The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-04-12 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1853.

said something in his usual style, giving his support in
general to the plan. I have for many years considered
Mr. EWART ambitious, yet shallow ; in the more elevated
questions that come before Parliament he is sure to put
his beak—and says nothing either to instruct or amuse—
certainly nothing worth remembering. Fox, too, the
Unitarian orator, and by far the best living critic of
SHAKSPEARE I happen to know, said to Lord JohN that
he liked the rate principle—(of course he does)—but—
he feared the noble Lord's scheme in other respects would
not do. With what delight has Fox, when the dramatic
critic of the old Whig Chronicle, watched MACREADY'S
glorious interpretations of several of WILLIAM SHAK-
SPEARE'S great creatures. There the hon. member—
critic only then—sat generally with a lady on either side—
he, Fox, squat as a Madagascar bat—vulgar in aspect,
but how rarefied the mind ! Bother Fox.—The Educa-
tion Bill was read a first time.
A curious conversation took place in the House of
Lords during the discussion of the Education Bill else-
where. It appeared to give deep satisfaction to nearly
all the Peers present, save and except the Earl of
MALMESBURY, the apologist of Louis NAPOLEON, and
the Earl of CLARENDON, the apologist of certain City
Peace Deputation people, who went with the address in
Easter week to the Emperor. Lord CAMPBELL, as sound
a lawyer as ever sat on the bench, denounced the whole
proceedings as illegal, contrary to the law of nations, and
altogether unseemly and uncalled for. The Earl of
ELLENBOROUGH said the address and its presentation was
quite disgusting. The Government, however, managed to
get tolerably well out of the mess, and CLARENDON espe-
cially was lucky in causing Lord COWLEY, our ambassa-
dor at the French Court, to withhold his countenance
when the deputation went to court. Had Lord CLAREN-
DON not done this, there would have been a tremendous
storm in their lordships' house. The city people feel
rather soft on the subject ; however, as nothing lasts long
wonderful with them, in a day or two the whole affair will
blow over. Meantime, persons of weight, respectability,
and experience in mercantile circles, do not hesitate to
declare that a desire to participate in certain share profits
had as much to do with the getting up and presentation
of the address as a love for the preservation of peace
between the two countries. Mr. Aldernean MOON
has been somewhat annoyed in connexion with the depu-
tation. Some wag gave out that the alderman was to
write a history of the great civic demonstration. Now, it
so happens that the alderman was not of the party—aryal
he cannot write on the subject.
The discussion on the reduction of the wine duties,
brought forward by Mr. OLIVIERA, though it led to no-
thing, was interesting to every poor man's friend. But
alas and alack a day—in Indian parlance no bad things—
I am certain it will not be in our time that such a reduc-
tion of duty on really good wine—which we are told in
Scripture rejoiceth the heart of man—will take place,
so as to allow its purchase by the artisan, the clerk,
or skilled mechanic. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
may be, nay is, a learned man, representative of the
"dandy" University, but he knoits little of the statistics
of human nature—the propensities thereof as regards the
working men—workers with head as well as hand, when
he said, certainly in substance, that there must be
36,000,000 of gallons of wine annually consumed before
the deficiency caused by the proposed reduction would be
made up; that could not be done until the national taste
was so altered and modified as to be completely trans-
formed. He thought there could not he so great a change
in the taste of the people in so short a period: The time
mentioned by the mover—two years, when the reduced
duty was to come into operation. GLADSTONE, Chancellor
of our ever " flourishing" Exchequer, why don't you take
a stroll round some of the streets of the wine-shops of the
metropolis ? Say on a Saturday,—the after part of the
day,—if Cabinet Council, deputation, &c., do not prevent
you. with your own eyes you would see the transformation
—the " deformed transformed"—of public taste already
accomplished. Your intellectual workers—skilled men I
mean, head and hand workers, as I have stated, eschew
