The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-11 00:00:00

In accordance with the principles of Free Trade,
as well as the result of many years' experience, the
House of Commons yesterday rejected Mr Hardy 's
bill for a return to a stricter monopoly in the sale
of spirits and beer. Such a fate might have been
expected from the first for a measure which 109
not only opposed to the spirit of all recent legisla-
tion, but was in direct contradiction to the Report
of the Committee which sat during nearly the whale
sessions of 1853 and 1851. Certainly the public
sobriety and morality ought to be well assured in
return for such a commercial anomaly as the pre"
sent licensing system—a system which the bill of
Mr. Hardy proposed to make still more severe and
onerous. If temperance societies confessed that the
licensing of puolic•houses acted as a kind of Maillie
Law, and that wherever the magistrates were rigl"
and the brewers omnipotent there drunkenness was
rare, and health, wealth, and contentment reigned
if the clergy and the Poor Law authorities declared
that a restriction on the sale of liquids elevate"
pubic morality and prevented desti,ution, then We
might have some encouragement to persist in a
course by which great advantages were attained to
return for obvious sacrifices of theory. But Nru",
has a word to say in favour of the present practice
Who can discover any social benefit to redeem tll,_e
economical heresy ? The principle on which the
license system is based is simply this—that the
authorities shill take due care for the regulation e'
houses of entertainment. Places where men meet t,°
drink are apt to be scenes of rioting and profliga?'
the resort of the gambler and the thief. The magi*.
trates of a district should, then, take care that n°
permission is granted to sell strong drink excePt t°
a man for whose character there is some guarantee;
On this principle, sound enough in itself, has been
built up a fataic of inconvenience and injustice., h
The spirit of interference with social habits win
distinguished legation in past times, which Pr(/'
dueeesumptuary laws and laws for the minute re'
gulation of trade, has thoroughly penetrated 0011„
part of the licensing system. The magistracy Pr.";
tend to take care of the public sobriety, to lola f
the public wants, to determine what number 0.
houses are necessary to a certain population, an,tliii°o
what manner the business of a pthe
limitation should,,,"o
carried on. -The consequence has been, not '
limitation in number of the publichouses, nor ,o
improvement of such as exist, but the establish..
.
ment of a monopoly in the hands of a few brag'
of colossal wealth. The license's have been Oro
fessedly granted on no fixed principle. In Set%
parts every tenth house is a ginshop ; in others
or three streets are confined to one dirty and 1,4
conducted establishment. It is evident that OA
object of a license is to secure a landlord of g..,07
character, but under the present system the no
strates have thought more of the house than 'i
master. Instead of making the license a pure fo
personal affair, they have practically granted A do
certain houses, which retain it under any ells
of proprietors or lessees. Thus, while a m's
of the best character and the most ample mean- e 0
refused permission to open a new house, the old oact,
are transferred from respectable to disreputable laeso
lords, from solvent dealers to bankrupts, almost a of
matter of course. The fittest person for the supPlYiiii
a district may be refused leave totrade because he
not take one of the established houses from sonlet,o,
brewer on the latter's own terms, while blacloon
prizefighters, and worse find no difficulty in getv:er,
their license, though without means or charaet of
because the place they have taken is ou the liLre,
those already liceved. The results might be of
seen. The houses, and consequently the sa,lethe
beer and spirits have become a monopoly, ml%O
longest purse has gained most by the a`_",of
The publicans are confessedly to a great fi3:bel
the mere agents of the brewers, from whom too
are obliged to purchase their liquor, and Ito,
influence may unmake, as it has made tu
The sway of one or two great firms is said °Ty
tend over large districts of the metropnlig•
~of
Bedford estate or the Grosvenor estate is nose
greater wonder than the property of some of tler
colossal establishments in licensed places of ell or
tainment. All the evils of monopoly are tint:oo.
curred without any of the benefits of regula'aas
Gin flavoured with turpentine and porter Ater
frothy with cocculus Indices are evils not colli•the
balanced by any necessary reepectability, ja.t,
landlords who vend them. The great marrit'oble
these we will allow to be honest and resPec
sfld
men, but this is not the result of the licensinkse9
would equally be the case if there were no been
at all.
