The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-15 00:00:00

TIRE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 15, 1866.

not generally encourage a taste for exces-
sive drink, whereas the adulterated stuff at
present sold at too many public-houses of which
" saccharine matter,water, and salt," are frequently
the most innocent additions, has, as every one
knows, an evil tendency to induce the poor man to
drink more and more, thus being, as Mr. SMEE
justly says, doubly robbed, robbed in character
and robbed in pocket. Such a beginning leads him
naturally enough to satisfy his craving for stimu-
lants at the gin palace, where the fatal cheapness
of the fiery beyerage adds to its dangerous attrac-
tions.

The evils of drunkenness are so great that no
one needs to argue upon the subject, since all
are agreed that it is at once a national curse and a
national disgrace. Sensible of the enormous extent of
the vice and its share in filling our workhouses,
asylums, and prisons, many intelligent and philan-
thropic men have combined to endeavour to stop
the traffic in intoxicating liquors altogether, or at
least to induce their countrymento abandon their use.
But although their efforts may have been par-
tially successful, they can never be more than
partially so, because they overlook or disregard a
natural and universal want. Even in the pure
air and quiet life of the country the necessity of
some refreshing stimulant is felt; how much greater,
then, is the want to the overtaxed energies of the
dweller in cities ? Taking the working classes alone—
for it is against them that the charge of intemperance
is chiefly brought—it is evident that the long and
arduous hours of work which they undergo, the
poor food which they ordinarily subsist upon, their
close and ill-ventilated dwelling-places, and the
anxieties of scanty and often fluctuating means
so much exhaust the system that some restora-
tive is imperatively needed. Such a restorative
is more quickly and cheaply found in good malt
liquor than in anything else, or at least it ought to
be; for, thanks to the dearness and badness of the
retailed beer, the gin-palace now offers the readiest
stimulant. It is manifestly incorrect to deny the
nourishing properties of beer. Mr. SMEE says—
" The difference between bread and beer is in theory
not great. Bread is wheat corn cooked into a
solid substance. Beer is barley corn cooked into a
refreshing liquid." If the natural craving for a re-
freshing drink could be supplied with pure ale at a
reasonable rate, there would, he avers, be a great
temperance reform. He denies that the English
have naturally a love for strong drink, and
shows that neither gin nor whisky were habitually
taken in this country until after the reign of
CHARLES 1., and that even after that no mention
is found of spirit in the official papers. It was not
until 1697, under %VILLIAM 111., that an excise of
6d. per bushel was placed upon malt, which con-
sequently became too dear for the people, " who
were driven to some cheap stimulant, which gin
supplied. Both WILLIAM M. and Queen ANNE
encouraged the extraction of spirits from malt for
the sake of the revenue thereby derived, and in the
reigns of GEORGE I. and 11. gin-thinking became
so prevalent as to be made the subject of special
legislation." The taste for strong drinks has
thus, he considers, been artificially en-
couraged by unwise laws, and certainly,
although temperance societies, with mistaken con-
sistency, urge the surrender of malt liquor as much
as of spirits, there is very little doubt that prac-
tically good cheap ale would be the most potent
antagonist of the poor man's arch-enemy,
gin. Malt liquor suits the national taste, is
adapted to the requirements of the climate and the

wants natural to an energetic people, and increased
by the feverish competition of a highly civilised and
exhausting life, and it is so plentifully supplied by
the country that it seems, asAlr. SMEE says, as if the
ALMIGHTY had beneficently provided at the same

complains, has interfered with the gifts of PROVI-
DENCE. "An infusion of a plant from a distant
land is made cheaper to the poor man than an in-
fusion of a plant grown by the cottage door. The
Englishman takes the Chinese tea, and, perhaps,
before long, the Chinaman will take the British

ale."

