran
pointnu annum.
t also,
England
our petitioners more than
that brandies distilled from colonial winos, should be
subject to no higher duties than attach to rum or British
ivtasiueAotndouirt is proper to observe, that, inasmuch as
13thet
depreciated by Westthlendalbaorsessions has been notori-
ouslyex-
periments on growing wine there have never been made,
ition of slave labour, ar.d
it ought to be ascertained how far wine, or spirits distilled
from it, might not create more profitable exports than
sugar.
Your petitioners also verily believe that if colonial
wines were taxed no higher than theordhinaernydbeoverage
of England, no measure would so force
ouch European countries as refuse an equitable recipro-
city in commerce, to follow our e 'Jangle especially
they would foresee that inthe xa. e- as
future import of wine, we
could non do without them.

itattl liana& ealb
be lowered $t
„ as in the ease
. would prevent
the result prove
'ld reflect, that
conamon sense
.sere just and wise to take off all duty
id a variety of manufactured articles which we
ice, and on the production of which, our whole
atfilaton is mainly dependent, it would le. tar wiser to
lessen the duties on wine, which we, cannot produce; and
that such reduction would be more likely to effect that
reciprocity in free trade or commerce, which all other
devices have hitherto failed to accomplish.
Added to this, your Honourable House, indisputably
constituting the best versed in Scriptural. reading of any
legislative assembly in the world, should also reflect that
Scripture, which seldom speaks of temporal things, not
even to recommend the union between Church and State,
so far varies in its course, when recommending a mode-
rate use of wine, as distinctly to say, " A little wine is
good for all men." From this " little," however, all but
the rich are unhappily excluded by high taxation; while
the poor, according to another passage in Scripture, ap-
plicable to the use of wine, are lain, i.fier tie toil and
labour of the day, " to gladden their heart,," by hating
recourse either to ardent spirits or strong beer; the first
of which maddens the mind, and alike tends to fill our
Igaols and lunatic asylums; while beer, though preferable
fbr those destined to out door labour, is notorensly pre-
judicial to persons of sedentary Habits, or such as live
by mental acquirements.
Your petitioners humbly submit that your Honours-hie
House should also bear in mind that tie lowest pie*, et
which genuine wines can now be retail. d is 2s. a bot-
tle for those of foreign, and Is.
6d., for those of crlortiai
growth; whereas, were the duties altered as alteariy
mentioned, foreign wine could be sold at Is. 6d., rani
colonial would soon fall below a shilling, aid so e-my
attainable by the poor. It would then be available for
what it is known to be. namely, the best. of medicines in
cases of ague and low fever, and to which, it need not be
stated, the poor are more exposed than any other class
of society.
It would doubtless, also, in many instances correct the
vicious and selfish practice'of solitary drunkenness„ too
common among heads or fathers of families, enabling
them instead, to gladden their own finite and thaw of:
their wives and children, by partaking of so wholesome
a stimulant with their social meal on the day of rest.
Your ,petitioners therefore humbly pray that y,,ur
Honourable House will be pleased to grant the reduction
of the duties on all wines imported into the United
'Kingdom.
And your petitioners ycillever prey. •

TO THE SECRETARY OF -THE
METROPOLITAN REFORM ASSOCIATION.-
Sir,—On Monday the 30th of April, the Poor Laws
(Ireland) (Rate in Aid) Bill was read a third time and
passed, with a majority of 129 to 55.
On Tuesday the let of May, the Member for Dum-
fries (Mr. Ewart) made his motion for the abolition of
the punishment of death. The subject was of increased
interest from the circumstances of the times. It is
plain that public opinion is gathering fast, and the
subject must be set at rest; and the question is, how.
A practical suggestion which seems capable of exten-
sion and improvement, is that a state of punishment
should be prepared for criminals in whose cases circum-
stances may in the actual condition of things prevent
the application of death, and see whether some-
thing cannot be produced to which the public, upon
experience, shall be willing to entrust the repression
of crime in its deepeSt dye. Experiment upon
second-rate murderers as in corpore viii, and
perhaps also upon the guilty of crimes which have
with great hesitation been taken out of the category of
death punishment, such as violation and house• burning;
and see what the promise is, with respect to the final re-
pression of the whole black list. There needs no great
delicacy with respect to crimes like these; especially the
first, which is said to have doubled in frequency since
the removal of capital punishment from it.
Secretaries of State may boast; but the known truth
is, that transportation though declared to be for life,
has not the necessary terrors in the public eye.
There is no doubt it may be made bad enough;
but the badness is not trusted. There are indistinct
ideas afloat of emancipisti who keep their carriages
abroad, or come home to brave those they have in-
jured here. And though it is certain thees are the ex-
ceptions and not the rule, the effect is destructive
upon salutary terror. It there must be murder,
there must be punishment bearing some ade-
quacy to its repression. Death has hitherto been tried,
as the cheapest and most efficacious. If a substitute
is to be found, it must have as many as possible of
the attributes of death. There must be a punishment
from which, as from the hangman's grasp, there shall be
no return; save only the single chance of the future proof
of innocence. Except fer this chance, the criminal
should as nearlyns possible be annihilated. An island
prison in the ocean, where the inmates should
be confined to the regimen of something between
a monastery and a poor-house, would seem to be the
thing to start with. And there ought to be no remission
or return but by an Act of Parliament. It ti,e cry is
raised of interference with the prerogative ut the Crown,
prec, dents may be found where the prerogative has been
oluntarily deputed fur the public good. It the
Crown had all the prerogative which could be
exercised up to the moment which answers to
the drawing of the hangman's bolt, it would have
nothing to complain of. Either make a punishment
which, with the single exception of innocence discovered,
shall br as decisive and mew. diabie a, hanging, or else
hang on. Public me❑ will u►' course go hafting between
two opinions, till the accumulati tt ut general feeling
drives them to some practical decision.
It has been ',card urged, that the experiment of
raising the stile of punishment in the way prupured,
would be derogatory to ti,o dignity of murder. Murder
must have a bed for itself, and therefore you must not try
to niske another bed to fit it. This is certainly
a wide departure from the times, when the scaffold was
a bed that fitted all crimes, down to a starving woman's
shoplifting; but it does not therefore follow that it is
exact. To insist on it, seems to be refusing the practi-
cal step which gets over obstacles. The dread of the
public at present is, that no punishment short of death can
be found sufficiently strong for murder. The dread of
the objectors is, that murder should lose pre-eminence.
Mr. Et. art's motion was lost by 75 against 51. A
considerable improvement on the last, which was 122
against 66. _

I am, Sir, your obedient ser►ant,

TIHE LEGAL TITLE ASSURANCE
COUPsils7Y.
(Provisionally Registered, January 17, 1849.)
r:apital, 2,00i),00C1., in 80,000 Shares, of 251. each.
Preliminary Deposit, 24. 6d. per Share
Prospectuses and Cull information may be obtained at the Tempo-
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