LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. GIFT OF CALIFORNIA WINE MAKERS' CORPORATION Accession 87219 class WINE, ITS USE AND TAXATION. WINE, ITS USE AND TAXATION. AN INQUIRY INTO THE OPERATION OF THE WINE DUTIES ON CONSUMPTION AND REVENUE. SIR JAMES EMERSON TENNENT, K.C.S., LL.D. ETC. ETC. ETC. LONDON: JAMES MADDEN, 8, LEADENHALL STREET. M.DCCC.LV. The Author of tltis Work reserves to himself the right of translation in Foreign Countries. e LONDON: PRINTED BY J. WERTHEIMER AND CO. ClltCnS PLACE, FINSBUKT CIBCUS. INTRODUCTION. ALTHOUGH holding an official position, the functions of which are akin to an inquiry such as the present, the views submitted in the following pages must be regarded as the individual opinions of the writer. The suggestion of reducing the tax upon wine, is one which so entirely recommends itself to general favour, that the Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in 1852 to consider its expediency; embarrassed between their natural desire to facilitate the measure, and their sense of 87219 VI INTRODUCTION. responsibility to protect the revenue, forbore to offer any recommendation on the subject. Having acted as a member of that Committee, and having abstained from recording any collective opinion for the guidance of the Legislature, I was led to undertake an analysis of the evidence for my own satisfaction, and hence the following essay. The conclusions which it embodies have been corroborated by information derived from sources uninvestigated by them: and by facts since col- lected, the details of which are brought down to the close of last year. As no one can be supposed to enter on such an en- quiry, otherwise than favourably impressed as regards a project, the aim of which is to render one of the luxuries of life at once cheap and abundant; I may, at least, hope to be regarded as a disinterested umpire; when, convinced against my will, I am forced to come to the conclusion, that the difficulties in the way of such a measure appear to me to surmount the hope of its early achievement. I have endeavoured to reach the truth and whatever technical errors the initiated may detect in the following INTRODUCTION. Vll pages, will be charitably ascribed to my want of familiarity with the usages of the wine-trade, a craft which in some of the branches seem to justify the ancient title of a " mys- tery." As frequent reference is required to the return of the consumption and revenue derived from wines, a Table is here inserted from the Eeturns laid before the Wine Duties Committee of 1852, with the details continued to the pre- sent time. A TABLE SHOWING THE QUANTITIES OF EACH KIND OF WINE RETAINED FOR HOME CONSUMPTION, AND THE REVENUE RECEIVED IN EACH YEAR FROM 1786 TO 1813. Years. French. Other Sorts. All Sorts. Eevenue. Imperial Gallons. Imperial Gallons. Imperial Gallons, 1786 Records destroyed. 614,247 1787 722,642 3,799,299 4,521,941 848,909 1788 933,172 5,717,472 6,650,644. 894,378 1789 597,924 5,361,174 5,959,098 856,223 1790 618,640 5,982,398 6,601,038 959,565 1791 607,585 6,966,205 7,573,790 1,054,779 1792 622,494 7,229,213 7,851,707 1,148,755 1793 376,008 6,234,693 6,610,701 785,193 1794 204,097 6,607,277 6,811,374 912,863 1795 557,085 7,681,353 8,238,438 1,694,888 1796 96,407 5,679,853 5,776,260 1,288,252 1797 6,926 3,562,335 3,569,261 1,424,972 1793 59,414 5,206,354 5,265,768 1,537,151 1799 208,532 5,929,632 6,138,164 2,036,021 1800 80,243 7,214,509 7,294,752 2,124,808 1801 178,369 6,698,341 6,876,710 2,185,661 1802 252,277 6,861,139 7,113,416 2,280,072 1803 268,834 7,957,630 8,226,464 2,423,929 1804 120,998 5,330,693 5,457,691 2,141,456 1805 104,723 4,517,978 4,622,701 2,255,794 1806 177,127 5,648,051 5,825,178 2,574,531 1807 200,203 6,071,143 6,271,346 2,729,887 1808 192,642 6,139,233 6,331,875 2,648,474 1809 178,029 5,716,148 5,894,177 2,686,003 1810 212,520 6,308,773 6,521,293 2,786,587 1811 59,213 5,570,509 5,629,722 2,443,007 1812 148,478 4,876,052 5,024,530 2,189,418 1813 196,201 4,369,276 4,565,477 Records destroyed. [ Continued on opposite page.] CONTINUATION OF TABLE SHOWING THE QUANTITIES OF EACH KIND OF WINE RETAINED FOR HOME CON- SUMPTION, AND THE REVENUE RECEIVED IN EACH YEAR, FROM 1814 TO 1854. Of the Other Cape. French. Portugal. Madeira. Azores. Spanish. Canary. Rhenish. Sorts. All sorts. Revenue Imp. Imp. Imperial Imperial Imp. Imperial Imperial Imperial Imperial Imperial Galls. Galls. Gallons. Gallons Galls. Gallon^. Gallons. Gallons. Galls. Gallons. 1814 54,200 157,703 3,466,477 361,837 1 1,012,509 6,964 23,158 57,665 5,330,774 2,267, '-78 1815 80,047 200,918 2,770,887 310,933 372 994,217 184,82 20,152 55,756 4,624,105 2,388,391 1816 35S040 123,567 2,250,885 288,093 356 827,084 148,400 21,925 38,688 4,057,038 1,777,458 1817 530,434 145,972 3,022,801 266,303 99 940,739 167,353 16,744 52,278 5,142,829 2,224,612 1M8 555,747 259,178 3,224,255 305,665 866 1,026,425 171,825 23,157 68,098 5,635,216 2,467,315 1819 511,594 213,616 2,409,030 329,534 4,932 891,867 160,458 23,734 70,447 4,615,212 2,005,359 1820 491,199 164,292 2,361,471 353,492 7,448 935,971 172,741 26,061 73,820 4,586,495 1,987,817 1821 572,131 159,462 2,313,509 400,476 4,461 959,864 151,727 22,403 72,852 4,686,885 2,006,498 1822 533,847 168,732 2,375,210 341,916 10,598 967,149 126,7H 20,313 57,483 4,606,999 1,982,882 1823 555,119 171,681 2,492,212 323,734 10,956 1,078,922 123,036 20,670 68,730 4,845,060 2,088,231 1824 595,299 187,447 2,512,343 297,479 5,694 1,217,034 1 17,428 25,976 71,391 5,030,091 2,153,112 1825 670,639 525,579 4,200,719 372,524 8.414 1,830,975 167,108 107,299 126,285 8,009,542 1,955,709 1826 630,436 343,707 2.833,688 286,275 7,990 1,622,530 134,445 66,994 132,328 6,053,443 1,424,326 1827 698,434 311,289 3,222,192 300,295 4,196 1,908,331 152,933 76,161 152,525 6,826,361 1,600,587 1828 652,286 421,469 3,307,021 272,977 8,944 2,097,628 137,553 86,905 177,593 7,162,376 1,700,051 1829 579,744 365,336 2,681,751 229,392 2,909 1.964,162 101,699 76,396 216,263 6,217,652 1,473,546 1830 535,255 303,294 2,869,608 217,13^ 2,780 2,081,423 10K892 68,322 249,733 6,434,445 1,524,168 1831 539,584 254,366 2,707,731 209,127 3.806 2,089,532 94,117 57,888 259,110 6,212,264 1,535,484 1832 514,262 228,627 2,617,405 159,898 1,167 2,080,099 72,803 38,i97 256,084 5,965,542 1,715,812 1833 545,191 232,550 3,596,530 161,042 739 2,246,085 68,882 43,758 312,993 6,207,770 1,633,830 1834 424,081 260,630 2,780,303 150,369 1,075 2,279,853 62,186 50,377 371,670 6,480,544 1,705,639 1835 522,941 271,661 2,780,024 139,422 1,906 2,230,087 50,956 48,696 374,549 6,420,342 1,691,522 183IJ 541,511 352,063 2,878,359 133,673 1,456 2,338,413 51,128 59,454 403,157 6,809,212 1,793,963 1837 500,727 438,594 2,560,252 111,376 282 2,278,263 39,962 44,782 417,293 6,391,531 1,687,097 1838 538,528 417,281 2,900,457 110,294 299 2,497,538 40,212 57,584 428,078 6,9'JO,271 1,846,057 1839 534,184 378,636 2,921,422 118,715 197 2,578,997 34,981 63,937 3f9,417 7,000,486 1,849,698 1840 456,773 341,841 2,668,534 112,555 191 2,500,760 29,298 60,056 383,914 6,553,922 1,791,636 1841 441,238 353,740 2,387,017 107,701 137 2,412,821 25,635 55,242 401,429 6,184,960 1,720,479 1842 3/0,800 360,692 1,288,953 65,209 301 2,261,786 20,868 53,585 393,028 4,815,222 1,334,469 1843 332,369 326,498 2,517,709 93,589 105 2,311,639 . 20,492 49,943 416,643 6,068,987 1,703,344 1843 349,257 473,789 2,887,501 111,577 158 2,478,360 20,650 53,865 463,527 6,838,614 1,922,545 1845 357,793 443,330 2,688,084 102,745 69 2,554,877 20,260^ 62,519 506,454 6,736,131 1,891,232 1846 365,867 409,506 2,669,798 94,580 283 2,602,490 25,312 64,478 508,002 6,740,316 1,892,206 1847 293,016 397,329 2,360,851 81,349 43 2,372,178 22.921 55,774 470,386 6,053,847 1,704,318 1848 267,922 355,802 2,446,813 76,933 433 2,435,427 20,311 44,651 488,250 6,136,547 1,732,282 1849 241,845 331,690 2,648,2-12 71,097 67 2,448,107 19,865 76,405 444 : 541 6,251,862 1,767,516 1850 246,132 340,74S 2,814,979 70,360 246 2,469,038 15.995 54,66S 425,056 6,437,222 1,821,123 1851 234,672 447,550 2,524,775 71,025 131 2,533,384 15,928 58,957 394,225 6,280,653 1,776,247 1852 242,805 503,919 2,567,775 82,064 2,730,089 14,877 58,533 387,750 6,346,061 1,795,013 1853 282,244 5'jO,r.,( 2,798,043 73,447 2,848,526 19,883 71,267 352,306 6,813,830 1,924,792 1854 275,,V- 885,567 2,622,881 42,874 2,741,230 11,517 72,404 32?,6}1 6,775,858 1,914,450 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE AEVANTAGES OF REDUCING THE IMPORT DUTY ON WINE, AND THE DIFFICULTIES. Page Policy of SIR EGBERT PEEL regarding the Duty on Wine, 1842 . 1 Opinions of Mr. DISRAELI, 1852 . 2 Views of Mr. GLADSTONE, 1853 3 Advantages to Trade from reducing the Duty .... 4 Financial Difficulties which interpose 6 CHAPTER II. SHOULD WINE BE TAXED AS A " LUXURY," OR AS ONE OF THE NECESSARIES OF LIFE ? Wine has never been taxed in England with a view to dis- courage its use 7 It has never been Taxed as a " Necessary" .... 8 Wine has always been dealt with as a "Luxury" ... 9 Mr. PITT'S Duties were Taxes on a " Luxury" .... 9 The Wine Trade in England has always assented to this heretofore 10 Their Opinions on this point in 1824 10 The Public now so regard it 10 If Wine be a Necessary of Life the present, Duty is too high . 1 1 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. MB. PITT'S EXPERIMENTS WITH THE WINE DUTIES, 17861805. Page Unexpected Statistical Results during this period . . .12 Attempted to be accounted for by Mr. PORTER . . . .13 They are the anomalies of consumption during war . . .13 Their peculiarities so" extreme as to support either view of the question ........... 14 Instances where Low Duties failed to stimulate consumption . 14 Instances where High Duties did not check it . . . .15 The highest Revenue has been realized from the highest rate of Duty 15 In Mr. PITT'S first Experiment, low Duty was favourable to Consumption, but not to Revenue . . . . .15 1. Mr. PITT'S first Experiment, 1786-87 ; he lowers the Duty . 16 Curious System of the Wine Duties previous to Mr. PITT'S Reform (note ; see also Appendix No. 1.) . . .16 The new scale increases Consumption 16 But fails to raise Revenue in the same proportion . . .17 II. Mr. PITT'S second Experiment, 1795-96 ; he raises the Duties beyond their original amount . . . . . .18 Consumption did not decline in consequence . . . .19 And Revenue largely increased 19 Dealers' Stock first charged with increased Duty (note). . 19 Fluctuations in the use of French Wines at this period. . 19 III. Mr. PITT'S last Experiment, 18011805; Duty raised still higher 20 Consumption remains high . . . . . . .21 Revenue immensely increased . . . . . ^ . .21 Difficulty of accounting for these results . . .21 This state of things continued during the War . . .21 But Consumption and Revenue fell after the Peace, in 1815 . 22 And continued to decline till 1825 ...... 22 Review of Mr. PITT'S Policy with the Wine Duties . . .23 Being Experiments during War, they afford no precedent in 23 ordinary circumstances . . . . . .23 His trials were purely tentative, and without a fixed principle His first scale was too low for Revenue . . . . .23 His second scale was too high for Consumption . . .24 His last was too extravagant for either . . . . .24 CONTENTS. Xlll CHAPTER IV. THE EARL OF RIPON AND MR. HUSKISSON^S WINE DUTIES, 18251854. Page In 1823, the state of the Trade and Kevenue called for a revision of the Duty . 25 The Wine Trade of London recommended 4s. Wd. a gallon . 26 Mr. HOSKISSON reduces the War Duties of Mr. PITT . . 26 Consumption increases 27 But Revenue falls off 27 And has never since recovered its original amount . . . 28 Duties on all Wines (except Cape) equalised in 1831 . . .28 Consumption very slightly affected 29 But Revenue increased by the additional Duty . . . .29 Both Consumption and Revenue nearly stationary since 1831 . 30 Table shewing the results of both 30 Common Wine has been reduced in price to the Consumer under the present Duty 33 Comparative Table of the Revenue under high and low Duties 17991854 . . - 31 The EARL OF RIPON'S reductions have entailed an annual loss of income 32 These Experiments shew that a Duty of about FIVE SHILLINGS is the most favourable both for Consumption and Revenue . 32 The slight addition made to it in 1831 did not disturb either . 32 The further addition of 5 per cent, in 1840 affected both . . 33 The EARL OF RIPON'S Duties superior to those of Mr. PITT . 34 CHAPTER V. DECLINING TASTE FOR WINE IN ENGLAND AND SOME OF ITS CAUSES. Complaint that the use of Wine does not keep pace with the increase of population ....... 35 The Individual Consumption has fallen off from three bottles per head, in 1785, to one and a half . . . .35 This decline not attributable to increase of the Duty . . 36 But to improved social habits and tastes . . . . .36 The race of "Six Bottle Men" extinct 37 XIV CONTENTS. Page The Individual Consumption of Spirits declining also (note) . 37 Example of the Great Exhibition in 1851 (note) . . .37 Same fact observable in INDIA (note) . . . . .38 And in IRELAND 38 Declining Consumption of Wine by the better Classes in FRANCE . 39 The Evidence and Report of the Commissioners of the National Assembly .......... 39 Less Wine drunk by the higher orders 39 Private Wine Cellars no longer stocked 40 Report of the Commissioners as to the cause of this change . 40 Consumption of Wine declining in BELGIUM . . . .41 And in HOLLAND 41 The result ascribed to the increased use of Coffee in Belgium . 42 COFFEE and TEA ; their use in England has displaced Beer and Spirits 42 Tables shewing the extent of this influence . . . .43 The use of Tobacco has had the same effect . . . .44 CHAPTER VI. STTLL TAXING WINE AS A "LUXURY," IS IT POSSIBLE BY A LOWER DUTY TO INCREASE CONSUMPTION AND SUSTAIN THE REVENUE ? The upper classes will not drink more Wine, because the price is lowered ......... 46 Evidence on this point in the Committee of the House of Commons in 1852 ........ 46 A Three Shilling Duty suggested, but not encouraged . . 47 Mr. M'CuLLOCH originally proposed a Three Shilling Duty, if a Duty could not be assessed ad valorem . . . .47 But he has since rejected it ....... 47 The lowest amount of Revenue ever collected was from a " Three Shilling Duty" (note) 47 A Three Shilling Duty condemned by Mr. PORTER as a mere sacrifice of Revenue 48 Nothing short of a reduction to ONE SHILLING will now suffice 48 The Wine Trade of the present day differ on this point from the Wine Trade in 1824, in thinking Wine a "necessary" and no longer a "luxury" 49 Immense Revenue promised to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from a One Shilling Duty (note) 49 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER VII. AN AD VALOREM DUTY UNATTAINABLE. Page An ad valorem would be the fairest 51 But it is impossible to enforce it with justice to the Treasury and the Public ......... 51 It has been tried in FRANCE, and failed 52 It can only be collected where the duty is nominal, as in HAMBURGH, or very low as in the UNITED STATES . . 52 Opinion of the wine merchants in AMERICA, as to an ad valorem duty (note) 52 It has always been rejected in England 52 Mr. M'CULLOCH'S opinion against it 52 Mr. PORTER at one time entertained the idea . . . .54 But afterwards abandoned it 54 Opinion adverse to an ad valorem duty, in FRANCE . . .55 An AD VALOREM duty on the wines of all countries, would become a discriminating duty in favour of certain wine coun- tries, and would thus be inconsistent with existing treaties 55 CHAPTER VIII. REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL TASTE FOR STRONG WINES IN ENGLAND. Light wines are not kept out of consumption by the duty, but by the want of a prevailing taste for them . . .56 Enormous quantities of wine produced in Europe, but none but the strongest taken in Great Britain . . . .56 The taste for strong wines not engendered by climate . . 58 Description of wines drunk here in the reign of Queen Eliza- beth 59 Wines in use in the time of Charles II. . . . . .59 First use of Port wine in England .... ^ . 59 Taxes imposed on French wines by William III. . . .60 The Methuen Treaty, 1703, A.D 60 Its effect in confirming the taste for port wine. . . .61 Mr. M'CULLOCH'B opinion that the Methuen Treaty created that taste it only perpetuated it . . . . . .61 High duties would not exclude French wines if the public taste demanded them ........ 62 High duties did not eradicate the taste for brandy . . .62 XVI CONTENTS. Page Mr. PITT'S reduction of the wine duties in 1 786, failed to bring French wine into consumption 63 Excessive taxes may discourage the consumption of luxuries ; but mere cheapness cannot restore it, if extinct . . 64 The war served to keep down the supply of French wines, 17931815 64 Table showing the decline of their consumption, 1831 1854 . 65 Table of the proportions in which various wines are consumed in England .......... 66 Under equal duties, and with lower prices, French wines cannot hold the market ..'..... 67 Difficulty, approaching impossibility, to introduce a new wine in England . 67 Opinion of Mr. LANCASTER on this point (See Chap. X. p. .) . 67 Sicilian Marsala has made its way, from its resemblance to sherry .......... 68 Fashion one obstacle to the use of a new wine . . . .68 In AUSTRALIA the same taste for strong wines prevails . . 69 Claret unsaleable there at the price of beer . . . .70 CHAPTER IX. COMPARATIVE CONSUMPTION OF WINE IN ENGLAND AND IN OTHER COUNTRIES. Comparative use of wine in Paris and Hamburg, and in England 71 In Paris the consumption 216 bottles per head, in Ham- burg 29 71 Average consumption of France (note) 71 The case of Hamburg doubtful (note) . . . .72 Consumption of Paris exaggerated ...... 72 The low duty does not lead to large consumption of wine in other countries ........ 72 Instances of Belgium, Holland, Norway and Sweden, Denmark, Russia, and the United States 72 The taxes on wine in Paris being equal to those in England, it shows that high taxes are not incompatible with large consumption 73 CONTENTS. XV11 Page If the English take less wine than the French, they take more tea and coffee 74 Beer is also more freely drunk in England than in France . 74 Comparative use of spirits in France and England . . .76 Cider in France and in England 76 Sweet and home made wines in England 77 On the whole, the English drink more than the French of strong drinks ......... 77 CHAPTER X. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY OF WINE PROCURABLE, OF A QUALITY SUITABLE TO ENGLISH TASTES ? If the duty is to be lowered to ONE SHILLING per gallon, it will require a consumption of 36,000,000 million gallons in- stead of 6,000,000 to restore the present revenue . . 78 Can the additional supply be got, of the proper qualities ? . .78 Table of the proportionate supply of wines at present . . 79 Those of Portugal, Spain, and Sicily, form 86 per cent, of the entire 80 Meagre information possessed of the medium class wines of Eu- rope 80 Nature has limited the supply of the finest wines in special localities . . . .81 The grape will not bear the same wine if transplanted . . 81 No European vine has produced wine in America . . .81 Instances of the narrow area which produces Rhenish . .81 Burgundy 82 Madeira 82 Probable supply of sound wines to be hoped for . . .83 I. PORTUGAL. Annual production of port wine in the Alto Douro 83 Its recent destruction by the vine disease . . . .85 Wines of Figueira and Aveiro 87 Wines of Lisbon and Bucellas 88 Cheap wines of Tojal and Colares 89 Total supply anticipated from Portugal . . . . .90 II. SPAIN. Production of Sherry at Xeres , . . .90 Immense quantities of other wines in Spain . . . .91 But unsuited to English taste 92 c XV111 CONTENTS. Page And incapable of export from want of roads, etc. . . .93 III. SICILY. Production of Marsala . . . , .94 Total quantity procurable of some of all kinds from Portugal, Spain, and Sicily ........ 96 Great deficiency still to be made up 96 IV. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, no expectations from . . .97 V. MADEIRA and the CANARIES. Cultivation of wine in Ma- deira threatened with extinction 98 Amount of recent imports ....... 98 VI. GERMANY. Enormous production of wine but so bad that Germany imports more wine for her own use, than she exports to all the world 98 VII. ITALY. Italian wines cannot bear exportation or car- riage .......*.. 99 VIII. FRANCE. Produces 924,000,000 gallons of wine annually 100 Its average value sixpence halfpenny per gallon . . .100 LE NOIR'S division of it into "good, passable, and detestable" . 100 Expectation that England would take largely of the medium wines of France doubtful . . . . . .101 The production of fine wines cannot be extended or increased by cultivation . . . . . . . . .102 Masdeu attempted to be brought into use, but unsuccessfully 102 Continental Tourists attempt to bring home light wines, but seldom persevere 103 Singular difficulty to introduce New Wines into use (see Chap. VIII. p. 67) 104 Instances of failure to do so 104 SIR JOHN BOWRING'S Keport on the Wines of France, 1834 . 104 Opinion as to the probability of light French wines being drunk under a low duty ........ 104 Opinion in France at that time hopeful, if an ad valorem duty were established 104 Opinion in the United Kingdom discouraging . . . .105 But what failed under a high duty may be tried more success- fully under a low one 106 France out of her production of 924,000,000 gallons, only ex- ports 33,294,889 gallons 107 Difficult to hope that England will enlarge her own consump- tion for 400,000 gallons, to 20,000,000 gallons, under a one shilling duty ........ 108 Present Consumption of Algiers (note) . . . ; .108 The quality of Medium Wines has declined of late years in France ....... . 109 CONTENTS. xix CHAPTER XL OPINION IN FRANCE AS TO THE PROBABLE EFFECTS OF A FURTHER REDUCTION OF THE DUTY, ON THE CONSUMP- TION OF WINE IN ENGLAND. Page Misapprehension in England, that France imposes prohibiting duty on British manufactures merely as a reprisal for our duties on her wines 110 But we could not negociate with France alone for reduction . 110 All other wine countries can claim any reduction we make to France, under their treaties Ill France more anxious for a reduction on brandy than on wine . Ill M. MAIRE anticipates no advantage to France from a reduction on her wines in England 112 Different feeling now, on this point, from what Sir J. BOWRING found in 1834 112 The change ascribable to experience of the failure of former reductions to stimulate the use of French wine in England 112 On all occasions, since 1786, the duty has been lowered to favour France . . , . . . . . 113 COMMISSION appointed l>y the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY in 1849 to inquire into the taxes on wine and brandy . . .115 Opinion of M. GRETERIN that reduction of duty will not raise the consumption in England 115 Statements in regard to the failure of that experiment in Bel- gium and Holland 116 OPINION OF M. THIERS, that England will not drink light French wine. 116 Opinion of M. FOULD to the same effect 117 Views of the wine growers of Burgundy 118 The wine growers of Herault, anxious for a reduction of brandy . . . . . . . . . .119 The wine growers of Bordeaux more anxious to reduce internal taxation on wine in France, than the import duty in other countries . . . , . . . .119 Their opinion that it is injurious to fine wine to make it cheap in England 119 Report and opinion of the Commissioners 120 They acquit the English Government of any false commercial policy in maintaining the present duty, which is solely for the sake of revenue . . 121 XX CONTENTS. Page Opinion of the Emperor NAPOLEON III. . . . . .122 More important to France to reduce the duty on BRANDY than on wine 124 Quantity of wine required to produce a given Quantity of brandy (note) 124 A tax on brandy is but a concentrated tax on wine in another shape 124 The highest wines and the lowest, comparatively independent of taxation . . ... . . . . .124 The strong wines which are rt burnt for brandy" would benefit were that duty lowered .... . 124 Reasons for this conclusion . . . . . . .125 The taste for brandy in England, ancient and strong not so for French wine. . . . . . . . . .125 Importance to Herault and the Rhone, to obtain a lower tax on their brandy in the United Kingdom . . . .125 CHAPTER XII. DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF THE VINE-DISEASE IN FRANCE. Effects of "good" and "bad" Vintages on Trade . . .126 Their Importance in the present Enquiry 127 Table of Vintages in France, 1820 1854 128 The produce of the "good" years must bear the deficiencies of the "bad" 128 Appearance of the Vine Disease in France . . . .129 The finest Vineyards least attacked . . . . . .129 Bad quality of the medium Wines . . . . . .129 Annual production of Wine in France, 1848 1854 . . .130 Burgundy 130 Bordeaux 131 The Rhone 131 Decline in the Export of Wine from France since 1850 . . 132 Want of Wine for the Peasantry 132 The Internal Consumption of Wine in France, since 1 848, has exceeded the production . 132 Imports of Wine into France 133 Coffee issued to the French Army in lieu of Wine . . .133 Contract Prices of Wine for the French Navy, 18481854 . 134 Bad Quality of the Wine . . 1 34 CONTENTS. XXI Page Burgundy supplying Wine to the South of France , . .135 Eetail Price of Wine in the cities of France .... 136 Effect of the Vine Disease on the Distillation of Brandy . .137 Quantity produced in the last Seven Years . . . .137 Exports of Brandy from France 137 Importation of Spirits into France, 1852 1854 . . . 137 Average prices of Brandy, 18481853 138 Contract prices of Brandy for the French Navy . . . 138 CHAPTER XIII. DUTY ON THE PUBLIC REVENUE. The question is one solely of "Finance" 139 Opinion of the Wine Trade, as to the effect on Revenue . . 140 Opinion of Mr. PORTER that, for a time, there would be loss . 141 Englishmen will not at first take light French Wines . . 142 The labouring classes will prefer Beer 142 Beer drunk in France (note) 143 Retail Wine Shops in London 143 Not successful . . . . . . . . . . 144 The Chancellor of the Exchequer must calculate on an interval of loss .......... 144 The Consumption of Tea and Coffee not a parallel case . . 145 Articles for which the Public have a taste, consumed in spite of high duty ......... 146 Brandy 146 Tobacco (note) .......... 147 Mr. M'CULLOCH'S opinion against a One Shilling Duty on Wine . 148 CHAPTER XIV. THE PRESENT PRICE OF WINE WILL BE RAISED UNDER A ONE-SHILLING DUTY. Price of Wine has doubled since 1793 . . . . .149 Cheap Wines liable to sudden rises in price Spanish Red Wine 150 The price of Brandy raised in France when the Duty was lowered in England (note) . . . . . .150 XX11 CONTENTS. Page Price of Port Wine raised in 1852 151 Price of Masdeu raised in 1854 . 151 Price of Ben6carlos raised in 1853-4 151 Price of Marsala raised in 1853-4 , 151 Prices of the lowest Port and Sherry in London, 1850 1854 . 152 The increasing demand in other countries will raise the price in England .......... 153 Algeria, South America, Russia 153 The home demand for Claret increasing in France . . .154 CHAPTER XV. IF THE USE OF WINE IS TO SUPERSEDE THAT OF BEER AND SPIRITS, WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH THE MALT DUTY AND EXCISE? Duties on all fermented liquors, well-adjusted in England . 1 55 If one is altered, all must be revised . , . . . .155 Proportion of Brandy in various Wines . . . . .156 If the duty is lowered on Wine it must be lowered on Brandy also 157 Importance of this to the Wine-growing Countries . . .157 Danger of fraud to the revenue ....... 157 Duty on British Spirits must be lowered, if Wine is to super- sede them ......... 157 Duty on Colonial Rum. 157 The Malt tax must be re-adjusted 158 Amount of Annual Revenue from Fermented Drinks . . .159 The license system must be amended 160 Drawback on Wine in the event of reduction . 161 CHAPTER XVI. ADULTERATION. Not occasioned by high duties 1 62 Adulteration of Champagne . .... 162 Exaggerated statements on this head 163 Blending and " Vatting" in bond 164 CONTENTS. XX111 Page Not censurable if honestly performed . . . . . .164 Adulteration in the retail trade 165 Adulteration will increase under low duties. . .166 CHAPTER XVII. RESULT OF THE ENQUIRY. Advantageous to Trade to reduce the Duty on Wine . . 168 It would promote Commerce abroad . . . . . .168 The main difficulty will be the supply of suitable Wines . .168 All similar Duties must be re-modelled 168 The Trade is entitled to an early and final decision . . .169 The interests of the Revenue require the same . . .170 APPENDIX. No. I. Example of the mode of calculating the Duty on Wine previous to Mr. PITT'S alteration of the system, 1796 . 171 No. II. Table of the Bates of Duty on Wine between 1786 1788 174 No. III. Table shewing the production of Wine in each De- partment in France, 18481854 . . . . 175 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION, ETC. CHAPTER I. THE ADVANTAGES OF REDUCING THE IMPORT DUTY ON WINE, AND THE DIFFICULTIES. SIR ROBERT PEEL, when re-constructing the British tariff in 1842, declined to include WINE amongst the articles on which he contemplated a reduction of duty on import. The reasons which he assigned were two : first, the pendency of negociations then in progress with France and other wine-growing countries, and the expediency of obtaining from them relaxations corresponding in importance with our own reductions; and, secondly, the apprehension, drawn from previous experience, that the increase in the con- sumption of wine arising from diminished taxation, might prove to be insufficient to replace the amount of income surrendered. 1 1 SIR ROBERT PEEL'S Speech, House of Commons, llth March, 1842. B 2 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. The negociations to which Sir Kobert Peel alluded came to no successful termination, and the duty upon wine re- mained unaltered. But attention has been again directed to it by publications emanating from persons well informed on the subject, 1 and in March, 1852, a committee of the House of Commons was appointed on the motion of Mr. CHISHOLM ANSTEY, M.P., " to inquire into the revenue derived from the import duty on wines." After a patient investigation, the Committee forbore to recommend any course to the Legislature, and concluded their labours by reporting to the House the voluminous and conflicting evidence which had been submitted to them. Mr. DISRAELI, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, declared shortly after, in his place in parliament, that " no govern- ment which was ever likely to exist in this country, would entertain the project of reducing the import duty on wine to one shilling a gallon ;" and he reiterated the apprehen- sion expressed by Sir Kobert Peel ten years before, that there is no prospect of such an increased consumption as would make up for the sacrifice." 2 In the session of 1853, Mr. OLIYEIRA, M.P. for Ponte- fract, proposed a resolution for the reduction of the duty on foreign and colonial wines to one shilling per imperial gallon, but withdrew it on the assurance of the CHANCEL- LOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, that the views of the govern- ment would be announced on the occasion of making the annual financial statement. As to the policy of such a 1 The Wine Trade and its History, in five letters. By THOMAS GEORGE SHAW. Reprinted from the " Times." London. 1850. A means whereby the Revenue may be increased by a large reduc- tion of taxation, etc. By R. E. T. London. 1850. A Letter to the Right Hon. B. Disraeli, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer. By a Wine Merchant. London. 1852. 2 MB. DISRAELI'S Speech in reply to Mr. Mailings, M.P., June 17th, 1852. ADVANTAGES AND DIFFICULTIES OF REDUCTION. 3 reduction, and the social and commercial advantages by which it might be attended, Mr. GLADSTONE 1 expressed himself favourably impressed: "He was not," he said, "one of those who thought it impossible or visionary to expect a great extension of taste for, and consumption of, wine among the people of England. On the contrary, it appeared to him that the present state of the taste of the people, in regard to wine, was the natural result of our fiscal system in that respect. Considering that wine was one of the great gifts of Providence to man considering what a place it occupied among the means of his sub- sistence considering how many useful and wholesome ends it subserved in connection with his physical temperament considering the manner in which it might be used as a competing article with alcoholic spirits he must confess it was most desirable, if it .were possible, to make an important change in the duties upon wine. The extension of trade in Europe, the breaking down a set of virtual monopolies which we had created, and which aggravated the wine duties monopolies in favour of particular districts, the stopping adulterations, and putting down spurious articles, brought into demand under colour of a system of high duties these and other considerations recommended a pro- posal which should bring about an important change in the wine duties. In fact, he might say, he knew no article burthened with a fiscal chain, under our financial system, with respect to which any stronger reasons for a change could be given. But most unfortunately, it likewise hap- pened, that strong as were the reasons for alleviation, the difficulties were equally pre-eminent." These difficulties Mr. Gladstone described as essentially financial, involving the certainty of a great sacrifice of revenue, with the un~ 1 Speech of the Eight Hon. W. E. Gladstone, April 5, 1853. B 2 4 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. certainty of its replacement. Again, on the 18th of April, in bringing forward the budget for the year, Mr. Gladstone gave the final decision of the government, that u whatever might be their opinion of the operation of the present wine duty, they were unable to propose any change at that time, and unable to see any definite or early prospect of a change hereafter." Except the destruction produced in the wine countries by the ravages of the vine disease, no new facts of any im- portance have been added to the information collected by the committee of 1852. From that period to the present, with the exception of Mr. Gladstone's statement above re- ferred to, the question has been practically in abeyance; no serious attempt having since been made in the House of Com- mons to discuss it gravely. An Association " for the reduction of the duties upon wines " was formed immediately after the dissolution of MR. ANSTEY'S committee: but subsequent events, the vine disease, which has since devastated the richest wine-producing districts of the world, the outbreak of war, and other occurrences, complicating the financial elements of the question, have so rapidly succeeded one another, that the Association have judiciously abstained from disor- ganising trade by agitation, whilst hopeless of any counter- vailing result. Meanwhile the subject has lost none of its social and commercial attractions ; great popularity must always attach to a project, the object of which is not only to cheapen one of the chiefest luxuries of the wealthy, but to render it readily accessible to the middle classes and the poor; and to correct the prevalence of intoxication among the lower orders, by offering them a healthful and exhilarating beve- rage instead of ardent spirit. It admits of no reasonable doubt, that whenever a Chancellor of the Exchequer shall find himself at liberty to make a great reduc- tion in the present duty on the importation of wine, ADVANTAGES AND DIFFICULTIES OF REDUCTION. 5 such a measure, if successful, cannot fail to enlarge mate- rially our operations in trade with those countries from which we already derive our supplies, and to open to us new fields for enterprise in others, to which our manufac- tures hardly penetrate as yet; since we refuse to take the produce of their vineyards in return. It will draw closer our peaceful alliance with our powerful neighbours in France, and deprive Portugal and Spain of a convenient pretext for maintaining their excessive duties on the pro- duce of the United Kingdom. If consumption can be established on a scale so augmented as to protect the national revenue from loss, such a measure will render an acceptable service to the wine trade of Great Britain, and give largely increased employment to the numerous handicrafts engaged in its economy, both at home and abroad. The use of wine in our hospitals, and its value as an essential restorative for the sick, point it out as one of those articles on which, under such circumstances, the duty may fairly be remitted altogether, as has hitherto been the prac- tice in regard to the timber and other materials employed in the erection of buildings for charitable and devotional purposes. Other taxes incident to articles of more general use and necessity will naturally claim precedence in point of time for relaxation; but, come when it may, the surrender of the duty on wine will be greeted by a popular and hearty welcome. But, before we can embrace these anticipations with per- fect confidence, it behoves us to turn to that consideration which deterred Sir Robert Peel from dealing with the wine duties in 1842, which disappointed his predecessor's ex- pectations in 1825, and induced his successor, in 1852, to declare, that he " thought the great increase of consump- tion anticipated from the reduction of the wine duties a 6 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. delusion, and that to realise it would require a revolution in the tastes and habits of the people of England." L Seasonable doubts have been expressed, whether the people of Great Britain will so far abandon their prevailing taste for strong and highly alcoholised drinks, as to con- sume largely of the light wines of southern Europe. A grave question has been raised, whether in the event of any greatly increased demand for wine consequent on a reduc- tion in its x cost, a correspondent supply could be readily ob- tained of a quality acceptable to the people of these king- doms. An apprehension is entertained, and not without precedent, that the price, under such circumstances, would be so raised in the places of production, as to equal, if it did not exceed, the amount of reduction in the item of duty. But, supposing all these inquiries to be most satisfactorily solved, and a vastly increased consumption to be established in the United Kingdom; the further fiscal question will come on for discussion, whether concurrently with the sur- render of the duty upon wine, an article which is the growth of foreign countries, the taxes can still be main- tained upon malt and spirits, which are the produce of our own country and its colonies. These are some of the points on which the Chancellor of the Exchequer must arrive at a deliberate conclusion, before he can commit himself to an operation involving annual income to the extent of so many millions; and the follow- ing chapters have been devoted to an enquiry into the history and results of the various duties which have been imposed from time to time upon wine, as they influenced consumption and Revenue ; and the probable consequences of a considerable reduction if effected now, as regards the supply on which we could reasonably calculate of a quality suitable to the taste of the people of England. 1 Speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, June 18th, 1852. IS WINE A LUXURY OE A NECESSARY? CHAPTER II. SHOULD WINE BE TAXED AS A "LUXURY," OR AS ONE OF THE "NECESSARIES OF LIFE." IN estimating the proper amount to be collected as a duty upon WINE, it is indispensable to determine pre- liminarily under what class of articles wine is to be assessed : whether as a necessary of life, with a merely nominal duty, reluctantly subjected to taxation, from the sheer necessity of raising revenue; or, as a luxury, which, by common consent, is a legitimate source of income; or, lastly, as an intoxicating stimulant whose excessive use must be controlled for the sake of public morals. 1. Wine has never been treated in this country in the last mentioned character, nor subjected to the same fiscal dis- cipline as spirits, with a declared intention to discourage or regulate its general use. Although excessive duties and occasionally positive prohibitions were imposed on French wines in the reigns of Charles II.,' William III., and Queen Anne, this was avowedly for political purposes, subsidiary to a state of war, and designed not to diminish the use of wine generally, but to exclude those of French growth. In the subsequent reigns of the Georges and down to 1831, although disproportionate imposts were kept up on French 8 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. wines (frequently upwards of 100 per cent, and at no time less than 33-J per cent.) above those of other countries; yet this unjustifiable regulation was defended, not on moral but on commercial grounds, with a view to favour the wines of Portugal and Spain, the people of which were better cus- tomers for British manufactures than the French. 2. Wine has never in this country been regarded as a " necessary'' 1 of life, in dealing with it as a subject for taxa- tion, such has at no period been the fiscal view taken of it. Even whilst making a display of favour to the wines of the Peninsula, by imposing prohibitory taxes on those of France, we never permitted the duties on the wines of Portugal and Spain to fall below the scale of taxes upon luxuries. They ranged from 7s. Od. to 9s. Od. a gallon for the first quarter of the present century, and from 4s. 9| d. to 5s. 9d. since. 