The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-18 00:00:00

[VIIISKY DRINKING IN SCOTLAND.

(From the Scottish Press.)
There are a number of public questions in which passion
and prejudice have so completely usurped the field that
arguments and even facts have no chance. Whether as a
people we are growing in sobriety or its opposite, is one of
these; and we have ever maintained that this question
could alone be settled by a reference to the Excise returns
of the quantity of spirits entered for home consumption, and
in connexion with these the condition of the working elas-es
and the price of whisky. Now that Mr. Dunlop's Parlia-
mentary return is published we possess the means of testing
the fact by figures, and results must speak for themselves.
We shall not encumber the case with a reference to spirits
other than whisky, because it is the national beverage, ant
ere we have done it will be found that an enormous delu-
sion is being practised on the people of Scotland.
To render our observations intelligible and distinct, we
shall state the quantities of whisky, given in imperial gal-
lons, entered for consumption in Scotland during the four
years before and after Whitsunday, 1854, when the Forbes
Mackenzie Act came into operation :

Deficit. Excess.
1854 ... 6,846,692 11885568 5,336,5386819160
851 ... 7,060,433 1,431,568
2,477
1855 ... 6,452,098 608,335
.852 6,768,106
1853 7,145,037 1857 7,126,057 15,980

27,820,168

25,763,862 2,058,.83
2,477

Total deficit of last four years 2,056,406
Showing a deficit in four years of 2,056,406 gallons, or, on
an average, of 514,1011 per annum.

A comparison of the duty paid on whisky during these
various years, and of the means taken by spirit dealers to
meet the difficulty of a high-priced article, will inevitably
establish two propositions—first, that so determined in
Scotland is the love of whisky that we have paid for the
article during the last four years many millions of pounds
sterling more than we paid for it during a similer period
preceding the Poi b_s Maekerze .1c• ; qrcnid, thqt ,:e
have during the last four years been drinking mule of tie
commodity sold as whisky than during an equal period
going before. We shall immediately establish the first of
lese propositions. There was paid in:—
Gallons. Duty.
... 7,060,433 3s. Sd.
6,768,106 Se. Sd.
7,145,037 Ss. Bd.
6,840,602 4s. Bd.

1351 ...
185°. ...
1853 ...

Amount.
£1,291,412
1,210,819
1,309,923
1,597,561

1851,

45.442,715

... 6,452,09 S 6s. Od.
... ... 5,336,538 Ss. ' 10dl
... 7,126,057 Ss. Od.
.
... 6,819,169 Es. Od.

1855 ... ...

£1,935,561
2,112,370
2,850,422
2,739,667

1856 ...
1857 ...
1858 ...

£9,638,029
5,442,715

Deduct first four years ...

Excess of duty on last four years... £to 95,31 i
These figures—startling though they be—give a most inade-
quate and imperfect view of the case, and we have resorted
to them to meet what is an apparent, though most erroneous
mode of arriving at the result. While the dealer—whether
publican, grocer, or spirit merchant—is paying 72 per cent.
more for whisky than he paid in 1851, the publican might as
well shut shop as propose to charge a proportional increase
to the dram drinker. The dram drinker has to be deals with
on the philosophy which inspired the poor woman with de-
' rout thankfulness, that—although the 41b. loaf had risen to
a dearth price—the bakers could not increase the price of
the " penny bricks." To realise the same profit, the publi-
can would require to get sd. a gill for- what he formerly
exacted 3d. Instead of this he charges 4d. n gill, and adds
as many gallons of water as repays him for the odd penny,
so that we are entirely unt;er the mark when we say that to
the whisky sold by publicans, and in gills and mutchkins by
grocers and others, snore than a million additional gallons
of water is added yearly to the aggregate; and in 1853 at
least a million more gallons of whisky—so called and sold
by the dealer, and so understood and paid for by the con-
sumer—were used in Scotland than in any of the fine years
referred to prior to the passing of the Forbes Mackenzie Act.
With these preliminary explanations we shall, in a single
sentence, state how tl•:e case stands. We take the first two
and the last two years already so often referred to-1831-
1852, and 1857-1838. We select these because they were
free from all speculation on any anticipated rise of duty.
The whisky entered for consumption in Scotland was—

Gallons.
.851 ... 7,0G0,1831
.sat 6;768,10G

ri Ice.
6s. Cd.

c t 2,291,610
-i. 2,193,634

13,828,539
.857 7026.059 1 M. 2d.
.858 ... 6,819,169

L 4,191.271
f L 3,978,715
C. 3,824,127

13,975,26 G
2,0,0,000 for water added more then in
two first years ... ,

... 1,111,6 n

15,975,226
rp;d for whisky in 1h57 and 1858 ...
in 1851 and 1852 ...

