The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-06-21 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

tions upon the importation of sugar fur the purposes of
refining." Not having the petition itself before us, we
cannot do otherwise than discuss its details as they are
presented in the brief analysis which is contained in the
newspaper reports of its contents. If these be correctly
given, we have only again to regret that parties bringing
forward such petitions will travel away from the truth, as
established by official documents. When they state
" that the colonies do not contribute anything to the re-
venue of this kingdom, but that their government and
protection is a heavy charge upon it—that there is an-
nually paid out of the Treasury, on the exportation of
refined sugar and bastards, nearly £soo,ooo—and that
the exports of British manufactures and produce to the
aforenamed countries exceed, by five-fold, those to our
West India colonies"—when they state these things, we
counsel them, in no unfriendly mood, that they injure
their own cause. If they will turn to the official accounts,
just published, they will find that the net revenue de-
rived from sugar only, in the year ending sth January
last, was £3,394,338175. 2d., after deducting alldrawbacks
upon refined sugars, according to the established rates of
calculation, amounting to £949,172175. 9d. If, therefore,
they contend that there is paid out of the treasury £500,000
on the exportation of refined sugar and bastards, they must
mean one of two things. If they mean that because the
duty is paid back upon refined sugar and its adjuncts,
there is a loss to the country to the amount so paid, it is
worse than idle to discuss the question in that spirit. If
they intend that, why not take the right sum at once, and
say £949,172 17s. 2d. instead of '.£500,000 ? But, if it
be meant that there is a loss to the country of £500,000,
paid back in drawbacks or bounties on refined sugar and
bastards, over and above the duty paid upon the raw
sugar, then can nothing be more preposterous than such
an assertion. It is saying, in short, that there is a bounty
of 225. per cwt.. thrown away on all the refined sugar ex-
ported ! So, with
.regard to the amount of exports to the
West India colonieS, including the Mauritius, arid those
to Brazil and the foreign West Indies, the countries to
which they mainly refer, they will find the account stand
thus :

To the British West Indies 0,988,286
To the Mauritius 280,948

Total £4,269,234
To the Brazils £2,131,664

To the Foreign West Indies 2;235;245

Total £4,366,909
These accounts are given at the " official" valuations,
and, therefore, exceed the real or declared value consi-
derably. But, as both accounts are so stated, the pro-
portions may be considered as preserved, although the
actual amount in each case will be less.

We will not go further into this question at present.
Lord ALTHORP stated, in reply to a question from Mr.
CLAY, that the matter must be gone into next session.
Before that period, the experiments that have been long
making with reference to the actual quantities of the se-
veral products obtainable from the different kinds of
sugar, raw and clayed, will be determined. An accurate
knowledge of the quantities of each which can be ob-
tained must be the basis of future legislation on this

question.
In the meantime, and we speak advisedly when we say
it, the parties interested in obtaining the privilege of
refining foreign sugars for export will do well to abstain
from exaggerated statements to accomplish their object.
This done, and the real amount of saccharine matter con-
tained in the different sorts of sugar once ascertained, we
believe they will find but little opposition offered to the
adoption of the general principle which they demand. ,

THE extraordinary decrease in the importation and
consumption of wine in England within the last few
years, is a better test of the real condition of the upper
and middle classes of society than any other connected
with the public revenue. About two years ago, Lord
ALTHORP, inspired by a fit of absolute wisdom, intro-
duced his famous budget, in which he equalized the duty
on French and .Portugal wines, and considerably in-
creased the duty on Cape wines. His avowed reason
for this was his. contempt for mercantile_ treaties,
his sympathy for the distressed wine-growers of revo-
lutionary France, and the strong suspicions he enter-
tained that the honest wine-merchants of London and
elsewhere were in the habit of selling the earthy-tasted
and heartburning grape juice of the Cape for the sun-
bright, soulwartning zeres of Spain. The secret rea-
son, or rather the real reason, was, the necessity of
bringing a fresh supply of grist to the treasury mill,
and thus increasing the produce of the public revenue.
The noble Lord calculated that French wines were spa-
tingly drank in England, solely because they 'were
dearer than those of Portugal. He imagined that by
lowering the duty on the former, and raising it upon the
hitter, he would increase the consumption of the one,
without diminishing the consumption of the other.

Unfortunate Chancellor ! unfortunate even in his biba-
cious calculations ! Had he consulted Lord BROUGHAM
or the members of the Beef Steak Club, or the drovers
who frequent the Ram Inn of Smithfield on the market
day, or the stewards of the farmers' dinner at Southampton,
he would have learnt that not one bottle of claret more or
less would these worthy persons drink if it were as cheap
as ditch water, or, as dear as GEORGE the FOURTH'S
Hermitage. If he had consulted his friend Mr. ANGEL()
TAYLOR, or Lord NUGENT, or the members of the
Goldsmiths' company, he would have found that they must
have claret, burgundy, and champagne, be its price five
or fifty shillings a bottle. Had be made these inquiries,
he would have ascertained that every reduction in the
duty on French wines would only injure the revenue,
perhaps benefit the French grower, but confer no benefit
whatever upon the English thinker. In like manner the
increase upon the duty of Portugal wines was a positive
tax imposed upon the consumer of Port, without adding a
single sixpence to the produce of the revenue. In other
respects it was an injudicious'a n d even an unjust tax.—
It imposed an increased duty upon the article consumed
by the middle classes, at the very time that the duty upon
the wines exclusively consumed by the higher and
wealthier class of persons was considerably reduced.—
Impolicy, injustice, ignorance, and Lord ALTRORP, are
therefore synonymous terms.
But let us now see how this truly ALTHORPIAN scheme
of finance has worked. We have before us a return of
the quantity of wine imported, for home consumption
and otherwise, from 1828, and printed by order of the
House of Commons. By this document it appears that
the whole quantity imported in the period mentioned was
as follows:

Year 1828 there were 9,637,951 gallons.
" 1829 " 7,618,196 "
" 1830 " 6,879,588 "
" 1831 " 7,116,870 "
" 1832 " 6,018,480 "

By this return it appears that in the first two years
previous to the alteration of the duty by the noble lord,
the quantity imported was 17,256,147 gallons. In the
last two years, under the liberal system and the revenue-
bolstering system, the quantity imported was only
13,135,350 gallons.

It will be recollected that Lord ALTHORP, in 1831,
raised the duty on Portugal wines one shilling per
gallon. But has the gross amount of duty been increased
in that proportion ? No; on the contrary, the revenue
arising for Port wine has fallen oft' considerably. •On
the other hand, Lord ALTIJORP reduced the duty on
French wines, (2s. 6d. per gallon, we believe,) but has
the quantity imported or consumed been increased in an
equal ratio ? So far from this, we have actually imported
a less quantity of French wine than we did before the
duty was reduced !

These facts are as important as they are, incontestible,
forlhey demonstrate one of two things, either that the
increased duty on Port wine has narrowed the consump-
tion, or that the country is in so impoverished a state
that it cannot afford to consume the same quantity of
wine as formerly. Lord ALTHORP, therefore, as HOW
says, may take his change out of the alternative.

Mont: TRICKS.—In the House of Commons on Monday,
Lord Althorp dossed from the Treasury Bench to the oppoSi-
tion side of the I-Lsose, and seated himself beside Mr. O'Con-
nell, with whom he entered into earnest conversation, which
continued for some time: This novel and extraordinary occur-
rence has occasioned much speculation.—London Corregpondvit
of the Evening Mail.