3. In the British tariff, wine has, at all periods, been placed in the class of "luxuries." 1 When Mr. Pitt made the first reduction in 1787, after having in the previous year abolished the antiquated customs imposts inherited from King Charles and King William, 2 he still retained a duty of 4s. 6d. upon French wines; of 4s. Wd. upon Khenish, and 3s. on Spanish and Portuguese. But the experiment of this low duty only lasted for six or seven years; and Mr. Pitt himself, between 1795 and 1798, in- creased the duties not only on the wines of France (with whom we were then at war), which he advanced from 4s. 6d. to 10s. 6d. a gallon, but also on the wines of Portugal 1 "Beer and ale in Great Britain, and wine even in the wine countries, I call ' luxuries.' (ADAM SMITH, Wealth of Nations, b. v. c. 2). "There can be no better subjects for taxation than spirituous and fermented liquors : they are essentially luxuries " (M'CuLLOCH on Taxation and Funding, p. 352). 3 For an example of these curious imposts, see Appendix No. I. IS WINE A LUXURY OR A NECESSARY? 9 and Spain, which he raised from 3s. to 6s. \\\d. So pro- lific did these high duties prove, that they were again raised in 1805 to 13. Sd. and 9s. \\d., at which they remained for twenty years afterwards; and when again reduced by Mr. Huskisson and Lord Ripon, in 1825, it was only to bring them back to the point at which they had stood in 1795; namely, 4s. lOd. a gallon on Peninsular wines, and 7s. 4^d. on French. The wine trade itself has always acquiesced in regarding wine as a "luxury," and as such entitled to be dealt with for purposes of taxation. The memorial presented to Mr. Huskisson, in 1823, by Mr. Warre, on behalf of the wine- merchants, praying for a reduction of the duties, expressly states that they regard " wine as a fair object from which revenue should be derived, especially in the present times, when every one is overburthened with excessive taxation, even upon the very necessaries of life." 1 The memorial adds, that " on a proposal for the reduction of duties on wine, the first impulse will naturally be, that wine is one of the last articles that should be exonerated, and with this feeling the memorialist entirely coincides. Wine is no doubt one of the articles that should be taxed in preference to many others, and the duties should be to the utmost extent that would be productive of revenue, but no fur- ther." Of late years, the portion of the wine trade of London who are in favour of reducing the duties, have changed ground on this point ; and in recent appeals and pub- lications they urge that wine should be encouraged as a necessary, and no longer taxed among luxuries. This posi- tion, however, is hardly tenable. There are large and increasing numbers, both in these and in other countries, 1 The Past, Present, and probably Future State of the Wine Trade. By JAMES WARRE. London, 1829. P. 3. 10 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. who, so far from recognising wine as a necessary of life, recommend total abstinence from its use, and denounce even its moderate enjoyment as a vice to be eradicated. Millions, both of the middle and lower orders, consider beer and similar beverages as luxuries ; and even in the countries most prolific in wine, those qualities which alone would find consumers in England, are reserved for the opulent classes of society. Were wine regarded by the population of the United King- dom as a necessary of life, or had the amount of the duty been felt as a grievance by the masses, who were thereby deterred from its use, there can be no doubt that the recent move- ment to procure its reduction would have met with eager support. But as yet the agitation has been almost exclu- sively confined to gentlemen directly interested in the intro- duction of wine, either as importers or brokers. No popular appeal has been made to the Government expressive of any sense of oppression from the duty, or of any earnest wish for the reduction on the part of the public ; and the petitions in its favour hitherto presented to the House of Commons, amount to but seventeen in all (of which four are from governors of hospitals), with a total of 1,200 signatures. If a new view of the matter should hereafter be adopted by any Chancellor of the Exchequer; if it should be con- sidered that wine has hitherto been submitted to mistaken treatment in dealing with it as an article of luxury, and that it ought to be regarded as one of the necessaries of life, and taxed accordingly; in that case, the present duty will unquestionably be found too high : and it ought to be so reduced as to bring it more in harmony with the amount levied off other articles which belong to the class of " neces- saries." In such an event, however, as past experiments have shown that a low rate of duty on wine is not capable of IS WINE A LUXURY OR A NECESSARY? 11 reproducing the amount of income abandoned by reducing it; the Chancellor of the Exchequer must be prepared to deal with it solely on financial grounds; and to surrender, if it can be spared, a proportion of the income at present realized from wine, which amounted to 1,914,456/. in 1854, and, on an average of the last twenty-five years, has been equal to 1,700,000/. per annum. Meanwhile, looking on wine as it has hitherto been fiscally regarded, namely, as an object of " luxury," from which the Chancellor of the Exchequer is to extract the highest amount of revenue attainable without diminishing consumption, it is desirable, instead of relying on the spe- culative opinions of individuals as to the probable effects of altered duties for the future, that we should look back to the recorded results of the successive changes to which the import of wine has been subjected in times past, especially since the organisation of the present system by Mr. Pitt in 1786-7; and observe how far consumption and income have been respectively influenced in alternate periods of high and low duties. 12 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION, CHAPTER III. MR. PITT'S EXPERIMENTS WITH THE WINE DUTIES, 17861825. CURIOUS anomalies present themselves in tracing through former periods, by the returns of revenue and consumption, the various results of increased or diminished duties upon wine. The phenomena exhibited by them are so capricious, as only to be accounted for by regarding wine as among the luxuries rather than the necessaries of life. Were it a " necessary," and its use stimulated by the uniform impulse of a natural want, whose gratification would be mainly influenced by considerations of cost, its consumption would register with ordinary accuracy its own expansion and compression, under the varying pressure of increased or lightened duties; but as a "luxury," and more or less affected by the alteration of social habits, by temporary causes, and the fluctuations of fashion and taste, its use, as shown by these Returns, is irregular and intermittent; ex- hibiting at one time the largest amount both of consumption and revenue under the influence of the highest range of taxation, 1 and at others manifesting a sudden decline of 1 Ex. gr. 1795, 1803, 1806 to 1811. 13 both, notwithstanding the reduction of duties, 1 sometimes in periods of great national prosperity. Some of these occasional aberrations are almost unac- countable. Thus, Mr. Porter, in his evidence before the Committee appointed by the House of Commons to enquire into the operation of the Wine Duties, in 1852,* adverted to the fact that the consumption of wine in the year 1801 was 0-431 gallons per head, and in the year 1851 this had diminished to 0-230 gallons, a decrease equal to 48 percent.; yet in 1851 the duty was but 5s. 9d. per gallon on wine of every description, whereas in 1801 it ranged from 6s. 9d. on Portuguese and Spanish, to Ss. Sd. on Khenish, and 10^. 2d. on French. In fact, in 1801, when the population was 15,500,000, and the duty high, the consumption was 6,876,710 gallons, and the revenue 2,185,6617.; whereas in 1851, when the population was 27,309,000, and the duty one-third lower than in 1801, the consumption was but 6,280,653 gallons, and the revenue only 1,776,247/. This diminution had therefore taken place under a greatly dimi- nished range of duties, and not only with an increased population, but with an increased ability to consume: " the wealth of the country," as stated by Mr. Porter, " having increased even beyond the proportion of the in- creased population." Mr. Porter was disposed to solve the difficulty, in that particular instance, by ascribing the decline of consumption to the influence of high duties; but his attention was called to the fact, that the duties had been actually one-third lower during the period of decline than they had been at the date of the large consumption. In fact, the Returns between 1787, when Mr. Pitt lowered the duties on wine, to the close of the last war in 1815, or 1 Ex. gr. 1789, 1793, 1794, 1826. 2 Evidence. Wine Duties Committee, 3669, 3670. 14 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. a few years later, present so many anomalies that they throw no real light on the abstract question, and can only be accounted for by regarding them as the eccentri- cities of consumption excited by the vicissitudes of a state of war. 1 From statistics so conflicting and inconclusive, there would be little difficulty in culling sections to sustain almost any view of the wine duties, and to justify respec- tively either increase or reduction. Those who support the latter made use only of such portions of these Keturns, before the Committee of the House of Commons in 1852, as exhibited periods when the increase of consumption had been stimulated by the lower scale of duties; but they passed by those periods when that result failed to manifest itself; 2 they were silent as to the years in which the highest rate of duties was collected without materially lowering the consumption, 3 and the fact is not once adverted to that the 1 Evidence of Mr. Porter, 3671, 3672. 3 In 1793, under a 3s. duty, the consumption declined from 7,851,707 gallons (which it had been in 1792) to 6,610,701 gallons, and in 1794, it sunk to 6,811,374 gallons. Again, in 1825, the duty was reduced from 13s. 9d. and 9s. l^d. to 7s. %\d. and 4s. 9|d ; and the following year the consumption fell from 8,009,542 gallons (in 1825) to 6,058,443 gallons. 3 As between 1800 and 1808, when the consumption and revenue were as follows : Duty. Consumption. Revenue. French. Portuguese. s. d. S. d. galls. 1800 10 6i 6 llf 7,294,752 2,124,808 1801 10 2| 6 9| 6,876,710 2,185,661 1802 10 7^ 7 7,113,416 2,280,072 1803 12 5 8 3 8,226,464 2,423,929 1807 13 8 9 1 6,271,346 2,729,887 1808 13 8 9 1 6,331,875 2,684,474 MR. PITT'S WINE DUTIES. 15 highest amount of revenue has been invariably realised at the highest rate of duty; 1 and that reductions, so far from uni- formly replenishing the public income, have, in the majority of instances, failed to replace the amount of duty surrendered. 2 Those witnesses who advocated a lower scale of duties before the committee of 1852, attached becoming import- ance to the enlightened measures of Mr. Pitt, who, after having put an end to smuggling in 1786, by transferring the collection of a part of the duties from the customs to the excise, in the following year (1787) effected a very large reduction in their amount. They point with satis- faction to the circumstance, that the duties so lowered tend greatly to increase the consumption of wine ; but they pass over the fact, that they, at the same time, failed to realize the expected amount of revenue, and that Mr. Pitt himself not only restored them to their original rate in 1795-6, but raised them a second time, in a subsequent year, to nearly double that amount, and this he effected not only without greatly diminishing the consumption, but even largely augmenting the public income. It is right, however, to observe, that these are excep- tional illustrations drawn from unsettled periods; and they cannot fairly be used as evidence of the probable conse- quences of either raising or lowering the duty on wine in ordinary times and under normal circumstances. 1 The highest amounts of revenue received in any one year was In 1807 2,729,887 1808 2,786,587 The duty in both years was the highest collected, viz., 13s. 8d. on French wine, and 9s. \^d. on Portuguese. In 1813 the duty on French wine was raised to 19s. 8^d., but it was reduced to 13s. 80?. in the following year. 2 The average revenue of twenty-seven years since 1825, when the duties were last reduced, has been 1,705,225 ; the average of twenty-six years, under the highest scale of duties, before 1825, was 2,259,850?. 16 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Mr. Pitt's alterations in the wine duties may be con- sidered at three periods, the particulars of which are as follows: 1. First, in May 1786, in the conviction, as he stated, that under an improved system smuggling would be put an end to, and a greater demand for foreign wines arise, " while at the same time we would improve the revenue," 1 he brought in the measure by which he consolidated the laws relating to the import of wine, abolished the antiquated scheme under which the duty on a single pipe was com- puted from fifteen separate items, 2 and placed the survey of wine under the charge of the excise. In 1787, on the occa- sion of negotiating a treaty of commerce with France, he reduced the duty on French wines to 4s. 6c?., 3 and, con- formably to the requirement of the Methuen treaty, which stipulated for a perpetual discrimination to the extent of one-third in favour of Portugal, the wines of that country were lowered to 3s.,* and at these rates the scale remained fixed till 1795. The effect of the alteration, so far as regarded consump- tion, fully justified the anticipations of Mr. Pitt: it rose rapidly beyond its previous amount. It had been but 4,064,864 gallons in 1785 it rose to 6,601,038 in 1790 and to 6,861,374 in 1794 1 Speech, May 5, 1786. Debrett's Parliamentary Debates, vol. xx. p. 174. 2 I have placed in the APPENDIX, No. I., a statement which affords a curious view of the absurd and complicated system, by which the duty, prior to A.D. 1786, was calculated on a tun of wine ; under the conflicting authorities of upwards of twenty acts of Parliament, imposing " tonnage," and " poundage," " old subsidies," " new sub- sidies," and " coinage," and directing deduction from these at certain stages, as abatements for damage and leakage. This singular system, was abolished by Mr. Pitt's Bill of 1786. 3 Feb. 16, 1787. ^ * March 26, 1787. 17 This result, however, was not attributable exclusively to the operation of the low duty: smuggling, which, according to Mr. Pitt (Speech, 5th May, 1786), had prevailed to an extent almost incredible under the old system/ was so checked by the excise regulations organised by Mr. Pitt in 1786, that large quantities, which had previously escaped, were, for the first time, brought to account in 1787 and the subsequent years, and thus served to swell the return of quantities consumed, although they were not, in reality, an addition to the actual consumption of the country. But the effect on the revenue was not so striking as the increase exhibited in consumption. The records for 1787 being destroyed, it is difficult to obtain the precise amount derived from the wine duties in that year ; but the following table I have prepared partly from the returns laid before the Wine Duties Committee of 1852, and partly from a paper laid before Parliament in April 1791. 2 1 ; ' It was a matter of undoubted fact, that there was a much greater consumption of wine in this country than formerly ; and yet it appeared that the importation had decreased 6000 or 7000 tuns every year, as compared with fifteen years ago, and the revenue was a loser to the amount of 300,OOOZ. or 400,0007., and he believed a great deal more ; for he was pretty certain that more than 6000 or 7000 tuns were annually imported without paying the duty." Mr. PITT, April 12, 1786. 2 In this paper, Mr. Pitt showed the average receipts from the duties of Customs and Excise upon wine during three years before the alteration and during three years after, by the following Table : 1784 j Average. 1785 } ^625,454 1786 ) 1787 644,219 1788) 1789 } 714,010 1790) Average increase in the revenue, .88,656 per annum. C 18 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Duty. Consumption. Revenue. French. Portuguese. s. d. s. d. galls. 1784 8 9 4 2 3,916,584 619,523 1785 4,064,864 642,519 1786 8 9 4 2J 4,060,384 614,247 1787 4 6 3 4,521,941 848,909 1788 4 6 3 6,650,644 894,378 1789 5,959,098 856,223 1790 >? 6,601,038 959,565 1791 >j 7,573,790 1,054,779 1792 j> 7,851,707 1,148,755 1793 >j j? 6,610,701 * 785,193 1794 ?) 6,81 1,374 l 912,863 The revenue from wine, on an average of three years be- fore the reduction of the duties, had been 625,4297. ; and, on the average of the eight years after, it produced 932, 583/. In like manner, the consumption, which, for three years before the change, had averaged 4,013,944 gallons, rose on the eight years after it to an average of 6,572,537 gallons. So that this first experiment of Mr. PITT was to increase consumption by 63^ per cent. ; but to add only 49 T L per cent, to the public income. 2 II. The second experiment of Mr. PITT was in 1795, when, apparently impatient for a larger income from so prolific 1 The diminution in the consumption of 1793 and 1794 was chiefly under the head of French wines. War having broken out in the former year, the importations were reduced from 622,494 gallons in 1792, to 376,008 gallons in 1793, and 204,097 gallons in 1794 : the revenue falling off simultaneously. 2 In proceeding with this inquiry, I found, on communicating to the proper officer at the Custom-house some difficulties which I had met with in reconciling the figures in a " Table of Rates of Duty upon Wine between 1786 and 1851," which will be found at page 876 of the Report of the Wine Duties Committee, that the scale there presented is inaccurate so far as regards the years 1786, 1 787, 1788. A return has been sent to me by the Inspector-General of Imports and Exports, to be substituted for the imperfect one, which will be found in No. II. in the APPENDIX. MR. PITT'S WINE DUTIES. 19 a source, lie again raised the duties on wine to something approaching the charges from which he had relieved it in 1786-7: viz. on French wines to 7s. 4?d., and on Portuguese and Spanish to 4s. lOje?. per gallon; and even these rates, in the year following, he raised to 10s. 2d. and 6s. 9j<$?. respectively. The result was anomalous but very striking ; the consumption, taking an average of the five or six years following, underwent no very serious reduction, but the revenue increased to an extraordinary amount. Duty. Consumption of Wine. Revenue. French. Portuguese. s. d. s. d. galls. 1794 4 6 3 6,811,374 912,863 1795 7 4 4 10| 8,238,438 1,694,888 * 1796 10 2 6 9| 5,776,260 1,288,252 - 1797 )} jj 3,569,261 1,424,972 1798 10 6^ 6 11 J 5,265,768 1,537,151 1799 j; 6,138,164 2,036,021 1800 7,294,752 2,124,808 Again, attention must be called to the fact that this was an exceptional period, and these irregular results, as war had broken out between this country and France in 1793, and continued till the treaty of Amiens in 1802. The fluctua- tion in consumption during this interval arose, therefore, not so much from the pressure of the duty as from the impos- 1 The great increase, both in the consumption and revenue in 1795, arose, from the fact, that, for the first time in the history of the trade, Mr. Pitt in that year charged the stock in the dealers' hands with the additional duty. This took the trade by surprise ; in anticipation of a rise they had paid duty on a largely increased supply, amounting to 1,372,852Z., on which the surcharge for the new duty, 322,036^., raised the receipts of that year, to 1,694,888& It will be seen that it subsided in the year following to 1,288,252Z. C 2 20 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. sibility of procuring the supply. The importation of French wines, for example, continued to fall off. 1795 557,085 gallons 1796 96,407 1797 6,926 1798 59,414 1799 208,532 For an article which war had rendered scarce, the wealthy were nevertheless willing to pay a high rate (within which was inclosed the high duty), and the high prices in- cident to the period did not deter the consumer from grati- fying his taste. The result of this second experiment of 1795, was to reduce the consumption 17^- per cent., but to add 80 per cent, to the annual revenue on an average of the following years. III. The third experimental period was between 1801 and 1805, when Mr. PITT and his immediate successors, taking advantage of a combination of circumstances fa- vourable to revenue, ventured to make still further addi- tions to the duty; and, strange to say, the consumption proved to be still sufficiently elastic to expand, notwith- standing this additional tension, and the revenue rose, in 1807, to the unprecedented sum of 2, 7 2 9,8 87 /. per annum. Duty on Wine. Consumption. Revenue. French. Portuguese. S. d. ! s. d galls. 1801 10 2* 6 9| 6,876,710 2,185,661 1802 10 7j 7 7,113,416 2,280,072 1803 12 5j 8 3 8,226,464 2,423,929 1804 13 et 9 5,457,691 2,141,456 1805 13 4 9 1^ 4,622,701 2,255,794 1806 5,825,178 2,574,531 1807 > > 6,271,346 2,729,887 1808 j 6,331,875 2,648,474 MR. PITT'S WINE DUTIES. 21 // will be seen by these tables that, with a duty threefold higher than that of the year preceding the war, the consumption of the year 1807 was within 580,000 gallons of being equal to that of 17 '92, under the lowest scale; while the revenue, which, under the low duty, had been but 1,148,755/., in 1792, rose under the high duty to 2,729,887/. in 1807. These experiments with excessive taxation present some curious phenomena : the very first year of the high duties (1795), so far from the consumption falling off; it rose from 6,811,374 gallons to 8,238,438, and the revenue was nearly doubled, rising from 912,863/. to 1,694,888/. Between the years 1797 and 1803, the duty on wine generally, except French, was raised from 6s. 9d. a gallon to Ss. 3d. But within the same time the consumption also rose from 3,569,261 gallons to 8,226,464 gallons, and the revenue rose from 1,424,974/. to 2,423,000/. Mr. Porter, struck with this fact, ascribes it to the prosperity of the landed and mercantile interest during the war, who were thus enabled to maintain their consumption of wine, whilst " the great bulk of the community were at that time ground down by the cost of the war and its consequences." 1 It is difficult, however, to separate the middle classes from this review; or to show that they were not sharers in that pros- perity, and should, to some extent at least, have contributed to the revenue by their consumption of wine. In discussing the proposition that a low duty on wine is the only expedient by which at the same time to stimulate consumption and augment the public income, it is curious to find this remarkable instance in which, for a long series of years, duties obviously excessive in their amount more than triple the revenue, without materially checking consumption. Till towards the close of the war, the duties upon wine, though maintained at the high scale of 1805, did not much 1 Wine Duties Committee. 1852. Report, 3672. 22 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. decline in productiveness, but consumption at length began to flag under their influence. Duty. Consumption. Revenue. French. Portuguese. s. d. s. d. galls. 1809 13 8} 9 1J 5,894,177 2,686,003 1810 >j >j 6,521,293 2,786,587 1811 ?> 5,629,722 2,443,007 1812 1813 jj 19 8| >j 5,024,530 4,565,477 2,189,418 Kecords destroyed. 1814 JLo ^2^ 75 5,330,774 2,267,578 1815 >7 )) 4,624,105 2,388,391 The bold scale of Mr. Pitt's high duties in 1798, was one which could only have been ventured on under unusual influences ; and its success was so extraordinary as to invite him to test to the utmost the capabilities of the tax by successive additions to it, up to 1805. His successors maintained these excessive rates down, to the restoration of peace, in 1815, and for many years afterwards; till at last, the decline of consumption, and the sinking of the revenue, gave unmistakeable warning that the retention of such taxes, even on luxuries, however practicable during the excitement of war, had become intolerable in time of peace. The following table shows the effect of the tax in ten years subsequent to the close of the war, from 1815 to 1825, when Mr. Pitt's duties were at last abandoned. Duty. Consumption. Revenue. French. Portuguese. s. d. S. d. galls. 1816 13 8 9 8 4,057,038 1,777,458 1817 5? 5,142,829 2,224,612 1818 n 5,635,216 2,467,315 1819 ?> J> 4,615,212 2,005,359 1820 ?> 4,586,495 1,987,817 1821 >? 4,686,885 2,006,498 1822 i 5> 4,606,999 1,982,882 1823 J> 4,845,061 2,088,231 1824 >j 5,030,091 2,153,112 - PITT'S WINE DUTIES. 23 I have analysed thus minutely the operations of Mr. Pitt with the wine duties, and the respective effects of his several changes, not so much from any importance attaching to them as precedents by which to adjust the wine duties, at the present day, as because the low duties between 1789 and 17 95 have been so often and so prominently referred to as examples of successful reduction. My own opinion is, that as illustrations of the influence of cost in regulating the consumption of wine, in ordinary times, the war measures of Mr. Pitt are nearly valueless. The parallel fails in all ex- ternal circumstances, and the inference would be delusive. Mr. Pitt had no precedent to guide him in estimating the proper amount of a tax upon wine, when, in 1786, he re- solved to repeal the ancient statutes of Charles II. and William III., to consolidate the law, and to substitute a fixed duty in lieu of the multitude of antiquated dues, such as " tonnage" and " coinage/' which had theretofore been levied off a cargo of foreign wine. 1 His operations with the wine duties between 1787 and 1805, can therefore only be regarded as a series of experiments on the power of con- sumption, and its contributions to revenue; and these, too, carried on under abnormal and exceptional circumstances. His scale oscillates between two extremes; at one time too low to realise income, at another too high to encouiage consumption. He appears in no stage to have hit the happy medium which could extract the greatest possible amount for the Treasury, with the least possible discouragement to the consumer. On his first trials between 1787 and 1795, with a 3s. duty, he relied, not only for " increasing the consumption of wine, but also for improving the revenue;" but the result showed that he had pitche . the rate too low for revenue; 1 See Note p. 16 , and Appendix No. I. 24 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. although, had it been lower still, it would no doubt have been more successful in inviting and extending consump- tion. In the next stage between 1795 and 1805, in his eagerness for revenue, he appears to have become regardless of the consumer. His rates at that period were too extravagant even for a tax upon luxuries; and although for a limited interval, and during a remarkable crisis, they yielded an unprecedented income, they were unsuited to ordinary times, and his successors were obliged to abandon them. When the latter change became inevitable, those by whom it was to be conducted had, however, the advantage of Mr. Pitt's trials, both of low duties and high; and they wisely attempted a middle rate, as that most likely to avoid the errors of both. When the receipts from wine under a 3s. duty had declined in 1794 to 912,863/., and the consumption to 6,811,374 gallons, Mr. Pitt raised the duty to 4s. Wd., and, strange to say, the revenue instantly rose to 1,694,888/., and the consumption exceeded 8,000,000 gallons. The precedent was an inviting one to those who had to deal with the question in 1825, and it appears to have been adopted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the Earl of Bipon). Having to do away with the war duties upon wine, he and Mr. Huskisson fixed their future amount at 4s. Wd. a gallon on all wines except French, which they put at 7s. 3d. The circumstances under which this alteration took place, and the effects produced by it, will form the subject of another chapter. EARL OF KIPON AND MR. HUSKISSON'S DUTIES. 25 CHAPTER IV. THE EARL OF RIPON AND MR. HUSKISSON'S DUTIES, 18251854. In the year 1823, the attention of the government was attracted to the wine duties, by the decline of the con- sumption and the failure of the revenue. The rates were still on the excessive scale of 1805, which, after the peace of 1815, had been continued without change. The con- sumption, as will be seen by the foregoing tables, had begun to decline in 1812. From 1803 to 1811, it had ranged in round numbers from 6 to 8,000,000 gallons per annum; but from 1812 till 1814, it had seldom risen above 5,000,000. The revenue continued to fall in like proportion, though it still presented an annual average of upwards of 2,000,000/. The tendency was, however, decidedly downwards, so much so that, although the wine duties of 1824 were somewhat higher than those of 1803, the receipts were 270,000-?. less. 1 1 The respective amounts were as follows : 1803 1824 Du j French. ty. Portuguese. Revenue. s. d. 12 6J 13 8i S. d. 8 3 9 1 2,423,929 2,153,112 26 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. The public and the press urged the subject upon the attention of the government; 1 and the views of the wine trade of London were, through the instrumentality of Mr. Warre, brought before the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mr. Huskisson, then President of the Board of Trade. Their Memorial dwelt on the fact, that although wine was a luxury, and as such a " fair object of taxation, to the utmost extent that would be productive of revenue, but no farther," still that the exceedingly high duties which we had inherited from the last war, had since the peace defeated their own de- sign, and, by discouraging consumption, had starved, instead of feeding the revenue. They therefore prayed for reduction, not merely for the restoration of their trade, "but as a finan- cial arrangement essential to the increase of the revenue." They suggested 45. a gallon (equal to 4s. lOd. on the present imperial measure), but they intimated at the same time, that they felt that this would be a less duty than wine ought to bear, and they only asked for its continuance " for four or five years, or until the trade should be revived. Wine should be taxed/' they said, " to the utmost that would be productive ; it will bear 5s. a gallon (equal to 65. imperial measure), which would amount to 2,52Q,000/., or an increase of revenue of 566, 052/. per annum, above the average of the last three years/'' 2 The government undertook to comply with their request ; but the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in developing the intention to the House of Commons, took a much less sanguine view of its probable effect on the revenue than had been propounded by the wine trade. He reduced the duty, as suggested by them, to 4s. (equal to 4s. Wd. im- perial measure); at which rate professing to treat wine 1 See Edinburgh Review, No. 80, July 1824, p. 414. 2 Memorial 1823. WARRE'S Wine Trade, etc., p. 40. 27 solely as a luxury, he calculated that although the consump- tion might again equal that from 1801 to 1803 (7,670,000 gallons), the revenue would probably be a loser to the extent of 230,000/. per annum. 1 The reduction took effect the same year (March, 1825), and so far as regarded consumption, its earliest results were calculated to satisfy the expectations, though they failed to realise the estimates, of the wine trade. With the ex- ception of the first year (which is of course a speculative instance) , the consumption has in no year since succeeded to the full extent anticipated by Lord Kipon. It has exhibited, however, a marked increase. On an average of five years before the change of the duty, (from 1820 to 1824), it had amounted to 4,751,106 gallons. It rose in 1825 to 8,009,542 gallons 1826 6,058,453 1827 6,826,361 1828 7,162,376 1829 6,217,652 1830 6,434,445 At about this amount (between 6 and 7,000,000 gallons) it has remained steadily to the present time. Any material variation of late years has intimated a tendency downwards; but the difference is trivial, and attributable to social causes alone, since no alteration in the duty has taken place since 1840. But the effects of the reductions of 1825, as regarded the revenue, were not altogether so satisfactory as the im- pulse given to consumption. The income derived from wine, on an average of the five years preceding the change, 1 Hansard, February 28, 1825, p. 733. 28 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. 1820 to 1824 l had been 2,043,708 In 1825 it fell off to - - 1,955,709 1826 1,424,326 1827 1,600,587 1828 1,700,051 1829 : 1,473,546 1830 1,524,168 It was hardly to be expected, notwithstanding the ardent estimates of the wine trade, that so great a surrender of duty (from 13s. 8d. to 7s. 2d., and from 9s. Id. to 4s. lOflT.), could be offered as a boon to the consumer, without, at least for a time, inflicting loss on the revenue. The Chancellor of the Exchequer made the concession in full anticipation of such a result, and it cannot fairly be regarded as an error of judgment that the actual extent of the loss has some- what exceeded his estimate. Taking a period of 26 years of high duties, prior to 1825, when the reduction took place, and comparing it with a period of 30 years of low duties since, it will be found that, from 1799 to 1824, under high duties, the average annual consumption was 5,575,160 gallons, and the revenue 2,259,800/.; and from 1825 to 1851, under low duties, the average annual consumption was 6,474,029 gallons, and the revenue 1,727,644/. In other words, the decrease of revenue has been 24'5 per cent,, whilst the increase of con- sumption has been but 15*6 per cent. In 1831, another change of an important character 1 The return is as follows : 1820 - - 1,987,817 1821 ... - 2,006,498 1822 - - - - 1,982,882 1823 - 2,088,231 1824 ..- - 2,153,112 EARL OF RIPON AND MR. HUSKISSON's DUTIES. 29 took place in the wine duties; the invidious and unwise distinction between the wines of France and those of the rest of Europe, which had existed since the time of William III., was obliterated, by equalising the duty upon all wine, of whatsoever growth, at 5s. 6d. a gallon, except British colonial, which was to pay only 2s. lOd. The consumption was but slightly affected by this in- crease of duty. It had been, on an average of five years, from, Gallons. 18261830 - - - 6,541,855 1831 - - - 6,212,264 1832 - - - 5,965,542 1833 - - - 6,207,770 1834 - - - 6,480,544 1835 - - - 6,420,342 1836 - - - 6,809,212 The difference between the annual consumption of five years before the increase of the duty and five years after, was only 165,173 gallons. But the difference exhibited by the revenue under even this slight additional duty was striking; on an average of the last five years of the war duties, when they were still at the highest, and before their reduction by Lord Eipon and Mr. Huskisson, the annual revenue on wine had been, as I have stated, from 1820 to 1824, 2,043,708/. On five years after the reduction, 1826 to 1830, it had fallen to 1,544,535/., and on five years after the addition made in 1831, viz., 1832 to 1836, it rose to 1,708,1 53/. One of the most remarkable facts connected with the wine duties is, that at or about this average, the gross con- sumption of wine in these countries, and the revenue de- rived from it, have remained almost stationary for the last 30 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. quarter of a century, as will be seen from the following Table: Duty. Consumption. Revenue. French. Portuguese. s. d. S. d. galls. 1830 7 3 4 10 6,434,445 1,524,168 1831 5 6 5 6 6,212,264 1,535,484 1832 n j> 5,965,542 1,715,812 1833 n >.; 6,207,770 1,633,830 1834 JJ )> 6,480,544 1,705,639 1835 n 5) 6,420,342 1,691,522 1836 j> 5J 6,809,212 1,793,963 1837 5) 6,391,531 1,687,097 1838 6,990,271 1,846,057 1839 jj )J 7,000,486 1,849,698 1840 5 9& 5 9& 6,553,922 1,791,636 1841 >? )) 6,184,960 1,720,479 1842 j> >J 4,815,222 1,334,469 1843 ? 7) 6,068,987 1,703,344 1844 n JJ 6,838,684 1,922,545 1845 j> 6,736,131 1,891,232 1846 j> 6,740,316 1,892,206 1847 )? )) 6,053,847 1,704,318 1848 jj 6,136,547 1,732,282 1849 >j )J 6,251,862 1,767,516 1850 j) J> 6,437,222 1,821,123 1851 n >J 6,280,653 1,776,247 1852 j> )> 6,346,061 1,795,013 1853 j) )J 6,813,830 1,924,972 1854 JJ 6,775,858 1,914,456 Another fact is worthy of notice in connection with the reduction of the wine duties in 1 825. The wine trade then wisely urged on the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that any trifling relaxation of the tax would be unfelt by the con- sumer, and fail to react on the revenue; whereas, by reduc- ing the duty to the amount which they suggested (4s. lOd. per imperial gallon), the public would derive the benefit and the demand would increase. This anticipation was not realised as regarded increased demand : but as evidence of the reduction of cost, wholesome wines, port, sherry, and claret, are now daily advertised at 24s. a dozen ; whereas I am informed by men of long experience in the trade, that for many years prior to 1825, no wine was purchasable under 36s. Taking for granted, then, that wine as a subject for tax- ation is to be dealt with as an article of luxury, from which the Chancellor of the Exchequer is to extract the maximum of revenue by means of the minimum of taxation without diminishing consumption, it would appear to be deducible from the alterations made successively in 1825 and 1831, that the tax upon wine prior to the reduction made by Mr. Huskisson in 1825, was too high, inasmuch as it discouraged consumption; a fact attested by the increase of 2,000,000 gallons per annum immediately on the reduction of the duty. 1 But on the other hand (looking solely and exclu- sively to the interests of the revenue), it may be inferred that the reduction to 4s. IQd. made by Mr. Huskisson and Lord Kipon, was somewhat lower than the p*recise amount required to sustain the public income from the tax ; inasmuch as it immediately fell off much below the lowest amount estimated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer as the probable loss. For four years before the duty was lowered in 1825, the average income from the former rates had been 2,043 3 708/.; for five years afterwards it averaged 1,544,535/. Taking the whole period since the alteration of the duties in 1825, and comparing the receipts with a corresponding period prior to the change, the result exhibits the same occurrence of loss to the revenue. Revenue received. 16 years of war, 1799 to 1814 - - average 2,359,266 10 years of peace, 1815 to 1824 2,110,720 26 years. Total period of high duties, 1799 to 1824 2,259,850 30 years of low duties, 1825 to 1854 1,727,644 This result, showing a loss of about 24 per cent, per 1 Average consumption of wine in five years, before Gallons. the duties were lowered 4,751,106 In five years after - 6,741,855 32 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. annum, is the reverse of realizing the anticipations of the wine trade; who, in 1825, estimated a gain from the re- duction of the duties by the increased consumption of wine equal to 566,000/., 1 a sum rather higher than the now ascer- tained loss. If for the future wine is to continue to be taxed as a luxury, with a single regard to the income derivable from it two circumstances may be regarded as indicative of the fact, that there is a certain amount of sympathy between revenue on the one hand and consumption on the other, maintained by a duty somewhat about 5s. a gallon ; in other words, that that rate approaches the scale which, in the present state of wealth and taste in this country, is likely to realize the largest amount of revenue with the least discouragement to consumption. One is the small and cautious addition made to the scale in 1831, when, as already stated, the discriminating duty on French wine was abolished, and it and all others equalized at 5s. 6d. a gallon (whereas the majority had before paid 4s. IQd.) This trifling in- crease, so far from disturbing the equilibrium, produced little or no reduction in the consumption, whilst it increased the revenue by nearly the amount of the difference of the duties. 2 1 Memorial, WARRE'S Wine Trade, p. 40. 2 The following are the amounts : Duty. Consumption. Revenue. French. Portuguese. S. d. s. d. galls. 1830 7 3 4 10 6,434,445 1,524,168 1831 5 6 5 6 6,212,264 1,535,484 1832 5,965,542 1,715,812 1833 n 6,207,770 1,633,830 1834 n 6,480,544 1,705,639 EARL OF RIPON AND MR. HUSKISSON'S DUTIES. 