The Sun.
London, England, 1818-01-12 00:00:00

1-1, fi-IE PRICE OF ro?trEn.

• • • • Upon th.-2 pffsloibe waled tve timlotlncetl!n OUT
jkildres on the conuneticemetlt of the new Year,

. .
viz.. !hat. of m'akiag tfie Su& 'really PUBLIC
i3RINT., or, at, we then stated it, Tn PAPER OF
. •
Ra EMPIRE, the detinsit an essenti'al duty tc our
fellow subjects, but particularly the labouring
•
tiassea, for whose welfare aiidcomfort we feel
41")ngly interested, to expose that spirit of Mono-
P°IY, and that aSsutned pOwer of fixing ARSITRARY
Nlcßs, which has long been au practice-among
Tut BREWERS. IVe therefore with great pleasure
"omit to our Readers the following llEicitc-
.„,
A Isi'mas as drawn up by Mr. I.sREfift BEIUMONI., a
• Gentleman whose public spirit, good sense and
,L
Patriotism, have been manifested on various oc-
vas.
ions, but particularly in exposing the ails and
IYt.unical practices of BREWERS, and the despica-
blesubserviency of some corrupt l‘ngistrates, wh-o
Igraceil their station by aiding those practiceS,
t.O the injury of honest Publicans, and of the
calbmunity at large
• •
1.. That high legal authorities have declared all Monopo-
-t" to he against the ancient and fundamental laws of the
t
e
arid injurious to the public--:•first, by raising the price
Of commodities; second, by diminishing their duality; third,
by impoverishing poor manufaeturers.
2 • l
j, feat the Legislature has passed numerous statutes to
ja-rt:'sh such as are guilty of creating Monop -- oliesparticu-
ih-„IM0u n opolies of the ecesSaries of life : and so early as
b— 2(1 and ad of Edward IV. very heavy penalties were int-
' ;Fusecl on victuallers win', einwliiiieu together to raise the price
victuals, exteilding upon a second repetition .of the offence
'4' the pill'ore, the. loss w an ear, and perpetual infamy.
' 8. That, pillory,
the illegality of such conduct
its injury to the publics y in the suply of beer
Alas of late years been raised y
in various liarts of E pnglkftrd, and
Partietilarl-i in the Metropolis, insomuch that the whole cus-
-Itoh of its population is engrossed by about a great
hreWeries, wtiose principals act in combination—meeting to--
getlier like the partners of one concern, and fixing the price at
Which beer shall be sold.
1. That when the reduced price of malt and hops, of
lorses provender-. and labour; the lease iirig the tax on malt,
and the subsequent abolition of, the Property Tax, enalded,
'the brewers to make great reductions in their act:it-stunted
charges, they dirt not make such reductions, hot kept up their
prices,until after their conduct had esetted aoinia:lver-sions
to fire House. of Commons, allegiog as a -reason foi• their
doing so, that their stock in hand must lie first disposed of.
5, That so soon as the failure of the hart/,st in 1816 caused I
the price of malt to look up, and while their stuck was wholly
utraffected by the rise in the materials, they revived the high
lirices of beer to the consumer, which prices they have lately
Still further advanced.
That much of the beer now made is so void of the non-
lishing and invigorating qualities whit it formerly possessed,
and is oftentimes so ungrateful and even injurious to the
510inaeb, owing,to the deleterious ingredients of which it is
,";
Posed, that consumers are frequently driven to use a
.;?'4,ture of gin with it, to give it the semblance of strength
""
loslear plrit, or still more prejudicially to the drinking of gin
of beer.. • -
11;7. That these and numerous other evils are justly attri-
'table to the ;Monopoly 'Web the great brewers have esta-
, olished. -
• tosii'st'irthat this Monopoly is produced and upheld by the un-
utional power given to justices of the peace in their
lae:jr'"-tive localities to prevent Any persons from vending
lif',,',"cepting such persons and in such houses. as they
power, which being subject to no COUtnliti,
exercised in many iastitices by needy or avaricious
'" 1; 1
4,llbmurally applied by them iu preventiii competition
tstt,o
ter, `'which they or their friends or patrons are in-
9. 1,1
hot), 'at a desire to prevent an unnecessary number. of 1
to the reason ger:wally assigned-tor refusing permission
houses, built tor pubiic houses, wheee the reasonable
- t,t,l the public require them,. is evidently insincere ; lie-
u the same liceticers gi•ifitt liceaces to pulic-ho
upheld,
nses in
alth'" whe'e
die interest of their friends is thebreby
enc„,..ug" such houses can only be supported by allowing and
