Star.
London, England, 1818-02-09 00:00:00

FRENCH MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR.

(IXTRACT 07 A LITTER.)
" I have visited the process of making Sugar from
Beet Root, which' is in great activity in the -neigh-
bourhood of Tours, and to all appearances in the
most flourishing condition. It is the property of M.
Chaptal, who has purchased and inhabits the magni-
ficent chateau of the Duc de Choiseul, and dedicates
much of his time to chemical and agricultural pur-
suits. There is a machine, worked by four horses,
for cutting the Beet Root and reducing it into a pulp.
It is then placed between two cylindrical rollers, and
the expressed juice is conveyed by tin pipes into a
great receiver. This juice is then boiled three or four
times over, till it becomes sufficiently inspissated by
evaporation, and then it is suffered to cool and chrys-
tallize. They &et six pounds weight of refined sugar,
from 1001 b. weight of Beet Root, or about 3,000 lb.
weight of sugar per acre. Under the dynasty of Bo-
naparte, when West India sugars were extremely dead,
in consequence of their almost entire prohibition, the!
Beet Root manufacture was very profitable, but it was
very much doubted whether, on the return of peace,
this domestic Sugar could stand against the comps.'
tition of the Colonial. The trial has now been made,
and nothing can afford a stronger proof of the suc-
cess of this novel species of industry, than the fact,
that at this moment the Beet Root establishments are
every where multiplying themselves, and comin
more and more into vogue. It must be considered
however, that the Colonial commodity is enhanced
here by a very high duty, and that this duty operates
as a bounty to the French Grower, who is as yet
exempt-from every direct tax upon his produce. It
may still, therefore, be a question, whether French
sugars could be brought to market with any prospect
of profit, if the duty on foreign sugar was taken offil
or if an equivalent duty were imposed on the home-
made article? To this M. CitarroL's answer is, that
he could afford to sell his refixed ;agar at seven-peace
a pound ; and, I apprehend, that no Planter can afford
to sell his sugar in any European market at a cheaper
rate. As France has lost her principal colony in the
West Indies, and is incapable of deriving from her
scanty possessions there a supply adequate to her con-
sumption, but is almost wholly tributary to other Na-
tions for the requisite supply, to her this invention is
almost an unqualified advantage. After the disband-
ment of her armies, it comes too at a most opportune
season to furnish employment -to many additional
hands ; and is attended with another remarkable be-
nefit, which is, that the crop of Beet Root not only
does not withdraw any land from the cultivation of
grain, but comes in the place merely of our turnips,
or fallow, and is allowed to be an excellent prepara-
tion for wheat. AU the sugar we get here, they tell
me, is French sugar, and both to my eye and my
palate, it appears equal to any I have ever tasted in
England. I believe, however, that in fact it is not so
sweet, and that it is admitted, even by the growers, to
be in this respect IS per cent below the foreign sugar.
At present the whole quanti!y of sugar made here is
but as a drop in the ocean, compared with the im-
mense consumption of the vastptiptilation of this king-
dom, and has produced no sensible effect upon the an-
cient channels of supply ; but should France once be-
come capable of making enough for her own con-
sumption, other European nations will probably fol-
low her example, and inevitable must be the decline
of the %Vest Indian Islands, which will then have too
much reason to remember the Decree of Bonaparte
against the introduction of colonial produce, regarded
fur a long time as impotent, but laying, in fact, the
IfOundation of all the present sugar manufactures here;
and in this way, perhaps, the rage and envy of Bo-
naparte will do more for the effectual extinction of
the Slave Trade, than all the direet measures of. the
British Parliament, and will illustrate, by another et-
ample, the course of that PROVIDENCI which can ex-
tract from the worst passions of the worst men, they,
most useful and beneficial results."

FRENCH DilisstottAates.—M. Rlcsizitaz, Priest of
the Missionary Congregation called the Lazaritu,
and Representative o Missionaries at Pekin, has
received from his brethren at China more recent and
satisfactory news than any he has had since his
return to Europe. The letters from Pekin are dated
March, 1817, and those from Macao in June of the
same year. By those letters we learn that the Mis-
sionaries attend very tranquilly to the functions of
their Ministry; that they had not for some time ex-
perienced any inquiry or vexation on the part of the
Mandarins; and that a Missionary fttnn the Province
of Chansy, appointed Vicar-Apostolic, had been al-
lowed to come to Pekin to receive the episcopal con-
secration from the hands of the Bishop, who resides
in that capital. In spite of the spirit of opposition to
the Christian Religion, which has been more or less
manifested for a century in China, the Missionaries
have the consolation of working much good; and
they would have procured many more hearers if
their number was more considerable. Already the
congregation of the Priests of St. Lazarus begin to
increase daily. In consequence of an order of the
King of FRANCE, of the 3d of February, 1816, they
have re-entered several of their ancient establish-
ments in France; have been joined by several learned
and zealous men; and have admitted some young
men noviciates, of great promise, some of whom are
preparing to carry the consolations of religion to the
poor inhabitants of the Mahometan Empire at Con-
stantinople and other parts of the Levant, and others
to support and augment, by means of certain liberal
or mechanic arts, (such as astronomy, printing, and
watch-making,) the dominion of the Christian Reli-
gion in China. The king's Ministers, especially the
Duke of RICHELIEU, have placed funds at their dis-
posal, by which they intend to send out new Mis-
sionaries to China, to assist the small number of la-
bourers there who have escaped the persecutions of
the Mandarins.

Flaz.—At an early hour an Friday morning a
fire broke out at the house of Mr. NEWMAN, cheese-
monger and fraiterer, the corner of Glasshouse-street,
Swallow-street, Piccadilly. A number of engines
were soon on the spot, and with the exertions of the
firemen the devouring element was prevented ex-
tending its ravages any further. The interior is
entirely demolished. It is not ascertained by what
means the fire originated—no lives were lost. A
watchman named Flately, whose beat was on the
spot, succeeded in bringing out two of the children
in safety, at the hazard of his life ; the poor fellow
wns moth scorched in the face on the occasion.