33 The other circumstance is the still more trifling addition of 5 per cent, to the wine duties, which was made in 1840, at a moment when the general deficiency of the public revenue required to be assisted by this increase on the several articles in the customs tariff. On that occasion, both revenue and consumption evinced the utmost sensibility, even to so slight an alteration. The revenue, which in 1839 had been - 1,849,698 Fell in 1840 to 1,791,636 And in 1841 to 1,720,479 And it did not recover its original amount till four years afterwards, in 1844. In like manner, the consumption underwent a simultaneous decline from 7,000,686 gallons in 1839 to 6,553,922 1840 6,184,960 1841 4,815,222 18421 6,086,987 1843 In 1844, it again rose to nearly its former level 6,838,684 gallons. These experiments displayed a more harmonious relation between consumption and revenue under the 5s. 6d. duty of 1831, than had been found in the instances either of Mr. Pitt's 3s. rate, in 1787, or of his excessive war duties of 1805. The one stimulated consumption without feeding the revenue; the other swelled the revenue without greatly affecting consumption : whereas the medium rate established 1 The falling off in this year was ascribable to the expectation excited, by negotiations with France, that a reduction of the duties was to occur. The deficiency thus created does not appear to hare been made good in subsequent years. D 34 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. by Lord Altliorpe, in 1831, appears to have brought both somewhat into unison with the duty ; maintaining a steady consumption on the one hand, and a revenue unprecedently uniform on the other. 1 1 It is deserving of remark, if only as a coincideDce, that the largest consumption of wine on record since 1786, took place under Mr. Pitt's duty of 4s. lOfd, in 1795, when it rose to 8,238,438 gallons. TASTE FOR WINE DECLINING IN ENGLAND. 35 CHAPTER V. DECLINING TASTE FOR WINE IN ENGLAND AND SOME OF ITS CAUSES. THE advocates for reducing the duties on wine do not question the fact mentioned at the close of the last chapter ; on the contrary, they dwell on and complain of it. Their argument is, that the present duty of 5s. 9d. has, for the last quarter of a century, maintained the revenue, under vicissitudes of public prosperity and depression, at a uni- form level; and maintained the consumption at a corre- sponding and very equable amount. But disappointment is naturally felt, that with the increase of population, the use of wine has not increased; and that the same quantity has sufficed for the wants of twenty-five millions of consumers between 1825 and 1840, and for twenty- seven millions between 1840 and 1855. It is urged as a grievance, that the appetite for wine has grown weaker, and that those who have always been ac- customed to its use, drink now a less quantity than was customary in former times. It was stated in the Commit- tee of the House of Commons, in 1852, that the individual consumption which had exceeded three bottles per head between 1785 and 1794, declined below that quantity D 2 36 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. during the war; that it was but two bottles per annum for ten years after the peace, and has been little more than one bottle in every year since. Mr. Shaw, in his pamphlet on The Wine Trade and its History, has inserted a calculation, exhibiting the progress or reduction, between 1787 and 1851. Period. Average of Years. Average of Population. Bottles per Person per Annum. 1787 to 1790 4 12,500,000 2 9-10ths 1791 to 1800 10 14,500,000 2 5-10ths 1801 to 1810 10 16,580,994 2 2-10ths 1811 to 1820 10 19,754,618 1 5-10ths 1821 to 1830 10 22,940,950 1 6-10ths 1831 to 1840 10 25,345,775 1 6-10ths 1841 to 1845 5 26,739,860 1 4-10ths 1846 to 1848 3 27,059,870 1 4-10ths 1849 1 27,105,822 1 3-10ths 1850 1 27,210,630 1 4-10ths 1851 1 27,309,346 1 3-10ths This decline is sought to be ascribed to the operation of the present duties, as unduly enhancing the price of wine. But the facts are patent and admitted, that whilst the wine duties during the last quarter of a century have undergone very little change, and that whilst population has increased, wealth has also increased, and in a still greater ratio than population; so that the diminution of consumption has arisen, not from increased duties or diminished ability to consume, but from a declining appetite on the part of the people of this country. In point of fact, social refinement, and improved tastes, and altered habits, have produced the same effect on the use of wine, within the last quarter of a century, which was formerly exhibited under the pressure of ex- cessive taxes after the close of the war. It is a subject of notoriety and congratulation, that a great change has taken place in the habits of the upper classes, as regards the use of wine, since the time of TASTE FOR WINE DECLINING IN ENGLAND. 37 Mr. Pitt. The individual consumption, even by those classes who can indulge in it to any extent, has de- clined within the last fifty years to one-half. The race of " six-bottle men" is extinct; 1 and although, while it existed, 1 There are grounds to believe, that this improvement in social habits is not limited to the abandonment of excess in wine by the higher orders, but extends in some localities to a diminution in the in- dividual consumption of intoxicating drinks, generally, by the labour- ing and lower classes. By a recent return to Parliament the number of persons taken into custody, by the metropolitan police, on charges of drunkenness, appears to have declined from 26,974 in 1831, when the population of London was 1,515,585, to 8,754 in 1851, when the population had risen to 2,399,004. A similar return, for the whole kingdom, shews a different result. But the following table of the individual consumption of spirits, at different periods, within the last twenty years, exhibits a remarkable decline. Year. Population. Gross Consumption of Spirits British and Foreign. Individual Consumption per head. 1831 1841 1851 24,410,439 27,891,672 27,452,262 26,738,203 24,106,407 28,814,561 1-09 0-89 1-05 A great increase was anticipated in the consumption of intoxi- cating drinks during the year 1851, owing to the excitement of the Great Exhibition, the influx of foreigners, and the greatly increased activity and movement of the people during that season. The result disappointed this calculation ; and the following returns, in- serted in the report of the Commissioners, exhibits a diminution of consumption when an augmentation had been looked for. In the Eight Months, ending the 5th of September, Nature of Import. 1849 1850 1851 Brandy .... galls. Rum . . 1,316,043 1 880 590 1,198,582 1 839 954 1,175,747 1 779 685 Geneva .... Wine .... Tobacco and Snuff Ibs. 17,870 4,251,382 18,382,672 17,783 4,367,894 18,245,351 17,243 4,359,617 18,304,537 38 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Mr. Pitt's reduction of the duty in 1787 no doubt facilitated the gratification of the prevailing appetite for excess, and thus increased the consumption, it by no means follows that the same effect could be produced by the same expedient at the present day, when better tastes have given a tone of moderation and refinement to the enjoyments of the table. 1 The same result exhibits itself, in a still more striking manner, in estimating the probable consumption in Ire- land, and its capabilities of extension now, as compared with the condition and habits of the upper classes in that country between 1786 and 1795. Wine was at that period drunk to excess; but for the last fifty years, its consumers in Ireland have exhibited an equal moderation with those of England. The following table shows the consumption there at different periods since 1787. Before the Union in 1800, it exceeded an average of 1,000,000 gallons and upwards per annum. For the last forty years, it has scarcely exceeded one-half that amount. It was one of the anticipations of Lord Bipon, when lowering the duty in 1825, that, under the influence of that measure, " the hearty, generous, and honest conviviality for which Ireland had been so long renowned, would doubtless revive in full vigour;" but that hope has not been realised, as will be perceived from the following table : 1 It is observable that this change in habit has extended to the European residents of India. Documents were put in by a witness in the Committee of 1852, the Hon. F. Scott, M.P., which showed that since 1845 the consumption of every description of wine has decreased in India, with the single exception of a strong and su- perior article, sent out as " English claret." Within the same period, the annual consumption of ale and beer in India declined from 264,476 barrels to 216,968. Evidence, etc., 5481 to 6006. TASTE FOR WINE DECLINING IN ENGLAND. 39 CONSUMPTION OF WINES IN IRELAND. Year. Galls. 1787 - - 1,222,983 1790 - - 1,190,774 1795 - - 2,465,837 1800 - - 854,027 1805 - - 818,075 1810 - - 850,229 1815 - - 608,626 1820 - - 423,751 1825 - - 794,716 Year. Galls. 1830 - - 757,674 1835 - - 783,617 1840 - - 696,825 1845 - - 668,213 1850 - - 515,734 1851 - - 499,131 1852 - - 523,228 1853 - - 586,809 1854 - - 591,591 Nor has this alteration in the habits of society been con- fined to the UNITED KINGDOM, where the diminution in the individual consumption of wine might be suspected to be an effect of the enhancement of the price by the addition of the import duty. The same social change has for some years back been apparent in FRANCE, the greatest wine-producing country in the world, and where, consequently, its cost can- not be supposed to offer an obstacle to its freest enjoyment. The gross consumption of France has kept pace with the increase of population and the diffusion of wealth. It has increased 98 per cent, since 1831. The lower classes have been enabled to drink more of the ordinary wines ; but the higher classes have accustomed themselves to drink less of the finer. A commission was appointed by the National Assembly at Paris, in 1849; " to inquire into the effect of the existing taxes upon the production and consumption of wine and spirits in France"; and the Report of the Commissioners, and the Evidence 1 which they have recorded, presents some striking statements as to this alteration in the taste and habits of the wealthy and middle classes ("/ chsse aisee") in this respect. M. CASTERAT, who fills an important office under the 1 ENQUETE LEGISLATIVE, sur I'lmp6t des Boissons, etc., 2 vols. 4to. Paris. 1851. 40 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Municipality of Paris, as Chef de la Degustation, said it was beyond a doubt that the consumption, in Paris, of wine of the finer descriptions had undergone a diminution within the last fifteen or twenty years ; and that this change had extended to the middle classes of the population as well as to the higher orders. His words are : " Pour les vins fins et demi-fins, il est certain que la consommation a beau- coup diminue. Les gouts et les moeurs ont change. A Paris on boit beaucoup moins de vin, et surtout de vins fins. Autrefois, c'est-a-dire quand j'etais encore jeune homme, on buvait bien da vantage. Aujourd'hui on fait peu de ces repas, de ces soupers ou se consommait une grande quantite de vins; je ne parle pas de la classe ouvriere, qui boit toujours autant ; et meme plus, mais seulement de la classe aisee. . . . . . J'ajouterai qu' a cet egard je suis d' accord avec les commercants en gros et demi-gros de Paris, qui reconnais- sent eux-memes que la consommation des bons vins a considerablement baisse depuis dix ou douze ans." Enquete, etc., p. 4. The same gentleman adds, and his statement is sustained by the other witnesses, that whereas in former times it was customary for the opulent classes to keep extensive cellars with supplies of wine of the value of 100,000fr. and up- wards, the practice has entirely ceased ; it began to be felt that too much money was unprofitably invested in such stocks, and the same individuals now purchase of the wine- merchant by the cask, or the demi-piece. 1 1 "M. PASSY. Permettez-moi de faire encore une observation. Les deux choses existent a la fois : c'est-a-dire une moindre consom- mation, en general, chez les gens riches, et aussi un changement marque dans les gouts a I'Sgard des vins. Aujourd'hui meme, les vins demi-fins sont bannis de DOS tables, ou ils Staient sends abondamment il-y--a vingt-cinq ans, principalement les vins de Bourgogne. Ce que Ton boit de preference aujourd'hui, ce sont les vins des premieres crus de Bourdeaux ; mais le bon macon, le bon TASTE FOR WINE DECLINING IN ENGLAND. 41 The same remarks are equally applied to Belgium, both as to the decrease in individual consumption of fine wine, and the discontinuance of keeping large stocks for domestic use. The COMMISSIONED in their report thus sum up the case as regards the altered tastes and habits of the French " De nouvelles habitudes alimentaires dans une paitie de la nation, F usage plus repandu des boissons chaudes et des eaux gazeuses, la transformation des gouts, la division des fortunes, en ont restreint la vente et fait tomber les prix. Dans toutes les classes, autrefois, et surtout dans les classes elevees, on buvait beaucoup; ce n'etait pas seulement un besoin, c'etait un plaisir et un luxe, qui s'alliaient alors avec Fesprit de la societe, avec la gaiete des reunions et la duree Bourgogne, ont disparu en partie de nos repas. Dans la Bourgogne, on vous sert, commes vins ordinaires, des vins qui etaient reputes vins fins autrefois, sans compter tant d'autres cms qui se vendaient tres-bien alors, ayant les de"bouche~s assures, et qui maintenant, n'en ayant plus, se vendent comme vins ordinaires. "M. CASTERAT. Il-y-a quelque chose a aj outer & 1'appui de cette observation. "Il-y-avait autrefois en France des gens riches qui avaient des caves de cent mille francs et plus ; aujourd'hui vous visiteriez toutes les caves des plus riches maisons, que vous n'en trouveriez pas une semblable. Ainsi, j'ai connu un grand proprietaire, amateur de vins pourtant, qui avait he" rite" d'un restant de cave, et comme je lui temoignais ma surprise de ce qu'il ne 1'entretenait pas, il me dit : Que voulez-vous ? cela repr^sente un capital e"norme. J'aime bien mieux, quand j'ai besoin de vin fin, 1'acheter par demi-piece. "De me'me, en Belgique, c'etait une habitude et un objet d' amour- propre d'avoir des caves de 60 et 80,000 francs. Eh bien ! aujourd' hui, ces caves-la sont tout a fait exceptionnelles, on ne fait plus d'approvisionnements. Autrefois & mesure que Ton consommait, on remplagait, et on avait toujours la une quantite" considerable de marchandises. Tout cela n'existe plus : pendant qu'elles s'ecoulent, au lieu de remplacer, on se dit : Si j'ai besoin de vins fins, j'irai les prendre par bouteilles ou par demi-pieces chez le marchand." Enquete Legislative, etc., p. 6. 42 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. des repas. Aussi les qualites les plus dedicates etaient elles soigneusement recherchees et cherement payees. Aujourd'hui, si les acheteurs sont plus nombreux, les amateurs sont plus rares, on est moins difficile dans le choix des vins, et on y met moins d' argent. Et tandis que les crus inferieurs trou- vent dans le developpement des consommations populaires un ecoulement chaque jour plus facile; tandis que ceux de premier ordre, qui n'ont pas laisse degenerer leur valeur et dechoir leur reputation, conservent, surtout au dehors, une clientele d'elite, les cms intermediates sont negliges et manquent de debouches pour leurs recoltes." l In both countries, in France and Belgium alike, but es- pecially in the latter, the increasing use of coffee is assigned as one of the leading causes in the decline in that of wine. The Commissioners, in observing on the fact that the con- sumption of French wines in Belgium had diminished, notwithstanding the establishment of a discriminating duty in their favour, remark, " That the popular drink with their Belgian neighbours is not wine, but beer and coffee, of which latter their four millions of inhabitants consume 19 millions of kilogrammes, whilst 15 or 16 millions of kilo- grammes suffice for the wants of 36 millions of French." 2 A similar fact has been noticed in relation to England. The late Mr. PORTER, in his Progress of the Nation, remarks that " The introduction of tea and coffee into extensive use in the United Kingdom must necessarily have interfered with the consumption of malt liquors" ; 3 and another author, of research and ability, thus speaks of the declining con- sumption of intoxicating drinks generally, and the increase in that of the non-intoxicating, arising from the same cause: " The great increase in the amounts of tea, coffee, ENQUETE, etc., Rapport, p. 22. 2 ENQUETE, etc., Rapport, p. 35. 3 Progress of the Nation, p. 553. TASTE FOR WINE DECLINING IN ENGLAND. 43 and cocoa consumed in this country within the last few years, as shown by the revenue returns, is far more than can be accounted for by mere increase of population ; and the corresponding diminution in the consumption of spi- rituous liquors of all kinds, clearly indicates that the tastes of the great mass of the people, whether influenced by economy or sanitary considerations, incline in favour of the former beverages. The following table clearly proves the fact of this increase: Years end. Jan. 5. Coffee. Tea. Cocoa. British Spirits. Beer. Wiiie. 1836 1840 1845 1850 Ibs. 23,295,046 26,789,945 31,352,382 34,431,074 Ibs. 36,574,004 35,127,287 41,363,770 50,024,688 Ibs. 1,084,170 1,606,800 2,589,977 3,233,372 galls. 24,710,208 25,198,843 20,608,525 22,962,012 Barrels of 36 galls. 16,330,010 15,883,311 14,624,854 15,243,681 galls. 6,420,342 7,000,486 6,838,684 6,247,689 If the population of the year ending January 5, 1850, had drunk the same quantity per head as the population of the year ending January 5, 1836, the quantity consumed in 1850 would have been : 27,268,189 42,444,291 1,258,067 28,673,638 18,949,286 7,450,142 Had the population of 1849-50 drunk of coffee, tea, and cocoa the same quantity per head as the population of 1835-6, the increase in the consumption of these articles would have been only 10,000, 000 Ibs., whereas it has been nearly 27,000,000 Ibs., or considerably more than one-third. And had the population of 1840-50 drunk of spirits, wine, and beer the same quantity per head as the population of 1835-6 did, the increase in the consumption of these articles would have been 100,000,000 gallons; whereas there has been a decrease of 40,000,000 gallons showing the actual difference, taking the increase of population into account, to be upwards of 140,000,000 gallons, or more than one- fifth part of the entire quantity consumed in 1836." 1 1 KNAPP'S Technology; or Chemistry applied to the Arts and Manufactures, vol. iii. p. 147. 44 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. The following returns bring the results down to a later date: Popula- tion. Years end. Jan. 5. Coffee. Tea. Cocoa. British Spirits. Beer. Wine. 27,452,262 1851 1852 1853 1854 Ibs. 32,504,545 34,978,432 36,983,122 37,361,387 Ibs. 53,949,059 54,713,034 8,834,087 61,949,822 Ibs. 2,978,344 3,328,527 3,997,198 4,560,226 galls. 23,976,596 25,200,879 25,021,317 25,883584 Barrels of 36 galls. 16,117,623 16,756,285 17,184,033 16,270,000 galls. 6,280,653 6,346,061 6,813,830 6,775,858 Pursuing the same course of enquiry as that instituted by Dr. Knapp, these figures sustain the same general results. Had the population of the United Kingdom in 1854 (taking it at 27,600,000) drunk coffee, tea, and cocoa in the same proportion as the population of 1835-6 (the latter being about 24,350,000), the increase in the consumption of these articles ought to have been only 8,125,000 Ibs., whereas it has actually been 42,918,215 Ibs. And had they drunk in 1853-4 of spirits and wine in the same proportion as in 1835-6, the increase in the quantities consumed would have been 83,875,000 gallons, whereas there is an actual decrease of 631,468 gallons. 1 1 It has been observed by LANE, the learned annotator of the Arabian Nights (and the observation is confirmed by the experience of Mr. LAYARD, M.P., the explorer of Assyria), that the growth of the use of tobacco amongst oriental nations, has gradually reduced the resort to intoxicating beverages ; and Mr. CRAWFORD, in a paper "On the History and Consumption of Tobacco" in the Journal of the Statistical Society for March, 1853, remarks that simultaneously with the decline in the use of spirits, in Great Britain, has been a corresponding increase in the use of tobacco. Years. Population. Quantity of Tobacco Consumed. Consumption per head. 1821 1831 1841 1851 21,282,960 24,410,439 27,019,672 27,452,262 15,598,152 19,533,841 22,309,360 28,062,978 11-71 oz. 12-80 oz. 13-21 oz. 16-86 oz. TASTE FOR WINE DECLINING IN ENGLAND. 45 In 1835-6, the average consumption of tea, coffee, and cocoa per head of the population was 2|lbs., and in 1853-4 it had risen to 3| Ibs. ; whereas the average consumption of wine, spirits, and beer had fallen in 1853-4 to 22^ gallons per head, from 25^ gallons, which it was in 1835-6. 46 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. CHAPTER VI. STILL TAXING WINE AS A " LUXURY," IS IT POSSIBLE BY A LOWER DUTY TO INCREASE CONSUMPTION AND SUSTAIN THE REVENUE? LOOKING, then, to' the uncontroverted fact, of a great alteration in the taste for wine in these countries, and bear- ing in mind that its ordinary consumers in the United Kingdom are of a class little if at all affected by the mere consideration of cost in an article which they use so moderately, it may reasonably be questioned whether, re- taining wine in the class of luxuries for purposes of taxa- tion, a moderate reduction in the present rate of duty would avail to stimulate increased consumption and sustain the present amount of revenue ? Against the prospect of such a result there was a re- markable concurrence of opinion amongst all the wine merchants examined by the House of Commons Committee of 1852. They were unanimous in their conviction that the present price of wine does not prevent those who now drink it from indulging to the extent of their inclination, and that no reduction of the duty, however low, would induce the present class of consumers to take an additional WILL A SLIGHT REDUCTION INCREASE CONSUMPTION? 47 bottle from the mere fact of its cheapness. One witness l alone proposed to retain the present classification, but to reduce the duty upon wine as a luxury to 3s. or 3s. 6d. a gallon, as was done by Mr. Pitt in 1787 ; 2 but the proposal did not meet with support from any section of the trade, and it was not entertained in the Committee. The idea of returning to a three-shilling duty seems to have originated with Mr. M'Culloch, who, in a former edition of his " Commercial Dictionary" (Art. WINE), suggested that, failing to discover some plan for collecting a duty ad valorem, which he pronounces impracticable, " a duty of 3s. or 3s. 6d. on all wines would not be felt on the finer kinds, and would be no great bar to the consumption of the inferior sorts." The plan of a 3s. duty was, however, considered by all parties in the late Committee as inexpedient ; and I observe that, in a more recent work, Mr. M'Culloch has himself rejected it, and records his opinion that the present rate of duty " 5s. 9</, or rather less than Is. a bottle, cannot be objected to when charged on the superior qualities it is not oppressive ex- cept when applied to the inferior descriptions of wine ; and from the extreme difficulty of assessing ad valorem duties on wine, it is no easy matter to obviate this defect. A reduc- tion to the low rate of 3s. per gallon would probably oc- casion a serious loss of revenue. It would be all but imperceptible as regards the finer and higher priced wines, and though its influence over the lower qualities would be much more considerable, they are not very likely ever to become a popular beverage in these countries. Unless some means should be discovered of obviating the difficulties in the way of assessing an ad valorem duty on wine, there would 1 Mr. MAXWELL, see evidence 3201. 2 It is observable that the lowest amount of revenue on record, as having been collected from wine in any one year since 1786, was 785,193Z. in 1793, and this was received by Mr. Pitt under a 3s. duty. 48 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. probably be but little advantage in disturbing our subsisting arrangements." 1 The majority of the witnesses agreed with the later opinion of Mr. M'Culloch that, to the present class of consumers, a change to 3s. would be a matter of indif- ference, whilst so small a reduction would fail to induce others to commence the use of wine who now abstain from motives of economy. This was the opinion of the late Mr. Porter, who held that the reduction of the present amount by 30 or 40 per cent., or even by one-half, would not lead to such an increase of consumption as to make up the loss of revenue. " Such a reduction," he said, " would be almost equivalent to giving away so much of the revenue. It would not induce the present consumers of wine to drink one bottle more, and it would not induce consumption amongst a fresh class of consumers/' 2 There can be no reasonable doubt that, of so small a saving, scarcely any portion would ever reach the consumer; it would be in part intercepted by the gains of the grower, in part by the profits of the seller, and the alteration would be felt beneficially neither by the public nor by the revenue. The propositions at present pressed upon the Government are the natural results of these convictions. It is urged that in the present state of public taste in relation to the use of wine, it will be of no avail to the trade in that article merely to reduce or readjust the duties if it is still to be retained in the category of luxuries, instead of classing it in the tariff amongst articles of primary necessity, with a duty of ONE SHILLING per gallon. In taking up this new position, the wine trade of the present 1 M'CuLLOCH on Taxation and Funding, p. 371. 2 Evidence of Mr. PORTER, 3749, 3750. WILL A SLIGHT REDUCTION INCREASE CONSUMPTION? 49 day abandon entirely the ground held by their predecessors in 1825, who then urged on the Earl of Eipon the duty of treat- ing wine as a luxury, and imposing on it duties " to the utmost extent that would be productive of revenue." l On one fun- damental point they all agree. The trade of 1825 promised the Chancellor of the Exchequer a gain of half a million by the change; the trade of 1852 have advanced upon that offer, and promise an income of varying from 3,000,000 to 6,000,000 2 per annum. The essential difference between the demands of the two periods consists in this: in 1825, the wine trade of London considered that wine as a luxury would still be largely consumed by the same class who had been always accustomed to its use, if not taxed beyond their ability as purchasers; and that at a moderate duty of 5s. or 6s. a gallon, the demand amongst that class would be always sufficient to carry off the supply from those countries which had been our purveyors of wine, thus largely con- tributing to the public income. But now those who are eager for the change, avow that they no longer look to the 1 Memorial, 1823, p. 3. 2 Mr. Shaw, one of the witnesses who gave evidence before the Committee of last session, is of opinion, that at a one shilling duty, the consumption of wine would become so general amongst the middle classes as to yield a revenue of from 3,000,0007. to 4,365,8737. per annum. Mr. Lancaster, another of the witnesses, quoted from a publication of his own, in which he calculates that a two shilling duty would produce 6,083,3337. It was not unnatural for Mr. "Warre and the wine trade in 1823, who considered that wine ought to be taxed as a luxury, to estimate an income from it of 2,520,0007. ; but it is something like inconsistency for those who now object to it as unjust towards the lower orders, that 1,700,0007. or 1,800,0007. should be collected from wine as a luxury for the rich, to contem- plate raising double that amount, or even 6,000,0007. a-year, off the very same article when it shall have become a necessary for the poor, They seem to be embarrassed between their desire to tempt the public by the offer of wine at a nominal duty, and to tempt the Chancellor of the Exchequer by an immense revenue infuturo. E 50 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. old class of consumers, who will continue to drink their* accustomed full-bodied wines at accustomed prices; but that their aim is by a new scale of duties to create an entirely new class of consumers, for whose use they will introduce a new class of wines hitherto unknown in this country, but the demand for which will, they hope, become so extensive, as to raise the consumption of wines to an unexampled and almost unlimited extent, and enrich the exchequer in a corresponding proportion. In the previous chapters, I have directed attention to the tax on wine, considered under the head of luxuries, to which it has hitherto belonged : what is to follow shall be devoted to this recent proposal for reconstructing the trade upon an entirely new basis, by transferring wine to the class of necessaries, and realising a large increase of revenue from an almost nominal duty. AX AD rALOREMDVTV UNATTAINABLE. 51 CHAPTER VII. AN AD VALOREM DUTY UNATTAINABLE. As the present rate of duty is admitted to be no practical grievance, so far as regards the finest and most delicate qualities, which are luxuries for the opulent; but as it is assumed to discourage the importation of the medium growths, which will not bear the same degree of taxation, a remedy naturally suggests itself in an AD VALOREM duty^ which, whilst retaining the existing scale for the highest description of wines, would give admission to the more ordinary at a rate proportioned to their humbler quality. The suggestion is as attractive in theory as it has proved unattainable in practice. The varieties of wine are so endless, its qualities so diversified, and its value so arbitrary, that the most skilful connoisseurs become baffled to dis- criminate even between its natural inequalities; and at the same time the facilities are so extreme for disguising and temporarily concealing its real characteristics, that no pre- caution has hitherto been found effectual as a protection against deception. The only expedient which has been tried, short of a simple tax upon quantity, is that of dis- tinguishing between wine in cask and in bottle] the latter being rightly supposed, under ordinary circumstances, to be the higher quality. E 2 52 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. The ad valorem system has been tried in various countries, but with uniform ill success: no vigilance, no ingenuity, or experience being found sufficient to ensure safety to the revenue and justice to the fair dealer. It is true, the import duty is so collected at Hamburgh ; but there it is so trifling (one-half per cent.) as to set fraud at defiance. In the United States also the tax is ad valorem*, but there every article in the tariff is similarly assessed; and the American government are well aware, as regards wine, that the formality of valuation is a mere delusion. 1 An ad valorem duty of 10 per cent, was formerly levied in the East India Company's territories; but it was discon- tinued in 1845, and a uniform rate of 1 rupee a gallon was imposed in its stead. 2 In England every Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has had to deal with the wine duties, has rejected the idea of thus assessing them, from a conscious inability to protect the revenue from imposition. Mr. M'Culloch, in his treatise on Taxation and Funding, 3 1 A volume of official correspondence, published by the American Congress in!853, contains, at p. 10, a communication on behalf of the wine-trade of New York, addressed to the Hon. Mr. Guthrie, the secretary to the treasury, in reply to a circular soliciting suggestions for amending the United States' tariff. It embodies these objections to the practical working of the ad valorem assessment of wines, on the following grounds : " 1st. Because all wines are subject, during the voyage, to ' sea-sickness,' and for any appraiser to give the true value of a wine, on landing, is all nonsense. He may tell the differ- ence between good and poor wines, but he cannot tell the difference between 507. and 60/. values. 2nd. Because shippers send wine to the United States with fictitious invoices, making the prices 10/. lower than the charges." The writer adds, " I have stated these facts frequently to Mr. Clay ; and he said he saw the difficulty an ad valorem duty would raise with spirits and wine ; but said it appeared the most equitable mode of collecting the duty. So it is, if all men were honest" 2 Evidence. House of Commons Committee, 3983. 8 Page 117. AN AD FALOIREMVUT? UNATTAINABLE. 53 states the advantages and desirability of applying a different scale of duties to the finest and richest, as compared with the lowest and poorest wines; but he avows that the diffi- culties are so great as not to be likely ever to be overcome. " Were the attempt made, a great deal would have to be left (where nothing ever should be left) to the discretion of the officers; and there is good reason to think, that the frauds thence arising would more than counterbalance any advantage to be derived from the adoption of the principle." Mr. PORTER at one time 1 ventured to propose an inter- mediate scheme, compounded of a fixed and a graduated duty. Seeing that " the imposition of a duty, according to the valuation of the importer, might open the door widely to fraud;" he "suggested that every difficulty of this nature might be obviated by fixing maximum and mimimum rates of valuation, within which the declaration of the merchant must be made," continuing to the officers the usual power so to purchase at an advance of 10 per cent. on the declared value, when they considered it much below the real. But at a later period he abandoned this idea, and explained that he had only suggested it, in 1840, during the negotiation for a commercial treaty with France; at which time the duties not having yet been reduced upon many of the great necessaries of life in this country, " it would have been an exceedingly unpopular thing to have ventured to propose a great reduction in the duty on wine, a luxury, while the duties upon articles of necessity were kept up at a high rate;" 2 although it was necessary, in order to induce the French to enter into a commercial understanding with us, to assure them " that their wines should have a better opportunity of being introduced into 1 PORTER'S Progress of the Nation, p. 561. 2 House of Commons Committee. Evidence of Mr, Porter, 3960. 54 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. consumption with us." He thereupon proposed that the ad valorem duty should apply to the finest wines " which would have continued to pay the high duty they now do, while a great deal of wine not in consumption by the middle and lower classes would have been admitted at a very moderate rate." * Tn that way Mr. Porter thought the objection might be got over, that we were remitting duties on luxuries, while retaining taxes on necessaries; but as the negotiation failed, and the French treaty was never signed, he would not, " in the present condition of things, propose any such plan, he thought it would be very unwise, and he did not wish to see it carried out." In this latter opinion, with one exception, every witness examined by the committee upon the point was unanimous; and all parties concurred unhesitatingly that under such a system it would be utterly hopeless to guard against fraud, to do justice to the fair dealer, or to realize the revenue? 2 In these views, the authorities and some merchants of France are entirely agreed with the government and traders in England. The "Administration of Indirect Taxes" at one period made the experiment of an ad valorem collection, but they speedily abandoned it as illusory and impossible. The enquiry of the Commissioners of the National Assembly, in 1849. showed the facilities afforded by it for deception to almost an incredible extent. " En mettant trois blancs d'ceufs," said one of the witnesses, " dans une piece de vin de Bordeaux de l,500fr., on le rend tellementmeconnaissable que le vin de Suresne parait preferable a boire." 3 The same gen- 1 House of Commons Committee. Evidence of Mr. Porter, 3960. 2 House of Commons Committee. Evidence Mr. BARNES, 343, 344 ; Mr. LANCASTER, 459 ; Mr. SHAW, 1344, 1360 ; Mr. TROWER, 1761, 1778, 1786 ; Mr. SELBY, 1941 ; Mr. CARBONNELL, 2725 ; Mr. REDDING, 5205 ; Mr. HARRISON and Mr. SMITH, 5947. 3 ENQUETE LEGISLATIVE sur 1'Impdt dcs Boissons, p. 281. AN AD VALOREM DUTY UNATTAINABLE. 55 tleman, M. BARRAT, member of the Chamber of Commerce of Paris, goes on to say, that during the interval, when the experiment was in progress of levying the wine taxes ad valorem, the authorities had seized, as they thought, an immense quantity of Burgundy from Macon; but, after keeping it for a few months, it was discovered that there was not one drop of Macon in the entire. But independently of these practical obstacles to a duty ad valorem, there are others which, though incidental, are even more conclusive against its adoption. It would be a virtual restoration of the differential duties abolished by Lord Althorp, in 1831. It would be the establishment of a premium on the light wines of France, as compared with the heavier tax to be levied on the strong wines of Por- tugal it would be a bounty to Sicily and a discouragement to Spain and so regarded, an ad valorem duty is incom- patible with our existing treaties with those wine growing countries to whose produce our existing conventions secure the treatment of (i the most favoured nation." 56 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. CHAPTER VIII. REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL TASTE IN ENGLAND FOR STRONG WINES. THE advocates of a reduction to a one shilling duty, take as the basis of their project, and the ground of their con- fidence for its successful results, the fact, that almost every country of Southern Europe is suitable to the cultivation of the vine; that these countries already abound in wine of a cheap but agreeable and wholesome character, and that the production of these light and exhilarating wines is capable of extension to a comparatively unlimited degree. 1 They urge that of this boundless supply Great Britain takes only an infinitesimal proportion, selecting the finest and most costly descriptions, chiefly the growth of France, Portugal, and Spain; whilst the vast bulk of the economical and healthy wines, not only of these countries, but of Italy, Germany, Hungary, Dalmatia, Sicily, and Greece, are so excluded from consumption in Great Britain as to be un- known even by name. This exclusion is ascribed to the undue enhancement of their cost by the addition of the duty of 5s. 9d. a gallon. 1 The views of those favourable to a one-shilling duty will be found stated very fully in the evidence of Mr. Shaw (1064 to 1384), and in the letters and papers embodied in it. THE TASTE IN ENGLAND FOR STRONG WINES. 57 And it is thought, that were the tax reduced to Is., the influence of this saving, combined with the natural cheap- ness of the wines themselves at the place of growth, would effectually bring them within the reach of the middle and lower orders in Great Britain; who would begin to use them in such quantity as to lead to a prodigious annual importation, on which the perception of even a nominal duty would replenish the revenue to an extent hitherto unexampled. In considering this proposition, it is superfluous to say, that there exists no doubt as to the gross quantity of wines of all names and varieties grown in Europe and elsewhere. The annual production of France alone exceeds 900,000,000 of gallons; that of the Zollverein upwards of 70,000,000 gallons, whilst Austria, Italy, and the Peninsula, yield an incalculable quantity. Wherever the grape will ripen, in all quarters of the globe, its juice can be fermented into a beverage which will bear the name of wine, however defi- cient it may be in those refined qualities which we in England have been accustomed to associate with it. But the question is not as to the gross supply, it is one simply of taste and demand; and whether at any price, or under any duty however nominal, the ordinary wines of Europe would be likely to find consumers to any very considerable extent in this country. Mr. Shaw, who strongly pleads for reducing the duty to one shilling, is of opinion that, " if the duty were thus made very low, we should undoubtedly receive the poorest trash that is grown, but even this," he considers, " if pure and strongbodied, as much of it is, is wholesome, and would suit the taste and pocket of many, either drinking it by itself, or diluted with water; and, of course, we would also receive other qualities." 1 It would 1 SHAW'S Wine Trade and its History, Fourth Letter. LONDON, 1853, p. 5. 