heavy beer; it makes them unfit for their labours, if these
are beyond those of the coal-heaver. Not that the English
workmen repudiate beer when their work is done. They
dislike alcohol for various reasons, which I may refer to
by-and-bye ; they do now generally prefer what is called
wine, but, ah me ! brain-poison—worse infinitely than
malt liquor, and more absurd in its drunken developments
than those of gin and water. Three public-house or tavern
keepers were mentioned as having given their evidence in
regard to the prodigious quantity of wine they sell in
glasses over the counter. I know them ; have seen the
wine drank ; there was little harm. But go to certain
resorts, by me nameless, where the manufactured stuff is
vended ! CYRUS REDDING, a tolerable judge of wine,
certainly a pleasant writer enough thereanent, was quoted
during the discussion ; but he does not, as far as I am
aware, say one word on the philosophy of drunkenness
produced by cheap-manufactured wine-drinking. For
me it is enough now to state that there is a strong, a pre-
valent desire among our better workpeople to take the
wine if they could, but then they cannot get it ; and,
unless the duty on good wine is taken off, verily the
new and praiseworthy attachment to wine-drinking will
soon be heard of no more, the cheap stuff is so bad. I
need not tell our intelligent readers that port, sherry, and
champagne, are made sometimes, nay frequently, without
a particle of the essential elements in their constitutions ;
claret, also, has its main stock in elderberries, sold by the
bushel in our public market-places for the wine-press of
the adulterator. Of the effects produced by drinking sham
claret I shall say little furt her than that it produces intestinal
disorder, but scarcely affects the brain. Our working
people care not for it. Try a fourpenny glass of the port
and sherry for the most part vended at present,—try
another, or, rather, try neither, but sit quietly in a corner
and observe in the infatuated drinkers the workings of
this " perilous stuff." They are temperate, remember ;
they wish to avoid beer and spirits—they have heard of
cheap wine, a liquid some of them have sang about,
" Wine, mighty wine I" few of them have tasted it a
dozen times in as many years, On they drink—another
fourpenny glass—only two ; anon the pupils dilate, a dirty
rabid froth appears at the corners of the mouth, they begin
to make faces at each other,—moe and grin like apes and
chatter also; curious the drink don't make the parties
wicked, not even mischievous; the appearances superin-
duced after two glasses are those of a harmless idiotic
character ; the drinkers, now in the third heaven, forget
they have only thirty or forty shillings a week, become
soft, swear eternal friendship, " babble o' green fields,"
those of their boyhood, and fairly end in crying I These
are a few of the results of cheap and bad wine drinking
observed by a rather wide-awake eyewitness. All of
these developments would remain inexperienced, if cheap
and GOOD wine were substituted, because I know there is
a growing and unmistakeable taste for wine among our
working people, though Mr. GLADSTONE avers to the con-
trary. Were wine come-at-able by the poorerof our friends,
it would necessarily put an end to the hellish traffic in
" jigger spirits," now carried on in the metropolis to an
incalculable extent. I refer to illicit distillation, de-
frauding the Government of thousands of pounds sterling
per annum. The spirits illicitly made in the Highlands
of Scotland, and in most parts of the sister country, for
excellence of quality cannot be sufficiently eulogised ; but
oh ! the Pager stuff' I have tasted it—jiggered gin,
whisky, rum, and brandy—the sale of it is frightfully pre-
valent in the metropolis, especially in the humbler parts
of it. Drinking this demon-cup destroys all the better
affections of the heart, substituting the rage of demons,
to it is attributed by physiologists—friends of mine, great
observers of human nature and human vice—the till now
almost unheard-of frequency of assaults—murderous—on
helpless and unoffending women—wives for the most part
hard-working ,and careful. If gin-drinking softens the
brain, the jigger hardens the heart. But to return to
Mr. OLIVIERA and the wine duties. Banish the present
cheap wine out of our streets—to say ports would be a
gross mistake. Let the poorer classes stick to a moderate
allowance of good porter and ale, but beware of the jigger..