Mr. SMEE admits that there is ono strong argu-
ment to be brought against the reduction of the
price of ale, even supposing the direct loss to the
revenue to be atoned for on other grounds; but this
objection is one which we should hope would not by
itself have any influence on the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, or any man who has a
regard for the welfare and morality of
the people. The objection Mr. SMEE briefly
sums up as follows :—" Make good wholesome ale
at 2d. the quart, and who would take spirits ? and
if spirits are less taken the revenue will fall off."
But no enlightened or conscientious politician could
wish to make money out of the vices of the people,
even were it not a most suicidal policy, since what-
ever demoralises the community tends to the dete-
rioration of the race, the decay of its industry, and
its ultimate degradation. There is too a powerful
counter argument, since with the decrease in the con-
sumption of spirits there will, we may reasonably
hope, be a corresponding diminution of poor rates,
and of charges for the maintenance of lunatics and
criminals. If it could be proved that the removal
of the national vice would be in reality a heavy loss
to the revenue, still no sane man would urge that
its retention should be encouraged. Better any
tax, even in its most obnoxious form, than that
terrible hydra which blights so many promising
careers, and carries strife and misery to so many
happy firesides.
The main reasoning of Mr. SMEE'S pamphlet is
summed up in a few phrases. " The ale at 6d.
will, generally speaking, be 2d. Doubtless in some
places it will be 2d., in others 3d., but these prices
will be exceptional, and will not affect the argu-
ment. The question is, Can the brewers afford to
sell the ale to the retailers at 6d. the gallon, clearing
a profit of 25 per cent., and can the retailers sell it
to the consumers at Bd. the gallon, making a profit
of 33 per cent ?" By the examination of what
statistics he arrives at the above conclusions,
and by what means he proposes to com-
pensate for the removal of a profitable im-
post, we shall consider at another opportunity ; but
meanwhile we commend his laborious and well-
argued pamphlet to the consideration of all inte-
rested in a question of great national importance.
He has certainly proved himself the resolute and
formidable antagonist of what, according to his
showing, is a dangerous and oppressive monopoly.

The Capture of the Spanish Gunboat by the
Chilian .

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—Being acquainted with all the officers of the
Chilian corvette, Esmeralda, and particularly with
the families of Captain Williams and Lieutenant
Thomson, Commander, and Ist Lieutenant of the
said ship, I beg to correct your information con-
cerning their nationalities.
Captain Williams is a son of an Englishman, who
served as captain under Lord Cochrane in the Chilian
war of Independence, and Lieutenant Thomson is
son of a wealthy Swede, established many years in
Chili. Both were born in Chili of Chilian ladies.

Englishmen and Americans have plenty honours
of themselves to allow Chilians to have some.
I remain yours,
VERITAS.

N. 8071 enclose my card as customary.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAIS.)

SPAIN.

PIRIS, JAN. 15.

The Moniteur of this morning, in its bulletin,
says :—" No further doubts are entertained in
Madrid that General Prim will le compelled either
to surrender or to enter Portugal within the next
three days."

SYRIA

PARIS, JAN. 15.

Joseph Karam, having failed in his attempt at
revolt in the Lebanon, has withdrawn into a con-
vent. His followers have solbited their pardon
from Daoud Pasha.

AMERICA.

QUEENS7OWN, JAN. 14.

The Royal Mail steamship lava arrived here at
1.30 p.m. to-day. She embarled the mails, passen-
gers, and latest telegrams, and proceeded for New
York at 5.15 p.m. All well.
She was detained, awaiting the mails.

GENERAL PRIM-.

Although the name of Prim is sure to be suffi-
ciently familiar to English readers, it may, perhaps,
be in my power to give some particulars respecting
his life and character which may not be generally

known out of Spain, and which may prove of some
interest at the present moment.
Don Juan trim, as his biographers relate, who is
now lieut.-general in the national army of Spain,
Viscount del Brusch, Count de Reus, Marques de

Los Castillejos, and Grandee of Spain of the First
Class, was born in Reus, a town in Catalonia, near

Tarragona, on Dec. 6, 1814. His father was a
colonel of infantry, grown old in the service, but of

scanty income and limited resources.
Born with a strong inclination for the career in
which he has highly distinguished himself Juan
Prim was at an early period admitted as a cadet,

and had barely entered the army when the civil war
broke out, which lasted from the death of King
Ferdinand VII., in 1833, down to the Peace, or
" transaction," of Bargara in 1839. In this struggle

Prim ranged himself under the Constitutional stan-
dard, and against Don Carlos ; but although we

read that he took service with the rank of a lieute-

nant, I am told that it was not in the regular army,

but in one of the Catalan Free Corps, that he won
his first spurs, and he came to Madrid at the head
of some of those wild and rather lawless bands,

which astonished the more sober Castilians by their
fierceness of look and bearing no less than by the
strangeness of their attire—their red caps and vel-

veteen jackets, their long fowling pieces, and war
cries and songs, which won them at the time the
equivocal appellation of the " Marseillais of Spain."

IL own valour and the fortune of war so befriended

Prim as to win him promotion to a captaincy in his
22d year, and to the rank of colonel three years
later. By this time also his breast was laden with

military decorations.

At the close of the civil war Prim made his first
start in a political career ; he was elected as Deputy
to several successive Parliaments, and made up for

any deficiency in his early education by a course of
private studies, no less than by a constant practice
in the management of public affairs, such, at least,

as may be gained by assiduous participation in the
work of clubs and circles and every variety of po-

litical association.