58 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. be but a waste of time to repudiate the idea that the people of England, on the mere plea of cheapness, would conform to drink " the poorest trash" known as wines on the Con- tinent; the point at issue, and which merits grave inquiry is this,, whether the light and ordinary wines of Europe not the thin vintages of the peasantry, or the acid piquette of the wine districts, but the wholesome and cheap wines which are drunk by the middle classes and the ouvriers of the towns; whether these are so suited to the English palate, that under the influence of an almost nominal duty, they would find consumers to any considerable extent in the United Kingdom? It will be well, therefore, before proceeding further, to look into this question of taste commercially; and to see whether, judging from what we know to have been the prevailing fancy for wine from an early period in England, and its fluctuations since, there is good ground for be- lieving that such a demand could now be stimulated for a new class of light and pure wines, as to create a trade in them, by offering them at a price far below the accustomed cost of the wines at present in use. The fact is uncontested, that from a very early period the taste of the people of England has been fixed on highly- flavoured and full-bodied wines, in preference to the lighter and lower descriptions. It is a fallacy to suppose that this taste is one engendered by the cold of our climate, for the light wines of France find their most valuable markets in the still colder latitudes of Germany and Northern Europe. But, without attempting to scrutinize its origin, without ascribing it to our climate or our cookery (which latter may require a more stimulant digestive than the cuisine of our continental neighbours), without determining whether the preference be spontaneous or produced artificially by political or fiscal adjustments, THE TASTE IN ENGLAND FOR STKONG WINES. 59 it is sufficient for the purpose of the present inquiry to advert to the uncontested fact, that from a very early period the people of these countries have rejected liyht wines, and drunk only those which, along with high flavour, com- bined a large proportion of body and spirit. In the reign of Elizabeth, the wines chiefly in use in England were those of Gascony, Burgundy, and Guienne; which with Canary, Cyprus, Grecian Malmsey, Italian Vernage, Khenish Tent, Malaga, and others, were " ac- compted of, because of their strength and valure." * In the time of Charles II. , " the consumption of French wines was two-fifths that of the whole of England/' 2 The favourite wines were then Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Her- mitage; Champagne, although known in England in the reign of Henry VIII., did not come into use there till that of Charles II. The same taste prevailed till nearly the close of the seven- teenth century; and whilst the duty on wines of every description was not only equal, but almost nominal (from 6d. to 8d. a gallon), so that light and cheap wines might have come freely into use at the lowest possible charge, this country gave the preference to the strong wines of Burgundy, the white wines of Spain (sherris-sack, or sec 3 ), and the red wines of Portugal, which first came into use about 1690, A.D. 4 Port wine, when first introduced into England, was a much lighter wine than it afterwards be- came; 5 as the Portuguese, in order to adapt it to the 1 " Hollinshed's Chronicles," quoted by Henderson, " History of Wines," chap, ix., p. 296. 2 Sir JOHN Bo WRING'S Report, p. 96. 3 Henderson on Wines, p. 298. 4 Henderson on Wines, p. 313. Redding on Wines, p. 388. Evi- dence of Wine Duties Committee, 1852 (5422). 5 The first Port Wine introduced into this country was not from the Douro, or even shipped at Oporto. It was a wine resembling Claret of Burgundy, from the Minho, shipped at Vianna. Evidence, Forrester, 1057. Ib. 9. 60 WINE; 1TS~ USE AND TAXATION. English palate, speedily learnt to strengthen it with brandy, and heighten its flavour and colour by other ingredients. 1 Commercial jealousies began to manifest themselves in the mutual tariffs of England and France about the year 1667 ; 2 but down to the Revolution, and till the policy of France towards the exiled family had excited the resent- ment of William III., and led to fiscal regulations hostile to French commerce, the wines of that country formed a large proportion, if not a majority, of the supply for Great Britain. 3 But during the wars which prevailed subse- quently to 1689, the proportion of French wines to those of Portugal and Spain became inverted, and their final dis- couragement was consummated by the Methuen Treaty of 1703, by which, in consideration of the Portuguese con- senting to admit our woollens into their markets, in pre- ference to those of other countries, we bound ourselves to impose 331 per cent higher duties on the wines of France than on those of Portugal. Still national taste was slow in conforming itself to the requirements of legislation, and a very long period elapsed before Portuguese wine succeeded in supplanting French. The official records are defective as to the importations of wine prior to the end of the seventeenth century ; the 1 Bedding, pp. 236, 389. Henderson, p. 315. 2 The first discriminating duty on wine as against France was the imposition of 8Z. per tun, 1693 A.D. 3 It is stated that about the reign of Charles II. the consumption of French wine in England was about 20,000 tuns, equal to 5,000,000 gallons ; but Mr. Porter intimates that this assertion must be taken with caution, as the statistics and data of that period are not to be relied on. (Evidence, 3798, 3801.) It must be borne in mind, too, in looking to the comparative consumption of wine in the 17th and 19th centuries, that we have no reliable data as to the simultaneous consumption of spirits and other fermented liquors at the former period. THE TASTE IN ENGLAND FOR STRONG WINES. 61 earliest returns, rendered as authentic by Mr. Porter/ go no further back than 1697 ; and they show that in 1702, the year before the Methuen Treaty, the consumption of Portuguese wine was 5,924 tuns, or about 1,500,000 gallons, which, notwithstanding the increase of population, was not doubled till 1770, an interval of '67 years. It might have required even a longer period to eradicate the taste for French wines, had not the policy levelled against their consumption been aided by the concurrent influence of the frequent wars 2 which from time to time cut off the supply. Mr. M'Culloch, in his Commercial Dictionary, says that the Methuen Treaty and its results afford " the most striking example, perhaps, in the history of commerce, of the influence of custom's duties in directing trade into new channels, and altering the tastes of a people. All but the most opulent classes having been compelled for a long series of years either to renounce wine or to use Port, the taste for the latter has been firmly rooted; and the beve- rage which was originally forced upon us by necessity, has become congenial from habit. It is probable, however, now that the discriminating duty in favour of port has been abolished, that the excellence of the French wines will ultimately regain for them some portion of that favour in the English market which they formerly enjoyed." This statement is not altogether convincing. It is not, for example, quite clear that the Methuen Treaty in 1703 forced " all but the opulent classes either to renounce wine 1 Evidence, 3795. These seems to have been compiled from a still more ample return in the Appendix to Henderson on Wines, p. 378. 3 Wars with France : 1702 to the Peace of Utrecht, . . 1713 1744 to . 1748 1756 "Seven Years' War" . . . 1763 1778 American War 1783 62 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. altogether, or to use Port;" the fact being, as Mr. M'Culloch has recorded in the same article, that the strong wines of Spain had " been held in the highest estimation " so early as the reign of Elizabeth and James I.; and the opulent classes in England had taken voluntarily to drinking port wine a quarter of a century before it was made " compulsory" by the Methuen Treaty. KEDDING states, in his " History of Wines" (p. 388), that "the durable commencement of the Oporto trade may be fixed '' during the period of the war between this country and France, which broke out in 1689, and terminated in 1693, and the Methuen Treaty was not negotiated till 1703, ten years after this date. 1 Again, I doubt whether the alteration in the taste of the English people, and their abandoning French for Portuguese wines, was exclusively to be attributed to the effect of high duties under the Methuen Treaty. Even under that treaty, the duties were low on French wines, between 1786 and 1795, and their consumption continued to fall, notwithstanding. The inference naturally is, that the taste must have originally been weak which was so easily overthrown. French brandy, on the contrary, for which the taste was strong, was not thrown out of consump- tion by an almost prohibitory duty of 22s. 6d. and 22s. IQd. a gallon, equal to 600 per cent, on the value, which pre- vailed for between thirty and forty years, till its reduction in 1846, when, unlike that of French wines, its consump- tion doubled in a very short time. Had the case stood as Mr. M'Culloch puts it, that the English people were to be kept with no alternative but either to " renounce wine " altogether, or to drink a de- 1 Mr. Forrester, an excellent authority on Port wine, says, "The Methuen Treaty did not create a taste for what is called Port wine in this country ; the taste was established, and the Methuen Treaty maintained it." Evidence, 125, 121. THE TASTE IN ENGLAND FOB STRONG WINES. 63 scription they disliked, no minister could have ventured on a policy so despotic. The Methuen Treaty could never have been negotiated had not the national taste been already in- clined towards the wines of Portugal ; and it could not have succeeded to the extent recorded, of rendering them a be- verage " congenial from habit," had they not already been more or less congenial to taste. Under the conjoint influences, however, of taste and necessity, the preference for the strong wines of the Penin- sula became in time so predominant, that the English people exhibited the utmost repugnance to revert to the use of those of France. In the debate on the 12th February, when Mr. PITT made his proposal for reducing the duty on French wines from 8s. 9d. to 4s. 6d. a gallon, Mr. FRANCIS observed, in allusion to the predominant taste for those of Portugal, that " If our luxury had converted wine into a necessary, that observation was particularly true of Portu- guese wines, which this country neither would nor could relinquish. The wines of Portugal would continue to be imported ; and if we did not pay for them in manufactures, we would in money." The event proved the correctness of this anticipation : the taste for French wines was found to have so much declined, that their consumption, notwith- standing this large reduction of the duty, decreased instead of augmenting, and persevered in that decline till Mr. PITT again raised the duty to 7s. 4d. per gallon and this, whilst the wines of all other countries continued to grow in popu- lar favour. The following table is demonstrative of this result : 64 . WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Duty on French. French. All other Wines. s. d. galls. galls. 1787 8 9 722,642 3,799,299 1788 4 6 933,172 5,717,472 1789 597,924 5,361,174 1790 618,640 5,982,398 1791 }) 607,585 6,966,206 1792 ft 622,494 7,229,213 1793 )) 376,008 6,234,693 1794 n 204,097 6,607,277 This return seems to show, as regards articles of luxury, that, although it may be practicable to discourage their use by excessive taxation, it is a matter of far more than propor- tionate difficulty to restore their consumption by reductions of duty. During the vicissitudes of war which prevailed almost unintermittedly from 1793 to 1815, no fair deductions, as to the influence of public taste, can be drawn from the fluctuations and downward tendency of the demand for French wines, as compared with the ascendant taste for those of Portugal. Besides, wines of France were still discouraged by a high discriminating duty of 13s. 8d. on French wines, whilst those of the Peninsula paid 9s. l^d. In 1831, however, that distinction ceased; the duty on wines was equalized at 5s. Qd. a gallon, and this was effected by a process favourable to France, namely, by raising the duty on all other wines, and lowering that upon French, until they met at the desired level. An opportunity was thus given for the latent taste, had it still existed, to have since manifested itself, and recovered its ascendency; and so far as regards the first cost of the wines themselves, the chances were in favour of those of France, inasmuch as the light wines of that country can be bought at the place of growth for one-fourth the price of port and sherry. But, notwithstanding these advantages, THE TASTE IN ENGLAND FOR STRONG WINES. Go French wine has reaped no benefit even from this second change. Within the first few years, Portuguese and Spanish wines, in consequence of the increase of duty, fell six per cent, in consumption, but speedily rallied, and rose again above their original level; while French wine, in the face of a reduction of duty, fell eighteen per cent., 1 and did not re- cover for some years, till the increased demand for a single, full-bodied, and expensive wine (Champagne) repaired the general deficiency. COMPARATIVE CONSUMPTION OF FRENCH WINES SINCE THE EQUALIZA- TION OF THE DUTIES, 1831. PORTUGAL. FRENCH. SPANISH. Gallons. Propor- tion per cent. Duty. Gallons. Propor- tion per cent. Duty. Gallons. Propor- tion per cent. Duty. s. d. s. d. i s. d. 1831 2,707,734 43-53 5 6 254,366 4 09 5 6 2,089,532 33 63 5 G 1832 2,617,405 43 88 M 228,627 3 83 2,0^0,099 34-87 1833 2,596,530 41 82 }> 232,550 3-75 2,246,085 36-17 99 1834 2,780,303 42 90 ^ 260,630 4-20 2,279,854 35-19 1835 2,780,024 43-30 M 271,661 4-23 2,230,187 34-74 1836 2,878,359 42-26 5J 352,063 5 17 2,388,413 35 07 1837 2,573,157 40 26 M 440,322 6-89 ! 2,297,070 35 97 1838 2,900,457 41-49 ,9 417,281 5-97 2,497,538 35-73 1839 2,921,422 41 73 378,636 5-41 2,578,997 36 84 1840 2,668,534 40-72 5"9 341,841 5 21 5 9 2,500,760 38 16 5 9 1841 2,387,017 38-59 n 353,740 5 72 2,412,821 39-01 1842 1,288,953 26-76 pi 360,692 7-49 2,261,786 46 97 1843 2,517,709 41 48 326,498 5-38 2,311,639 38 09 1844 2,887,501 42 22 B 473,789 6 94 2.478,360 36-24 1845 2,688,084 39 91 99 443,330 6 58 2,544,877 37-93 1846 2,669,798 39-60 409,506 6-07 2,602,490 38-61 1847 2,360,851 39-00 ^ 397,329 6-56 2,372,178 39-18 1848 2,446,813 39-87 n 355,802 5 80 2,435,427 .39-69 1849 2,648,242 42-36 ?J 331,690 5 31 2,448,107 39-16 1850 2,814,979 43 73 n 340,748 5 32 2,469,038 38 36 n 1851 2,524,775 40-20 447,556 7-12 2,533,384 40 33 185a 2,567,775 39-23 ,, 503.919 7 49 2,738,089 41 09 N 1853 2,797,734 38-87 560,686 7 79 2,848,318 39 58 1854 2,622,881 36-69 580,567 8-12 2,741,230 38-34 " The relative proportion in which the wines of different countries have entered into consumption in different years between 1786 and the present time, is shown by the follow- ing Table: 1 SIR JOHN BOWRING'S tfeport on the Wines of France. P. 163. 1835. 66 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Period. Portugal. French. Spanish Madeira. Canary. Sicilian and other sorts. Rhenish. Cape. From 1786 to 1794 75-67 3-26 16-67 3-55 -36 11 38 100 1795 73-52 1-36 22-94 1-74 ! -39 04 01 100 1796 69-44 81 26-81 1-87 j -61 44 02 100 1797 to 1802 75-90 99 19-43 3-08 41 .. 19 100 1803 75-41 1-82 17-72 4-17 31 47 10 t< 100 1804 to 1812 65-55 1-98 25-44 5-63 21 1-02 17 100 1813 64 54 4-29 19-99 6-76 2.33 1-65 44 100 1814 to 1824 54-98 3-67 20-41 6-73 2-22 2-40 47 100 1825 52-45 6-56 22-86 4-65 ! 2-09 1-68 1-34 8-37 100 1826 46-77 5-67 26-78 4-73 2-22 2-30 1-10 10-41 100 1827 47-20 4-56 27-96 4-40 2-24 2-30 I'll 10-23 100 1828 46-18 5-88 29-29 3-81 1-92 2-60 1-21 9-11 100 1829 43-13 5-87 31-60 3-68 1-64 3-53 1-23 9-32 100 1830 44-60 4-79 32-35 3-38 1-58 3.92 1-06 8-32 100 1831 43-50 4-09 33-63 3-36 1-51 4.18 93 8-68 100 1832 43-88 2-83 34-87 2-67 1-22 4-26 63 8-61 100 1833 41-82 3-79 36-17 2-60 1-12 5-05 70 8-79 100 1834 42-90 4-20 35-19 2-32 ! -97 5-75 77 8-80 100 1835 43-30 4-23 34-74 2-17 j -82 5-83 76 8-14 100 1836 4:> 26 5-17 35-07 1-96 : -80 5-92 87 7-95 100 1837 40-26 6-89 35-94 1-87 66 5-84 70 7-83 100 1838 41-49 5-97 35 93 1-58 1-40 5-30 82 7-70 100 1839 41-73 5-41 36-84 1-67 50 5-27 91 7-63 100 1840 40-72 5-21 38-16 1-72 45 5-86 92 6-97 100 1841 38-59 5.72 39-01 1-58 41 6-49 87 7-13 100 1842 26-76 7-49 46-97 1-36 44 8-17 1-11 7-70 100 1843 41-38 5-38 38-09 1-54 34 6-87 52 5-48 100 1844 42-22 6-93 36-24 1-63 30 6-78 79 5-11 100 1845 39-91 6-58 37-93 1-52 30 6-52 93 5-31 100 1846 39-60 6-07 38-61 1-40 38 7-54 96 5-43 100 1847 39-00 6-56 39-18 1-34 38 7-78 92 4-84 100 1848 39-87 5-80 39 69 1-25 33 7-96 73 4.37 100 1849 42-36 5-30 39-16 1.13 32 7-11 73 3-87 100 1850 43-73 5- -29 38-36 1-09 25 6-61 85 3-82 100 1851 40-20 7-12 40-33 1-14 25 6-28 94 3-74 100 1852 39-23 7-50 41-08 1-10 23 6-12 92 3-82 100 1853 38-87 7-79 32 88 1-02 28 7-55 99 3-92 100 1854 36-69 8-12 38-34 60 16 11-18 1-01 3-90 100 From the above table it will be seen that under equal duties, and also with the advantage of price on their side, the light wines of France and the Continent have not yet made their way into the market in competition with the strong and higher priced wines of Portugal and Spain. Numerous witnesses before the committee of 1852, with different views as to the operation of the present scale of THE TASTE IN ENGLAND FOR STRONG WINES. 67 duties, concurred in painting the unbending obstinacy of English taste in the matter of wines; the difficulty of diverting it from one which has once risen into favour; and the impossibility of successfully introducing into the English market a new wine, however cheap, if differing in name, character, or strength, from those with which the public palate is familiar. One gentleman, who in a publi- cation on the subject, is sanguine, that under a two shilling duty a consumption of new wines may be created to such an extent, as to raise the revenue from its present amount to 6,083,333/. per annum, nevertheless stated to the com- mittee, from the result of his own experience as a wine merchant, that " the most iron prejudice rules over wine, and a new wine coming into the market will not even be tasted. A man would be almost mad to introduce a new wine here: he w r ould have to go and look for every separate customer from door to door." l In exemplification of the difficulty thus described by Mr. Lancaster, it is only necessary to point to the remarkable fact repeatedly stated in the committee of the House of commons, and illustrated by numerous instances detailed: that within the last 30 years (that is since the reduction of the wine duties in 1825), repeated exertions have been made by enterprising importers, to introduce into this market cheap but wholesome wines, the lower growths of France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, and other coun- tries, but with one solitary exception, the attempt has in every instance proved abortive. The mere consideration of com- parative cheapness has failed to present such an attraction as to overcome the reigning taste for Port and Sherry, and 1 Home of Common Committee. Evidence of Mr. LANCASTER, 501, 573. This subject of the difficulty hitherto experienced in intro- ducing any new wine into general use, will be found discussed in a subsequent chapter. See p. 102. P 2 68 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. their congeners. The one exception alluded to, is that of Sicilian Marsala, a strung wine of fair character, and which has been indebted for its favourable reception to the re- semblance which it presents to many of the qualities of Sherry. This subject will be considered in detail in another chapter; meanwhile, in explanation of this admitted fact, those favourable to the reduction of the duty urge, that it is the highness of the existing rate of duty that so enhances the cost, that even cheap wine, loaded with such a tax, cannot make its appearance in the market except under in- surmountable difficulties. This argument is undoubtedly true, so far as it concerns the lower orders of society, to whom price alone would be an obstacle to the consumption of any article they might desire; but as applied to the question of taste the demonstration fails, inasmuch as those who appreciate wine for its flavour and delicacy ; would be well disposed to purchase at a lower cost, if those qualities were found in the cheaper article as well as in the more expensive. Supposing the qualities to be similarly attractive, the duty the same, and the first cost less, low wines, did the taste exist for them, would undoubtedly have made their way in the British market under the present equalized tariff. But it must be taken as an evidence that the taste is very firmly bent in the opposite direction ; that the temptation of cheapness cannot overcome the indifference or dislike to low wines, even when they could be introduced at the same duty as strong. Perhaps one cause of the failure of the repeated attempts made within the last 30 years to introduce a new wine into consumption in England, may be found in the fact, that independently of individual judgment in wines (which is not very largely disseminated), there exists a powerful in- fluence of fashion in this country which very much THE TASTE IN ENGLAND FOR STRONG WINES. 69 regulates public taste; and even those whose personal pre- dilections might lead them to use a new wine, have not the courage to introduce it at table, especially as there is a tendency to undervalue articles of luxury if they are known to be cheap. Be this as it may, the whole current of the evidence taken last year, demonstrates that the public taste in England has been, from a very remote time, in favour of strong and spirituous wines; 1 that even when those of France had possession of this market, those of superior strength and body were the most acceptable; that when the authority of Parliament discouraged the importation of French wines, the English betook themselves to those of Portugal and Spain, possessing similar characteristics of strength and spirit; and that the taste even for the latter was implanted slowly and with difficulty, but, once firmly established, every trial since made has shewn it to be so untractable, that any attempt to alter it, or again divert it to a different object, is met by reluctance so extreme, as to render success difficult if not doubtful, and distant, even were it ultimately certain. Our countrymen carry with them to the colonies the same tastes for strong wines acquired in early life at home. And perhaps no more apposite instance can be given than that of AUSTRALIA, to show the little prospect of creating, by means of a low duty, a demand for the light wines of France, when stronger beverages are procurable 1 Tt is notorious that Claret, of all French wines the most familiar to English taste, is never sent to this country in its pure and genuine character, but heightened both in flavour and strength by Hermitage, brandy, and Benicarlos. Mr. Redding says, in his History of Wines, p. 345, " For England no wine will do without brandy ; and even the delicious Sherries of Spain, which are of a quality sufficiently spirituous by nature, must be strengthened for British consumption." 70 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. even at double the cost. 1 The population of Australia is composed principally of tradesmen, agriculturists, and operatives, the very classes from whom, in this country, it is contended that the free use of wine is withheld by the high rate of duty; and by a happy coincidence the colony has adopted precisely the amount of duty which is so strongly urged in the mother country, namely, one shilling per gallon, on wine of every description. But with every inducement thus held out to choose the light wines of France, claret appears to be unsaleable at the price of beer, while port wine is in demand at double the co&t. The following is an extract from the prices current of the Argus, a Melbourne paper of the 23rd Sept., 1853: s. d. s. d. Beer, bottled, per dozen 11 to 13 Porter 12 6 14 Port wine 1 5 1 10 Chret (no demand),, 012 ,, 018 1 SWEDEN is another country which affords a very remarkable instance of the failure of a low duty to induce the population to resort to the use of wine, in preference to more powerful stimulants. The duty on wine is 2.9. lid. per gallon in bottles, and only Is. 5^d. in casks ; but in Sweden, in 1852, there were 43,947 distilleries in active operation in that country, producing annually 54,000,000 kaans of spirit from grain. This, at two quarts to a kaan, amounts to about 26,000,000 gallons a consumption equal to 7| gallons for each individual of the Swedish population, man, woman, and child. COMPARATIVE NATIONAL CONSUMPTION OF WINE. 71 CHAPTEK IX. COMPARATIVE CONSUMPTION OF WINE IN ENGLAND AND IN OTHER COUNTRIES. IN the course of the enquiry instituted by the House of Commons, much stress was laid on the disproportion appa- rent between the individual consumption of wine in the United Kingdom, as compared with that of France, and even of other countries which do not produce wine for their own supply. In France, the consumption was variously esti- mated at from 1 8 to 20 gallons for every head of the popu- lation, 1 whilst that of Paris alone was said to be equal to 216 bottles for each individual. HAMBURG was like- wise cited as taking 29 bottles per head, whilst England took little more than one ; and the inference desired to be drawn was, that by judicious reduction of duty, a similar 1 SIR JOHN BOWRING, in his Report on the Wines of France in 1855, states, that the consumption of the population of the great towns is 26^ gallons per head, and that of the inhabitants of the open country 16| gallons ; that is, supposing no wine to be drunk in the towns but that which pays the octroi duty ; " but as there is reason to believe that one-third at least escapes the duty, the average consumption of the towns may be estimated as double that of the agricultural districts ; though so large a proportion of that con- sumed in the country districts is duty free." Report p. 96. 72 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. consumption to that of Hamburg or Paris might be excited in Great Britain. The accuracy of the statement regarding the consumption of Hamburg is given on no official authority, and, as a con- jecture, it is liable to doubt. 1 The calculation for Paris will be presently adverted to; but assuming both to be correct, there still remains the difficulty of tracing the extent of consumption in either place to the lowness of the duty, apart from other considerations. The same cause, in that case, would be naturally looked to to produce the same effect in other countries ; but when tried by the test, the theory ab- solutely fails. In Belgium, though the import duty is one penny per gallon, the consumption of wine is but 3 bottles per head of the population. In Holland, where wine is free, if imported in wood, and subject to twopence per gallon in bottle, the individual consumption is 1 pint per annum. In Norway the consumption is the same, 1 pint annually per head, with a duty of Is. 4d. a gallon. In Sweden, the duty is Is. 5%d. a gallon in the cask, and 2s. lie?, in bottle, and the average consumption of wine is one-twelfth of a gallon. In Denmark, with a duty of 7jrf., the consumption is 2J pints. In Russia, the consumption -J a pint per annum, the import duty 2s. 7-Jc?. per gallon. In the United States, the consumption is If pints, and the duty 40 per cent., equal on an average to Is. 6d. per gallon. Taking the instance of Paris, the calculation, even if it be 2 The statement relative to Hamburg was given in the Committee by Mr. SHAW on the authority of a letter from a gentleman, who wrote from "recollection." The large export of wines from France, which go ostensibly to the Hanse Towns, is in reality only in transit to Russia, Germany, and Sweden ; and the commission to inquire into the wine-tax, which sat at Paris in 1849-1850, complain that of these apparent importations, the people of Hamburg "ne retiennent qvtune tres faible partie pour leur propre consummation." Enquete, etc., Rapport, p. 3o. COMPARATIVE NATIONAL CONSUMPTION OF WINE. 73 not exaggerated by fixing it at 216 bottles per head, 1 is undoubtedly very considerable; and even taken at the lesser quantity of 138 bottles, as stated in the Annuaire de Paris, so large a consumption, bearing in mind the high taxes and octroi upon wine entering the barriers, would seem to be an evidence that the very freest use of wine is by no means incompatible with a high rate of duty. In most of the cities of France, the various duties on production and retail, when combined with the octroi, would amount to 19 francs per hectolitre on every description of wine ; 2 and as the larger proportion of the wine drunk in Paris and the other great towns is of the ordinary and lower qualities, the tax is a considerable element in their cost. Mr. REDDING says, in his History of Modern Wines, that " a great deal of the wine consumed in Paris, not worth more than 12s. 6d. the hectolitre (26 gallons, old measure), yet it is subject to a duty of 17 s. 6d. Thus the duty on wine for home con- sumption in the French capital is greater than the duty charged in England on its import." 3 But to return to the argument, that the average consump- tion of wine in other countries, under a low scale of taxation, may be taken as an indication of what might be effected in England by judicious reduction of duty, it must be ob- vious that the analogy fails, if the comparison be instituted between the dense community of wealthy cities, such as Paris or Hamburg, and the agricultural and labouring classes of a country like Great Britain. 1 It is given by Mr. Shaw (Evidence 1137), on the "authority of official documents, and a memorial presented to Lord John Russell eight or ten years ago." Another witness, however, Mr. Prestwich, stated the consumption of Paris to be 22 or 23 gallons, being less by about one-half than the quantity estimated by Mr. Shaw. Mr. Prestwich took his figures from the Annuaire de Paris for 1838 (Evidence 2302.) 2 Enquete Legislative, v. p. 81. 3 REDDING, History of Wines, p. 88. 74 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Besides the inference from wine alone is calculated to mislead, apart from the consideration of other articles which enter simultaneously into consumption and competition with it. In order to make the conclusion valid, the estimate should exhibit the price of wine in the respective countries, and the ability of the inhabitants to buy ; the proportion which the wealthier and higher classes bear to the lower and poorer; and also of the respective quantities of the other stimulating and intoxicating drinks, of which the inhabitants of each country make use, in addition to wine. 1. To take the instance of France, it is a matter of noto- riety that the large consumption of tea and coffee by the middle and lower orders in England, has very materially interfered with the use of intoxicating drinks in this country, and per contra, the limited use of the first of these articles in France tends to keep up the consumption of wine at breakfast and other times, when the lower orders of England resort to tea. The consumption of tea and coffee in England, as compared with France, is as follows: UNITED KINGDOM. FRANCE. 1851 1852 1853 Ibs. 58,834,087 1854 1851 1852 1853 Tea . IDS. 53,965,112 Ibs. 54,724,615 Ibs. 61,949,822 Ibs. 307,227 Ibs. 473,063 Ibs. 329,586 Coffee 32,564,194 35,044,376 36,983,122 37,361,387 41,050,348 47,461,308 43,904,876 Total . 86,529,336 89,768,991 95,817,209 99,311,209 41,357,572 47,934,371 44,234,462 2. Again, the article of beer, which enters so largely into the consumption of the middle and lower orders in England, occupies a much less prominent place in the domestic national economy of France. The quantity brewed in 1850 (the only year to whose returns I have access), was 90,310,000 gallons, COMPARATIVE NATIONAL CONSUMPTION OF WINE. 75 or about 2*56 gallons per head of the population of France, in addition to which there is an annual importation equal to about 150,000 gallons. In England, on the other hand, there were brewed, in 1854, 16,270,000 barrels of malt liquor, equal to 585,720,000 gallons, or about 21^- gallons per head of the population. The average cost of a gallon of beer in England, sixpence- half-penny) is equal to the average value of a gallon of wine in France. 1 Hence it appears, that whilst the people of France consume 20 gallons of light and meagre wine, the people of England consume even a larger quantity of malt, an article of equal value, and perhaps, on an average, of higher quality. 3. Next come spirits, native, colonial, and foreign, all of which ought properly to be included in any calculation of national consumption. In France, the use of foreign spirits of any description is exceedingly small, and confined chiefly to rum, of which, the total import in 1851 was 161,637 gallons. 2 Of brandy, the annual production in former years, before the vine disease had so blighted the vintages, as to render France an importer of alcohol, was from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 gallons, of which 15,500,000 gallons were retained for home consumption, being less than half a gallon (0'46) per head for the population; and even this includes the large quantity of spirits used for fortifying wine for export and carriage. In the United Kingdom, on 1 See Sir JOHN BOWRING'S Report, p. 95 ; and Mr. PRESTWICH'S Evidence, 2385. 2 The importation , of rum into France has risen prodigiously within the last two years, owing to the demand for foreign spirits to supply the want of brandy, which has been occasioned by the vine disease. Independently of imports direct from the West Indies, the quantity shipped from the United Kingdom to France, which in 1852 was but 6,241 gallons, rose, in 1854, to 692,01 7 gallons. 76 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. the other hand, the consumption of spirits, both foreign and British, is as follows: CONSUMPTION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Foreign Spirits : Brandy, Geneva, &c. Colonial Spirits . . British Spirits . . . 1851 1854 Imperial galls. 1,903,203 2,880,425 23,976,596 Imperial galls. 1,887,687 3,232,369 25,883,584 28,763,224 31,003,640 This gives a consumption of rather more than one im- perial gallon (1*04) per head of the population in 1851, and 1^ gallon in 1854, or more than double that of France. 1 4. The production of cider in France is very great, and much exceeds that of England, where, however, its con- sumption, though local, is considerable. A writer in the " Penny Cyclopedia," understood to be the late Mr. Porter, says, " The quantity consumed by workmen in England is very large ; two or three quarts a day being the usual allow- ance given in Herefordshire by masters, and in harvest time many labourers drink in a day ten or twelve quarts." Mr. M'Culloch, in his " Commercial Dictionary," says, " The production may be estimated at 150,000 to 160,000 barrels;" and taking it at 155,000 barrels of 36 gallons 1 Mr. PORTER, in a paper " On the self-imposed Taxation of the Working Classes in the United Kingdom," published in the Journal of the Statistical Society of London, vol. xiii. part iv., p. 360, com- puted the consumption of spirits (exclusive of brandy) at In England - 0-569 gallons per head Scotland 2-647 Ireland 0-853 or taking only the adult males, supposing the use of spirits to be confined to them, In England 2-330 gallons, or about 2^ gallons. Scotland 11-168 ,, II 1 Ireland 3-469 3i COMPARATIVE NATIONAL CONSUMPTION OF WINE, 77 each, this would give 5,580,000 gallons; equal to an in- dividual consumption of 0'20 gallons per head of the total population. The production of cider in France is very large; 79,530,000! gallons in 1841, being equal to 2- imperial gallons per head of the population. 5. There is another important article which enters largely into consumption in Great Britain, under the name of *' Sweet or Home-made Wines." It is difficult to ascertain the precise amount of the production ; but it is large. The number of licenses issued for its retail in 1854 was 7,782. Evidence was given in the Committee by one manufacturer whose works supply upwards of 2,000 dealers, 2 and another was mentioned whose stock comprised half a million gal- lons. 3 The gross production has been estimated, in a paper which I have seen, at 3,000,000 gallons; which would give an individual consumption equal to O'll gallons for each head of the total population. On the whole, then, taking regard not alone to cubic quantity but to the alcoholic strength of the fermented and intoxicating drinks in use in the two countries respectively, it will be found that whatever excess in volume may pre- ponderate on the side of France, the consumption of England is rendered equal to it by calculating the superior strength and spirit of the drinks taken in each country. Mr. Prestwich 4 estimates that 28,000,000 gallons of spirits (supposing that to be the quantity consumed annually in Great Britain), would be equal to 90,000,000 gallons of a beverage equal to the ordinary strength of French wines. 1 Enqueue Legislative, Appendix p. 13. a Evidence. House of Commons Committee, 9626. 3 Ibid, 6393. Ibid., 2377. 78 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. CHAPTER X. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY OF WINE PROCURABLE, OF A QUALITY SUITABLE TO ENGLISH TASTES? SUPPOSING, then, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Legislature should be disposed to entertain the opi- nion that a change is expedient in the course hitherto adopted in dealing with wines for purposes of revenue; and that, viewing wine as a necessary of life for all classes, the duty should be reduced to one or two shillings per gallon, in the conviction that the consumption under such an arrangement would so increase as to yield a revenue of 6,000,000/. or of 3,000,000 per annum, or even to replace the present income say 1,800,000/. ; the first question to be settled, before discussing the probability of the demand being fostered to such an extent, turns on the possibility of obtaining this greatly-increased supply of wines, of a quality suited to the taste and habits of the people of these countries. At the present duty of 5s. 9d. a gallon, the consumption of wine, yielding a revenue of 1,800,000/. a year, is about 6,500,000 gallons: but to realize the same amount from a duty of Is. a gallon, would require a consumption increased to 36,000,000 gallons. To obtain 3,000,000/. at a duty of Is., or 6,000,0007. at a duty of 2s., would require a con- IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 79 sumption of 60,000,000 gallons, a quantity equal to all the exports of the wine-growing countries in Europe, to all the other countries of the world put together. To meet a demand so prodigious, of wine suitable to the prevailing taste of Great Britain, the wine-growing coun- tries could not at present afford us anything approaching to a sufficient supply. But preliminary to looking into the proofs of this, it will be well to see the proportions in which each country, from which we now import, has of late years been our purveyor in the article of wine. PROPORTION IN WHICH EACH COUNTRY SUPPLIES ENGLAND WITH WINE. Year. Population. Total j Home Consump- ' tion, Imp. Gallons. Proportion per Cent. Cape. French. Portugal Spanish Madeira. Rhenish. Canary Sicilian & other Wines. 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 17,635,638 4,624,105 ! 4,057,038 : 5,142,829 5,635,216 4,615,212 4,586,495 4,686,885 4,606,999 4,845,060 5,030,091 8,009,542 6,058,443 6,826,361 7,162,376 6,217,652 6,434,445 6,212,264 5,965,542 6,207,770 6,480,544 6,420,342 6,809,212 6,391,560 6,990.271 7,000,486 6,553,922 6,184,960 4,815,222 6,068,987 6,838,684 6,736,131 6,740,316 6,053,847 0,136,547 6,251,862 ! 6,437,222 6,280,653 6,346,061 6,813,830 6,775,858 1-86 8-82 10 31 9-86 11-17 10 73 12 20 11 69 11 46 11-83 8-37 10-41 10-23 9-11 9-32 8 32 8-69 8 62 8-78 8-09 8-15 7'95 7'83 7-70 7 63 6 97 7 13 7 70 5-48 5-11 5 31 5-43 4-84 4-37 3 87 3-82 3'74 3-82 3 92 3-90 4 34 3-04 2-84 4-60 4-63 3'58 3-40 3-66 3 54 3-73 6-56 5 67 4-56 5-89 5-88 4 79 4 09 3 83 3 75 4-02 4 23 5 17 6-89 5 97 5-41 5-21 5-72 7-49 5 38 6-93 6 58 6-07 6-56 5 80 5 30 5 29 7 12 7 50 7 79 8-12 59-92 55-48 58-78 57 22 52 20 51 49 50 00 51-55 51-44 49 95 52 45 46 77 47-20 46-17 43-13 44-60 43-59 43-88 41 83 42 90 43 30. 