...R8,919,50S
, „ 4,491,274

Excess on the last two years ...

...L1,425,23

So that, comparing the whisky consumed, without refer-
ence to the extra quantity of water mixed with it, we ex-
ceeded in 1857 and 1858 by 146,687 gallons the quantity
used in 1851 and 1852; and in the last two years we spent
18,919,508, as against £4,494,274 spent in the first two
years, or, as near as may be, double. We challenge any man
to controvert a single statement we have put forth.
These astounding facts prepare us for encountering an-
other fallacy—that drinking is diminished in proportion as
we reduce the number of licensed houses. We have shown
that more money is being consumed in whisky, and more
whisky is drunk in Scotland, now than before the Forbes
Mackenzie Act came into operation ; and yet, to illustrate
the delusion referred to by the instance of Elinburgh' we
find, taking the three years before the Act and the last three
years, that the number of licences have been greatly dimi-
nished. The numbers that were issued were-
-1851 9Ol 1856 796
1852 907 1857 753
1853 956 1858 737

•
And yet more whisky has been drunk in the last three
years than the first three years. How is this ? Either we
have increased the trade of those persons who are licensed—
a statement we believe to be very partially true—or we
have driven the supply into unlicensed and disreputabl
hands—a statement we believe attested by fact and sufficient
to account for much of the whole ca-,e.
To what, then, do our calculations point ?
siiiv T o the re-
-
moval of the Forbes Mackenzie Act as poelY mis
chievous ? By no means. We hold that it established a
salutary principle, that public-houses should not
rs have per-
mission—exceptional of every other tradeto pursue their
gains on the Sabbath-day. This principle, however, has,
strictly speaking, nothing to do with drinking. It merely
affirms that a salutary law shall be universally enforced. If
our statistics teach anything—and we hold them to be full
of suggestion—it is how little can be gained by physical
means in securing moral ends; and that if as a people we
are less temperate than we were, and were becoming, it is
because moral means, which alone can secure moral results,
have been all but abandoned in favour of physical restraint
and magisterial supervision, whieh lead to disappointment
and dismay. We would willingly have found that benefits
bad arisen out of recent legislation up to anti beyond the
expectation date most enthusiastic believer in " the Ant ;,,
but facts are facts, and it is an of against truth and
etrays a craven spirit not to proclaim them.

(By Electric Telegraph.)
LATEST BETTING.
EBOR HANDICAP.
5 to 2 agst Vedette (off red)
5 to 1 asst Gemtna di Veray (taken freely)
8 to 1 agst Pretty Boy (taken)
ST. LEGER.
3000 to 1000 agst Toxophulite (taken)
7to 1 apt Fitzßoland (taken)
THE DERBY.
4000 to 100 agst Cavendish (taken)
5000 to 100 agst Ethiopian (taken)

Enoß HANDICAP.—The following have paid forfeit:—
Vanity, Mitraile, Sunbeam, Botany, Princess Royal, Raven-
stonedale, Peeress, Schiedam, Arsenal, Prioress, Charleston,
and Windward. The Roman Caudle was scratched last
night about 8.55.
ADDITIONAL ARRIVALS.—F. by Stockwell, out of
Terrona, Killingworth, Lord of the Manor, Palm Leaf,
Volcano, Volatile, Willie Wright, Antiquary, El Hakim,
Cheery Chap, Hegira, West Stanley, Uralian, Arim, Phan-
tom, Bird-ia-the-Hand, Challenger, and Meanee colt.

SPORTING NOTES.

LATE IN THE FIELD.

