The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-18 00:00:00

toiRT IN BRITAIN AND FRANCE.

We touched upon this subject in our paper of
Saturday, 16th June, and we recur to it because
it presents us with some curious facts, which are
but imperfectly known. There is unquestion-
ably a connexion between the food on which a
nation subsists, and its temperament and charac-
ter, though the science of dietetics is not yet suf-
ficiently advanced to enable us.to trace distinctly
the action of the one upon the other. What is
called the influence of climate on the human spe-
cies, may be resolved, we suspect, chiefly into the
effects of diet, which necessarily varies with the
geographical position of each country. Thus,
an cold climates the stomach prefers animal food,
and. calls for, or, at least, comes more readily to
relish the stimulus of ardent spirits ; while in re-
Ei.brlS near the sun, men subsist chiefly on bread
end fruits, and prefer the mild produce of the grape
to strong brewed and distilled liquors. The French
are more sober than the Germans, because the
wanner temperature of their country . enables
them to substitute wine for the ale and rye-
brandy. of their neighbours. The Spaniards
again are more sober than the French, for reasons
not so obvious ; but which still resolve them-
selves into the effects of climate.—ln the hot
soil of the Peninsula, the orange, citron, and
a multitude of other juicy fruits, come to perfec-
tion, which do not succeed in France ; . and the
delicious cooling drinks which these afford indis-
pose the stomach for spirituous stimuli, and
render even wine less necessary. Madame de
Steel attributes the i stern. tempers and gloomy
mythology of the Northern nations, to the per-
petual fogs and rigorous winters of their climate.
co some extent she may be right ; but we ques-
tion if the peculiarities she speaks of, may not
he considered as partly the effect of that depres-
sion of the animal spirits which fills up so large a
waortion of the lives of those who are constantly ad-
dicted to the use of violent stimuli. The cha-
racteristic of the Southern nations of Europe is
not so much positive gaiety, as an equable flow
of the animal spirits. They are less the slaves
of care than the people of the North, and more
disposed to snatch tile frivolous and fleeting plea-
sures which the hour presents. As they do not
seek the exaltation which intemperance gives,
they are strangers to the mental depression which
follows it. The Frenchman is habitually ready
to enter into a hundred small schemes of amuse-
ment, which the Englishman affects to despise,
'.chile he secretly envies the elasticity of spirit
that gives them their zest. The latter (we in-
clude the Scotsman too), proud and anxious,
never lays aside his phlegm till deep drinking has
made him boisterous and quarrelsome.
There are four articles which have produced
an extraordinary change in the mode of living of
the European nations in recent times—tea, coffee,
sugar, and tobacco. The introduction of these
into common use, is one of the most singular
achievements •of modern commerce. Three 1
centuries ago, who would have believed that the
produce of China and the West Indies would
now form the daily food of our menial servants
and labourers ! The change has promoted habits
of temperance, and has therefore benefitted
morals. Without inquiring into its effects on the
human frame otherwise, we may safely say that
the consumption of these four articles in the dif-
ferent countries of Europe spreads with the in-
crease of wealth, and is therefore to some extent
a criterion of the state of civilization. Tobacco,
though it stands on a different footing frtim the
others, is yet. of importance in this respect, that
it may be considered as the peculiar luxury of
the poor, and so far as its use is not restricted by
excessive taxation its consumption is an index
of their condition.

The two followiug`tables, which we have com-
piled from authentic documents, throw light on
the habits of the two most distinguished nations
of Europe. They exhibit not the quantity of
each article imported or manufactured, but the
quantity consumed. For Britain, this is obtained
with great accuracy from Parliamentary. Papers;
with regard to every article except beer, as to
which some uncertainty arises from the unascer-
tained amount of private brewing. The state-
ments respecting sugar, tea, coffee, and tobacco,
under the head France, are derived from official
tablee in the French .Annuaire (a very useful
work, corresponding exactly to our Annual
Register) for 1823 and 1821 ; and those re-
specting, wine, Spirits, and beer, from other
sources mentioned below. The quantities are
all expressed in English •weight and measure.
Quantities of sugar, tea, icc. consumed in
Britain and France :

Britain. France.
Sugar (1824) ....... lss. -448,000,000 128,000,000
Tea (average) do. £2,750,000 195,000
Coffee (1824) do. 8,100,000 20,100,000
Tobacco (do.) do. 16,900,000 7,200,000
Wine (do.)
Spirits (1826) : ..
Foreign, 3,960,000 I do. 28,020,000 5,770,000
Home, 21,060,000
Beer (1826) Ale Galls. 420,000,000 155,000,000
But in order to came to correct conclusion
we must always take into account the numerical
amount of the population of the two countries.
In the following Table we have therefore
calculated what the consumption is for one
million of inhabitants in each :

For one Million

Of Englishmen.
lbs. 22,400,000
do. 1,137,000

Sugar
Tea

Of Frenchmen.
-4,270,000
6,500

Coffee do. 405,000 670,000
Tobacco do. 845,000 273,000
Wine Old Gals. 310,000 23,300,000

Spirits

1,400,000

Beer Old Galls. 21,000,000

190,000

5,170,000_

As we possess the French tables only for
1823 and 1824, we have made use of English
tables for those years, as far as we had them ;
but the two last articles under the head English
are for 1826.