His services to the State, or rather to the various
parties which successively gained the upper hand
(for although Prim was a professed Progresista and
devoted to the cause of Espartero, it would be idle
to look to him for anything like political consistency)
were of such importance that before 1843—that is,
by the time that Espartero was driven an exile to
England--he was made Brigadier, then Mariscal de
Campo (Major-General), and created Viscount del
Brusch and Count de Reus.

In 1844 he is said to have been seriously impli-
cated in a conspiracy against Narvaez, then at the
head of the Government, the upshot of which was an
attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister as he was
driving to the opera one evening, by firing at his
carriage in the Calle de Ballesta. It is well known
that Narvacz himself and the present Minister of
State, Bermudez de Castro, who sat in the front seat
with him, escaped with their lives. Not so Narvaez's
aide-de-camp, Rasetti, who was in the back seat,
and was shot dead on the spot. Prim was tried with
others, convicted of participation in the murder and
condemned to death ; but Narvacz, either out of a
very extreme magnanimity or possibly from some
intimate conviction of Prim's innocence, induced the
Queen to cancel the sentence. He, however, deemed
it expedient to remove Prim by an appointment to
the office of Captain-General and Governor of Porto
Rico, sending him to his new _destination before the
close of that same year 1844.
Prim was in command at Porto Rico, when a
negro insurrection broke out in the Danish island
of Santa Cruz. Moved by a feeling of natural sym-
pathy at the peril of the Government of a friendly
nation, Prim went to the rescue of the Danes, and
played so brilliant a part in the subjugation of the
rebels that he was rewarded by the King of Den-
mark with the Order of the Dannebrog. This bril-
liant conduct, however, was not altogether satisfac-
tory to the Colonial Miuiatcr at home, I,laming
him for his rashness in removing the Spanish gar-
rison from Porto Rico, and thereby exposing that
valuable possession of the Crown to the attacks of
the negroes who were as ready for a revolt as their
brethren in the Danish colony, recalled him to his
country, and there tried him for dereliction of
duty. No Spaniard of any spirit, however, and
with any party or personal connexions, need long
remain under a cloud in those days. Prim weathered
this second storm, and knew how to render his ser-
vices acceptable to the various Cabinets which fol-
lowed one another with such rapidity, that one of
them was called the Lightning Ministry, until he
once more became involved in a conspiracy against
Bravo Murillo, who banished him, together with
General Ortega. He came back after a short ab-
sence, however, and in 1854, thanks especially to
the friendly offices of Queen Christina, he was sent
as Spanish Military Commissioner to the camp of
the Allies, during the Crimean war. He gained
many friends among the officers of the Anglo-
French army, and was especially acceptable to the
Commander-in-Chief of the Turkish forces, who
wrote him a most flatteriug letter, made him mag-
nificent presents, and obtained for him from the
Sultan the decoration of Medjidie and a sabre of
honour. _ _

On his return from the East he passed through
Paris, where, in 1856, he married a Mexican lady,
Senora Echevarria, who brought him a dowry of
$600,000, with expectations of no less a fortune
from her mother, and $1,000,000 from each of her
two uncles. The marriage was celebrated under
the auspices of Queen Christina, who was present
at the wedding, and acted as " Madrina" to the
bride. On the 31st of January of the same year,
1856, Prim was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-
General ; in 1858 he was raised to the Senate. On
his admission to this House he distinguished him-
self by a very remarkable speech on the Mexican
question during the debate on the address to the
Crown.

The war of Morocco broke out soon afterwards,
and Prim attained a high reputation by a variety of
exploits which were crowned by the battle of Cas-
tillejos, near Melilla, where, seeing the regiment of
Cordova broken and turned to flight, he throw him-
self on the path of the fugitives, restored their
courage by his exhortations and example, rallied
them, and preceding them with their colours in his
hand, led them with such impetuosity against the
enemy as by that single onset to secure the victory
for the Spanish arms. This heroic deed was re-
warded with the title of Marques de los Castillejos,
and the rank of Grandee of Spain of the First Class.
In 1861 the joint expedition to Mexico of Eng-
land, France, and Spain was projected, and Prim
was sent out in command of the Spanish Contin-
gent, being charged at the same time with the
duties of a Minister Plenipotentiary. How Prim
proceeded to Mexico with the French and English
contingents, and came back with the latter, leaving
to the former alone the task of a complete subjuga-
tion of Mexico and the instalment of an Austrian
dynasty there, are matters of well-known contem-
porary history. Prim's conduct at this juncture,
however severely censured by some of his country-
men, received the fullest sanction of the Cortes.
Under the Ministry presided over by Senor Mon,
Prim was again implicated in some underhand
manoeuvre which caused him to be banished or
" confined" to Oviedo. Ile had with him in his
disgrace the cavalry General Contreras, and others
well known for their attachment to his person
in prosperity as well as in adversity. Ile was
recalled by Narvaez during his last Administration,
and is nevertheless said to have joined O'Don-
nell in the efforts made by the latter to
oust his rival by fair means or foul. Soon after
O'Donnell's accession to power, however, Prim
seemed to recall to memory his former political pre-
dilections; he leagued himself with Espartero,
threw himself with all his influence into the interests
of the Progresistas ; accepted the presidency of
many of their committees, and although he was op-
posed to the policy of Retraimiento, and voted
against it with Madon, Figuerola, and other leaders
of the party, thinking there would have been more
honour and abetter chance of success in a manly,