107ragilig bad practices. •
A":it the similar pretence, that competition is pre-
Vent
Vuireor(it.7 that the landlords of the favoured houses may
(it fish and trot be induced through necessity to suffer disor-
conduct on their premises, is equally fallacious ; be-
owners of the favoured housrs, who are generally
truanrs or
ts,'Pirit -dealers, always require premiums of their
,; „-qua.i to the value of .the Monopoly to them, or an
.th'''"t rem, thu, keeping the tenants profits down, how-
tics. valuable the ,Monopoly may be to the principal.
tl. That the supposition of correcting the licentiousness
Zitlicßouraged ai sonic, public houses' by denying licences for
it ,Tsf is only, calculated to benefit tire Monopoly System ;
ding evident, in principle, that men will not drink less
t,' ,be less disorderly when drawn together in one house than
1q would he if divided among two or three; and it is noto-
tA.l,'lYLfg iii I:rat:lice, that smite of the st profitable houses sire
i' those which are must injurious to the public health
ld"" inorals.. •
• t -U. That such is the v-lne, however, of the prohibition of
fitlithetition, that thousaids of p are ly given
" thlie efinsideratioi, of a r
license to aounds house,ire inq uent
other words
permission to Trade, which expenee, together with the
• ,Tlt.',-1 profits securt d by the Monopoly, fall npon the con-
yfu'eis and become a grievous hurtlieu to the lower. classes
the Community.
Wit That it is unreasonable to invest Justices of the Peace
vkit' the right of issuing exclusive powers for trading in
iii;nlstaiis. when the issuing of such powers by the Sovereign
fleclared to be void in law.
411 s;. I hat it is equally unreasonable to authorize the said
et I.l,c..t•disersize men of their liberties and free customs,
stwite,'.°a'n will and pleasure, without being accountable to
,tic).e(iroan "shorting the king, on mean hrone, is inter-
less "'mu or injuring' the est subject, un-
persoY due course of law, and is answerable for his acts in the
15. 'lei his i nistics.
g hiaintd:ifter ail, these exttaordinary powers, evert in the
lin, Sr. inefficient for the object of keeping victual-
on one°udses 111-°"(1
"de"
because they are only in action
„,as., Y,in'the
.year, when punishment, as regards the
kart Ittitasiky f.
tO.), ~f by shifting the teuanr, and as re-
tir• • e'f'llure, it is as impossible for the licensers to know
ituch tl liouses as they patronize will be-well conducted, as
i.s tlrat those Which they refuse would be disorderly. '
tittY That it is therefore equally in vain to expect as effec-
controol over public-houses, or a termination of the
struhgs inflicted on the owners of houses, on victaallers, and
Jsst
public at larze, under' the present licensing system—a
11o:in which is proved to be equally inefficient for-good par-
sr and all-powerful for bad ones—erecting a power over
,v hci comforts, the property, and the -rights of the subject,.
t)uch is anomalous in the constitutional government of this
,p2tlY, and which is believed to be unknown in any other.
That to produce a remedy, it is necessary for the
41eistrate's-povver to be removed front the patronage of the
yictualling, to the correction of the•disoiders. which
1144441.,etraties arise out of the exercise of their own
tlt;.?!itroulable wills;to the administration of legislative rules
al.plicable and extending to ad 9, and in which the
attis.ary proportioned to the offeiwes,
11and attach to them
thediatel
la• )* ~„,, 'at in as far as it is deemed rscpedient to restrict the
tiefieof imblie-lionses, that end will be most fairly and be-
ttiltet".lly accomplished by imposing a heavy duty
,on the li-
l'estr;
."! open any new house, thus diverting the value of the
t,'Llton from the Pockets of the licka.se jo-Isbers to the uses
• . •
hat with a large duty imposed on leave to open a new
tratc:_aud due means provided for immediately stopping a
kie ','"ultieted in a disorderly manner, no good reason can
free ‘4need against restoring to the public the benefit of
31kire_i'mpirtition, and to victitallers the Common rights 0:
iri
`,
rymern—tiamely, the liberty to carry on t he•r trade
feavito,t 131 aces as they find most eligible (trot being toc,!ly
as ,ft:.),,!nd rchason e their' good of
s such. orauulacturers
o Supply them the best terms..

. .
rd O • •
Of BYR
IL) i N.—A Sunday Paper stated a repo:
barnit►
cet of th s- i Gen m tlean h n , —ut we du o .
tilata Ith 13 Well-follllded.