42 27 40-26 41 49 41 73 40-71 38-60 26 77 41-48 42-22 39-91 39-61 39-00 39-87 42 36 43 73 40-20 39 23 39 87 36-69 21 50 20-38 18 29 18-22 19-32 20-40 20-46 20-99 22 27 24 20 22 86 26-78 27-95 29-29 31-59 32-35 33-64 34-87 36 18 35 18 34-74 35-08 35-94 35-73 36 84 38 16 39 01 46 97 38 09 36 24 37-93 38-61 39 18 39 69 39 16 38-36 40 33 41-08 39 58 38 39 6 70 7-10 5-18 5-43 7-14 7 70 8-54 7-42 6-68 5 91 4 65 4-72 4-40 3 81 3-69 3-38 3-37 2 68 2-60 2-32 2-17 96 88 58 70 72 74 36 54 63 52 40 34 25 14 09 14 10 02 60 43 0-54 32 41 0-50 57 48 0-44 0-43 0-52 1-34 1 11 1-12 1 21 1-23 1 06 93 64 0-70 77 0-76 88 70 0-82 91 0-92 0-89 1-11 82 79 93 96 92 0-73 74 85 94 92 99 1 01 3-99 3 65 3 25 3-05 3 48 3-76 3 23 2 75 2-54 2 33 2-09 2 22 2 24 1 92 1 64 1-58 1-51 1-22 1 11 0-93 79 75 0-65 58 0-50 0-45 42 0-43 34 0-30 30 0-38 38 33 32 25 0-25 0-23 0-28 16 1 26 0-96 01 21 53 76 65 48 64 53 68 2-32 2-30 2-60 3 52 3-92 4-18 4 26 4-05 5-79 5-86 5-94 5-85 6-13 5-28 5-86 6-49 8 17 6-87 6-78 7-52 7-54 7-78 7 96 7-11 6-61 6 28 6-12 7-55 11-18 21,873,598 24,008,305 26,716,157 27,309,346 80 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. It will be seen from this table, that the red wine of Por- tugal, and the white wines of Spain, constitute the great staple of British consumption ; and the fact indicates the prevailing taste in this country. Port, Sherry ', and Marsala, taken together, form no less than 86 per cent, of the entire. The fine full-bodied wines of France come next, and are 8 per cent of the whole. It becomes, therefore, an inquiry of importance to see, whether of these wines, the several countries which produc^ them, could furnish us with their respective quotas to such a reduplicated extent as to meet a demand suddenly aug- mented from 6,000,000 gallons per annum to 120,000,000, or to 60,000,000, or even to 30,000,000 additional. And here it is right to state, that whilst we have ample and accurate information, as to the growth and quantities of the finer descriptions of wine produced in Europe, we have no information to be relied on, as to the quantity of the medium or second class, the proportion which they bear in quality to the first, the stocks usually to be found in each country, or the supply that could be relied on of a character suited to the taste of the English people, and at a price con- sistent with their moderate ideas. These are facts which, up to the present, no one in this country had any interest to inquire into, because it was not contemplated that wines of this class were ever likely to come into use in the United Kingdom. But it would be well, if the question of a one shilling duty is to be hereafter taken into consideration, that an inquiry should be systematically made, and information accurately collected in each country, for the guidance of the legislature, not only as to the additional supplies that could be obtained at once of sound and full-bodied wines, at such prices as would give fair play to the exchequer and the public, but also as to the prospect of new wines of a similar character, such as might hereafter enter into fair competition IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 81 with the old and high priced wines in use in the English market. Nature has endowed the earth with a universal and almost inexhaustible power of producing the necessaries of life ; but she has placed the nicest and narrowest limits to the production of luxuries. It is a physical fact of sufficient notoriety, that although the vine is distributed over one- third of the globe, the wines of each country have a peculiar and distinctive character, and that the most accurate and often circumscribed line defines and limits the production, more especially of all the finer descriptions. The fruit of the same plant, when transferred to a different soil, loses its peculiar characteristics ; thus one and the same vine produces Hock upon the Rhine, Bucellas in Portugal, and Sercial at Madeira. It has been found that vines from Germany, France, Portugal, and Spain> transplanted to the Cape of Good Hope and Australia, have in no one instance produced wine assimilating to the peculiarities of the ori- ginal plant; and no European vine has hitherto succeeded, when transplanted to the United States, although wine is made at Cincinnati from American grapes. The finest known wines are the produce of soils the com- bination and proportions of whose ingredients are extremely rare and exceptional ; and, co-operating with these, they require the agency of peculiar degrees of light, moisture, and heat. The richest wines of France, Italy, Hungary, Ma- deira, and Teneriffe, are grown on the sites of extinct vol- canoes. The district of Xeres, which has so long supplied us with sherry, is mapped out so accurately by the line of its peculiar soil, that its dimensions are known by the acre. The vine which produces Port on the hills above the Douro, yields a totally different wine in the vicinity of the Tagus. The wine district of the Ehingau, between Mayence and Rudesheim, is but nine miles in length, by half as much G 82 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. broad. The south side of a single hill produces Johannis- berg, and Steinberg is the vineyard of a suppressed monastery. The numerous wines of Burgundy and the Garonne take their names respectively from circumscribed spots; and so narrow and apparently capricious are their respective limits, that a ditch divides portions which from time immemorial have been sought with avidity, from others which in the market will bring uniformly but one-fifth the price. 1 The costly Clos Vougeot grows in a farm of eighty acres; Komanee Conti is but six and a half; and the famous Mont Kachet, of the Cote d'Or, is distinguished into three classes, of which one sells at one-third less than the other two ; " yet these qualities are produced from vineyards only separated from one another by a footpath; they have the same aspect, and apparently the same soil, in which the same vines are cultivated, and managed in precisely the same manner. 2 One small valley in Madeira alone produces the finest Malmsey. Art and horticultural science have been applied to extend the limits thus circumscribed by nature ; but with such un- satisfactory results that, as a general rule, it may be stated that the higher class wine of any known district has not been successfully reproduced beyond it. The red wines of Portugal grown in the Alto Douro can no more be made 1 The produce of the celebrated vineyard of Lafitte, near Bour- deaux, for the year 1848, was sold at 4000 francs per tun, while the wines of the immediate neighbourhood realized only 200 francs. I am informed that the proprietor of a vineyard, which is only separated from that of Lafitte by a narrow gulley, a few years since expended large sums of money in endeavouring by improved culti- vation to assimilate his wines to those of Lafitte. To some extent he improved the quality ; but the wines never approached the pecu- liar character of the Lafitte, while the expense incurred was so enormous that the enterprising proprietor was ruined. 2 Henderson on Wines, p. 167. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 83 in the adjoining provinces of the Minho or Beira, than the white wines of Spain could be successfully imitated on the Rhine. Even the attempt to increase the quantity produced on the same area, by improved cultivation, has, in many instances, been attended with so much detriment to the character and quality of the wine, that it has been necessarily abandoned. The vineyard of the Clos de Vougeot belonged originally to a convent; and when, after the first revolution in France, it came into the hands of private individuals, they endeavoured to enlarge the produce by manuring the vines; but they so destroyed the flavour and delicacy of the wine, that they were obliged to return to the old system, and its character was eventually recovered. 1 The commission appointed by the National Assembly at Paris, in 1849, to investigate the state of the wine trade, have recorded in their Report, that the extension of cultivation throughout the empire during the last thirty or forty years had been followed by a general lowering of the quality of the wine, and a correspondent reduction in its value and this, they state, has been the case, more especially as regards the medium description. More vineyards have been planted and more wine has been produced, but what the vintages have gained in quantity the wine has lost in character, " C'est un fait notoire, que generalement (a parte les plants de premier choix) la vigne a degenere en France qu'elle a perdu en delicatesse une partie de ce qu'on lui a fait gagner en fecondite; et que 1'adoption des nouvelles methodes de culture, Finvasion des races communes, Tabus des fumures et des engrais n'ont multiplie ses fruits qu'en alterant leur primitive saveur." 2 1 House of Lords' Committee, 1821. Evidence of M. LE TAVERNIEB. 2 Enqufae Legislative. Rapport, p. 113. G 2 84 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. With these well established facts before us, it becomes essential to ascertain to what extent the present supply de- rived from the principal producing countries of the world is capable of extension, so as to meet so greatly increased a demand as is now contemplated. Putting aside, then, as chimerical, the estimates of an increase of revenue to either six millions sterling, or three millions per annum, it will be sufficient to inquire whether, for the purpose of merely replacing the present amount of 1,800,000/. it would be practicable to obtain the quantities of wine required, of a quality accept- able to the English palate. 1 I. PORTUGAL. Taking first in order the wines of Portugal, our annual consumption of Port wine is at present about 2,500,000 gallons; and, to recover at a one-shilling duty the same amount as is now collected at 5s. 9d., the consumption must be multiplied nearly six-fold, say to 15,000,000 gallons. But Port wine is the produce of a single, well-defined district in the north of Portugal, extending eight leagues West and East, from the Serra do Marao (an elevation of 4,400 feet above the level of the sea) to the Quinta da Baleira, near San Joao da Pesqueira, and four leagues north and south, between Villa Keal and Lamego. 2 The return of the vintages in this area, known as the Alto Douro, from 1843 to 1851, shows the average production of qualities fit for use to be, in ordinary years, 63,568 pipes: in addition 1 A calculation as to the probable supply of good wine from all quarters, will be found in Mr. Barnes' evidence (6479, 6481, etc.), before the Wine Duties Committee. 2 See a paper in the Transactions of the Royal Society, by JOSEPH JAMES FORRESTER, Esq., on the Vine Disease in the Port Wine Dis- tricts of the Alto Douro , in April, 1854. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 85 to which there are 20,633 pipes of refuse fit only for distil- lation; in all 84,211. It is necessary here to explain, that previous to the reform which took place in the constitution of the Portuguese cor- poration, known as the " Oporto Wine Company" in 1852, the total produce of the vineyards of the Alto Douro was divided into "first, second, and third qualities," and "re- fuse." Of the first quality, a quantity varying at^the arbitrary will of the government was permitted for exportation to Europe; the remainder and all the second quality were reserved for exportation to America and elsewhere, whilst the third and the " refuse" might be consumed in Portugal, or distilled into brandy. The portion reserved for Great Britain was subject to an export duty and other burthens, varying from 6/. to 71. 10s. per pipe. In September, 1852, a provisional decree, which afterwards became law, was promulgated by the Portuguese government, reducing the export charges by nearly 3/. a pipe, abolishing the previous distinction between first and second qualities, and separating the vintage into but two classes, theirs/ " for export" to all parts of the world, and the second for con- sumption in Portugal. The following particulars of the vintage in the Alto Douro, from 1843 to 1851, is from the returns of the provadores or official tasters, of the Oporto Company. NUMBER OF PIPES OF WINE, PRODUCE OF THE PORT VINTAGES IN THE ALTO DOURO. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 1848. 1849. 1850. 1851. 1st. Quality. 2nd. do. 3rd. do. Refuse . . TOTALS . Qualified for Exportation to Europe in same years. 18,002 15,720 17,160 21,580 21,338 12,754 15,643 16,931 6,565 10,162 16,127 37,322 35,801 18,101* 29,384 19,471*. 38,214* 18,708* 24,448 10,356*. 25,721 21,843* 36,998* 22,552 12,450 10,909 14,239 30,030 34,226 18,908 19,864 12,346 41,403* 18,472* 19,257 14,990*. 72,462 66,666 70,176 102,758 91,727*. 107,115 67,628 85,344 94,123*. 12,000 14,000 5,000 20,000 18,000 7,000 7,000 25,000 20,000 86 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. The return continued in its altered form after the changes of September, 1852, which applied to the vintage of that year, exhibits the following result : For Exportation Vintage. 1852 Vintage. 1853 Vintage. 1854 Pipes. 35,833 Pipes. 49,742 Pipes. 35,190 For Consumption 56,217 20,982 12,058 Total .... 92,050 70,724 47,248 The cause of the striking deficiency in the two last years, during which the vintage has fallen off nearly one-half (from 92,500 pipes to 47,248), has been the destruction of the grapes, by the formidable vine disease, which has recently afflicted Portugal, and threatens serious destruction to the vineyards of the Alto Douro. The consequence has been a rise in the price of wine at Oporto, of from 200 to 400 per cent; a convincing proof that the export and con- sumption of Portugal have been nearly equal to its produc- tion ; and that it has not been the practice of late years to keep large stocks of wine in that country. Treating the recent vintages, however, as altogether ex- ceptional, and regarding the returns of the previous period as representing fairly the ordinary produce of the Alto Douro, the annual growth of Port wine may be set down at 84,211 pipes. It is always understood that this includes about 3000 pipes of wholesome red wine, grown beyond the legalized dis- trict; but of such quality as to be surreptitiously introduced and brought to market as " Port." A very considerable quantity of what is technically called " green" wine is also grown in the same district, and even within the legal line of demarcation; but it is too coarse for exportation, and is retained for distillation and consumption at home. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 87 Assuming, then, the entire produce of the Alto Douro, refuse included, at the possible extent of the export, say Gallons. Gallons. 84,211 pipes of 115 gallons each 9,684,265 Deduct for loss, leakage, and evaporation, ) , no QKO 20 per cent - - - _ } 1,936,85 And for export to all other countries 1,220,100 3,156,953 There remains for the supply of ) KO|T 01 Great Britain - - -| 6,527,312 This does not leave a single gallon for distillation or the home consumption of Portugal, and yet these are most important items. The annual consumption of the city of Oporto alone is stated officially to be 18,000 pipes which pay the octroi, but as the facilities for smuggling are con- siderable, the quantity really consumed in the city is said to be nearer 30,000,* and the quantity required for distilla- tion may be inferred from the fact, that the produce of brandy in the Alto Douro, and its immediate vicinity, in 1853, was 10,523 pipes, seven pipes of wine being required to make one of brandy. But whilst it is admitted on all hands, that the supply of Port wine itself cannot be expected greatly, if at all, to exceed the above estimate, the north of Portugal produces largely other varieties so nearly approaching the charac- teristics of Port, that those who look to their introduction under a one shilling duty, are sanguine, that a quantity can be found sufficient to meet the entire of the anticipated demand from Great Britain. But if the quality of these wines be such as has been represented, there are two circumstances in connexion with them, which seem to require explanation the first is 1 House of Commons Committee. Document at p. 63, sec. 1.4. 88 \VINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. that they are not imported here at the present time in competition with Port; although their first cost is said to be one-fourth in comparison. The second is, that although low-priced wines are used in England for blending with Port, to increase the quantity and reduce the cost, these cheap wines of Portugal itself are not adapted even to that purpose, but give way to importations of light red wines from France, 1 Spain, 2 Sicily, 3 and even the Cape. 4 Red wine, of good character, is undoubtedly grown largely in the vicinity of Figueira, and sometimes in peculiar years, when prices have ruled high on the Douro, shipments have taken place from that port and from Aveiro. 5 But it is a curious fact, that whilst taxes and absurd restrictions were imposed on wines exported -from Oporto, and no duty and no restriction was at any time placed on wine shipped either at Aveiro or Figueira, still the wines of their districts were too poor to maintain a position in the English market, and their importation ceased altogether notwithstanding their low cost. 6 1 House of Commons Committee. FORRESTER, 270, etc. 2 Ibid. SHAW, 1216. 3 Ibid. FORRESTER, 230, etc. * Ibid. W. E. TUKE. 6 Ibid. ROBSON and others, 4453. 6 The following is an account of wines exported from Aveiro to Great Britain, from 1832 to 1852 : Pipes. 1832 - 326 *1833 - 1744 *1834 - 1383 1835 - 936 1836 - 52 1837 - Nil. 1838 Pipes. 1839 - Nil. 1840 - 147 1841 - Nil. 1842 - 1843 - 1844 - 4 1845 - Nil. Pipes. 1846 - 107 1847 - 388 1848 - Nil. 1849 - 1850 - 1851 1852 - * In 1832 and 1833 the exportation from Oporto was much reduced, and this arose from the civil war, which continued over a portion of 1834; hence the necessity of the shipments in those years via Aveiro. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 89 But Portugal, in addition to port wine and its congeners, yields a variety of other wines of a sound and good character ; and at one time England consumed, though never very largely, the white wines of Lisbon and Bucellas, and the red wines of the Minho and Beira ; but the taste for them changed it was transferred to the drier and stronger- bodied wines of Spain, and their importation came to an end. And here again it must be observed, that although, as already stated, the vicious policy of the Oporto Company placed restrictions on the shipment of port wine from Oporto to England, and loaded it with export charges equal to 61. a pipe, no limitation was ever placed on the exportation of the other red wines of the surrounding districts, nor on the white wines of Lisbon and its vicinity. -The decay of the trade, therefore, was not ascribable to fiscal obstructions; and it may fairly be inferred, that had the taste for light wines at moderate prices prevailed in this country, Portugal would have continued her supplies from the Minho, via Vianna, where as at Aveiro, Figueira, and Lisbon no restriction prevailed or export duty was levied. It was stated in the Committee of 1852, by the agent in this country for the sale of some of these light wines of Por- tugal, that they are now sparingly introduced, at a first cost, including duty, of 20 shillings a dozen, and that adding 50 per cent, for merchant's profit, they could be sold on the same terms as good sherry, that is, for 30 shillings a dozen. This seems to require explanation. If these wines be of the quality stated, their first cost less than that of sherry, and the duty on both the same, what are the causes that render them unable to sustain a competition, on which they enter under circumstances so peculiarly favourable, unless it be that the taste of the people of England does not now ac- 90 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. commodate itself to their flavour, notwithstanding the lowness of their price. 1 Presuming, however, the taste for these wines to be only dormant and not extinct, and that their sale has been, as alleged, paralysed under the influence of high duties in England, but capable of revival on their reduction; and presuming that a demand could, in like manner, be created for Colares, and the better class of the inferior red wines of Portugal, it may be assumed that on a moderate calcu- lation a supply equal to 1,680,000 gallons could be obtained of the former, 2 and that the import of the latter might be restored even to a greater amount than the ordinary exports at a former period, say 320,000 gallons, or 2,000,000 gallons of both white wine and red. Adding, then, this quantity to the 84,211 pipes of port, obtainable from the Alto Douro, it follows that we might draw from Portugal a supply equal to 8,500,000 gallons of all sorts, more or less suited to the taste of this country. It is possible that in insulated places there may exist growths of wine to which notice has not hitherto been favourably directed; but at the present moment, 8,500,000 gallons appears to be the utmost quantity on which we could safely calculate to meet a consumption increased to 15,000,000 of port wine alone, exclusive of all other varieties. 1 House of Commons Committee. Evidence of Mr. OLIVEIRA, 1585. This gentleman stated that Tojal and other light Portuguese wines, under a duty of Is. per gallon, could be imported into this country and sold for 6s. or 8s. per dozen (1584). It is difficult to reconcile this calculation with a statement previously made (1548), that their first cost, including the present duty of 5s. 9d., is 20s. a dozen ; and, that adding merchants' profit, they might now be sold for 30s. De- ducting the difference between a Is. and a 5s. 9d. duty (4s. 9d. a gallon, or 9s. 6d. a dozen), this would bring Mr. Oliveira's calcu- lation to 20s. 6d. instead of 6s. a dozen, including his merchant's profit, or 10s. 6d. without profit whatsoever. 3 Board of Trade Foreign Returns, 1842, p. 19. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 91 As to the future there can be very little doubt, that as the soil suitable to the vine is by no means fully covered by it in Portugal, cultivation, if the impulse were given, might be largely extended there; and although port wine would admit of no expansion, still the general production might be augmented of a quality fit for export to Great Britain. But such an extension must, under any circumstances, be more or less experimental; and as the vine will not yield a vintage under four or five years' culture, and two or three years more must be allowed to prepare the wine for market, the Chancellor of the Exchequer would probably consider it prudent to await the result of the trial, before consenting to part with so large an amount of revenue. II. SPAIN. Spain supplies us with wine to an extent greater than Portugal. The taste for her produce has for the last thirty years been steadily increasing, and about 1840 the con- sumption attained an average of 2,500,000 gallons. It has risen to 2,741,230 gallons in 1854. The consumption of sherry in the United States is rapidly extending; it was upwards of 800,000 gallons in 1853, being more than double the quantity imported in 1852, and Russia in the same year took 444,537 gallons. This increasing demand in other countries supplies an explanation of the increasing price of sherry in Spain, as well as of the efforts which have been made of late years to introduce Sicilian Marsala into England, as a substitute for its lower qualities. To meet the anticipated demand in Great Britain under a Is. duty, it would be necessary that our importation should be increased to 16,000,000 gallons per annum. 92 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Mr. Porter, 1 in his evidence, stated trie produce of An- dalusia to be 40,000,000 gallons. But he did not give his authority, and the estimate would appear to be incorrect, as it is not reconcileable with a return published by the Board of Trade, 2 which shows the produce of Galls. Xeres de la Frontera to be - 3,578,947 Puerto Santa Maria - 1,073,684 Kota - - 63,167 St. Lucar 1,470,568 6,186,366 This latter calculation is corroborated by the evidence of Dr. Gorman, a gentleman of large experience, before the Committee of 1852, who makes the gross production of Xeres and Saint Mary (25,000 acres, at four butts per acre) equal to 5,647,860 gallons. Dr. Gorman's estimate is in turn sustained by an official statement of the total quantity of sherry exported in each of the following years : Butts. 1850 - 42,572 1851 - 38,574 1852 - 37,054 1853 - - - 53,358 1854 - - 52,746 At 108 gallons to a butt, the exports of 1854 amounted to 5,696,568 gallons. But taking the larger estimate, and deducting the smallest amount for loss, breakage, and evaporation, which is very great in wine kept to the age at 1 House of Commons Committee. Evidence 3757. 9 Tables of Revenue, etc. Sup. Part. xiv. p. 270. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 93 which sherry is ordinarily shipped, the quantity available for exportation may be taken at 5,000,000 gallons. From this must be deducted the shipments to North and South America, to Eussia and Northern Europe, equal to 1,500,000 gallons, leaving 3,500,000 gallons of sherry available for England. This calculation is made without leaving a single gallon for distillation or home consumption. There are, however, other wines, the produce of Spain, small quantities of which make their way into the English market. They are chiefly the growth of Malaga and the south-eastern provinces. Valencia and Catalonia also pro- duce wines of a character which formerly obtained a certain amount of favour here, but which have long since ceased to be imported, with the exception of Benecarlos, which is quietly introduced for mixing with Port. Supposing, under any new influences, the trade in these latter wines to be here- after revived, it is perhaps not too low an estimate to say, that our imports from these places might equal our present imports from all the rest of Spain about 2,500,000 gallons. These, added to 3,500,000 gallons of sherry, would give us 6,000,000 gallons from Spain of wine of all sorts, to meet a sudden demand for 16,000,000 of sherry alone. Like Portugal, Spain produces an astonishing quantity of wine of other descriptions, different from those suitable to the English market. Mr. Porter estimates it at 120,000,000 gallons good, passable, and bad; but the testimony is con- current, that except in Andalusia and a few other very minor localities, its manufacture is so imperfect, its qualities so peculiar, and its flavour so extraordinary, from careless- ness, dirt, and other causes, that in the present state of taste in Great Britain, it is not presentable in this market. Dr. Gorman says, 1 that none of the wines of Spain come to 1 House of Commons Committee. Evidence of Dr. GORMAN, 5717 to 5723. 94 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Great Britain in any other than an adulterated and artificial state. " No natural sherry comes to this country; no wine- house will send it ; the article you get is a mixed article : if they gave you the natural produce of Xeres it would not suit you ; in all probability, you would say it was an inferior wine: our taste is artificial, because we are not a wine- drinking people. If your tastes were directed to natural wines, Spain alone could supply this country with hundreds of thousands of butts of beautiful choice wines, which are not known in this market. They do not come here : first, because you would not drink them ; secondly, because they cannot come, owing to the position of the wine- growing countries. There are no cross-roads in Spain, no coopers, no casks, and the best wine-districts are 150 to 200 miles from the seaport towns. What comes to this country from remote places must come in skins, which communicate a nasty taste to the wine." No doubt in process of time the improved prosperity of Spain will correct all these disadvantages of her wine trade, derived from the habits of the people, and the absence of convenience and conveyance; but meanwhile, any calcula- tion of a revenue to be hereafter drawn from an article which as yet cannot be brought to market, and which " would not be drunk" if it could, must necessarily be con- tingent and certainly remote. III. SICILY. The wine next in importance to Port and Sherry, and that which presents the next largest proportion in the returns of consumption, is Sicilian Marsala. It is indicative of the prevailing taste and its influence, that this wine owes the share of favour shown to it, to its resemblance to ordinary sherry ; and although it wants the peculiar flavour of the finer descriptions of the latter, still IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 95 Marsala is a wholesome, and, as it is technically described in the trade, a " clean" wine. For this reason I am inclined to believe that in the event of a reduction of the duty, Sicily is of all others the country most likely to benefit by the change, and to send an increased export of her white wine to England ; although, hitherto its consumption has scarcely exceeded 500,000 gallons, and of late years it has fallen below 400,000. 1 Its characteristics approach so nearly to the wines we are most familiar with, that Marsala has already over- come the prejudice which so effectually obstructs the re- ception of a " new" wine in England, and once established in popular favour, I apprehend less difficulty will be found than in the case of almost any other wine to extend its consumption. There are no Sicilian statistics to afford a correct idea of the extent to which Marsala might be obtained of a quality fit for this market; but from private information I am assured that, for several years past, the shipments from Sicily to all parts of the world have been about 12,000 pipes, 2 but that the cultivation may be greatly increased, as it has been ascertained that the soil prevails extensively in which it has heretofore been successfully grown. In corroboration of this, I find, by a recent letter from Marsala, 1 The quantity of Marsala entered for Home consumption was, in Galls. Galls. 1850 - - 395,611 1853 - - 352,306 1851 - - 366,727 1854 - - 323,681 1852 - - 355,858 2 I have seen a trade circular of 1853, which says, "The shipments from Marsala, during the year 1852, to all parts, were 12,434 pipes, being an increase, over the year 1851, of 1785 pipes. This increase, however, is exclusively in shipments to Mediterranean ports and to Russia ; the quantity shipped to England and America having fallen off to some extent during the last three years. Prices of wines in Sicily have advanced considerably, and a further rise is expected." 96 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. that the export of 1853 amounted to 23,047 pipes, equal to 2,143,371 gallons. Under the system proposed of nominal duties, the quota to be supplied by Sicily to make up the newly stimulated consumption, must be six times the present quantity, or about 2,400,000 gallons per annum, an amount that would more than absorb the entire exports to all parts of the world at the present date. 1 Presuming, however, that within a few years the culti- vation, urged forward under the influence of rising prices, might be extended to double the present area, and assuming, for the purpose of the present enquiry, that England might absorb the whole of the increased produce, in addition to the present importations, we might then hope to draw from Sicily a supply of wine nearly equal to that which we now receive from Portugal or Spain. Looking then to these three countries, Portugal, Spain, and Sicily, which furnish at present 86 per cent, of our consumption, and estimating the possible extension of supply to meet a demand increased to six times the present amount, the result is as follows : QUANTITY PROCURABLE. QUANTITY REQUIRED. Gallons. Gallons. From Portugal Port wines 6,527,000 From Portugal 15,000,000 Other sorts 2,000,000 Spain 16,000,000 Spain Sherry - - 3,500,000 Sicily 2,400,000 France ") Other sorts 2,500,000 and else- V 2,600,000 where ) Sicily Marsala - - 2,500,000 36,000,000 16,027,000 Deduct 16,027,000 Deficiency 19,973,000 1 Sicily produces red wine, but of a very coarse quality. One witness, Mr. Tuke, stated that being encouraged by the increasing IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 97 The deficiency of nearly 20,000,000 gallons, seeing it cannot be obtained from these sources, nor of the class of wines to which we have been hitherto accustomed to resort, must, of necessity, be sought for from France, Germany, Italy, the Cape, or other countries whose produce has not as yet been popularly known in Great Britain. From all these places taken together, the gross importation of wine in 1854 was under one million gallons; and looking to these severally, the prospect is not encouraging of multiplying that supply twenty-fold of a quality adapted to the wants of the English consumer. IV. THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. From the Cape, our importations have been decreasing year by year since 1825. Up to that period a fictitious demand for this cheap colonial wine was created by the excessive duties on foreign growths, which paid 13s. 8d. and 9s- ]\d. a gallon, whilst Cape was admitted at 3s. and 2s. 5d. Under this artificial stimulus the consumption rose to 670,000 gallons in 1825; but after the reduction of the duties on foreign wine in that year, and subsequently in 1831, it declined to 456,773 in 1840 357,793 1845 246,132 1850 234,672 1851 242,805 1852 182,322 1853 275,382 1854 price of Oporto wine in England, to believe that these Sicilian red wines might successfully be introduced as a substitute for it, at a low price, he made the attempt by importing lately 600 pipes at but 4/. a pipe, which he hoped to be able to sell in substitution for port, but it turned out that after having been kept in bond for upwards of a year, and offered for sale at the end of that period, it was bought in at 2Z. 17.?. 6d. a pipe (see Evidence 971, 3979). H 98 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. The history of the trade in Cape wines is an illustration of the fact, that in the absence of those qualities which consort with the taste of this country, mere cheapness can- not force a wine into favour, or maintain it in uniform demand. The existence of a discriminatory duty on Cape wine at the present moment, in the face of a declining demand, serves no other purpose than to keep up the supply of an ingredient for adulteration, 1 and its decreasing importation shows how little it is sought after, even for this base use. No increase in its legitimate consumption is likely to follow a reduction of the duty to one shilling a gallon. V. MADEIRA AND THE CANARIES. Madeira is another country from which, unfortunately, no increase of supply can reasonably be expected. Its con- sumption in this country has always been small. The highest point it has attained since 1814 was 400,476 gallons, in 1821. It has since declined gradually to a very low quantity. 300,295 gallons in 1827 217,138 1830 " 139,422 1835 112,555 1840 102,745 1845 70,360 1851 82,064 1852 73,447 1853 42,874 1854 The total produce of the island in former years has been 1 Cape wine is also used in the manufacture of what are called " British Wines," of some of which it forms the basis. 5610, 5615. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 99 estimated at 20,000 to 25,000 pipes, equal to 1,950,000 gallons; but not only does the above table prove the de- parting taste for the wine in this country, but even its growth has lately received a formidable check by the sud- den destruction of the vines by blight, to such an extent that it is even yet doubtful whether Madeira may not cease altogether to be a wine-producing country. From the Azores and Canaries, which send us respect- ively 131 gallons and 15,928, it would be idle to speculate on any large supply. VI. GERMANY. If the question of supply turned on quantity alone, the resources of Germany are so unbounded as to enable her to furnish wine for the consumption of the civilised world. Bavaria, Wurtemburgh, and Baden, each produce wine in the utmost abundance; Prussia and Nassau supply us with Khenish and sparkling Moselle ; Hungary has been ever famed for Tokay and vins de liqueur; the empire of Austria alone produces annually 500,000,000 gallons, chiefly of white wine, and the rest of Germany above 45,000,000 more. The cheapness of these wines is so extreme, that their value is frequently lower than that of the cask which con- tains them; but so inferior is their quality, that Germany imports for its own use a larger quantity of wine of all sorts than she exports to all the rest of the world. Our own con- sumption of her wines has rarely reached 60,000 gallons in any recent year, being something under one hundredth part of our import; and it may safely be said, looking to the prevailing taste of these countries, that we have no prospect of obtaining from Germany any largely increased supplies. H 2 100 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. VII. ITALY. Italy is another country which produces wine in pro- fusion, but from which we in England import none. The explanation is to be found not alone in the fact, that the quality of the Italian vintages differs so widely from that on which our tastes have been formed, that they would fail to find consumption among us; but also in the circumstance that however delicious their flavour at the place of growth they are of too delicate a nature to bear carriage to any distance. The agreeable wines of Naples and Capri are scarcely procurable even at Rome; those of the Roman States are incapable of being carried with safety to Flo- rence ; and the light ones of Tuscany are not to be had in Sardinia. Under these circumstances an entire change must take place in the process of the vintage, as well as in the characteristics of the wine, before the produce of Italy can hope for any extensive demand in the United Kingdom. VIIL FRANCE. In this admitted inability to obtain from other sources an increased supply of our accustomed wines equivalent to the anticipated demand, or of others of a quality correspond- ing or approaching to them; the country to which all eyes are turned to make good the deficiency is FRANCE. 1 Even from this quarter, it is admitted that little or no increase is to be hoped for of the finer descriptions, the produce of Burgundy, Champagne, and the Bordelais, since Nature herself has fixed an impassable limit to their production; but confidence is inspired by the fact that France produces 1 Much valuable information on the production and capabilities of France will be found in the elaborate report of Sir John Bowring on the Commercial Relations between France and Great Britain. Silks and Wines. 1835. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 101 annually so vast a profusion of wine, that it is estimated at no less than 924,000,000 gallons. LE NoiR, in his treatise on the culture of the vine in France says, that one-sixth of the produce may be called more or less good another sixth is passable a third can be drunk without absolute, disgust and the remaining three comprise all grades between bad and detestable. 1 Out of this vast variety of growths, it is hoped that a considerable number must be found suitable to the taste and wants of the United Kingdom. The average value of the wine crop of France in ordi- nary years is estimated at sixpence halfpenny per gallon, 2 but the quantity deserving the name of wine becomes greatly reduced, when distinguished in proportional divisions of good, bad, and indifferent. From this vast production, it is hoped, in the event of the reduction of the duty to one shilling, although even at that ratio the rich and highly-flavoured wines of France could not be obtained in much greater quantity than at present, that an importation would arise of medium and ordinary qualities chiefly from the south and south-east of France, from the Rhone and the Pyrenees, to an extent without precedent; and such as would speedily, if not im- mediately, satisfy the largest demands of the United King- dom, and replace, if it does not double the amount of revenue surrendered. There are, however, grounds for questioning the sound- ness of this conclusion. 3 It must be remembered that the 1 LE NOIR Traite de la Culture de la Vigne, p, 593. 2 Sir John Bo wring's Report, p. 95. 3 A French merchant, M. Maire, a very extensive importer of French wines, who was examined before the Committee of 1852, sajjs, the proportion of wine of a quality likely to be consumed in this country, which France is capable of producing, " is another very great and difficult question to answer. As far as my know- 102 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. prevailing taste in England has always been for loaded rather than for lighter wines ; that for the last twenty-seven years, under an equal duty of 5s. 6d. and 5s. 9d. upon each, we have rejected the latter at a lower first-cost to take the former at a higher; and that as yet neither argument nor experience has been so convincing or demonstrative as to lead to the belief that under a uniform duty of Is., the same result would not continue to be exhibited; and that the inducement would not still remain, to take the full- bodied wines rather than the light and acidulous beverages of France. From Bourdeaux, it is well-known that little or no in- crease is to be looked for of claret, or the more generous wines of the Gironde. The strong wines of Burgundy have long since ceased to be brought to England, among other causes, from their inability to bear the sea-voyage; and even in France their use has been gradually declining from a similar reason. They are easily injured by removal; and a damp cellar, or even the agitation occasioned by the rolling of a carriage along the street is sometimes sufficient to turn them sour. 1 The produce of Champagne does not enter into calculation; and on the whole, the portion of France which is most relied on to meet the newly created demand is ledge goes, I do not think we produce such wines as would procure between the two countries a very large increase of trade " (2079, 2080). This gentleman's evidence is curious as to his observation, during twenty years' residence in England, of our taste for French wine. He thinks the lower orders in this country will not give up beer to take light wine (2093, 2097, 2112). 1 " Pour les vins fins de Bourgogne on n'en consomme presque plus. Quelques particuliers en font venir encore, mais vous en trouveriez tres-peu dans le commerce de Paris Us sont tres- sujets a maladies. Us passent quelquefois a I'amertume si on les place dans des caves humides, ou bien dans celles on le mouvement de la rue se fait un peu sentir." M. CASTERAT. Enquete Legislative sur Boissons, vol. i. p. 13. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 103 the district of Kousillon, including the departments of the Pyrenees Orient ales and Herault-, whence, of late years, the Masdeu, or spurious port, and Picardan for adulterating Sherry have been imported into England. The vine on this northern side of the Pyrenees seems to participate in the character of the vintages of Portugal and Spain on their southern aspect ; and the similarity has suggested the attempt to obtain a place for them in the English market; but failing to establish them in public favour, they hare been gradually withdrawn from consumption under their own name, but continue to be introduced for the purpose of " blending" with other wines more familiar and popular. Very ample details of those endeavours to bring Masdeu into use in this country, were given by some wine-mer- chants of experience, who were examined as witnesses by the committee of the House of Commons in 1852. * The attempt was first made as a substitute for Port wine, at a moment when the exports were interrupted during the the siege of Oporto in 1832; it was taken a little at first, but it obtained no permanent footing, and soon ceased to sell for domestic use. Those who have travelled in the South of France, pleased with the abundance of its ordinary wines, and the lowness of their cost, and amused by the novelty of drinking them on the place of growth, frequently return with an impression in their favour, and a supply for future use. But whether it be that they overlook the difference between tasting these low wines at home and under the charming climate in which they ripen, or whether the change which they per- ceive in their flavour is the result of a sea voyage, the taste proves but transient; their guests do not approve of the new wine ; the fancy is soon satisfied the adventure is 1 See Evidence of Mr. SELBY, Mr. TBOWEB, Mr. HART, Mr. RED- DING, Mr. REAY, etc. 104 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. not repeated and the traveller relapses into his accustomed round of stronger wines. The evidence taken by the committee of 1852, abounds in examples of the difficulty before adverted to of intro- ducing a new wine, especially of a light and thin descrip- tion, into use in the United Kingdom; and the most striking illustrations have been drawn from the wines of France. It was attested by some merchants of large ex- perience, that every attempt made within the last half century to introduce a new wine of this character into use in these countries, has been an almost total failure; although the experiment has been made with sound and pure wines at a cost greatly below the prevailing prices of Port and Sherry. One gentleman, Mr. Gassiot, 1 stated, that in 1825, on the reduction which then took place in the duty, he, firmly relying on the effect of that measure, in leading to a consumption of light wines, imported low-priced wines from France, Figueiras and Colares from Portugal, Spanish red wine from. Barcelona, and others from Italy and Sicily ; but the entire speculation ended in failure and loss. Mr. Maxwell, 2 another extensive importer, stated, that in 1841, his house had made a large importation of light French wines on speculation ; they were sent to Calais, "after being a long while in the Docks, thinking that as the English would not drink them, the French would; but it was a total loss; and the importers did not even get the price of the casks." Mr. Carbonell tried to bring Masdeu into use, but failed, 3 and numerous other examples are recorded in the Evidence, each singularly unsuccessful, the taste of this country 1 Evidence 697, etc. 2 Evidence 3185, etc. 3 Evidence 1970, etc. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 105 hitherto being decidedly averse from all but wines of high flavours, full body, and strong spirituous character. 1 SIR JOHN BOWRING, who investigated this subject with much care and industry, in 1834, as a government com- missioner, records in his Report on the wine trade of France, the " great variety of opinions" which he " found to exist as to the increased consumption in the United Kingdom, which would follow a diminution of duties on the lower qualities of French wines." 2 " In France generally/' he says, at that time, " the notion prevailed that an enormous augmentation of demand would follow any considerable reduction of duty," and that it " would bring into our market the strong-bodied wines of the Rhone and the south-eastern provinces." But these hopes and expectations were based on the adoption, by Great Britain, of an ad valorem duty, which all parties now pronounce impracticable. In Great Britain, on the contrary, he found opinion very unsettled as to any great increase likely to arise in the demand for light wines under diminished duties. In Scotland he found " a considerable difference of opinion as to their probable effect on consumption : several persons of the leading houses in the wine trade apprehended that no price, however low, would create a demand for the ordinary classes of French wines, while the very superior would be consumed by the opulent, whatever their price might be. Some of the most eminent wine merchants mentioned that they had made several attempts to introduce new qualities of French wines, but with no success, and that re-exporta- tion to Hamburg or Holland had been the result. But others asserted, that some of the lower growths of Claret 1 Evidence. Mr. WHITE 1442, 1474. Mason 2175. Hart 2956. 2 Sir JOHN Bo WRING'S Report, p. 109. 106 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. had come into demand; and a decided expectation was then expressed of a considerable extension of that demand. 1 From Ireland, Sir John Bo wring expected no great de- mand; and in England, although the reductions of 1831 had slightly increased consumption, and some letters spoke confidently of a great augmentation if the lower wines were let in at a low duty ; still, " other communications left a doubt whether even a considerable reduction in cost would be sufficient to restore the ancient taste " for French wines. Sir John quotes, in the Appendix to his Report, a letter of el an eminent Scotch importer," to which he attaches value; the writer says: " Expectations were entertained, that when the duties were equalised, the lower-priced French wines would come into demand; the extent to which they have done so I believe to be a mere trifle. I know that my own house has given this description of wine a fair trial : we have had it at all prices ; some of it at a lower price than our port wine, and excellent wine of the kind sound, well-flavoured, and agreeable. During the few months of summer, some people were induced to try it, and we disposed of a few hogsheads in bottle ; but with the exception of the mess of one Dragoon regiment, no one returned a second time for it, and the demand very soon ceased entirely; and from anything that I can see, I do not think that the demand for that description of French wine would be much increased if the duty were taken off altogether." 2 Still it must not be lost sight of, that these successive attempts between the years 1825 and 1854, have all been made under the present scale of duties (5s. 6d. and 5s. 9d.) ; and that their failure is not a conclusive reply to the antici- pations of those who calculate the probable effects of a re- 1 Report, p. 110. 2 Report, pp. 151, 152. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 107 newed effort on a vastly more extended scale, and under the influence of a duty reduced to Is. Judging of a trial hitherto unattempted, with a supply of hitherto unknown wines to tempt the appetite and these offered at a cost so low as to neutralise every scruple on the score of economy; it would be presump- tuous to foreclose the argument by pronouncing authori- tatively against all probability of a greatly increased intro- duction of French wine into this country. On the contrary, so far as mere importation is concerned, there is every reason to believe that the full effect of the measure would be an instant introduction of light wines, as an experiment, to such an extent as to flood the market 1 with those readily procurable. But whilst the advocates of reduction are sanguine in their anticipation that these importations would find an eager and uniform sale, those favourable to the present scale of duty appear to be equally convinced, that, as in the former instance in 1825, the demand would not carry off the supply, and that if, contrary to their expecta- tions, any material increase of consumption ensued, it would eventually decline in deference to the recognised taste for stronger wines. A similar opinion was conveyed to the Committee appointed by the House of Lords, in 1821, to enquire into the means " of extending the foreign trade of this country," of which the MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE was Chairman. Amongst other subjects they investigated the probability of increasing the consumption of French wine, by introducing the lighter qualities under a reduced scale of duties; but the evidence they received was so discouraging, that the Committee forebore to recommend the experiment. One witness, Mr. Gowen, in reply to the question, " Whe- ther he conceived that a taste for French wines might be created amongst those who do not now drink them, pro- 1 Evidence, 2723, 5881, 5882. 108 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. vided tkey could be brought in at an inferior price?" said " I should doubt it. The light description of Port wines is considered too light for the drinkers in this country ; they like stout Port wine, and light Port is stronger than the best descriptions of French wines. I should doubt, therefore, the demand being continued after the novelty had ceased. I should be enabled to sell a larger quantity immediately, but I should doubt its continuing." l Even if the new taste could be permanently implanted, there is a very general con- currence of belief, that an interval more or less prolonged must intervene before it could be extensively developed. As regards French wine in particular, it is a remarkable fact, and one that by no means encourages to the hopes of a very large importation from France, that whilst France produces 924,000,000 gallons of wine, her average exports to all the countries of the world, on an average of the ten years which preceded 1851, when the vine disease began to appear, was but 33,294,889 gallons ; and, for the last fifty years, the consumption in England has rarely exceeded 500,000 gallons of which a considerable portion has been Champagne. If the bulk of her vintage were of a class suited to the taste of the rest of mankind, her exports would not be limited to so trifling a part of her produce, and that only of the finer growths. Bearing in mind the very limited area within which the existence of a suitable climate and soil permits the cultiva- tion of those finer wines to be carried on, looking to the comparatively small supply which is capable of being pro- duced, and the increasing demand, not only from the grow- ing population of the old world, but amongst the 23,000,000 of North American citizens, and the new communities which the discovery of gold is distributing over the coasts 1 Lords' Committee, 1821, p. 52. IS A VASTLY INCREASED SUPPLY PROCURABLE? 109 of the Pacific, and the Continent and Islands of Australia/ it is scarcely to be hoped that the reduction of the duty in England will lead to a very largely increased supply of wines at present shipped to us by France. And it certainly would be vain to expect that at any gradation of price, how- ever low, the use of French wines of a light class could be so stimulated as to raise the annual consumption from 400,000 gallons to 20,582,000. 1 The present consumption of wine in Algeria is equal to 9,314,236 gallons of French wine. That of the United States is already equal to the entire imports into Great Britain, and must go on to increase. 110 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. CHAPTER XL OPINION IN FRANCE, AS TO THE PROBABLE EFFECTS OF A FURTHER REDUCTION OF THE DUTY, ON THE CONSUMPTION OF WINE IN ENGLAND. SOME misapprehension appears to exist on the part of the manufacturers of the United Kingdom, as to the feeling in France upon this subject. There is an impression that ex- cessive duties are maintained in the French tariff, against the principal articles of British produce, merely in retaliation for those levied on the importation of wine; and memorials have been presented to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, from those interested in the manufacture of linen in Ireland and Scotland, urging that better terms could be obtained for the admission of their produce into France, were England to reduce her import duty on French wines. This idea has prevailed, since Sir Robert Peel, in 1842, announced the probability of a more liberal revision of the restrictive tariffs of Spain, Portugal, and France, on'which occasion he made use of these words: " I must say, when we make such reductions on articles imported, we ought to do our utmost to obtain from foreign countries, benefitted thereby, corresponding advantages for England. Nor do I OPINION IN FRANCE. Ill wish to diminish the hope ^satisfactorily arranging these relaxations with foreign nations, by rashly reducing the amount of duties on articles which must form the basis of negotiation. I do not, therefore, propose any reduction on the amount of duties on brandy or wines." l But although it was quite competent to Sir Kobert Peel thus to treat simultaneously with all the great wine-growing countries for a simultaneous reduction of the import duties on their wines and brandy ; it would not have been possible for him then, nor is it for us now, to negotiate separately with France for a reduction of duty on her own peculiar produce; as the state of our treaties, and the insertion of the " most favoured nation clause," binds us to give to Portugal, Spain, and Naples, (whether they reduce their own tariffs or not), the benefit of any change which we may make in favour of the wines of France. It is to be observed also, as regards this suggestion of stipulating with France for reductions in her tariff in favour of English manufactures, on condition of our reducing the present duty on French wines; that the French government, since 1842, have exhibited compara- tively little interest on the subject of their wines, compared with the anxiety which they have since expressed for further concessions to encourage the importation of their brandy into Great Britain. The desire evinced by France on the subject of wine, when negotiating with Sir Robert Peel in 1841-1842, has since abated, in consequence of a growing conviction that such a measure would only stimulate the consumption of the finer qualities, of which France could not extend her supply; but would fail to excite a demand for the lower 1 Speech of Sir ROBERT PEEL, March 11, 1842. 112 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. descriptions, for which a tase has yet to be created amongst the consumers in this country. 1 M. MAIRE, a gentleman largely engaged in the French wine trade, who was examined by the Committee of 1852, in answer to an inquiry, whether the French Government would be inclined now to grant us reciprocal advantages for our manufactures, on condition of our reducing the duty on their wines, replied, that he had advised his friends in the French Chambers against such an arrange- ment. He had " always felt that, whatever concession you might make upon their wines only, and not upon brandies, the relief to the growers of wine would be very small indeed and that the French Government would not have been warranted, or wise, to grant you corresponding ad- vantages upon any British produce to be introduced into into France; because it would not lead to the increased consumption in this country which they might anticipate or wish." 2 This feeling on the part of France, at the present moment, is somewhat different from that described by SIR JOHN BOWRING in 1835, when he says he found the conviction prevalent then, that French wines were excluded from the English market by the rigour of our tariff, which, in turn, they believed to be but a reprisal for the prohibitory system of France ; which sacrificed the interests of the wine growers of the south to sustain the monopoly of the iron masters and cotton manufacturers in the northern departments. The population of the wine districts were then eager for a 1 Mr. Redding, who advocates the reduction of the duty to Is., admits, that even the inferior wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy, though they are consumed in Paris at 6d. a bottle, are scarcely palatable to an Englishman. REDDING, " On "Wines," p. 88. 2 House of Commons Committee. Evidence of M. Maire, 2033, 2035. OPINION IN FRANCE. 113 re-adjustment of the French duties upon coal, iron, and yarns; in the hope that it would lead to a corresponding concession on the side of England in relief of French wine, and that under an ad valorem duty which would enable them to be drunk at Is. or 2s. a bottle, the " strong-bodied wines of the Rhone and the south-eastern provinces" would find their way into the English market. 1 The change which has since, to some extent, come over public opinion in France upon this subject, is no doubt the result of further experience of the disappointment which followed the reduction of the duty in 1831, combined with a more extended observation as to the well-defined taste in England for strong and highly alcoholised wines. Almost every experiment made on the wine duties between 1787 and 1831, was undertaken with a view to facilitate the introduction of French wines into England. The reduction by Mr. Pitt, in the former year, was with an expressed design to favour their importation, but it failed to produce that effect; and, as shown in a former passage, the importation of French wine, between 1787 and 1795, fell off from 933,172 gallons in 1788, A.D., to 204,097 gallons in 1794, A.D. 1 SIR JOHN BOWRING'S Report, p. 103, 110, 112. The opinion of SIR JOHN BOWRING and his colleagues is thus recorded in their report, " after examining a variety of evidence, the English Com- missioners have come to the conclusion, that a large consumption of French wine would take place in England, if the duty were regulated at something like cent, per cent, on value ; and we think there would be little difficulty in classing the wines of France under these heads : Per Gall. Wine not exceeding in value l,600f. per tun = 24Z. sterling, s. d. on which a duty should be levied of . . .18 Do., not exceeding l,200f., or 48l 34 On all wines above that value the present duty . . .56" REPORT, p. 113. 114 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Again, the lowering of the duties by Lord Kipon (1825), resulted in a similar disappointment ; the consumption of French wine, so far from increasing, has declined yearly, from 525,579 gallons in 1823, to 308,294 gallons in 1830; 271,661 in 1835; and it has only recently regained the level of 1825; and that not owing to any newly developed taste for light wine, but to an increasing import of Champagne. A third, and the most important experiment of the three, was that of equalizing the duties on French and Peninsular wines in 1831; thus annulling the great provision of the Methuen Treaty, which stipulated for a perpetual preference for the wines of Portugal. But under the equalised scale, the wines of Portugal have, in every year since, exhibited an increase, whilst those of France have evinced little or no revival. The consumption was 308,294 gallons - - in 1830 271,661 - 1835 341,841 1840 443,330 - 1845 340,748 1850 447,556 1851 503,919 1852 560,686 1853 .580,567 1854 In 1835, the people of France, somewhat surprised by this decline, were disposed to attribute the failure of the ex- periment " to the prejudices created by the cholera in 1832 and 1833. " x But later experience has led the authorities there, and the more intelligent portion of the wine-growers, to ascribe it to more permanent and enduring causes. The investigation instituted by the Commission appointed 1 SIR JOHN BOWRING'S Report, p. 99. OPINION IN FRANCE. 115 by the National Assembly in 1849, to inquire into the operation of the taxes on wine, and the general condition of that branch of native industry, led to a very frank expres- sion of opinion, as to the prospect of an increased export to England, on the part both of the wine-growers and of the finance ministers of France. An idea having been ex- pressed, on the sitting of the 20th March, 1850, by M. GRETERIN, Direct eur General des Douanes, that the duty in England did not prejudice the consumption of French wines of the finest growth; but that if lowered to 50 per cent., ad valorem, a considerable increase might be expected in the consumption of the strong-bodied common wines of the south. The President, M. THIERS, interposed with an expression of his own views and experience. He said that when in office, he had found the utmost difficulty in obtain- ing any concession in favour of French wines in England. He argued as if the Methuen Treaty were still in force, and he reproached the British Government with maintaining it, in order to favour the wines of Portugal, because Portugal, in return, consumed British manufactures. But, he said, whatever opening Great Britain might appear to present for the wines of France, those who had lived in that country must have arrived at the conviction that, in reality, the people of England have no liking for French wines the rich have on their tables the finest Bordeaux, but they exhibit a decided preference for Port and Sherry, and as for the middle classes, they had no taste for the coarse wines of France (vins capiteux) ; and M. THIERS, from these com- bined causes, the partial policy of the English Government, and the peculiar taste of the English people, had arrived at the conviction, that there was no hope of any largely- increased demand froin the United Kingdom. M. BOCHER, one of the commissioners, put a question to M. GRETERIN, whether there had not already been in I 2 116 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. England, as well as in Belgium and Holland, a sensible dimi- nution in the duty levied on French wines, and whether this had been followed by a corresponding increase of ex- portation ? M. GRETERIN, in reply, corrected the error of M. THIERS as to the Methuen Treaty, reminded him that it had been terminated, and the duties equalized in England upon French and all other wines, and this in the mode the most favourable to France ; not by raising their wines to her level, but by lowering hers to theirs. Yet no benefit had arisen from the change, and the consumption of French wine remained the same under the lesser tax, as it had been under the previous one of double the amount " sous le regime d'une taxe presque double de ce qu'elle est aujourd' hui, le chiffre des exportations etait a peu pres le meme que le chiffre actuel." In like manner, the reduction of the im- port duty had led to no increased demand either in Belgium or Holland. This result M. GRETERIN contrasted with the effect pro- duced by Sir Robert PeeFs reduction on French brandy, for which a demand had previously existed in England, and of which the export had risen prodigiously in consequence, notwithstanding that the cost exceeded that of British spirit. In like manner, Portuguese and Spanish wines still maintained their supremacy in England, although their price was considerably higher than French a proof, inter- posed M. THIERS, " that our brandy can compete success- fully with the distilled spirits of Great Britain, but that our wines cannot maintain the struggle against those of Portugal and Spain." 1 1 " LE PRESIDENT M. THIERS, Le pays oh nous pourrions v6ritablement esp6rer un grand d6bouche serait 1'Angleterre ; mais, quand on a vecu au milieu des Anglais des differentes classes, il est facile de voir qu'au fond ii OPINION IN FRANCE. 117 M. FOULD, the MINISTER of FINANCE, 1 avowed his concurrence in the opinion of M. Thiers. Of brandy he pas nos vins. Chez les grands seigneurs, ou fait rouler sur la table, dans de petits chariots, des vins de Bourdeaux de haute quality mais il circule fort peu de nos autres vins. Us ont une preference marqu6e pour les vins d'Espagne ; et, a mesure que s'etablit cette preference des vins capiteux, 1'usage des ndtres, qui suppose un palais delicat, diminue peu a peu. Je ne crois done pas, en supposant qu'on put arracher 1'Angleterre a 1' influence de de ses principes cornmerciaux, que nos vins intermediaires s'y pro- pageassent sensiblement. Dans les classes superieures, on boit un peu de Bordeaux et bien plus de Porto ; dans les classes moyennes on ne trouve gu&re que 1'habitude de vins capiteux : de sorte que je crains fort, en presence de ces deux causes reunies, les principes de commerce et le gout particulier a la nation Anglaise, que, la encore, nous n'ayons pas Vesperance d"un grand debouche. " M. BOCHER. Je prierai M. GRETERIN de nous dire, en me"me temps qu'il repondra a M. le President, s'il n'y a pas eu en Angle- terre, en Belgique et en Hollande, un abaissement sensible des droits, et si cet abaissement a ete" suivi d'une augmentation egale- ment sensible dans nos exportations? " M. GRETERIN. Je commence par les observations de M. le Pre"- sident. En eflfet, les raisons qui ont fait pr6ferer aux Anglais les vins des centre" es du Midi aux ndtres sont bien celles que M. le President vient d'indiquer : leur gout pour les vins d'Espagne, de Portugal, de Sicile, et ensuite la faveur qu'ils accordaient a ces derniers, quant au droit, dans la vue de trouver dans ces pays des marches plus accessibles pour leur propres produits. Mais au- jourd'hui, et meme depuis dix ann6es, les vins d'Espagne, de Portugal, etc., sont traites a l'6gal des vius de France, le droit est le meme pour tous. Sous ce rapport done les principes du Traite" de Methuen ne subsistent plus. Mais le raison qui fait que VAngleterre maintent le droit sur les vins me semble tout a fait financiere. " LE PRESIDENT, M. THIERS. L'egalite entre les vins Francais et ceux des contrees meridionales s'est-elle e"tablie parce qu'on a reduit le droit sur les ndtres ou parce qu'on a sureleve le droit des vins de ces contrees ? " M. GRETERIN. Les ndtres payaient le double de ceux des pays plus favorises. On les a ramenes au droit qui frappait les autres, 1 Enquete Legislative, etc., M. FOULD, p. 41. 118 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. considered that there was still an opening for large ex- portations into England, but not for wine "pour les vins je ne vois pas que cela puisse aller bien loin" and M. BUFFET, and others of the commissioners, reverted re- peatedly to the fact, that the lowering of the duty in England had been followed by a decrease instead of an in- crease of consumption. 1 In the course of enquiry, deputies were examined by the commissioners from the several wine countries of France, from Burgundy and the Cote d'Or, from Herault, Bordeaux, and the Gironde and the statements of these representatives of each province exhibit, very distinctly, the varying economy of those distinct districts, as influenced by the destination of their peculiar produce. The deputies from Burgundy, sensible of the declining taste for their finer growths in other countries, and solicitous chiefly for the home market, dwelt on the hardships of internal taxation, which raised its cost to the people of France ; and they glanced at the same time at the heavy duties levied on corn, cattle, and iron, imported from abroad, which had led to reprisals in the form of high duties upon wine, to which they attributed the diminished consumption of Burgundy in other countries. 2 But as a similar decline has taken place in the use of Burgundy in France itself, as well as in et on a etabli une taxe uniforme, saufe pour les produits du Cap. Quant aux vins, sous le regime d'une taxe presque double de ce qu'elle est aujourd'hui, le chiffre des exporta- tions etait a peu pres le meme que le chiffre actuel. " M. LE PRESIDENT. En somme, cela veut dire que les eaux-de-vie Fransaises ont pu lutter avec les spiritueux dont se servaient 1'Angleterre, mais que nos vins n'ont pu hitter avec les vins d'Espagne et de Portugal." EnqueU Legislative v. p. 39. 1 Enquete Legislative, M. BUFFET, p. 354, etc. 2 Hid, M. MAREY-MONGE, p. 357. OPINION IN FKANCE. 119 Belgium and Holland, where the duty is very trifling; it is clear that some other cause has been in operation besides the mere action of a tariff. From Herault and the Bouches de Rhone, the districts which produce the strong and spirituous wines, which are profitably converted into alcohol, the deputation barely glanced at the burthens imposed upon wine ; but urged with earnestness the relaxation of the government taxes on dis- tillation. Aware that the coarseness of their vintages but little suited them for table use or exportation, they sought the removal of every impediment to their free conversion into spirit and they pressed with eagerness the renewal of negotiations on the part of the government to obtain some further reduction in the import duty on brandy in England. It admits of little doubt, that in this view the wine pro- prietors of Herault are correct. They have the instinct to perceive, that to reduce the duty on the import of their produce as wine into Great Britain, would expose them to disappointment, as its reception there might be doubtful; whereas, to admit it in the shape of brandy, the market having already been tested and found favourable, was to the proprietor certain gain; and what could not find a market as vins de commerce would be certain of consumption as vins de chaudiere. 1 M. DESMERAIL, who appeared on behalf of the wine growers of Medoc and Bordeaux, made a passionate appeal against the injustice of the French government in imposing the octroi and inland taxes upon the harvest of the wine districts, and exempting from local taxation the cotton manufactures and iron-works of the north. These taxes, by which the government of France raise an annual 1 Enqutie Legislative, M. MARES, p. 336, 120 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. income of 4,000,000/., sterling, and the municipalities 1,200,0007. he denounced as the utter destruction of the wine trade, " aneantissement de la propriete vinceole" He demanded for the home market the utter abolition of all internal taxation; and for the export trade of the Gironde, he urged the negotiation of tariff treaties, es- pecially with Kussia and with Sweden, the latter of which would take claret in exchange for iron. 1 As to England (whilst he made the same error as M. THIERS, in supposing that duties were still levied under the Methuen treaty three- fold greater upon French wines than upon those of the Peninsula), he declared that the reduction of the duty, in 1831, had been attended with injury rather than advantage to the interests of Bordeaux; as it had made the wines that ought to be dear so cheap that the wealthy did not think it worth their while to buy them, " cela peut etre bizarre, mais c'est * f >9 vrai. * The commissioners themselves, as the result of their investigation upon this point, declared in their Report, that Great Britain no longer favoured the produce of other countries, to the prejudice of France, her wine and brandy being placed on an absolute equality with those of Portugal and Spain ; and that in every alteration in the British tariff, the gain had been considerably on the side of France; but nevertheless, the consumption of French wines had de- clined even under these advantages, whilst that of brandy 1 M. Desmirail seems to have been imperfectly informed as to the state of Sweden in relation to wines. The duty upon wine in Sweden is but one shilling and fivepence halfpenny per gallon in wood, and two shillings and elevenpence in the bottle. But this low duty does not lead to any large consumption of wine ; and perhaps no country in the civilized world exhibits so lamentable an instance of the excessive consumption of ardent spirits. 2 Enquete Legislative, M. DESMIRAIL, p. 348 357. OPINION IN FRANCE. 121 had considerably risen. The commissioners subjoin the remark, that the question, as regards England herself, is purely a consideration of finance, involving the income de- rived from an extensive class of articles, many of them of native production, whose importance may be inferred from the fact that they yield an immense revenue, equal to 410 millions of francs per annum. 1 These sentiments, and the opinions expressed in other quarters, both official and mercantile, afford grounds for believing, that in France the feelings of the government and the wine-growers have undergone some modification since 1835, and that the change has extended, if my infor- mation be correct, to a more exalted and potential quarter. The Baron du Cluzeau de Clerant, a French proprietor, gave to the Committee of 1852 some interesting information as to the personal views and wishes of the Emperor of France, then Prince President, regarding the reduction of the English duties on French wines. 2 I have, however, been informed, that the Emperor, on the occasion of a recent visit to Bordeaux, in reply to an appeal that he would exert himself to procure a reduction of the duty on French wine in England, expressed himself in terms not dissimilar to those of M. THIERS in 1850. He replied that it was a delusion to suppose, that even if the duty were altogether abolished, the people of England could be in- duced to drink the light wines of France. That he had lived in this country and knew our taste, and was well aware that it would be only deceiving themselves, were the French wine-growers to suppose that the English people would take largely of their produce, whatsoever favour might be exhibited to English manufactures in France. I 1 Enquete Legislative, etc. Report, p. 33. 2 Committee, House of Commons, 6631. 122 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. applied to the gentleman who gave me this information for the name of the parties from whom he obtained it; and I received from him a reply, of which the following is an extract : " I find that in the present political state of France, every Frenchman connected with commerce is extremely nervous as to giving information which might tend to com- promise his friends in that country. The fact which I mentioned to you is true in every respect. Louis Napoleon, on a recent visit to Bordeaux, examined some of the larger wine stores in that city. It was considered a good oppor- tunity to obtain his opinion as to a Treaty of Commerce with England, when he, in the most emphatic manner, stated in the presence of several parties, that such a treaty would not benefit the wine-growers or wine-merchants of France, as, from his personal knowledge of the tastes and habits of Englishmen, he knew that they would prefer their own good beer to the wines of France or Germany. " Not satisfied with this declaration, the wine-merchants subsequently obtained from the Chamber of Commerce of Bordeaux directions that its chairman should proceed to Paris, and request an interview with the Emperor; this gentleman is himself a large holder of wines; the result has been that the Emperor was still more decided in his opinion than he had been as President. Louis Napoleon repeated the declaration he had made at Bordeaux, stating that it was founded on his personal experience ; and from a letter I have seen, I may state that the Bordeaux merchants are satisfied that all hope of interference on his part is hopeless." It admits of no doubt, that both the people and the government of France must naturally desire the reduction of the duty in foreign states upon an article of so much importance as wine-, nor can there be a question that con- OPINION IN FRANCE. 123 siderable impulse would be communicated to their exports by sucli a measure ; but with an intuitive perception of her real interest in this important question, France appears to have recently altered the direction of her exertions; and instead of pressing for a lower duty on wine, she has adopted the sounder policy of seeking better terms for her brandy. A duty upon brandy is, in reality, a concentrated duty upon the wine from which brandy is distilled. In its original form as wine, it may fail to find a place in the English market ; but when converted into spirit, for which a universal taste has been found to prevail here, the extent of its consumption would be proportionate to the lowness of its cost. Taking the whole of the vast production of wines in France, there are two divisions of it which may be said to be almost independent of import duties and customs tariffs, the veiy finest and the very poorest. The Gironde and Marne, with their peerless vintages of Claret and Champagne, can year after year calculate with confidence on a uniform and certain demand to the utmost limits of their growth, re- gardless of the imposts that foreign states may levy on their importation. In like manner, the many millions of gallons whose poverty and coarseness condemns them to home con- sumption by the peasantry and the lower orders, being incapable of removal, are indifferent to taxation. But the case is very different with the produce of vast por- tions of the south and west of France; Herault, Var, and the Oriental Pyrenees, Charente, Gers, and the Garonne abound in wines of an intermediate class, too deficient in delicacy and flavour to be admitted generally to the table, and from this and other causes meeting a very limited and uncertain demand for exportation. But these are the dis- tricts from which England draws her chief supplies of brandy; the strength and other qualities of these coarser wines renders them profitable for conversion into alcohol; 124 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. and vast quantities are annually distilled, or, as is technically termed, " burnt for brandy? 1 In all vicissitudes of seasons, 2 and in all the fluctuations of the markets, were the foreign demand for brandy increased, the conversion of their wines into spirit would be a safe resource for the French proprietor, if his strong wines were too coarse to find purchasers, or his light wines too poor to be kept with safety, there would be always a remedy at hand by distilling them. In this way upwards of 200,000,000 gallons of wine in ordinary years have been converted into 25,000,000 gallons of alcohol and brandy, of which nearly one-twelfth was consumed in the United Kingdom. 3 So prevalent is the taste for French brandy in England, that, even under the prohibitory duty of IL 2s. I0d. per 1 In the early works on medicine, brandy ranked in the Pharma- copoeia as vinum adustum, "burnt winej" whence the German brannt- wein and the modern name brandy. 2 The number of gallons of wine required to produce one gallon of brandy, varies according to the vintage ; the poorer the quality of the wine the larger the quantity to be distilled to produce a given amount of spirit. By a recent return, the proportion during four years, from 1848 ,to 1852, appears to have been one gallon of brandy from 7-| of wine. In PORTUGAL "from seven to nine pipes of ordinary wine generally give a pipe of brandy 20 per cent, above British proof but in the year 1853 (owing to the prevalence of the vine-disease) from ten to twelve pipes of ordinary wine were required to give one pipe of brandy of that strength." From a paper by J. J. Fo ESTER, ESQ., On the Vine Disease in the Alto Douro, in April, 1854. Trans. Roy. Soc. 3 " Le progres de la distillation a, dans les provinces du Sud et du Sud-ouest, soutenu la valeur des plantations malgre la depreciation des vins : Et 1'importance sans cesse croissante de nos exp6ditions d' alcohol, la prosperite du commerce des eaux de vie de cognac avec Angleterre et l'Am6rique, ont fait aisement oublier & ceux de nos departements qui s'y livrent les benefices qu'ils realisent autre fois sur les vius que leur demandaient nos voisins de la Belgique et d'outre-Rhin." Enquete Legislative, etc., Report, p. 31. OPINION IN FRANCE. 125 gallon, we took annually upwards of a million gallons; an amount which was doubled in three years, after the re- duction of the duty by Sir Robert Peel, in 1846, and there can be no doubt, were it in the power of the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer to make a still further reduction, a further increase of consumption would follow. France has the discrimination to perceive this; and to feel that if, instead of reducing the duty upon wine to one shilling a gallon, England could be induced to lower the duty on brandy to one-half the present tax, while the boon to" the wine districts would be the same in ostensible amount, the real gain would be infinitely greater both in value and in permanence, The vintages of Rousillon and Provence, which might be doubtful of finding purchasers in the United Kingdom, even under a nominal rate of duty, would come into active and uniform request, when distilled into spirit; and every gallon introduced in the concentrated form of brandy would represent seven or more of wine, which would have been unsaleable in their original character. But prelimi- nary to such a reduction, the Chancellor of the Exchequer must pause to consider, to what extent such an alteration in the cus- toms dues upon an article of foreign produce, would necessitate a simultaneous change in the excise duties upon home distil- lation. 