[The following was forwarded to us for insertion yes'erdpy,
but our correspondent's letter did not come to baud in time
for publication.]
The batch of little meetings which cccupled last week
excited more interest and attention than was expected. At
Lewes it was discovered that Gracchus was not quite the
clipper that his Derby backers believed ; and the running of
Flitch with him caused Electric to be more steadily sup-
ported than ever. Gracchus lacks speed, but be seems a
stager all over, and next year he will, or I shall be much
disappointed, show that he possesses pretensions of no ordi-
nary stamp. At Lewes, too, a demonstration was made iu
favour of Toxopholite for the St. Leger; and the hopes of
Melton still fondly cling to the son of Longbow. People
who are anxiously waiting for the coming out-
sider now direct their attention to \Vantage, and
believe that in Kelpie Mr. Parr will furnishi the
ring with another Saucebox. That Kelpie's running this
year both surprised and disappointed his owner is well
known. Mr. Parr, contrary to his general custom, has
allowed the horse a long season of rest, and he may send
him—a formidable St. Leger candidate—into the field.
People, however, still look to "Sir Joseph," and it must he
confessed that they bare good cause for faith in the cherry
jacket and black cap. "Fitz" seemed short of work when
he won the Two Thousand, and both at Epsom and at Stock-
bridge he app-ared to be big. Should that nasty leg of bis
enable Manvog to train him, Sir Joseph Hawley will, it
must be confe-red, have a rare chance of carrying off the
three great events of the year. The Reading Meeting was
principally remarkable for crowds both of bipeds and qua-
drupeds, and the most important incident connected with
the racing was the defeat of Gracchus.

If the list of sport prepared by Mr. North for the York
Meeting be not equally attractive with that of former
years, the cause cannot be attributed to a diminution of
energy on the part of the authorities.
The arrival of Fisherman is announced, but he has been
sent for the Queen's Guineas, and not for the Ebor Handi-
cap. The betting on the Handicap has not been extraor-
dinarily brisk, and even after " the Candle" went cut no
activity was imparted to speculation. Borderer's trip to
Baden-Baden has been postponed in order to enable him to
take part in the race, and really to judge from his running
at Stamford and Lewes, the fondness of his party for his
Ebor chance need excite no surprise. Vedette will go fresh
to the post, but a rheumatic horse is not exactly to be
trusted for a severe race, and his ability to give 51bs, and a
beating to Borderer may well be questioned. Pretty Boy
at 7st 31bs will be formidable, for those persons who saw
him "perform" at Nottingham aver that he looks as well
and as fresh as when be was a three-year-old. Could be
be sent to the post in his Goodwood Stakes form of 18.5 G,
I should have no difficulty in selecting a champion. The
"confederates" have been long out of luck, and fortune
may now be inclined to give them a " turn." The Bird-
in-Hand will perhaps be the representative of Whitewall,
but in this instance I believe that people will have no
choice between a Bird-in-Hand and two in the bush.
In Melissa I have no faith, ~nd the public mast by this
time be tired of "standing her." Brother to Bird-on-the-
Wing and Minnie are turned loose. What shouting would
be raised if Lord Glasgow's colt were to bear the colours of
his popular owner just past the post ! Really his light weight
may enable him to run into a prominent position. For the
three-year-olds I have no decided partiality, but if Tunstall
Maid be well she may run forward, as her performances over the
same course in the spring showed that she likes the ground.
I fancy, however, that the first three to pass the post will be

GEiI3IA DI VERGY, VEDETTE, AND BORDERER.
The scratching of Hepatica for her Goodwood engagements
induces people to believe that she is amiss. She must be
very much wrong if she cannot win the Ebor St. Leger as
Marauder and Whitewall are likely to be her only opponents.
Meg Alerrilees and Gnatcatcher may make an interesting
race of it for the Filly Sapling Stakes. I anticipate the
success of Mr. Merry's colours. Some expectations have
been entertained of Mutineer, sad should be put in an •ap-
pearance he may show that the Whitewall stable is as strong
as ever in its two year-olds. Still I shall place my hopes in
Rainbow. To foretell the winner of the Biennial Stakes
for two-year-olds is at my present writing somewhat dif-
ficult, as many of the animals engaged in it will be
" run through" before the race is decided. I may,
however, be inclined to avail myself of a ticket-of-leave.
The Peer ought to win the Hopeful Stakes. He is also
engaged in the Eglinton Stakes, and should he start for that
event, his 10 lbs. allowance ought to enable him to pull
through. Of the two-yen-olds I should, in the absence of
Rainbow, give my preference to Joyeuse. Any attempt to
select a winner of the Prince of Wales's Stakes, or to pre-
dict the result of Friday's racing, would at present be
absurd. An exception may, however, he made in favour of
the Yorkshire Stakes, tbelrunning for which will he scarcely
tIY rt—: !I:. “itl'A,Act:& East Lauver.' and
iirutntr to bird-on-the-Wiug are entitled to distinction,
and I shall not be greatly surprised to see Lord Glasgow's
colt the winner.
Broadstairs, Tuesday Morning.

AQUATICS.

A FRESH MAN.

LIMEROUSE REGATTA.