straightforward struggle, still he declared himself
bound by the suffrage of the majority, and not only
did he take no part in the late general election, but

allowed his seat in the Senate to remain vacant.

It was as late as the 30th of last December, I am
told, that O'Donnell finding an arrear of $40,000
in Prim's accounts of the Mexican expedition, can-
celled the debt, thereby relieving his junior of all
unpleasant responsibility. It was on the Ist of this
month of January that Prim wrote a letter to the
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bermudez de Castro,

soliciting that statesman's patronage in behalf of
one of his protege's, and it was on the 2d, as the
world knows, that he left Madrid on his " shooting
excursion," and placed himself at the head of the
mutinous cavalry regiments at Aranjuez.
General Prim declares himself bound to the pro.
gramme of the Central Progresista Committee of
November last, a programme which, although
grounded on the principles of universal suffrage,
and of all possible democratic liberties, evinces no
hostility either to the throne or to the present
dynasty. In his proclamation he utters no cry ex-
cept in favour of Espartero and the Constituent
Cortes. But the name of Espartero alone is suffi-
cient to separate Prim's cause from that of those
Exaltados who would proclaim either a Republic or,
at least, the vacancy of the throne in favour of
another reigning family, and the unity of the
Peninsula under a single Crown. Prim is also under
deep obligation both to the Queen Mother and the
reigning Queen, the first of whom honoured with
her presence his wedding in Paris. The latter was
his son's godmother at El Pardo. Prim has besides
at all times received the highest favours at the hands
of the Bourbon family, and has invariably evinced
the most enthusiastic devotion to Queen Isabella.
I have seen General Prim lately, and had suffi-
ciently long interviews with him. He is a man con-
siderably below the middle size, with a small and
slender but apparently wiry and extremely active
frame, a bright, lively, intelligent countenance, with
a very bad complexion, the visible result of that liver
complaint under which he is well known to labour.
His eyes are large and expressive ; his features
tolerably regular, with no other marked peculiarity
than the high cheek bones. His manners are cour-
teous and winning ; he speaks fluently, and expresses
himself forcibly, and not inelegantly, both in his
native language and in French. He showed me an
English paper on the table before him, and told me
the written language was easy to him, though he
made no attempt to speak it. Whenever I went to
the General's house in Calle de Alcala, I found the
antechamber, and even his own cabinet, crowded
with gentlemen, who had apparently no other busi-
ness than that of dancing attendance upon the great
man. In the presence of these Prim addressed me in
French, when tete-a-tete he preferred his own idiom.
Notwithstanding his wife's considerable wealth,
Prim was lately said to have exceeded his means
and to be deeply in debt. He is a man of
extravagant habits, passionately addicted to the
pleasures of the chase, for the gratification of
which he has bought very extensive grounds, has
built a large house, and keeps up a most extensive
establishment. In pursuit of these pleasures, or
perhaps under pretext of them, he has made his
premises and his hunting-grounds the rendezvous
of characters of every description, townsmen from
Madrid, no less than Catalans, who are as ready to
lend him a hand at a battue as at a political
echaffourle, such as ho is now engaged in. His
country house at Villarubia is said to have hiding
places where hundreds of bandits could be secreted,
and away in the woods and deep in the gorges of
the Toledo mountains he has built huts, hunting-
boxes, and all kinds of sheds as available for the
purposes of war as for the reqUirements of the chase.
Here, in the centre of a whole region devoted and
familiar to him, he has chosen the theatre of his
revolutionary exploits. Here, as well as in many
parts of Catalonia, he is said to have stores of arms
and ammunition. Here, or wherever else he may
go, it is supposed that followers will not fail to flock
to him.

A man of great restlessness of ambition and of
corresponding versatility of mind, General Prim has
always been unscrupulous as to the means by which
his aim could be attainea. Not, a little Qlipperr as
to pcaitical principles, and too free in inoney matters,
he is supposed to have some of the vices that go as
far towards making a Catiline as a Caesar. Whether
his present enterprise is more in the style of the
latter or of the former, and whether it will lead to
the fate of the one or of the other, the lapse of a
few days will show us.—Tunes.