Now, these facts being known and pretty gtoie°l
rally acknowledged, it would have been' a
_jog
thing at any time to bring in a bill for throwtbs
the trade more completely into the power of 10
brewers, and their allies, the magistrates. 4r,
in the present case the confidence shown by Pidr,
Hardy is pre-eminently surprising, since, as joie
W. Brown told the house, a committee, after oti
tine two sessions and asking 15,000 questions no.
the subject, has come to conclusions exactly If,
site to those which the bill embodied. The not
mitte of 1854 has declared that there existauotei
plcions that "licenses are withheld and -gra oe3,
capriciously ; that the influence of builderater9
brewers is more potent than either the chase,
the applicant or the requirements of the lart '
and, without endorsing these accusations,the
sidered them sufficiently important to, justl'4,,,jel
abolition of the present system. Having to she'
the impossibility of magistrates knowing tit'`triett
meter of the applicants or the wants of the Tsotigel
the Committtee was in favour of granting a °cool'
revocable foemisconduct, to every man Wh° 000
procure sureties for good behaviour: BY
means the monopoly, the jobbing, the favor
and the injustice of the present practice 101 l
once be bro to an end.
Some such plan must, we think, soon teof'o;
cepted by the Legislature. There can be nclrehe at
why the trade in beer and spirits should not for'
free as any other. A sum may be charge' 001'
license greater in the case of spirits than , ills
liquor ; that is simply a tax for the benefit ,ecipYi
revenue, and makes no difference in the Vine 9d;
But, as long as we allow that liquor should b righ"
at all, we must allow that every man has a pad
to sell it. The freer the trade becomes tile
respectable will be the class of men who eraL"'ve
it, and more will be gained by delivering"tviet
lie f,om millionaire brewers and depenuevrsisiol
tailors than by the strictest system of suPeraise'
i
that the skill of a Bench of Justices ever ' roe °I
The present state of things certainly has 'l,gbicli
sail=
recommend it. If ever there was a system
failed completely, it is that which now PI V'
Much drunkenness among the people, Ealic
liquor at the public-houses, and many bankreP
among the landlords, are its chief features.' tba
then, it neither insures wholesomeness n
ct
drink, temperance in the drinkers, nor resPeede
bility in the dealers, it is time it were auPersooo
by some regulation more reasonable and
promising of success.—Times.

THE BANK OF PRANCE.
~.
The letters from Paris yesterday assert wit", s'olo,
confidence that the Bank of France will forAtv
reduce their rate of interest, which has stood
per cent. since the 26th of September last' 0001
monthly return to be published on Friday is re,'
upon to show that the step has not been Poe,
O
turely entertained. Looking, however, to e";
sient nature of each recovery in the stock of Sfi#,
during the past two years, togethcr with tilf,
that it was lately, after a short attempt 7.,,,
dangerous to leave it to its natural course, be
pression is unavoidable that if a relaxation b` t,g
decided upon the hope of producing a feeit
ease at the approaching elections must hays
the primary motive. f Jihr
The probability of a reduction in the rate °,l ttet
count by the Bank of France has suggest"
question whether, in consequence of the h
arrivals of bullion, a similar course may not 13,,,r0 ti
5 0
cipated on this side. The latest weekly re w-cP '0
however, do not warrant the expectation. apt%
not been for the further unfavourable movers"o:
the Chinese exchanges reported by the last °Dee.;
reduction to 6 per cent. would certainly have,"
already witnessed ; but, as out of the recent,' 01:4
arrivals of 2,000,000/. only about 270,000'• too
found its way to the Bank, and some time r°ll',,,f4i
elapse before further large receipts take P',;(1t1,,,
supply the constant demand, it seems unlike'4,,eov;o
any hasty change will be announced. At all e 4.043 ;0
a short period will most probably be sid
elapse to test the result of the experiment 9,l'f
be contemplated by the Bank of France. 6,°
lowering of the rate of that establishmentt°coei;
5/1 per cent. may produce an effect upon tliu :00
nental exchanges, such as to enable a redtriot't tit
6 per cent, to be made in London, vritoll
prospect of its leading to any extra presstire,
present rate of 6) per cent. is about Pg ,00
ocil?„f
higher than that at any of the other Iflrge?
European cities. At Paris the existing
the Bank is 6percent., but transactions
in the open market at about 54, At 100.00 lit
although the rate after a temporary dech
again advanced, it is still not higher than 510,'
Berlin, Vienna, and Frankfort it is 5. At
dam it is 4, and at Brussels 31. 'o°
aditi
MADAM TDSSAIJD'S EXHIBITION.—The latest a of A
to this popular exhibitiun are three allegorical vaiectrot
representing Britannia, Hibernia, and Caledonia! l e
on pedestals, and intended to add to the pictori floye
fe,e
of the group containing her Maje-ty and youthful of tP!c,
su
resentrroundday. ed by many of the distinguished
These figures have been manufaa73 00
p ;
replace similar ones of long standing', and are nnic
elegant and life-like in appearance and constructio_ti
t',eir predecessors.