The annual regatta at Limebouse, for a new boat, and
various other prizes, came off on Monday. The attendance
of spectators was large, and the results of the heats as
follow :

FIRST HEAT.

0

DEATH OF AIR. GEORgE COMB

(From the North British Daily Mail of yesterday.)
Mr. George Combe died on Saturday at the hvdropathic
establishment of his friend Dr. Lane, Moer Park, Surrey,
whither he bad repaired about a fortnight ago, more fi r
the pleasure of the society to be found the; e than from any
special necessity otherwise. Mr. C.,mbe was born at Edin-
burgh, October 21, 1788, and wrs the fourteenth child and
sixth son of a family which numbered seventeen in all
Beth his parents were persons of superior intelligence and
integrity, in easy circumstances. After passing through
the usual preparatory studies, Mr. Combe entered upon a
special course of legal training, and in 1812 became a
Writer to the Signet, a profession which he followed for the
next 25 years. When about the age of 30 the speculations
of Gall and Spurzbeim attracted his attention. in 1816 he
became personally intimate with Spurzheim, then on a visit
to Edinburgh. The study of the system which he propounded
resulted in an ardent conviction not only of its abstract tt ut ft-
fulness, but of its deep practical importance. To so great an
extent was he inspired with this conviction that it is no ex-
nggeratim to say the whole of his subsequent life was devoted
to the vindication and propagation of phrenological science,
and the cognate doctrines with which it was in his mind asso-
ciated. Within three years of his meeting with Spurzheim, in
1810, be published his" Essays on Phrenology." This treatise
was subsequently expanded and elaborated in his "System of
Phrenology," a work which has passed through numerous
editions. In 1823 he established the Edinburgh Phrenolo-
gical Journal as an organ through which the leading lights
of the new philosophy might hold communion with the more
inquiring and more erudite of their followers. The establish-
ment of this journal naturally led Mr. Combe into not a few
rather tough controversies. With characteristic zeal, at once
fromthe platform and from the press, be defended his favourite
science against its numerous assailants. The most redoubtable
of the then antagonists of the system of phrenology were
Francis Jeffrey and Sir W. H amilton. And though Mr. Combe
could not lay claitn to the brilliant controversial powers of
Jeffrey, nor the trenchant logic and massive erudition of
llamilton, he at least evinced, in quite as high degree as
either the editor of the Edinburgh Review, or the pro-
fessor of logic and metaphysics, the fitting temper of the
philosopher. In 1828 Mr. Cotnbe published that work by
which he is best known—" The Constitution of Man con-
sidered in relation to External Objects." This work, based
upon the principles of phrenology, has for its leading object
to impress a deeper conviction of the stability of natural
law as regulating the physical universe, and as imperatively
necessary to be studied devoutly, interpreted justly, and
adhered to resolutely in order to ensure the well-being of
mankind. The earlier and more expensive editionvof this
work were not much sold, but a philanthropic English gen-
tlernati, impressed with the great importance of widely die,
seminating the opinions advocated, devoted a liandstime
sum to the production of a People's Edition, which
at once attained an immense popularity, not only
in Britain but in America. It was the sincere
desire of Mr. Combe to avoid as much as possible touching
upon topics which might awaken hostility, but the intimate
relation of not a few of the questions treated in this work
were so intervoven with and seemed to militate against re-
ligious views hitherto most surely believed among us, that it
brought Mr. Combe into bad odour with the religious press.
Assailed by antagonists of every variety of temper in the
religious world, Mr. Combo, nevertheless, continued unwa-
vering in his devotion to the new science—defending it with
vigour against the assau'ts of those who deemed it little
better than covert Atheism, and who stigmatised it as sub-
stituting law for God, Itnd enthroning an iron necessity
where once had dwelt the Father of the Universe. Without
entering now upon any discussion of the merits of the fierce
controversy waged respecting the orthodoxy of the " Con-
stitution of Man," there can, we think, be little doubt that
a prolonged study of one important branch of knowledge
bad led Mr. Combe to give to physical law an importance
which all but veiled the reality, and the at least equal
importance of spiritual agency. A change has, in recent
years, come over the higher thought of Britain, and we
believe that change has not been favourable to the conti-
nued popularity of the philosophy of Mr. Combe in those
extreme and objectionable aspects. The great popularity
which, about the period of the passing of the Reform Bill,
had been given to his writings, and the eclat with which in
wide circles his name had become invested, induced Mr.
Combe, towards the close of 1833, to deliver a course of
lectures on popular education. These lectures, while em-
bodying most of his own peculiar views, were the fruits of
solid studies and enlarged experience, and there can be no
doubt they contributed not a little to give an impulse to
what Mr. Combe had much at heart—the education of the
people. After making the tour of nearly all the more im-
portant cities of Britain in his capacity of lecturer, Mr.
Combe published his views on education in a volume which
obtained not only a wide circulation in Britain and the United
States,but was translated into French, German, and Swedish
The same year of his success as a lecturer he was united
r=a•r'n;c to a daughter of the celebrated Mrs. Siddons
n 1836, Dr. Ritchie, Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in
le University of Edinburgh, having resigned, that important

