Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-09-21
GAZETTE AND VIRGINIA ADVERTISER .-sEPTENBER2 1859.

/
In perusing a general report of British
trade for the year 1853, we have been led to
make some comparisons with the statistics of
our own commerce. Many very interesting
and curious facts are thus revealed in regard
to what the two nations eat and drink, and
otherwise consume. For our American
figures we have had recourse 10 the annual
Report of the Commerce and Navigation tor
ISIS. As the summary of English trade
referred to, doubtless represents what was
imported for Great Britain alone, we have
modified the statistics of our own imports
OF coffee, teas, sugar, &c, by subtractlng
the quantities OF these articles which have
been exported after having once entered our
Custom Houses.
In no one thing are the national tastes
more divergent than in the beverage used 1T
the ordinary daily repasts. Ii will be VII
10 remember that the last general census OF
Great Britain and Ireland gave p, 6l9,s66
inhabitants, and that in 1850, when our last
census was taken. the United States and ter
ritories numbered in population %, lOl $40.
Whatever may be The population OF the two
countries to-day, it is evident that they are
in this respect more nearly equal than i'll
1850 and 1851.
Last year the United Kingdom drank, or
ware housed for future drinking, 35.333S, Ill
lbs. Of coffee; while the United States during
the same time disposed of 14,491 l6l lbs.
of the little berry which comes principally
from Brazil, the West Indies, Venezuela,
Arabia, and Java In other words we con-
sumcd nearly five times as much coffee Is
our father-land. Ii is, however, tn be noted
that We have no duty on either tea or coffee.
Great Britain rcaps large revenue from
both.
In 1853 the English, Irish, and Scotch,
swallowed nearly scyenty-four millions lbs.
of tea. Their american cousins could
not sip more than 2S,IG6,511 lbs. of the lit
tie dried leaf of China. Ii is well known
that tie great ma iority Of Englishmcn take
tea ut their breakfast ~ well aS AT their
evening meal. In London, let u enter one
Of the little rooms filled with insular tables.
This is the dining hall of what the cockncy
land for all that, every Britain) persists III
calling .'an otJ" The London Times and
every modern English author writes an no
| kI. bcing MN est H,ra. In this place even
when full, complete silence reigns, only dis
turled by the rustic of the morning papers,
II u
waited parsonish looking waiter. Now, II
we can get at the statistics of this establish
mrnt, we will find that of a hundred Eng
lishmen who here command breakfast, nine
ty of them take tea.
Last year John Bull sweetened his coffee.
tea, punch. plum-pudding weddlngcakc.
! vr., and made his confectionery with M.
Coz, too ibS of sugar We imported and
kent for our own use l331 .u29. 900 HIS. Of for
eign sugars, to say nothing OF twenty-i"ur
and half millions gallons OF moIasscs,
which were not wholly made into rum
MulasseS, in some parts of the United States.
is used in vast quantities for the purpose OF
swrctrning tea, coffee, cake &r., Ne l"
the above sum We would add more than
three hundred millions pounds of cane and
maple sugar made in the United States.
The use Of cocoa has never been 50 great
in this country as in England France, Ger
many, and Spain. We did not, nil told.
import quite two millions pounds, and we
exported SO much of it that We only had
500, 2SS lhS. lett for drinking and eating III
the shape Of chocolate c0ntections.) Great
Britain, however, consumed more than three
millions pounds Of this product of the tro-
pies.
John Bull last wear accompanied his din
ner, treated himself in private. RECALLED his
friends in public, and stored his companions
cellars with 6.697 l46 gallons of wine
Brother Jonathan tickled his palate and
gently excited his brain with t, 1894 gal
Ions Of wine: Claret, (''Red wines not
enumerated" two mentioned forming
more than onc-half the whole catalogue
] prnf IN
Port, &C., &C., the quantity Of each dccrcas-
ing in the order of their statement. but
this was not the whole of the importation Tor
our own use. We also received wine in bot
ties to the number of 59+, 800. Champagne
and Clarct compose more than two-thlrds OF
the quantity thus brought to us. We have
altogether left out of consideration the many
bottles of Sparkling Catawba, Isabella, Mis-
souri, and Scuppcrnong. The st. Louis pco-
pie boast that Mr.. Long(ellow admits that
hc would never have written his famous
song to the glory OF the Sparkling Catawba,
if he had tasted the Missouri vintage first.
There is another class Of wine which
Brother Jonathan cXtcnsiye y produces from
vineyards, which grow in the various liquor
distllcries from Boston to Brownsville
This kind appears upon no list of imports
and exports, but it is believed that it would
a>tonish. i'll the quantity consumed, our vet
cran statisticians of temperance.
In England the duty is very high on bran
DIV, gin, DC, but the inhabitants of the fast
anchored isle never forgetting the adJuncts
Of ireland. &c, managed in lS5s to smile
over los, lOj gallons of brandy. nearly
three and half millions of gallons of rum
and 2iS gallons of Geneva. How modest
that last item reads after the other figures
which, in their pronunciation, are verita-
lie sc$J"ipoiuHd rcrba.' Our curiosity Is
aroused TO ascertain if a larger quantity OF
! this peculiar beverage Is not sold IN the gin
palaces of London alone.
/ Our duties are also high on brandi"s; yet
in ISIS, we "gugglei down" nearly rs much
of this article rs the inhabitants Of Great
Britain. OF imported "spirits from grain
and other materials" including cordials. We
infamcd our stomach, and i'll various other
ways made use of 2,,G9,:;S3 gallons. When
we add 10 this the barrels, hogsheads, and
pipes of "Ohl Bourbon" Young Bourbon,
the various ancestors and descendants of
"Monongahela." Apple Jack. J" stone
Fence Rot Gut" "Mcdfori Rum" and
Blue Ruin all made at home-the name
Of spirits" is more than LEGION" In
deed, the domestic manufacture of intoxl-
eating liquors was much beyond the home
7 Inst thrt M tpl