126 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. CHAPTER XII. DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF THE VINE-DISEASE IN FRANCE. AMONGST the reasons assigned by the Association formed by Mr. Chisholm Anstey, " for the reduction of the duty on wine," for suspending the agitation of that question for the present, the most forcible is the destruction of the grapes in the principal wine-producing countries of the world during the recent ravages of the vine disease. This vegetable pesti- lence, which, since 1852, has been pervading the vineyards of Europe, has reduced the production of exportable wine in Portugal to one-half; and that of France to one-fifth, and constrained her, the greatest wine-producing country in the the world, to become herself an importer of wine from the Peninsula, and of spirits from Ihe United Kingdom. This fearful visitation of Providence has more than a merely temporary bearing upon the question under con- sideration. The same disaster, which, in its present aggravated shape, has paralyzed the operations of the wine-growers, is liable to recurrence, in those mitigated forms which, in unfavourable years, give rise to "bad vintages" These do not, it is true, produce revolutions in commerce, such as that which we are now witnessing ; they may not RAVAGES OP THE VINE-DISEASE. 127 so far destroy the wine harvest as to convert exporting into importing countries; but, to a greater or a less extent, they derange the ordinary course of trade ; they force the pro- duce of one year to sustain the consumption of another, with all the variation of value incident to irregular supply. The public revenue, at such periods, would be subject to violent fluctuations, if it were true, as it is now urged, that wine is an article of which the consumption is entirely dependent on its price, or if its consumers in this country were of a class liable to be influenced by mere considerations of cost. The question of supply, as contingent on ' ' good " and "bad" vintages, is comparatively unimportant to us at the present moment, and so long as England is dependent on France for merely some half million gallons of her finest wines, of which a quantity equal to many years' consumption is always ripening in her cellars. But, presuming the anticipa- tions to be realized of a vastly-augmented demand, consequent on a greatly reduced duty ; and supposing this country to be annually expecting from France 20,000,000 gallons of medium wines (the class always most liable to inj ury in un- favourable vintages) it may be well to glance at the possible inconvenience of such a state of things, by adverting to the frequency with which the economy of the wine trade in that country has been disturbed, by the occurrence of " bad vintages" during the last thirty years. Mr. JOHNSTON, a member of the Chamber of Commerce of Bordeaux, and head of one of the greatest wine esta- blishments in the Gironde, has supplied me with data, from which it appears that the vintages in France, between 1820 and 1854, may be classed as follows: 128 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Good. 1822 1823 1825 1827 1828 1831 1834 1837 1841 1844 1846 1847 1848 1851 Bad. 1820 1821 1824 1826 1822 1830 1832 1833 1835 1836 1839- 1840 1842 1843 1845 1849 1850 1852 1853 1854 From this it will be seen, that, in thirty-five years, there have been but fourteen " good" vintages in France, and, as a natural consequence, these exceptional years have had to make good the deficiencies of the unsuccessful ones, and to supply the demand for export to all parts of the world. My informant, who, being one of the largest shippers of wine to the United Kingdom, has a personal interest in the reduc- tion of the duty, as naturally tending to increased demand, remarks upon this state of things, that " in case of reducing the duty on wine in England so low as one shilling , it would be necessary, in order to produce an amount of revenue equal to the present, that there should be an increased con- sumption equal to 36,000,000 gallons, of which France would have to supply at least one-half. During thirty-three 1 The vintage of 1851 was good only in the Bordeaux district. It was a failure throughout the rest of France. RAVAGES OP THE VINE-DISEASE. 129 years, this would amount to 495,000,000 gallons, which, divided over the fourteen tolerable, or good vintages, would represent 35,357,140 gallons for each year an amount ex- ceeding the entire annual export of wine from France to all quarters of the world. Such an increased export could not take place without running prices up considerably, and thus the possibility would be done away of introducing good and agreeable wines into England at a low figure." However undoubted may be this principle as regards the general economy of the wine trade, it applies with singular distinctness to the actual condition of France at the present moment, after a series of disastrous vintages in every year since 1848, with the exception of 1851, which was suc- cessful in the Bordelais, but a failure throughout the other districts of France. Then followed the ravages of the vine- disease in 1852, 1853, and 1854 ; till, diminished in quantity, and still more deteriorated in quality, the stocks of wine have been reduced almost to exhaustion, whilst prices, under such a combination of causes, have been ** raised to famine pitch." During this long period of exhaustion and disease, the produce of the vines throughout the extent of France has been thin, coarse, and acid, wanting flavour and delicacy for domestic use, and deficient in saccharine, which constitutes their value for distillation. The only spots which have escaped are the choicest vineyards of the Gironde, and some of those of Burgundy, which, being in elevated situations, above the damps and other influences that have engendered ' ' oidium " and fungi amongst the vines which yield the medium class of wines. The deterioration of this latter class of wines is alluded to in a letter which 1 have had from Mr. Scott, Her Majesty's Consul at Bordeaux, a gentleman who is favour- able to some reduction of the duty in England, as tending to increase the consumption of the fine wines of Bordeaux; K 130 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. but "he is, at the same time, of opinion, that to reduce it so low as one shilling, would lead to the importation of trash" for the purpose of adulteration. Mr. Scott says, writing in February, 1854, " Very few wines of the last five vintages would find a sale in England; and it is the conviction of all those conversant with the tastes and habits of Englishmen, that the meagre, poor, red wines of the Gironde, known as " clarets," would never find a sale there. A reduction of the duty, such as is proposed, to One Shilling, would not only produce an immense loss to the Revenue, but, by favouring the admission of these miserable wines, the mass of the consumers would be disgusted, and the re- sult a decided prejudice against clarets." Looking to the average production of wine in France, and contrasting it with the diminished quantity of late years, the destruction occasioned by the vine-disease appears most remarkable. The return is as follows: 1 1848 ... - 51,622,152 Hectolitres 1849 - 35,555,213 1850 - - 44,717,553 1851 - 39,429,229 1852 - 28,460,601 1853 - 22,661,717 1854 - - - 10,789,869 This shows a falling off in 1854 of upwards of 400 per cent., compared with the quantity of wine produced in 1848. But the destruction is still more apparent in turning to particular districts, with whose names we are familiar. In Burgundy, for example, the produce of 1854 was less than one-half that of 1853, and below one-sixth the vintage of 1848. 1 A table, shewing the production of wine in France, in each district, since 1848, will be found in the Appendix, No. III. RAVAGES OF THE VINE-DISEASE. PRODUCE OF BURGUNDY. 131 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 C6te* d'Or Youne 968,904 1 835 335 575,552 979 2H7 726,189 434,357 178,043 392,423 183,418 Saoneand Loire. 1,443,900 1,011,400 1,163,300 660,900 464,300 305,600 379,800 4,248,139 2,566,189 2,826,702 2,178,371 1,224,576 1,511,890 708,307 In like manner, the wines of Bordeaux and the Gironde, which were nearly two millions of hectolitres in 1848, were under halfa, million in 1854. PRODUCE OF WINE IN THE GIRONDE. 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 Hect. 1,990,800 1,423,611 2,296,559 1,798,450 1,263,643 726,589 300,742 An equally important district is that of the Rhone, pro- ducing the strong red wines, of which it was repeatedly stated before the Wine Duties committee, of 1852, that under a duty of one shilling per gallon supplies could uniformly be had in such abundance, as to satisfy the whole demand of the United Kingdom. Taking the departments on both banks of the Rhone, the results of the recent harvests are as follows: PRODUCE OF WINE ON THE RHONE. Departments. 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 954 858 841,458 904 910 489 681 352 282 177 662 314,387 Isere 529,000 307,753 344,553 274,306 204,775 94,380 104,468 Ardeche 294,114 256,863 223 040 148 209 126 000 69,805 62,133 312 973 295 017 332 938 354 000 296 000 166 300 210,000 Gard Vaucluse 1,706,447 346,630 1,046,360 251,800 1,258,461 319,230 1,286,031 228,580 1,193,986 249,850 641,060 130,396 795,324 126,275 Bouches du Rhone 811,603 514,064 472,535 330,831 317,849 210,266 194,713 4,957,625 3,513,315 3,855,667 3,111,638 2,740,742 1,489,859 1,807,300 K 2 132 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. The discouragement arising from these combined causes of defective quality, deficient quantity, and augmented price have their natural effect in diminishing the quantity of wine of all kinds exported from France of late years. EXPORTS OF WINE FROM FRANCE. Hectolitre. Imperial Gallons. 1851 2,279,549 50,149,078 1852 2,454,145 53,991,190 1853 2,005,929 44,130,438 1854 1,309,495 28,808,912 But the bad quality of the late vintages, though sufficient to check exportation, has had no corresponding effect on the home consumption of the wine in France. Its poverty and coarseness do not operate as a discouragement to its use by the lower classes, accustomed as they are to take under the name of wine, liquids barely discernible from vinegar. The peasantry in the wine countries even consume a beverage called piquette, made by pouring water over the stalks and residue of grapes, from which the juice had pre- viously been expressed. Hence, whilst none but good vintages are fit for exportation to any country except Ger- many, the acidity of a vintage is no check to its home con- sumption, so long as the price of bad wine is kept down by the abundance of better. Notwithstanding the failure of the late vintages, there- fore, the internal consumption of France underwent no reduction till within a recent period, when the gradual disappearance of stocks, and the failure of supply so tended to elevate the price, as to place it beyond the reach of the people, who resorted to beer and cider as a substitute. , To illustrate the fact of the exhaustion of the stock of wine in France, it may be sufficient to revert to the return already given of the production of wine in France for the last few years, comparing it with the ascertained annual RAVAGES OF THE VINE-DISEASE. 133 consumption. SIR JOHN Bo WRING quotes l the latter at about 35,000,000 hectolitres, including the portion used for conversion into brandy and vinegar; a calculation which is sustained by the French authorities. This, on an aggre- gate of seven years, would require 245,000,000 hectolitres. To meet this, the gross produce of the same period was but 233,236,334 hectolitres, indicating, not a surplus of stock at the close of 1854, but an excess of consumption, which could only have been provided out of the reserves of previous years. This resource, however, became necessarily exhausted, and for the last three years France has been compelled to supply the wants of her own population by importing the wine of other countries, in the following proportions : IMPORT OF FOREIGN WINE FOR HOME CONSUMPTION IN FRANCE. Years. Hectolitres. Imperial Gallons. 1852 3,477 76,494 1853 4,477 98,494 1854 121,390 2,670,580 No more striking proof of the prevailing scarcity can be adduced, than the measures which have been resorted to by the public departments in consequence. In the course of last year, MARSHAL ST. ARNAUD, then Minister of War, in France, was compelled by the increase in the cost of wine, and the difficulty of finding a supply of a quality suitable for the use of the troops, to reduce the allowance of wine for the soldiers, and to substitute sugar and coffee, in the proportion of two rations of the latter in place of one of wine. The contract for the supply of wine for the French navy for 1854, was taken at Bordeaux, at rates varying from 420 frs. the lowest, to 460 frs. the best. Taking the average at 450, this price is more than double that for 1853, and the 1 Sir JOHN BOWRING'S Report, p. 95. 134 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION, price for 1853 was double 1852 for the common wines, and nearly treble for the better qualities. The following return of the terms on which the contract for the French Marine has been taken for each of the last six years, will show the advance which has taken place in these classes of wine. The vin de journaliere for ships' use in port, has risen upwards of one hundred per cent, since 1849, and the better quality, or vin de champagne, nearly three hundred. PRICES OF WINE BOUGHT FOR THE FRENCH NAVY. Years. Vin de Journaliere. Vin de Champagne. per Litre. per Gallon. per Litre. per Gallon. fr. fr. c. fr. fr. c. 1848 0-1208 55 0-1226 56 1849 0-1136 51 0-0999 45 1850 0-1394 63 0-1519 69 1851 0-1231 56 0-1285 59 1852 0-1620 74 0-2322 1 05 1853 0-2545 1 15 0-3548 1 65 Being desirous to ascertain by actual inspection the quality of the wine provided at this price for the French navy for 1854, I applied to the British Consul at Bordeaux, to procure me a sample, and the following is the reply of Mr. Scott: " I applied this day to the Commissary of Marine for permission to take samples of the wine that has lately been purchased for the use of the French navy ; and trn answer given me was, that these wines were of such inferior qua- lity, that in their present state they would not bear the car- riage to England, but that before a week had elapsed they would be totally spoiled. This was corroborated by a regular wine-broker. The only method of making these wines fit for service, and able to last for the next six RAVAGES OF THE VINE-DISPiASE. 135 months, is to blend them together, and to add a certain quantity of brandy, so as to raise the alcohol to about 10 per cent. The price paid for these wretched wines ranges from 420 fr. to 460 fr, per tun." Turning to the Rhone, and the south of France, from which large supplies of wine are relied on for England, in the event of a reduction of the import duty ; so far from these districts being in a condition to meet any demand from Great Bri- tain, they have been themselves forced to resort to Burgundy to make good their own deficiency. M. AUDIFFRED, of Dijon, one of the largest wine proprietors in France, writing to me in February, 1854, says " Even the lowest and worst description of wines of the recent spoiled vintage (les mau- vais vins de cabarets de la dernier recolte) have risen in price to 65, 70, and 75 fr., and the demand from Lyons, and the Soutli of France, has swept away all these wines, till little or none remains in Burgundy itself." As for the medium and middle-class wines of Burgundy, M. Audiffred says, " the good vins ordinaires have been excessively rare; and continually rising in price, till what could have been bought for 70 fr. and 75 fr. fifteen months ago is worth 120 fr. to 125 fr. to-day, and is scarcely to be found even at that price." Lastly, in proof of the exhausted state of France in the article of wine, it will be sufficient to point to the follow- ing table, which shows the increasing price of wine by retail in the principal cities and towns during each of the last few years : PRICE OF WINE BY RETAIL IN THE PRINCIPAL TOWNS OF FRANCE. Years. Paris. Lyons. Marseilles. Bordeaux. Rouen. Nautes. Lille. Strasbourg Thonlouse. fr. c. fr. c. fr. c. fr. c. fr. c. fr. c. fr. c. fr. c. fr. c. 1848 40 37 23 28 1 20 28 1 30 69 25 1849 45 39 24 30 1 25 35 1 28 68 24 1850 50 40 1 24 31 1 28 37 1 29 72 25 1851 45 31 20 25 1 13 30 1 02 51 17 1852 60 42 '' 25 32 1 01 39 95 66 19 1853 70 51 37 37 i 96 40 1 OS 70 27 136 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Since this table was prepared, in the beginning of 1854, the prices have risen higher. In Bordeaux I understand that the wine which sold in 1853 at 37 centimes, was selling in 1854 at 60. The above return represents the retail prices of wine of a very low character; yet this very ordinary wine, almost approaching to vinegar, is selling at present at Bordeaux, in the heart of the wine district, at sixpence per quart, and at seven pence in Paris. At Rouen and Lille, which are remote from the wine countries, it was selling, in 1853, for ninepence halfpenny and tenpence farthing . The same calamity which has thus disorganised the wine trade of France, has exerted a more disastrous influence, if possible, on the manufacture of spirits. The vineyards which chiefly suffered, are those which produce the strong growths best adapted to be " burnt for brandy'* A portion of the quantity thus reduced by the vine disease was, never- theless, forced into consumption at table, to make up the deficiency of the finer qualities, which have suffered, though in a minor degree, from the same disaster. To replace the ordinary material so abstracted from distillation, the proprietors have been forced to make use of the poor wines of other districts, of which a much larger quantity is re- quired to produce a given portion of spirit, thus aggra- vating, by distillation, the scarcity of ordinary wines for the consumption of the population. Quantities of im- poverished wines have also been distilled to anticipate its loss by spoiling; or in order to provide a supply of alcohol from one portion of the vintage in order to fortify the re- mainder, and thus prevent its turning sour. Recourse was also had to distillation from beet, from which large quantities of spirit have been recently produced, com- manding a price nearly equal to brandy. The following return exhibits, in a very striking manner, RAVAGES OF THE VINE-DISEASE. 137 the failure of the supply of wine as material for distillation into brandy and alcohol. Quantity of Years. Wine Quantity of Spirit produced, distilled. Hect. Hect. Hect. 1848.. 6,900,000 f Wi - ' 900,000 1849 .. 8,400,000 grand " 315000J 1 ' 100 ' 000 1850 .. 8,100,000 | IP^ W ;; - >'0 1 1,050,000 1851 . . 9,800,000 | |S y f Wine ; ; ; ; 37o'o j 1,300,000 1852 .. 9,600,000 { 1?!"^ WmC ' ' " SJJS2 1 1,250,000 1853 .. 5,000,000 IQKA A onr ^n ' K^J./XJ.XUO v*. TT mv . . .. 41Uj(JOO ( * .. 4,^uu,uuu , _., 135,000) Under these adverse circumstances, the export of French brandy has fallen off during the last three years in the fol- lowing proportions: EXPORTS OF BRANDY FROM FRANCE. Years. Hectolitre. Imp. Gallons. 1852 337,884 7,433,448 1853 268,127 5,898,794 1854 155,111 3,412,442 What is still more unprecedented, France, within the same period, has been forced to import spirits for her own use, to make up for her deficient production of brandy. IMPORTS OF FOREIGN SPIRITS FOR HOME CONSUMPTION IN FRANCE. Years. Hectolitre. Imp. Gallons. 1852 12,999 285,978 1855 12,741 280,302 1854 60,839 1,338,458 Of the quantity thus imported into France, in 1854, 802,019 gallons of rum, and British spirits, etc., were exported from the United Kingdom, 138 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Meanwhile, from this combination of causes, the increased cost of the material, the augmented demand and decreasing production of brandy, its price has risen to a point previously unprecedented. AVERAGE PRICE OF BRANDY IN FRANCE. 1848 50fr. per Hect. 1849 56 1850 60 1851 55 1852 131 1853 215 The contract prices for brandy for the French navy during the last few years present the same result. Years. Price per Per Gallon. 1848 0-3631 fr. c. 1 65 1849 0-3301 1 50 1850 0-3844 1 75 1851 0-3-224 1 51 1852 0.5202 2 37 1853 0-9299 4 22 It is needless to point out, that this condition of the wine trade of France is exceptional, and in our times unprece- dented, the result of a fearful and, it is to be hoped, a passing visitation. But it would be unwise to close our eyes to the fact, that a long period must elapse before the cultivation of the vine can effectually recover from the shock of such a calamity, and occurring, as it does, at a time when the same epidemic has extended its ravages to all the wine countries of Europe, it will be prudent to await its subsidence, before embarking in an experiment, the success of which must be contingent on obtaining a vast supply of pure and healthy wines, whilst nature herself has interposed to render that supply unattainable. EFFECT OF A " ONE SHILLING*' DUTY AS REVENUE. 139 CHAPTER XIII. THE PUBLIC REVENUE. THE expediency of reducing the wine duty is exclusively a question of revenue. In whatever class it may be assessed, whether as a luxury or a necessary of life, a tax on wine is essentially a tax on the consumer; and no element of " pro- tection " enters into the consideration either of its policy or of its amount. With a due perception of this fact, those who are friendly to the proposed change have addressed themselves not to the multitude, who are to be gratified by the boon of abundant wine, but to a solitary individual, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whom it is sought to overpower by the prospect of adding four or five millions annually to the public income. It is curious, that, up to this time, no one advocate of the change has ventured to propound it as a simple project for increasing the comforts of the people, without regard to the public revenue. Its probable operation in this respect is entirely a specu- lative question, in which we can only be guided by the observation of those who have been long accustomed to study public taste in such matters, and to watch the ten- dencies of consumption. Amongst the wine merchants 140 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. themselves there is a very large body, whose experience entitles their opinion to deference, and whose personal in- terests as shippers, importers, and holders of bonded wine would be served by a reduction of the duties, 1 but who are nevertheless opposed to the public policy of the measure, in the belief that the present duties have been adjusted to a point so nicely balanced between consumption, on the one hand and revenue on the other, that no Chancellor of the Exchequer is likely to gain by either advance or reduction. 2 They are of opinion that loss of income would ensue from a one shilling duty, and that a return to something like the present standard would eventually follow. On one point, at least, there is an universal concurrence of opinion : that, as a national taste for light wines has to be created in the interim, a considerable interval must un- 1 Mr. GASSIOTT, at the head of one of the largest wine-houses con- nected with Spain and Oporto, said to the Committee of the House of Commons, " From my own experience, during former reductions of duty, I may say, that there would be nothing so much to tiie interest of the wine merchants and shippers who have wine of Portugal, as the reduction of the duty. The former reduction was the foundation of my own fortune ; and if the Chancellor of the Exchequer can be persuaded to reduce the duty to Is., no doubt others will make fortunes also." Sir J. EMERSON TENNENT. " On what ground do you then object to the change ?" Mr. GASSIOTT. " I do not object to the change. You asked me, if the revenue would be injured. Apart from the question of reve- nue, it would be advisable to make the change. 1 object to it on the ground of revenue. My evidence is that the revenue would be in- jured" (812, 813, 815, 817). A similar opinion is expressed by Mr. White (1418), who advo- cates a 2s. duty ; but thinks even at that rate the revenue must lose (1420). See also evidence of Mr. Trower, who advocates reduction ; but with the conviction that it is inconsistent with maintaining the revenue : 1787, and 1835. M. Maire, 1985. Carbonell, 2686, et seq. Barnes, 6527, 6528. 8 Barnes, 306, 308. Maire, 1986. Carbonell, 2690, et seq. EFFECT OF A " ONE SHILLING" DUTY AS REVENUE. 141 avoidably elapse before the public income could regain its present level. Several witnesses favourable to a one shilling duty, when pressed by the committee of 1852, hesitated to define any precise number of years within which the revenue might possibly regain its original amount; 1 others named one, two, or three years as a probable period ; 2 and one extended that term to eight or ten years, 3 and even believed that " proba- bly a new generation must arise before the full effects were felt," or the public had become consumers of French wines even under these reduced duties. The official gentlemen examined expressed a similar ap- prehension. Mr. PORTER, of the Board of Trade, thought that, at a one shilling duty, the revenue " might and would suffer at first;" but that the trade of the country would ulti- mately benefit. 4 And Mr. Ross, Surveyor General of Customs, an officer long accustomed to watch the effects of relaxations and increase of duties, gave it as his opinion that, from a reduction of the duty to Is., a very material re- duction of revenue would ensue; that the consumption could not possibly be so increased as to recover the amount of in- come proposed to be surrendered ; that it must be a work of time to teach the people of this country to use the low- priced wines of the continent, and that such a measure would be attended by ultimate loss." 5 It must be borne in mind that very cheap wines, such as " the inferior wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy, sold in Paris at 6d. a bottle," are " scarcely palatable to English- 1 Forrester, 259, 274 ; Trower, 1739 ; Stephens, 5569. 2 Shaw. Selby, 1922 ; Doser, 5018 ; Redding, 5188 ; Short, 6098. 3 Prestwick, 2278, 2281, 2354. Evidence, 3918, 3968. * Evidence, 6311, 6317. 142 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. men," 1 and yet these are the wines that would have to enter into competition in this country with the established na- tional beverage, beer. The most earnest advocates of low duties do not profess that the cheapest wines could be sup- plied to the consumer at less than 65. a gallon, or about 12s. 2 a dozen; and it is hardly to be expected that the people of this country would prefer the worst wine (for such the lowest priced would be) when they could have the best ale for less than one-half the cost. At the present moment, beer, as an article of import for consumption, is in extraordinary demand in Australia, California, and other countries, where wine quite as cheap is certainly not excluded by high duties. The quantity of beer imported into our Australian Colonies in 1853 was 6,584,328 gallons, whilst that of wines of all sorts was less than 1,157,954 gallons. At Melbourne, in the same year, the price of porter was 12s. 6d. a dozen, whilst claret (ad- mitted at a one shilling duty) was unsaleable, though adver- tised at 125. Mr. BUSHELL, who appeared before the Wine Committee of 1852, on behalf of the Wine Trade of Liverpool, gave it as his opinion, in relation to light wines, that "you can- not get, under any circumstances, the great mass of the people of this country to drink very low wines. My expe- rience of these low wines is, that their qualities are such, that exhibiting them to the working man, and telling him that he may have them without any duty at all, he would not drink them ; he would prefer beer." 3 1 REDDING, History of Wines, p. 88. 2 In the Committee of 1 852, it was stated that at a 2s. duty, port could be sold at 14s. a dozen (White, 1401) ; but another witness of equal experience said, that at a Is. duty, port could be sold for 15s. (Forrester, 103). Sherries are promised at the same price (Short). 12s., 15s., 18s. (Lancaster, 568, 570). 3 Evidence, House of Commons, 5859. EFFECT OF A " ONE SHILLING" DUTY AS REVENUE. 143 Mr. MAXWELL, a wine merchant of London, as an illus- tration of his belief that the labouring classes will not surrender the use of beer for wine, stated that, as a wine merchant it is his custom to offer occasional labourers wine to drink, but they either refuse it, or swallow it thanklessly; and although, from the nature of his business, exposed to pillage, " his men, if you put beer into the cellar, will take the beer in preference to the wine, though they may take the finest wine in the cellar." 1 In the course of the inquiry by the House of Commons, the fact was mentioned that, within the last year, some spirit- shops in London had begun to retail wine in gills over the counter, to the lower orders and artisans, who are generally supposed to use only gin and beer. Hence an inference was somewhat hastily drawn, by generalising a few instances, that the taste of these classes is changing; and that light wines would be eagerly sought after by them, if offered at a reduced duty. The evidence of two of the proprietors of these houses was taken in the Committee; and it appeared that the en- tire number of such establishments did not exceed four or five. The largest in the kingdom retailed about two and a half or three pipes per week (including the sales in dozens and half-dozens), 2 the other, one pipe in three or four weeks. 3 1 Evidence, 3192. In France itself, a country overflowing with light wines, the consumption of beer is rapidly increasing; upwards of 90,000,000 gallons is the present consumption : large breweries are multiplying in Paris and the northern towns. Good beer is made not only in French Flanders, but in Alsace ; and, in the coun- try around Strasburg, the peasantry drink their own wine when they produce it ; but those who do not, prefer beer. The export of ale and porter to France, from the United Kingdom, amounted to 43,368 gallons in 1854. 2 House of Commons' Committee, 6041, 6054, 6176. 3 Ibid. 6039. 144 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. But these men stated that they could only sell strong and good wines with considerable body and spirit, principally port and sherry, bucellas and hock, which they draw all at one and the same price. 1 But so far from their discovering any taste in the working classes for light wines, or cheap French wines, they concur in declaring that cheap claret does not suit them, and would not be in demand by the middle classes; 2 that it must be strong wine, else they will not have it at all; 3 that Benecarlos, and Sicilian red wines, they cannot sell, and that even Masdeu they hold to be " detestable." 4 I am sorry to add, that subsequent experience has demon- strated that no great increase in the consumption even of strong wines, by the lower orders, is to be anticipated, in establishments of this kind. The proprietor of one of them, who made a communication to the Committee, 5 has since stated, that in consequence of the first success of two or three dealers who, like himself, had tried the experiment of selling wine over the counter, many others attempted a similar system, but the result was unsatisfactory, they soon desisted from the attempt ; and, from his own expe- rience, he now believes that the attempt is hopeless, to induce a consumption of wine by the class accustomed to spirits. From all these considerations of the difficulty of creating a new class of consumers of wine, it is to be apprehended that any Chancellor of the Exchequer who will venture on the experiment of reducing the duty to one shilling, must be prepared to do so as a boon to the wine merchant and 1 House of Common^ Committee, 6045, 6067, 6095. 2 Ibid. 6067, 6091. 3 Ibid. 6135, 6140. 4 Ibid. 6231, 6239. Ibid. 6180. EFFECT OF A " ONE SHILLING " DUTY AS REVENUE. 145 the public, with an immediate loss to the revenue ; con- tented to await for a reasonable time the benefit which he or his successor may possibly derive from the result. Lord Ripon, in reducing the wine duties in 1825, did so as a concession to the consumer, with the anticipation of a loss to the revenue equal to 230,000/. per annum. But the actual exceeded the estimated loss by more than double. Sir ROBERT PEEL urged this result of Lord Ripon's re- ductions in 1825, as a sufficient ground for abstaining from any similar measure in 1842; not alone because they had failed to replace the revenue surrendered, but from his firm conviction that, even if the capability of doing so existed, a considerable interval must elapse, before the re- action could arrive. Mr. GLADSTONE, in 1853, assigned the same reason as conclusive against the experiment of a change, " the taste respecting wine was not to be revolutionized in a day. The present state of the taste for wine in this country he con- sidered to be the result of the long prevalence of our financial system, but you could not alter it essentially ex- cept in the course of years." 1 The example of the increased consumption of tea, coffee, and sugar, consequent on a reduction of the respective duty and cost of each, has been repeatedly cited as an en- couragement to hope for the same result in the instance of wine. But the parallel fails not merely because these articles approach very closely, if they do not come within the line, which separates the luxuries from the necessaries of life ; but for another and more obvious reason. The con- ventions and the compulsion of society have placed a prac- tical limit to the use of even the mildest fermented and in- toxicating drinks. There are certain classes whom age, sex, and other causes practically exclude from the use of 1 Speech of the Eight Hon. W. GLADSTONE, April 18th, 18 53. L 146 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. spirits and wine ; and even those who resort to them are restricted by custom and the obligation of temperance to a limited quantity. But the use of non-intoxicating stimu- lants, such as coffee and tea, has no limit but those of ability to buy and appetite to consume; they are the enjoy- ment of all ranks, from the richest to the humblest, of both sexes and all ages, fiom infancy to decrepitude. Hence as the cost of tea declined, its consumption was stimulated and spread amongst all classes, and the same result followed the double operation of lowering the duty upon coffee and multiplying the supply by extending the cultivation in Ceylon and elsewhere. It must also be borne in mind, that coffee and tea have no cheaper substitutes to contend with, whilst both present in some sort a rivalry to fermented drinks ; and it has been observed and commented on before, that as the use of coffee and tea extended, the use of spirits and beer has declined, though not in a corresponding ratio. Besides, reduction of duty on similar articles, have not uniformly been followed by increase of consumption. When the tax on malt was reduced in 1823, and the excise upon beer repealed in 1830, the effect failed to realise the ex- pectation of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for the con- sumption has not since increased proportionately to the increase of population. It would appear that the people already made use of malt liquor to an extent limited by discretion, and that the mere temptation of a lower price influenced but very slightly further indulgence of appetite. Duty on Malt. Consumption per Head. s. d. Bushels. 1822 3 7| 1-36 1823 2 7 1-29 1824 1-48 1825 1-64 1830 1-37 1835 1-70 EFFECT OF A " ONE SHILLING " DUTY AS REVENUE. 147 Duty on Malt. Consumption per head. 1840 2 7 and 5 per cent. 1-60 1845 1-30 1850 1851 1852 1853 1-50 1-48 1-49 1-51 1854 4 1-32 Brandy, on the other hand, presents a striking illustration of the success of relaxation in stimulating consumption. But in this instance, by a judicious reduction of the duty, the public were admitted to participate more freely of an article for which they entertained a decided preference, but from the use of which they had long been excluded by an almost prohibiting tax. The taste for brandy has prevailed in the United Kingdom for centuries, and even the tax of \l. 2s. IQd. a gallon did not prevent an annual importation of upwards of a million gallons ; * so that when Sir ROBERT PEEL, in 1846, reduced the duty to 155., the effect was immediate, and the consumption nearly doubled in a few years, notwithstanding a considerable rise in its price. Consumption. Revenue. Gallons. 1845 1,073,778 1,225,869 1846 1,554,348 1,195,439 1847 1,566,038 1,174,365 1848 1,632,743 1,224,552 1849 2,214,275 1,659,659 1850 1,860,809 1,395,110 1851 1,903,203 1,428,970 1852 1,924,395 1,442,683 1853 1,869,343 1,402,088 1854 1,861,965 1,396,175 1 Tobacco is perhaps the most remarkable illustration of an arti- cle defying all the discouragements of taxation, by the sheer force of the public taste in its favour. The consumption of wine is alleged to have declined under the influence of a duty equal to 300 per cent, on its value. But the duty on tobacco has been equal to 1200 per cent, on its cost, and yet the consumption has risen from 1 6,904,752 Ibs. in 1801, to 28,062,9 78 Ibs. in 1851. L 2 148 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. Mr. M'CuLLOCH, in the last edition of his Commercial Dictionary, has recorded his opinion against the policy of a one shilling duty on wine. Such a reduction, he says ' ' would not have any considerable influence in reducing the price of the finer description, and it is very questionable whether the inferior and low priced wines that are now excluded would, though there were no duty, be very generally introduced into this country. The better opinion seems to be, that beer would continue as at present to be preferred by the bulk of the population; and if so, the measure would have little more effect than to occasion a loss of revenue" l 1 M'CuLLOCH's Commer. Diet., edit. 1854, art. Wine, p. 141 6. ADVANTAGES OF A " ONE SHILLING" DUTY. 149 CHAPTER XIV. THE PRESENT PRICE OF WINE WILL BE RAISED, UNDER A ONE SHILLING DUTY. ONE important consideration was adverted to in the Wine Committee of the House of Commons, in 1852, namely, the effect which a greatly increased demand, consequently on a greatly diminished duty, would have on raising the first cost of wine at the place of growth. Within the last fifty years, the ordinary increase of population in Europe and North America, the peopling of Australia and California, and the extension of European tastes in Algeria and South America, have produced a vastly augmented demand for wine, and this acting on a supply which nature has limited to an area almost insusceptible of extension, has tended gradually, but sensibly, to increase the cost of the better descriptions of wine universally. Since 1793, the price of a pipe of port wine has nearly doubled in England: it has risen from 521. to 93/.,the difference, after deducting the duty and charges incident to each period, being 261. 13s. 9d. From the year 1787, when Mr. PITT reduced the duties, to the year 1795, when he increased them, the duty on 150 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. wine was 3*. per gallon; and the price to the consumer, about 20s. to 26s. per dozen for port wine of first quality, and others in proportion. The first cost of the wine is now so much increased, that if the duty were reduced to Is., wine of the same age and quality could not be sold at the same price as in the time of Mr. PITT. Judging, therefore, from the effect even of a naturally and gradually increasing demand ; an extraordinary and unpre- cedented one such as it is now suggested to create, would have the effect of adding so largely to the first cost of the wine, as to give an augmented profit to the foreign grower, equal at least to the reduction of the duty: so that on wines of this description the consumer would reap little or no advantage from the change. 1 The purchases of Spanish red wine made for the British navy between the years 1805 and 1813, averaging about 600,000 gallons, and never but in one year amounting to 1,000,000, had the effect of raising the price in Catalonia 150 per cent. 2 A more recent example has lately occurred 1 See the Evidence of Mr. BARNES and Mr. CARBONELL, House of Commons' Committee, 6400, 2733. Mr. Hart, an extensive importer, said, on the same occasion, that he thought " if you reduce the duty on wine, and on the low wines of France and Sicily, the benefit would go entirely to the French and Sicilians. We have proof before us that they would advance the price of wine in the ratio that we reduce the duty. When the Government reduced the duties on brandy from 225. lOd. to 15s. a gallon, the French immediately raised their price in precisely the same ratio" (Evidence, 2923, 2940). And Mr. Harrison, of the house of Alanson and Braudreth, of Liverpool, said, " The result of his experience of many years is, that the value of fine wines is considerably increasing now, and, there- fore, if you take off the duty, the growers will immediately raise their prices, because they know the English consumer does not object to pay it" (Evidence, 5941, 5954). 