chair became vacant, and Mr. Combe was induced to offer
hirnEclf as a candidate. The rival candidates were Mr. Isaac

Taylor, author of the " Natural History of Enthusiasm ;"
Mr. Musten, of Rotterdam, and his old antagonist Sir Wil-
liam Hamilton. In a private note, Mr. Combe engaged that,
if elected to the chair, he would deal tenderly with the pre-
judices e,f those who were not quite prepared to accept whole-
sale his system of phrenology. The old ideas were not to be
outraged. The worthy councillor who proposed him in
the metropolitan municipal council was, however, not so
considerate. Fresh from the study of a twopenny chart of
the science, he described the new doctrine as occupying a
most commanding position—as having lived down all oppo-
sition. The day for twitting about bumps, exclaimed the
worthy civic dignitary, has gone by. The claims of Sir Wil-
liam Hamilton were, however, too conspicuous to be any
longer successfully contested. The most eminent European
philosophers had borne the most emphatic testimony to his
merits; and the descendant of the hero of Drumclog was the
successful candidate. Neither the " Physical Theory .of
Another Life" of Mr. Taylor, " Mutual Recognition in
the Next World," by Mr. Musten, of Rotterdam, which
some councillors had read with great delight, nor the
" Constitution of Man," apparently was able on this
occasion to shake• the claims of the author of the
" Philosoeby of the Unconditioned." Se it was that the
Edinburgh University was still continued the preserve of
the " Scottish Philosophy." Shortly subsequent to his
defeat as candidate for the chair of Dr. Ritchie, Mr. Combe
visited the United States of America. After a sojourn
extending over st mcwhere about three years, be returned
to Edinburgh, an 1 there published the results of las tour
in three volumes, entitled " Notes on the United States of
North America during a Phrenological Visit." Tins.work
is, upon the whule, one of the most just and faithful
ever
If:
errka e paid furnished by the
veheseßrirtaisibvitsriati to Germany.
veller.Onhls
estimates
return fr from America
" Notes on the New Reformation in Germany " was the
product of these visits. This work was by no means so
satisfactory as his walk on America. With every wish to
be fair, and with all the calmness of the philosopher, there
was about Mr. Combo a constitutional inaptitude for form-
ing an adequate conception of the purely spiritual fumes
that in certain great crises upheave society. We presume
even his most ardent partisans will acknowledge that his
work on the "Common Schools of Massachusetts,"published
that same year, was a more useful book than " Notes on the
New Reformation." In 1850, Mr. Combe edited the Life
and Correspondence of his eminent brother, Dr. Andrew
Combe. The boyhood and youth of the accomplished physi-
cian to the King of the Belgians had been spent under the
tuition of the phrenologist. Through life they bad ever
been warmly attached. As might have been anticipated in
such circumstances, the memoir in question is a singularly
interesting end affecting tribute to a brother's worth.
About 1851 Mr. Combo published a letter on secular educa-
tion, and shortly afterwards interested himself in the
establishment of a secular school in the metropolis of
Scotland. Subsequently he visited Glasgow upon a kindred
mission. The great object of these, schools is to inculcate
the prudent virtues, and disseminate among the youthhood
of the nation a knowledge of the natural laws. Not satisfied
with the region of the useful in which to illustrate his
peculiar philosophy, in 1854 Mr Combe published a work
entitled " Phrenology applied to Painting and Sculp-
ture." In addition to the extensive list of treatises
we have already mentioned, a legion of tracts and pamph-
lets, which space precludes us from enumerating, were the
product of his pen. Mr. Combo was also a steady and.
highly acceptable contributor to the Scotsman newspaper.
Not until last week was Mr. Combe considered decidedly
ailing. On Thursday and Friday his malady:—an affection
of the chest—left no hope ; and on Saturday morning he
joined the congregation of the dead.