Good wine, with reduced duty, Mr. GLADSTONE will never

give us.
On subjects musical, dramatic, artistic, and literary—
a few words. The Royal Italian Opera—sole temple of
the lyric muse—you will have seen, has opened with
" IVlassniello," a French spectacular melo-dramatic opera.
AUBER'S magnificent work, out of place on Italian boards,
has been superseded by " II Barbiere di Siviglia," with
the finest cast in the world. RONCONI, with a temper
short as schist, is a great artist, and the greatest Figaro
living as regards musical qualifications, vis comiaa, mise
en scene, or what you will ;—in one English word, Rox-
cost is perfect. Bosco, a nice woman enough, was the
Rosina. Her musical education is good ; she is accom-
plished in every sense of the word, while nature has
blessed her with a magnificent voice ; but she don't vin-
dicate her author. She sings her own music; throws
ROSSINI, the best and last of composers, to the dogs;
and runs riot in her own fioriture ;—a vile fault in a
singer. " Vat is dat, Sare GEORGE ?" said the immortal
WEBER, as ho sat in the orchestra of Drury-lane Theatre,
on the first representation of the " Frieschutz" there,
when he heard, in ear-agony, the prima donna of the
evening trilling " shakes" to no end, where WEBER
meant all to be plain, simple. " It is an accident,
CARL," said Sir GEORGE—he knew better. The great
German threw up his tremendous nose in disgust. So it
is with Bosio—a gifted creature, who appears not to care
a rush for her author, but electrifies while she destroys.
I have said thus much, because the Liverpool musical
people may have a visit from the syren. The Ballet, intro-
duced for the first time, might as well have been spared.
At the Haymarket a new full-blown five-act play has
been introduced by Mr. BUCKSTONE. The author, Mr.
SULLIVAN, has taken much pains to make the story as un-
intelligible as possible. The piece was saved by the droll
acting of BUCKSTONE and HENRY COMPTON.
Don't speak to our artists at present, if you please; they
are all as busy as bees, touching up for the Great Exhibition
of the R. A., which I am afraid will be poor : lots of pic-
tures—genre—

" What's this dull Academy to me, ETTY'S not there."
And I might go on. and so travestie with half a
dozen great names. However, after the dinner on
the first Saturday in May, we shall know more about it.
Some good pictures are on the easel ; who is to engrave
them ? or what is, perhaps, of more importance, who
publish them ? Alderman MOON leaves business.
£15,000, it is said, has been paid for his magnificent
stock of engravings—John Knox Preaching, and many
other splendid works included, alike creditable to the
Alderman's liberality and British art. There will be an
opportunity now afforded for every body, so minded, of
having specimens of the rarest productions of the burin.
They are to be disposed of by auction. This will cause a
glut, which will affect the print trade for the next two
years. Sir BuLwER (excuse the French mode of naming
the literary baronet) is in poor health ; ho is in town at
present, and shows none of that jaunty air for which he
was long distinguished ;—his lips, no longer compressed,
but apart, as if ho were gasping for air ; his countenance
is eager ; his step feeble and slow. Let us hope he
may recover, for, after all his harmless eccentri-
cities, he is one of the right sort—one whose works
will live for ever. DISRAELI is looking well,—for
him,—waspish,—and apparently full of sting. A new
paper, to be called " The Press," of Opposition-
Conservative principles,—DlZZY's principles, in short,—
makes its appearance next week. Tip-top writers are en-
gaged, and *bushels of tin at the banker's. B.vn IVIA-
CAULEY, the greatest historian we have, is also ill—face
yellow as a guinea. Do these great creatures eat opium ?
Government has given DOUGLAS JERROLD'S son another
lift; he has just been removed from the Treasury to the
Na_
office—Commissariat, I believe, and he toddles to
Canada forthwith, a promising lad, with the best pros-
pects in the world. Duggy himself—Pere, I mean—is, as
usual, chirruping away like a grasshopper,—bent he is;
but young-looking. but I roust stop,