The quantity of tea, sugar, coffee, and tobacco
consumed in France, was_obtained by deducting
the quantify of exported from that, imported.
The quantity of wine is taken from Chaptars
work (1819), where it is expressly stated to-be
deduced from official returns prepared with
much care by the local administrations. In our
last number, we assumed that two-thirds' of the
quantity might be drunk as beer; but Chaptal
gives a table of the value of each species, from
which we find that the following would be a more
appropriate estimate. The value alluded to, as
we understand, is the cost at the vineyard, with-
out the expence of carriage or casks

Wine Gallons.
430,000,000, value from 3t. to 6d. per gallon, may be
considered as corresponding in use to our
small beer.
21 '6,000,000, value from Sd. to I6d. per gallon, cor
respondinry in use to oar porter.
33,000,000, value frinZild. to 6s. 6d. per gallon, and
used as wine in this country.
The wines of the second class would supply
an agreeable substitute for fine ale, to those
whose stomachs are too weak to digest that
nourishing, but heavy beverage.
The spirits referred to in the statement, as
used in France, are brandy, 'and 'the quantity is
obtained by estimating the amount consumed in

the whole kingdom to he in the same proportion
to the population as it is in Paris, according to
the table of Count Chabrol. Besides what is
consumed at home, France exports brandy to the
value of a million sterling per afinmn, gin is used
also, but as we do not find it among the imports,
the quantity must be inconsiderable.
The beer consumed in France is estimated in.

the same way as the Mine. Its average value,
according to Chaptal, is about 17 francs per
hectolitre, or 64-,d. per gallon. The quantity of
beer consumed in the British Isles is found in
this manner :—ln the year ending sth July last,
8,692,000 barrels of beer (including ale and
porter) paid duty, and were produced from
23,000,000 bushels of malt. The distillers con-
sumed 3,900,000 bushels; and since 35,200,000
bushels of malt were manufactured in all, there
remain 8,000,000 bushels for private brewing,
which might produce about 2,900,000 barrels.
The whole produce of beer would thus be about
11,600,000 barrels, or 420,000,000 gallons.--
Scotsman.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

FRENCH PAPERS.

(From the Gazette de France dated Monday, July 16.)
PARIS, JULY 15.—A letter from Toulon, of the
Bth July, says :
The Volcaqabane, commanded by M. de Laplace,
has just arrived from Bora, which it left on the 20th
June ; it has on board twenty-eight French passen-
gers, men and women, among whom is the family of
the French Consul at Bona. It joined on its way,
off Leghorn, the Etincelle, which sailed from Bona
two days before, it having under its convoy 142
boats that were employed in the coral fishery.
Sixty communes of the arrondissement of Jouzac,
Department of the Lower Carente, were devastated
in the night of the 2d, by a storm of hail, of such
size as never before was seen ; the hail-stones were
most of them as large as a hen's egg. The vine-
yards and the corn, which promised the finest crops,
are wholly destroyed. Of these sixty communes,
there are forty which have nothing, absolutely
nothing, left to maintain their wretched inhabitants;
their despair is extreme. The Sub-Prefect of
Jouzac, immediately solicited the promptest relief
for these unfortunate people, both of the Royal
Family and the Government.
Count Robert Macarthy, Major-General, formerly
Aid-de-Camp to his Royal Highness the Prince de
Conde, &c. &c. died, on the 11th of July, at Lyons,
after having received, with great edification, all the
succour of religion. M. Macartby had been detained
thirteen days in that city by the illness which has
proved fatal to hini.
[The Gazette translates, from the English Papers,
the Treaty concluded between France, England, and
Russia, for the pacification of Greece, and gives the
following note to the second Article:—
" This passage in English is not clear ; we do not
know if it means that the Porte will have the right
of veto, or if it will exercise an influence in the
elections in another manner. The Globe and
Traveller understands it as stipulating that the Porte
will have the right of veto."]
(From the Quoiidienne. )
PARIS, JULY 14.—A letter from Lisbon, which
arrived yesterday at Paris, announces a new change
that has just taken place in the Portuguese Cabinet.
M. de Palrriella will not receive the Portefeuille for
Foreign Affairs—it is confided to M. de Villa-Real.
This last choice proves that the new arrangement
of the Ministry has been made in a very different
spirit from that which presided over the last.
Letters from the frontiers of Portugal say that
the Guerillas are multiplying in the Northern Pro-
vinces of the kingdom. Between Mirandella and
Marca, there exists a band of 400 men, and one still
more numerous at Marao ; another Guerilla band near
the bridge of Chave%' lately set at liberty 200 re-
cruits, who were marching on the depot established
at Peniche ; fifty recruits were in a similar manner
set at liberty lately, near the fortress of Montfort, by
the common peasantry. In general, adds our Cor-
respondent, the Constitutional Government can raise
no recruits in the Northern Provinces ; the young
people seek refuge in the mountains in the neigh-
bourhood of their habitations, or in distant villages,
where they conceal themselves; many of them emigrate.

