The Sun.
London, England, 1818-01-27 00:00:00

they could be alloWed to share the prof's of the
Brewers, or they would be disposed to lenr4 it to
minor Brewers, but there could be no advantage in
doing so. Supposing that men were now to lay out
their capital in a brewery, how were the public
to get their beer / Retailers of the article were
necessary, and where were they to he found ?
Al! the shops for retailing beer were in the bands
of the present Brewers—(Hear !)—or they were
at least under their influence. About 14 years
back, when the Brewers discovered a greater
spirit of rapacity than now, their conduct drew
down upon them the utmost execration. They
raised the price of the article from sd. to 0(1.—
The circumstance made much noise at the time,
and an attempt was made, in consequence, to es-
tablish several new Breweries, upon the principle
of competition ; the effect was to reduce the price
from (d. to sd. The Golden-lane Brewery then
went on for some time, to the advantage of the
pub-
; but the difficulty the proprietors found was, to
procure persons to sell their beer. They applied
for licenses, but in vain. Though they had been
the cause of reducinc: the price, thong!) they had
compelled the Brewers to make it of ft better quality,
still they never were permitted to open a house.
It was true, that they bought three houses ; but
in a very short time they lost the licences of
two. The reason alledged by the publicans for
not dealing with the Golden-lane Establishment
was, that the Proprietors could not protect thi,m,
and therefore they must deal only with Brewers
who had the power of defending theM. The
Speaker then read a statement he had prepared
on the subject, in which, atter adverting to the
complaints often made by Brewers, of the little
profit resulting from their trade, he says, at cer-
tain times when the market has run high, they
(in their humane consideration for the condition
of the poor) forbore to arise the price of beer, as
they might justifiably have done; they made
no profit ; they even suffered loss ; anti that their
trade at those times was not worth following : but
when they did determine on the step, at all times so
reluctantly taken by them,of raising the price, they
would not themselves fix a losing price—for a loss
of a shilling or two per barrel, continued for years
upon their great returns, would be ruinous.—Re-
ferring to the prices per barrel, just quoted, and
which are seen to be, in one case, a little under
the market price, of the nominal quantity of the
nominal material, and, in other cases, a little
above it, we may come to an inference, that the
market price of the nominal quantities, and of the
duty, is sufficient for the selling price of the ma-
nufactured article, as it has been made of late
years. Let them have 3s. and they will. then have
more than they had in several years, viz. in 1799,
in 1800, in 1810, in 1812, and in 1813. It
will then follow, that the surplus difference
beyond such 3s. will be an extra profit to the
Brewer, stmless indeed be has proportionably
added to the strength of his beer, but the surplus
difference of the selling price of the beer over that
of the material has been in some years immense,
18s. and 20s. and upwards, and yet, beer gene-
rally speaking, for the last fifteen or twenty years,
hat run on in a vapid stream, without any mate-
rial variation. The excess of surplus then has
been an excess of profit to the Brewer, and when
we consider the immense returns in this trade,
that 100,000 barrels in a year is by no means equal
to the quantity brewed by the principal houses—
that in such a trade an advance of only five
shillings a barrel is equal to 25,0001. and that
the advance in some years has been as much be-
yond what according to their own sheering and
prices of their own fixing is a sufficient profit, we
may readily account for the princely fortunes
which have been made in this trade in a short
time, and the justice of the complaints of the la-
bourin„,,, classes, at whose expellee such fortunes
are made. After a long review of the prices of
beer for the last 20 years, he contended that t the
public had been continually injured by the Brewers,
but he did not mean any pet sonal disrespect, for
he knew many of them were in private life most
amiable individuals. It was the system he
reprobated, by which Magistrates assumed the
privilege of saying who should 'or,vilio should
not be allowed to sell beer. In the reign of Ed-
ward the Sixth, an Act bad passed against
Brewers combining to raise their 'beer, every
such offence being punishable with the pillory,
the loss of an ear, and perpetual infamy. Things
were altered now, however, for during the last
30 years, there being a vast increase of new
houses in the metropolis, the Brewers were able
to get possession of almost all the houses ; and
then the munoply began to be completed ; so that
now the whole trade of brewing was in the hands
of eleven great Brewers. By perseverance the
public would, however, recover their rights,
especially by the help of the Free Press, which
we happily now enjoyed. fie concluded by mov-
ing a serious of Resolutions.

Mr. TH.Locit seconded the Resolutions. The
only security the country could haVe fUr a 'good
article was by a fair competition in the market, for
by the very statement made by a former speaker,
it would appear the publican bad 25 per cent. and
the brewer 30, therefore the poor labourer paid
100 for what was only worth 45. The Brewers
had. laid .out a great capital in purchasing houses,
,but were the labourers' pockets to be picked to
pay for these, or would the houses he bought if
the Brewer did not see how 30 per cent. could be
got out of them ? Would any man of common
sense say that if the trade was open the public
would be obliged to drink the Poisonous stuff which
they now di.d?
Mr. GALE JONES then addressed the Meeting at
great length. He certainly could not consider the
man acted honourably who would avail himself of
public calamity to raise the price of his article.
the situation of the poor publican was dephira-
hle, and infinitely worse than that of the feudal
vassal, inasmuch as he was every moment liable
to be turned out of his employment at the caprice
of the Brewer, while his accuser was unknown,
and his only crime has been his refusal to, sell any
more of the deleterious chemical stuff. Much had
been latterly said in public about disaffection
and rebellion, and he would only say, that the
drinking of this porter had produced, he was sure,
much intestine commotion (laughter). 1-le hoped
to have . seen more of time Brewers present, and
expected that, like the Forty Thieves, they would
have quitted their casks. He theta alluded to the