AMERICAN PAPERS.
(From the National Journal.)

"The British sloop of war Primrose arrived at
New York on Monday morning, having left Vera
Cruz on the Bth ult. She touched at Havannah,
and has on board one million and a half of dollars;
partly for New York, and partly for England. Mr.
Ward, the British Minister at Mexico, and a
Mexican Minister, are on board of her, on their
passage for England.
" The United States' ship Cyane was at Havan-
nab when the Primrose sailed. The John Adams
sailed three days before for Pensacola. The Spanish
squadron, consisting of four frigates, sailed the same
day on a cruise. On the passage from Vera Cruz
to Havannah, the Primrose left, off Tampico Bar,
the United States' schooner Shark . On the 7th
May, while the surgeon of the Shark, together with
a midshipman and a boat's crew, were crossing the
bar, the boat swamped and capsized. All hands
perished excepting the doctor.
(From the National Gazette.)
" We have files of different papers of Vera Cruz
to the Bth ult. inclusive; and of the Mexican capital
to the 29th of April. We/ annex a translation of
the latest offiCial document, which we find in the
Mexican Papers, concerning the affairs of Guate-
mala :

" FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF THE CENTRE OF

AMERICA.

" Department of the State and Foreign Relations.--.
Palace of the Government of the Federation, at Guate-
mala, March 25.
To Citizen Jose Maria del Barrio, Envoy Ex-
traordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the
Republic of the Centre of America, near the Go-
vernment of Mexico. .

" The documents which I have the honour to
send, will give you an idea of the recent occurrences
in this Republic.
" About the middle of the present month, a con-
siderable number of troops of the State of Salvador
invaded, without any cause or previously-assigned
motive, the territory of Guatemala, and marched
rapidly towards this city, without being restrained
by the respect due to the Supreme Government, nor
by the moderation which ought to be observed to-
wards innocent and pacific people, nor yet even pre-
pared for defence.
The President of the Republic gave up then
the exercise of the supreme executive power, and
assumed in person the command of the army; and
the inhabitants of Guatemala took up arms to de-
fend the city.
"' It was the intention of the troops of Salvador
to occupy it the 22d of the present month ; but they
were repulsed ; and on the morning of the 23d a
decisive action took place, which resulted in the
complete overthrow of the aggressors. The Pre-
' sident pursued, with the soldiers under his command,
the dispersed remnants of the enemy; and it is pro-
bable that, within a short space of time, he will at-
tain the important object he has in view, of securing
the tranquillity and constitutional order of the Re-
public, and of re-establishing, in the flee exercise of
their functions, the representative bodies of the
nation and states, which had been dissolved by the
factions.
" I have the honour to present you this intelli-

gence, in order that you may endeavour to make
known these events, which give reason to hope for
a speedy consolidation of order.
'With testimonies of respect, I sign myself your
most obedient servant,

VY
JUAN FRANCISCO DE SOSA.'
" FROM COLODIBIA•—We have letters and verbal
advices from Carthagena to the 12th of May. The
folloiving is an'extract from a letter of that date :
" It gives us great pleasure to state, that there

is every prospect of an immediate -restoration to
tranquillity. The British Minister, Mr. Cockburn,
and President Bolivar, are coming down here in the
British frigate Aurora, and will proceed immediately
to Bogota. Bolivar will, it is ,understood, resume
his station as President of the Republic, and has
given up all his views about the Bolivian Constitu-
tion, which we are very happy to hear.'

" Great preparations were making at Carthagena
:o receive Bolivar.

" The steam schooner Amazon was to sail next
day for New York„to touch at Havannah.—Gazette.
" NATCHITOCHES, MAY I.—By a gentleman just
arrived from Nacogdoches, we have been informed
that the Baron de Bastrop, a distinguished member
of the Convention now in session at Satillo, for the
purpose of framing a constitution for the State of
Coahuela and Texes, died on the 4th of February
last. By the death of this gentleman, the Republic
of Mexico has lost one of its best advocates and sup-
porters of its Republican form of Government, and
the State Convention an invaluable member.

" We likewise understand, from a source which
cannot be questioned, that 3,000 Mexican troops,
under the command of General Rencon, are on their
march from the interior of Austin's Colony and
Nacogdoches : but it is said Col. Ahumada left
Nacogdoches some days since to meet them and
advise their return, with the exception of 500 infantry
and 100 cavalry, which, in addition to the present
forces, is thought by the officers at Nacogdoches to
be sufficient to protect the frontier. It is said a post
is to be established near Pecan Point, on Red River.
" Rumour says General Rencon is appointed com-
missioner on the part of the Mexican Government,
to meet one which is to be sent on the part of our
Government, to establish the boundary line.