2 See the Evidence of Mr. PORTER, House of Commons' Committee, 3770. ADVANTAGES OF A " ONE SHILLING " DUTY. 151 in Portugal. In September, 1852, the Portuguese govern- ment reduced the export charges on port wine at Oporto 12 millreis, or 21. 14s. per pipe. About the same time a sudden demand arose for Australia, and about 2000 or 3000 pipes were exported to that colony. This has had such an effect, that the first cost of port wine rose from 20 to 30 millreis (4/. 10s. to 6/. 15s.) per pipe, not only absorbing the amount of the duty reduced, but actually increasing the cost to double the reduction. But it is not the finer wines alone, of which the produc- tion is limited, that are liable to be thus affected in price by increased demand. Recent events have demonstrated that the medium and ordinary descriptions, whose growth is much more extensive, are all subject to the same influ- ences. The red wine of Roussillon, which under the name of Masdeu has been sought to be introduced in England as a substitute for ordinary port, has risen in value since the appear- ance of the vine disease at Oporto ; and its price, which was about 12/. a pipe, prior to 1852, rose to 18/. in 1854, and is now 221. Benecarlos, a red wine of somewhat similar character, from Valentia, used for blending with Port, has received a similar impulse, from the recent demand for Spanish wines in France. Its price, which was 61. a pipe, in 1851, is now 10/., the rise being attributable to the demand in England consequent on the destruction of Port Wine by the vine- disease; and to the fact, that Benecarlos forms a portion of 2,600,000 gallons of wine imported into France in 1854. From this circumstance an inference may be fairly drawn of the influence likely to be produced on the price of all Peninsular wines, were the annual consumption of Great Britain to be suddenly raised from six million gallons to thirty-six. Sicilian Marsala has participated in the general rise: with- 152 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. in the last two years its export has been nearly doubled, and its price has advanced from 101. to 14/. a pipe. Leaving aside for the moment the finer descriptions of Port and Sherry, which can always command something of a fancy price, and looking only to the lowest qualities im- ported into the United Kingdom, being those in the con- sumption of which a vast increase is looked for, I find by the trade circular of the leading houses in London, that the shipping price of the cheapest Sherry has risen 50 per cent, since 1850, and that of Port has been doubled within the same period, especially since the appearance of the vine disease in France, in 1822. LOWEST SHIPPING PRICE OP PORT AND SHERRY SINCE 1850. Port. Sherry. 18 15 26 17 22 17 22 20 32 20 36 22 From instances such as these, it is clear, that any great augmentation of the demand even for the lowest class of wines the supply of which is assumed to be unlimited is pretty certain to be followed by a considerable enhancement of their cost at the places of their growth and shipment. Again, look to the prospect from France, apart from the great calamity which for the moment has paralysed the in- dustry of the wine districts. Within the last twenty-four years the home consumption of wine in France has nearly doubled; that of brandy has increased 70 per cent., and the value of both, exported, has risen from 44,000,000 fr. to 85,000,000 fr. between 1831 and 1848. The produce of Algeria alone, an entirely new destination, now absorbs ADVANTAGES OF A " ONE SHILLING" DUTY. 153 annually 8,800,000 gallons of French wines; and the South American States are year by year increasing their demands. Since the peace of 1815, Kussia has become one of the principal consumers of the finest wines of France, cham- pagne and claret; and so ardent is her taste for these, that the Commissioners of the National Assembly, in 1849, have expressed a doubt, whether any reduction of the duty on their entry would produce any sensible increase in their consumption in Russia. 1 The wines thus eagerly sought after, happen to be those for which the taste is predominant in England. Not only are they increasing in request in the countries to which France is accustomed to export them ; but in Paris, and amongst the higher classes of society in France, the wines of Bor- deaux have of late years superseded those of Burgundy. It has recently become the habit amongst the medical profession in Paris to decry Burgundy as being injurious to the brain and to digestion, and to extol claret, " comme un vin froid, mais tonique et le plus hygienique de tons." 2 Bordeaux, in consequence, has become the fashion; and at the present moment it forms at least two-thirds of the consumption of Paris. If then, simultaneously with this rapidly increasing use of those French wines abroad, it were possible, by a course such as now contemplated, to create a vastly augmented demand in the United Kingdom, it follows as a matter of course, that the price at the place of growth must be sen- sibly affected. It is not consistent with the course of trade, that the consumption could be suddenly expanded from six million gallons to thirty-six millions, without occasioning a rise in its cost in every country from which we draw our 1 Enqu&te Legislative, Rapport, p. 38. * Ibid., p. 6, 13. 154 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. supplies. It may be a question what proportion this addi- tion to the first cost of the wine might bear to the amount deducted from the tax; but there is little room to doubt, that whatever loss might be entailed on the revenues of this country by a one shilling duty; the change would be a lucrative one for the vine-growers of the Peninsula, and Sicily ; and, in a less degree, for those of France. WILL WINE SUPERSEDE BEER AND SPIRIT? 155 CHAPTER XV. IF THE USE OF WINE IS TO SUPERSEDE THAT OF BEER AND SPIRITS, WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH THE MALT DUTY AND EXCISE? IT is in the contemplation of the advocates for reducing the duty to Is., that the demand is thereby to be increased from 6,000,000 gallons per annum to 60,000,000 gallons. Even to recover the present amount of revenue, it will be indispensable to add 30,000,000 gallons to the present con- sumption of wine. Is this largely increased consumption to arise in addition to the quantities of beer, spirits, and cider at present in use in the United Kingdom ; or is it to supersede, in the same proportion, the present consumption of these articles? If the former; if all this wine is to be drunk by the lower orders' over and above their present allowance of beer, whisky, and gin, it is to be feared that demoralisation will keep pace with the equally augmented use of intoxicating stimulants. If, on the other hand, this newly excited demand for wine is to supersede the demand for beer and spirits, and the use of the latter is to fall as the taste for the other rises, the consequences of such an alteration of national habits 156 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. must prove seriously detrimental to the interests of the public revenue. At present, the whole series of intoxicating liquors (cider excepted) form a class, every member of which contributes largely to the public revenue, and the duties appear to have been so nicely adjusted as to afford to each a fair field for competition with all its rivals, without jealousy on any side. The burthen is no doubt heavy, and the bearers unequal, but the adaptation has been so successful that no one is galled; those who pay the tax npon wine do not complain of the duty on beer; and the manufacturer of British spirits, ex- presses no discontent with the terms imposed on rum and brandy. On due reflection, it will be found, that if we disturb this well-balanced arrangement by shifting the weight from any one of its supporters the change cannot stop there it must involve the re-adjustment of the entire system of tax- ation on fermented and spirituous liquors. In the first place, the reduction of the duty on wine in the United Kingdom, must be followed by a corresponding reduction upon brandy. The same policy of extending our trade with the wine countries, which recommends the alteration as regards wine, will make it equally expedient to extend the measure to wine converted into spirits, and the reasons have been already particularised, which render the latter a greater boon than the first. But there is a further consideration, affecting the safety of our own re- venue, which will oblige us to lower the duty on brandy, in order to remove the temptation, which would be other- wise irresistible, to introduce highly alcoholised wine under the one shilling duty, for the purpose of afterwards separating the spirit by rectification, and thus evading the duty of 15s a gallon. All wine, as is well known, contains a proportion of WILL WINE SUPERSEDE BEER AND SPIRIT? 157 spirit either inherent or introduced by the shipper to fortify it for the voyage. The proportion of alcohol is in Port wine - - 22 per cent. Colares - - 19 per cent. Sauterne - - 14 Madeira 22 to 24 White Hermitage 17 ,, Marsala 25 Masdeu - - - 19 Etna Port 30 Malaga - - - 18 Cape 22 TenerifFe - - 19 ,, The average in sixty-six varieties of wine submitted to analysis, was seventeen per cent, of spirit; and to enable the light wines of France to bear the voyage to this country, a still larger infusion of brandy would be indispensable, in addition to their native proportion. It admits of no doubt, that low wines could be imported so highly loaded with alcohol, as to render it a safe specula- tion to sacrifice the wine for the sake of the brandy con- tained in it. Such an operation could not be profitable under the present duty of 5s. 96?., but it may be very different under a duty of one shilling. It is true the scheme might be defeated by an analysis of every package and bottle of wine introduced, with a view to testing its pro- portion of spirit; but the operation would be liable to many of the objections that now apply to the examination of wines, for an assessment ad valorem. The only satisfac- tory security would be to remove the temptation to fraud, by diminishing the duty on brandy. If, then, the duty on brandy be reduced simultaneously with that on wine, it would be impossible, consistently with justice, to retain the excise duty on British spirits, and on Scotch and Irish whiskey. "The public will not consent to have that greatly cheapened, which is drunk by the higher 158 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. and middle classes, and to retain un diminished the duty on that which is consumed by the masses of the people." l It may be urged, that the consumption of brandy conse- quent on the reduction of duty in 1846, took place without any simultaneous diminution of the consumption of British spirits. But the reduction on brandy was from 22s. lOd. pei gallon to 155., leaving so wide an interval between it and British spirits at 7s. lOd. English, 3s. Sd. Scotch, and 2s. 8d. Irish, respectively, as to confine the use of brandy to limits within which it does not come into competition with gin or whiskey, the consumption of which belongs to lower classes of society. But a further reduction from 15s. a gallon to any rate very nearly approaching the scale of the tax on British spirits, would be productive of a different result. Some of the witnesses before the Committee of 1852, had doubts whether an enlarged consumption of wine might not be excited, without greatly interfering with the consump- tion of beer; but nearly all were unanimous in their belief, and extolled it as one of the leading recommendations of reduced duties, that it would substitute the use of wine for that of spirits. In that honest conviction, the tax on British spirits ought in fairness to be submitted to a similar re- adjustment; and if home-made spirits undergo a change, rum, the produce of our own colonies, cannot be left under the present rate of taxation. But the alterations cannot halt even here; an intelligent witness before the Committee of 1852, urged, with every show of reason, that " if you reduce the duty on wine to Is., you must of necessity get rid of the malt tax. I take it for granted, you could not maintain a tax upon that which you produce at home, and reduce to a nominal sum the tax 1 Evidence of Mr. BUSHELL, of Liverpool, House of Commons Committee, 5854. WILL WINE SUPERSEDE BEER AND SPIRIT? 159 on that which is produced abroad; therefore I assume the malt tax must of necessity be abolished." 1 The argument of this gentleman becomes irresistible, if, in addition to reducing the duty upon wine, the measure is to be extended till it includes the taxes upon foreign and colonial spirits, and British gin and Scotch and Irish whiskey. In short, the whole system by which we raise a revenue from distilled and fermented liquors, must ne- cessarily be subjected to re-construction in the event of such an alteration in the wine duties as would disturb the present balance of taxation, whose incidence may be re- garded as falling pretty equably upon each. One is scarcely prepared for the magnitude of the amount involved in a measure so comprehensive. Attention is exclusively fixed upon the " wine duties," under the im- pression that they can be separately dealt with; but the speculator is induced to pause, when he discovers that wine forms but one item, and by no means the most important one, in a class of articles which produce nearly one half the imperial revenue of England. It is a startling fact, that from spirituous and fermented drinks alone, the treasury of the United Kingdom receives upwards of 19,000,0007. a year. The receipts were as follows in 1854: Wine - - 1,795,013 Foreign Spirits - 1,415,468 Colonial Spirits - 1,276,324 British Spirits 7,660,778 Malt Duty - 6,093,038 Hops - 86,422 Licenses - - - 1,038,396 19,315,439 1 Evidence of Mr. BUSHELL, of Liverpool, House of Commons' Committee, 5854. 160 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. In this table, I have included the proceeds of licenses to manufacture and sell wine, spirits, and beer in the United Kingdom, a fundamental change, which is represented as necessary, in order to give the new experiment a fair chance of success. It is urged, that in order to facilitate the sale and distribution of wine, with a consumption augmented to 36,000,000 gallons, it will be essential to increase the number of retailers; in fact, to take the granting of licenses from under the jurisdiction of the magistracy and transfer it to the Excise, who should be authorised to issue a license for the sale of wine as for the sale of tobacco, to any appli- cant on the payment of a small annual fee. It is declared, that this course is indispensable to the new state of things, and that without it the expectation of a greatly increased consumption of wine would fail, and all alterations of the duty prove unavailing 3 ; and looking to the object in con- templation, there is nothing inconsistent or unreasonable in the suggestion. I find that Mr. M'Culloch in the last edition of his Com- mercial Dictionary, has borne testimony to the justice of the view here taken, as to the claims of all the taxes on spirituous liquors to re-adjustment in the event of a relaxa- tion on the duty on wine. " If the wine duties," he says, " are to be lowered to Is. a gallon, and the consumption to increase to the extent that has been anticipated, there would certainly be a serious decline in the consumption of malt and spirits, and consequently in the revenue derived from them. To do justice to all parties, to the growers of barley and the distillers, as well as the importers of wine, it would be necessary to make a corresponding reduction in the du- ties on malt and spirits. Unless this were done, a reduc- 3 House 'of Commons' Committee. Evidence of Mr. PORTER, 387 ; Mr. TUKE, 963, 1059 ; Mr. TROWER, 1851. WILL WINE SUPERSEDE BEER AND SPIRITS? 161 tion of the wine duties to Is. a gallon would be really equi- valent to a bounty, or premium, on the consumption of wine. But there should be no favouritism in taxation, and however desirable, the substitution of one sort of stimulus for another is not to be effected by encroaching on the equality of taxation, which should be a fundamental prin- ciple in every sound system of finance." Another consideration, which will no doubt weigh with any Chancellor of the Exchequer who may contemplate so great a reduction of the duty on wines, will be the equit- able obligation of making to the holders of duty-paid wines at the moment of the change, a refund of the differ- ence upon all stocks in hand. As any additional duty imposed has hitherto been col- lected upon the stock in the dealer's cellars, in all fairness, as well in conformity with practice and precedent, there is a corresponding obligation to grant a drawback in the event of reductions. When the duties were increased, the additional rate was charged upon the dealer's stock in 1795, 1796, 1803, 1804, 1813, and 1831; and, on the other hand, when reductions were made, a refund took place to the holders of wine in 1787, 1814, 1815, 1825, and 1831. The probable amount of such a drawback in the event of a reduction of the duty from 5s. 9d. to Is. has been va- riously estimated at from 1,500,0007. to 4,600,0007.* The latter estimate is too high ; the first is conjectural ; but assuming that the retail wine trade hold a stock of duty- paid wine equal to one year's consumption, it cannot be a wide estimate to suppose that the drawback might amount to 1,000,0007. 1 M'CuLLOcn's Commer. Diet., Art. WINE. 31 162 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. CHAPTER XVI. ADULTERATION OF WINE. IT has been urged that the high duty on wine has a ten- dency, by increasing its price, to hold out inducements to its adulteration. But I apprehend that the temptation lies not so much in the duty (which is equal upon all wine) as in the varying values of the wines themselves, and the inequali- ties of the first cost, which invite a dishonest dealer to use a cheap wine for the purpose of augmenting the quantity of one which sells for five times its price. This facility would exist alike under a Is. as under a 55. duty, so long as Sicilian red wine and Benecarlos could be bought for 4Z. a pipe, while port costs from 30/. to 50/. The article in which the largest amount of deception is practised in this market is believed to be Champagne. But the fraud consists not in adulterations in this country, but in imitations shipped from Bremen, and other places, where light French wines, such as Sauterne, are submitted to a certain process to communicate flavour; and after forcing in carbonic acid gas, they are corked for exportation. This is an imposition entirely unconnected with high or low du- ties ; but originating in the temptation to substitute an article whose first cost is a few pence, for one worth 4s. or ADULTERATION OF WINE. 163 5s. ; and wine so compounded is made up for every Eu- ropean market, as well as that of Great Britain. The adulterations chiefly complained of are not those which are practised in the place of growth in order to fit the article to the taste of this market, (such as mingling claret with hermitage, and port and sherry with other wholesome wines of their own vicinity to adapt them to the English palate 1 ) but the mixing of cape and other base wines with sherry; and the adulteration of sound port with low-priced substitutes. But it is observable, that in the course of the inquiry before the Committee of 1852, little or no evidence in support of these allegations was re- corded. 2 1 FORRESTER, 86, 86, 126, et seq. 2 Two very disgraceful instances were adduced, one in which a wine dealer at Birmingham was brought before the magistrates of that town for offering as port wine a liquid compounded of Cider, Pontac, and British Brandy ; but it was admitted that this mixture had not been prepared with any view of actual sale, but with a fraudulent design to raise a loan upon its deposit, under the repre- sentation that it was genuine wine. This transaction, therefore, was a swindle upon a money-lender, rather than a deception on the drinkers of port. The other case was that of a party who, in 1850, was implicated in mixing certain proportions of low- class red wines, intending to ship them to the Channel Islands, and bring them back under the false description of "port." The wine was seized (the owner be- came insolvent in the meantime), and his creditors were compelled by the Customs to re-export the fictitious article to Guernsey. Scarcely a cask had been admitted to pay the duty, and the scheme proved a total loss, The intention in this instance was to obtain a Customs sanction to the assertion of the shipper that the cargo was " port" wine, and under that pretence to dispose of it to some unsuspecting trader ; thus, as in the previous instance, perpetrating a fraud not upon the public and the consumer, but on the retail dealer, an attempt which was checked by the vigilance of the Customs, and its repetition prevented by 'their precautions. Evidence, etc., 2615, 5234, 3765. M 2 164 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. " Vatting" or, as it is called, " blending," in bond, is another custom of the trade, sanctioned by law, and car- ried on under the immediate superintendence of the Cus- tom-house authorities, which has been somewhat unfairly described as adulteration. The process is little more than an extension to this country of the recognized usages of the trade abroad; mixing, after importation, wines which, without the slightest imputation of fraud, are blended habitually at the place of export. The Act 8 and 9 Vic., cap. 91, regu- lates the mode in which it is to be done, permitting exclu- sively the mixing of different descriptions of one and the same wine sherries with sherries, ports with ports and obliterating the original brand upon the casks, so as to give the public due notice that the contents have been so dealt with. This process is one entirely for the convenience of the trade in its dealings with the public. One of the lead- ing objects is to supply large parcels of wine of one uniform flavour, and, fairly availed of, under the supervision of the Customs, it is by no means calculated to expose the public to loss or deception. Besides, it is a practice entirely un- connected with questions of duty, and is as certain to be continued under a 1 s. as a 5*. rate. It is constantly stated, that tricks are resorted to by re- tailers and publicans, to impose on their customers by spurious imitations and compounds of inferior wines. 1 In the Committee of the House of Commons, the prevalence of such practices was strongly denied by those familiar with all the economy of the trade; 2 although it admits of no doubt that such frauds are capable of being perpetrated 1 House of Commons Committee. Evidence of Mr. LANCASTER, 610, 614, and Mr. REDDING, 5227, \et seq. 2 Ibid. Evidence of Mr. SHORT and Mr. ROOK, 6122, 6124. ADULTERATION OF WINE. 165 in the instance of wine, as readily as in that of tea, coffee, or any other article for which it is practicable to substitute mixtures of less value. But a little reflection will satisfy, that, in the case of an article so delicate as wine, such frauds could only be at- tempted in the very coarsest and most inferior descriptions, and by dealers of very low repute. Mr. Lancaster, one of the witnesses, who considers the tendency of high duty is to promote adulteration, qualifies this by stating that it would not exist except on a very small scale, as " wine is so limited in its use, that a man will get none used at all if he spoils it;" 1 and he named as the only two ingredients em- ployed for the purpose, Cape wine and water. But "water" as an ingredient to adulterate wine, seems unsuitable; and the use of Cape for any purpose in this country, must be on the decline, as its importation is less in 1854 than it was in 1816, and only one-third what it was in 1827. As to frauds ascribed to publicans, of imitating port wine by compounds of oak-bark, and elder, brazil-wood, and turnsole, 2 it must be observed, that any one accustomed to take wine could never be deceived by such a clumsy prepa- ration. The imitation of sound and good wine by such a process is utterly impossible; and as it could only succeed if practised on the lower orders, by offering them a nau- seous substitute instead of a cheap wine, its prevalence would be more likely to arise in the event of light wines coming into general use amongst that class of society. One witness, in fact, states that adulteration would be more likely to be stimulated than discouraged by a reduction of duty, as he has always observed that the tendency of cheap- 1 House of Commons Committee. Evidence of Mr. LANCASTER, 610, et seq. 2 Ibid. Evidence of Mr* BEDDING, 5227 166 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. en ing a thing is to increase the desire to cheapen it more and more. 1 It is obvious, too, that as adulteration, by mixing one wine with a cheaper one, can only operate upon that pro- portion of the price which consists of the " first cost," and cannot possibly affect the remaining element, viz., the " duty ;" so in proportion to the magnitude of the latter item, the incitement to adulteration will be reduced. For instance, were there no duty to pay whatsoever upon wine, the dishonest profit of mixing one pipe of 100 gallons, worth 20/., with another worth only 10/., would be equal to one-third the value of the entire. But if a duty of 2()/. per pipe is added, the gain by the fraud would be reduced to one-seventh', and, on the other hand, were the duty to be brought so low as Is. per gallon, or 51. for a pipe of 100 gallons, the profit of the unscrupulous dealer would rise by the operation from one-seventh to a fourth, so that the lower the duty the higher the premium on fraud. 1 House of Commons Committee. Evidence of Mr. BUSHELL, 5865, GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 167 CHAPTER XVII. RESULT OP THE INQUIRY. THE conclusion to which the foregoing considerations lead, is unfavourable to the extreme measure of reducing the duty on wine from its present rate of five shillings and nine- pence to one shilling a gallon. It admits of no question, that so great a reduction in the cost would tend to increased con- sumption, and bring wine within the reach of a class now unaccustomed to its use. And putting aside all considera- tions of revenue, even those opposed to reduction from a conviction of its injury to the public income, are fully im- pressed with the advantages which an enlarged trade in wine would confer on the country, both in its external relations and in its internal economy. It would strengthen our hands in contending with Por- tugal and Spain for the admission of British manufactures on more equitable terms; and a more extended and intimate intercourse with France through the medium of her wine trade, would increase the securities for peace with that country. As regards the United Kingdom, an increased import of wine would necessarily imply an increased employment of shipping, and would involve in all probability an increased 168 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. export of our manufactures, giving increased employment at the same time to the various handicrafts dependent on the preparation and distribution of wine. Apart from financial considerations, therefore, these and many other advantages can readily be foreseen as soon as the state of the revenue would permit the surrender of so much income. But, on the other hand, were the reduction to take place, on the calculation of such an increased consumption of wine as would replace if not redouble the present re- venue, the preponderance of facts does not encourage us to look with confidence to that result. It is by no means clear that a sufficient supply of suitable wines could be obtained to meet so vastly enlarged a de- mand. It is more than doubtful whether wine of the quality obtainable would suit the tastes, the palate, or the health of the people of England; and it is unquestionable that the cost of wine, such as we now use, would be im- mensely raised in price were a sudden demand to arise, to anything approaching the extent contemplated. But even admitting all these disputed points to be settled affirmatively and to the satisfaction of the advocates for reduction, still, as a matter of course, such a fundamental alteration in our national habits and fiscal system could not be confined to the article of wine individually, but must be simultaneously extended to all the members of the same family to beer, to home-made spirits, to colonial rum and foreign brandy articles from which we no^ raise an income of 1 9,000, 0001 per annum, a sum exceeding one-third the income of the United Kingdom. Whatever the ultimate decision may be, one thing is most desirable for the wine-trade of this country, that that deci- sion should be early and distinctly declared. It is highly prejudicial to their interests, as well as those of the revenue, that after being so frequently agitated, the question should GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 169 be left in any uncertainty. Within the last seventy years, the duties on wine have been altered no less than eighteen times. Such perpetual alarms of change tend to flutter the market, to unsettle prices, and to perplex the operations of commerce in every stage, from the growth of the vine to the retail of its produce. In one particular, those who deal in wine are more obnoxious to injury from such a source than the dealers in any other article; inasmuch as a long interval must elapse between production and consumption, to render wine fit for use at the table. Every consumer endeavours to store a supply, however small, in his private cellar; and every wine-mer- chant must keep up his stocks to acquire age and mellowness; Port wine and others can only ripen in bottle, and as bot- tling is prohibited in bond, this operation can only take place after the duty has been paid and the wine removed to the merchant's premises. The apprehension of coming changes, therefore, operates to the discouragement of both classes, neither the seller nor the consumer being willing to invest largely in an article whose value is exposed to dimi- nution. Besides, on the announcement of a reduction of duties, the revenue is always certain to be the first suf- ferer. A very striking illustration of this occurred in the last instance, when an impending change of duties was officially announced by Sir Robert Peel, in March, 1842. The ne- gociation failed both with Portugal and France, and the duties eventually underwent no change whatsoever; but whilst the panic endured, the consumption fell from 6,184,960 gallons to 4,815,222 gallons, and the revenue from l,720,47y/. to 1,334,469/. As Port wine was that chiefly affected by the expected change, its import fell off in a single year upwards of 1 ,000,000 gallons. Tt had been 2,387,017 in 1841, it suddenly fell to 1,288,953 in 1852; 170 WINE; ITS USE AND TAXATION. and it was not till the alarm had entirely subsided in 1844 1845, that the trade returned to its accustomed level. Should any Chancellor of the Exchequer come to the determination to try this great experiment, and take wine out of the category of articles from which, as " luxu- ries" it has been hitherto customary to raise a revenue, and transfer it to the class of necessaries, with an almost nominal duty, it is but justice to the trade that they should be early apprised of such an intention, in order that the continental growers of wine may be prepared for any suddenly -increased demand in this country, and that the trade at home may be enabled to take the necessary precautions for its own re-organization under such a revolution in its economy. On the other hand, should it be decided, that wine ought still to be regarded as the legitimate source from which a revenue of nearly 2,000,0007. can be annually raised off an article of exclusively foreign production, without a murmur from those who pay it; and that the duty on wine could not be greatly lowered without at the same time re-adjusting, in a similar proportion, the taxes on all the other fermented liquors and articles of the same family, which now contribute so largely to the income of the United Kingdom, it would be but just to those embarked in the trade, that that decision should be speedily and clearly enunciated, as well for restoring confidence to wine-merchants, as ensuring the stability of the revenue. APPENDIX. No. I. Analysis of the Duty chargeable on French Wine (imported into the Port of London in a British Ship) as it stood between July 25, 1782, and July 5, 1786 [i.e., as last altered pveviously to the Consolidation Act, 27 Geo. HI, c. 13.] Old Subsidy Additional Duty - - - Part of the ancient duties of "of Ton- nage and Poundage ;" made perpetual by Act 1 Geo. I, stat. 2, c. 12. First granted by 9 & ] 10 Wm. Ill, c. 23 ;( continued by subse- ( quent Acts. ) 2 & 3 Anne, c. 9 ; continued by subse- quent Acts, and made perpetual by 1 1 Geo. I, c. 9. 3 & 4 Anne, c. 5 ; made } perpetual by 11 Geo. > Two-thirds Subsidy I, c. 9. ) Per Tun Wine Measure. s. d. 4 10 300 4 10 One-third Subsidy- - 1 10 --300 172 APPENDIX. 1 Jac. II, c. 3; made ] perpetual by 3 Geo. > Impost on Wines (1685) I, c. 9. j 4 & 5 Wm. and Mary, j Impost of 1692-3 on c. 5 ; made perpetual > French Wines (and other by 3 ) goods) ------ 8 Per Tun Wine Measure. s. d. 800 18 Car. II, c. 5 ; con- tinued by subsequent Acts, and made per- petual by 9 Geo. Ill, c. 25. 18 Geo. II, c. 9 - - 3 Geo. Ill, c. 12 - - 18 Geo. Ill, c. 27 - 57 10 The Duties enumerated above were all subject to an abatement of 6 per cent, in commuta- tion of previous arbi- trary allowances for damage (under Act 6 Geo. I, c. 12, 2); and the first six to a further abatement of 12 per cent, in respect of leak- age (under the 8th Rule of the "Book of Rates," annexed to the Act 12 Car. II, c. 4, and recog- nised in subsequent Acts of Parliament) ; which abatement of 6 per cent, on an aggregate of 571. 10s., and 12 per cent, on an aggregate of 241. 10s., are here conjointly deducted - 6 7 9 T 6 51 2 Coinage due - per tun 10 Additional Duty on Wine from March 25, 1745 - 8 31, 1763 - 8 April 20, 1777 -880 76 2 APPENDIX. 173 Per Tun Wine Measure. A s. d. 19 Geo. Ill, c. 25 - Additional Impost of 5 per cent, on all former Sub- sidies, Duties, etc,, from April 5, 1779 - - 3 16 T \> 20 Geo. Ill, c. 30 - Additional Duty on Wine from May 10, 1780- - 8 8 88 22 Geo. Ill, c. 66 Additional Impost of 5 per cent, on all former Sub- sidies, etc., except the previous Impost of like per centage in 1779, from July 25, 1 782 - - 4 Aggregate rate of Duty chargeable from and after July 25, 1782 - - 92 8 7-^ Or 8s. 9^d. per imperial gallon. 174 APPENDIX. 3g CJ _ OEM * a 8 SSf S 00 II !* ^> | a J3 i .s 1 ' I i EH ^ ^ <* I g I : sS y o to e 1 , Hi |i o co So Q.J -^ to'" !N CO -HOtCOO OOOOOOOO APPENDIX. 175 SI 2] O a Is H-l P P S O O co ^ grf t^ OJ ^ s i O <TfOOCOOO(Ni-iCT>i-' _JCO > OS > CO v <N^CO^-^O i OO x 0i-'-Ht>. .2 ^ ^ ff 00*" t-T C*f <N~ -t~ CO O OS i i O O OS O OS OO O <N O OO i i O co t^ r- lOS" IO5 OOSO^OS O 00 00 OS t^ CO CO <M CO OS I-H <* 00 tO O i I i I (NOOOCOOOOOOi-'OOCOCO e? o> eo (MCOCO 0(N(M Cf ^r <N O CO CO -OS :?H co ; -<f -T o' >~r cT <>T QO co TJ< co : os : 00 -> l^ 00 9* . O i * CO r-c ll 11 176 APPENDIX. . \ ^ O <N O t>- CO rfOO<NCO<Mt>COOOO "-co (NOt^-^i-HOOooco^t I i eo t^ ' t^ o 10 FH co o o> O5t^C5O(N t^i 1OCOO i O ' CD O 00 O 00 OO CD OS hj 3 s OOOOOOi 'OS COO'* OCO' lOOr-HOS i i I-H O co^i-^oo_Oeo > O - : -t e?^ o. t^- v ir i o' o5 co > cr i-T cT i COOO'*O O . D CO ^ CM O CO COt^. CDCOCOCOrHOOl--OO oot>- oo-<*coTtiTf<coco-*r>-o COO5*OOsmin<NsO oo * CD co Tt o ^ GO * I ^* CO ' *D Tj< CD PH OS I ir^oq^i-^ I r-i Tj< <M (N i-i " OOGOM COCOCDt^.t->.OOsOOOGOO'COOOcoOi i I i i o co os ;ocooTt <ocooiCOOcocOi 'CO" 1 > 'Oi ico "ocMOi-Hco looost-osco osi it>.coos*>r-~r>cooo<N> ' *n O L^OOOS CO CO OS (N ^4 >_ os^ t^_ -^ S lo'cTt-Tdr Tf CO <N rH ^ CO rH Wc OOSCO'fCOOOCO' < G* < i i- 1- c^ ** ^* CO^O^^CO^Si^^t^^r^C^cScO^CDr-^vo rji CO CO^CO^ co^co^c^ i i o " i ^H O OS O 00 o> Tjii iosOfor^-1 i O (N -H O O r-. CO -< W CO rJ<<MOOOOSi tCOOOOSOOMCOOCOt--Oi ' - J ooO' i if- 1 - > co o 55 j IJ 03 ^C3 | v^/ r^ ult ,t-Vilaine j-et-Loire . . . : : u : i * 53 * ^ i B 9 :K 1 }t- Garonne . . . I ^ i iilj o : v ^ o rd 03 03 S Ms nSdf APPENDIX. 177 O 50 _ .. 00 O co. oo o o^ < .2 co" CM" os' oo" 1 S2^^ W -* gggs oo* oTi-T o o co t^ t^ o t CO t>. r^ O O ~-l O5 <M i--. CO t^ i-^_ 2 t-T of co" oT t-T ^" : : -_ t^_ co o _ -t o_ op^ co^ 05^ o^ ^ hn 5" I-H" CO Ot. 1 Tf lO CO T}< CO O5 <-" O 5O i O CM O5 00 r-r o- o' *'-*> CO 5O CM 178 APPENDIX, .2 of 00" 06" oo~ o" ||=2S- O CO 00 W o" ,_ iri P-H i-i O i-i CO 4 CM Q <-? O oco 06 ' CO O^-OOOO CNOOO* ' \, LEADENHALL STREET. JAMES MADDEN'S RECENT PUBLICATIONS. In one volume, 8vo. price 12s. THE WAR WHO'S TO BLAME? Being a complete Analysis of the whole Diplomatic Correspondence regarding the Eastern Question, and showing from these and other authentic sources the causes which have produced the present War. 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Such is Mr. Neale's ' Rise and Progress of Islamism,' which details in a very succinct manner the history of the Mahommedans, from the time of the Prophet to the reign of Ab-dul-Medjid." The English Churchman. " The reader of these volumes must award to Mr. Neale the praise of a most industrious and conscientious historian." Douglas Jerrold. "This is one of thebestbookswhichMr.Nealehaseverwritten. Even Washington Irving's 'Mahomet and his Successors' cannot eclipse Mr. Neale's very clever history. There is no portion of these volumes which will not thoroughly repay a perusal."- -Hell's Weekly Messenger. " The author's knowledge of Arab character and manners enables him to impart reality to many of his passages ; and, as a general survey of Turkish history, is faithful in spirit and animated in style." Press. 2 JAMES MADDEN'S KECENT PUBLICATIONS. Ready, the Second Edition, price 7s. 6d. The THISTLE and the CEDAR of LEBANON. By HABEEB KISK ALLAH EFFENDI. 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" Mr. Barker tells us in his preface that ' for a person who aspires to read and write a lan- guage with any degree of accuracy, something more is necessary than a superficial know- ledge of grammatical rules ;' and this ' something else ' his grammar helps the student to. ' Simple but necessary forms and rules ' are given as a ' foundation for observations of a more critical nature; and are Allowed by a grammatical analysis of every difficult word,' by which the rules are rendered more familiar; while constant repetition fixes them upon the memory. The book opens with a table showing the power and position of each letter in the Alphabet. This is followed by an explanation of the vowel points and signs supplementary to the Al- phabet, in use among Arab writers. The parts of speech are then treated of with great ful- ness and clearness, the table of verbs being extremely complete, and so arranged as to show the conjugations at one view. The chapters on ' Derivation ' and ' Syntax' will also greatly facilitate the study of the language. Then we have, further to assist the student, a literal interlinear translation of the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, and of the Pleasing Tales of Khoja Nasr-il-deen Effendi,' and a vocabulary of nearly 4,000 words. . . "The notes, critical, explanatory, and idiomatical, at the foot of each page contain copious references to the rules of Grammar and Syntax, so that, at every step he takes, the memory of the student is refreshed, and the rules which he has learnt by heart s-o applied, as to fix them indelibly on his memory. 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" Now and then, however, we alight upon a good book of permanent interest and value, which deserves to be placed upon our shelves after it is read, and which has sufficient merit to justify a future reference to its pages for information or amusement. Such is Mr. Neale's ' Rise and Progress of Islamism,' which details in a very succinct manner the history of the Mahommedans, from the time of the Prophet to the reign of Ab-dul-Medjid." The English Churchman. " The reader of these volumes must award to Mr. Neale the praise of a most industrious and conscientious historian." Douglas Jerrold. " This is one of the best books which Mr. Neale has ever written. Even Washington Irving's ' Mahomet and his Successors ' cannot eclipse Mr. Neale's very clever history. There is no portion of these volumes which will not thoroughly repay a perusal." Bell's Weekly Messenger. " The author's knowledge of Arab character and manners enables him to impart reality to many of his passages ; and, as a general survey of Turkish history, is faithful in spirit and animated in style."- Press. JAMES MADDENS RECENT PUBLICATIONS. Ready, the Second Edition, price Is. Qd. The THISTLE and the CEDAE of LEBANON. By HABEEB RISK ALLAH EFFENDI. " One of the most delightful books on the East that we have read." Standard. " Often as Syria and its inhabitants have been described by English travellers, strangers and pilgrims in the land, we have now, for the first time, a more vivid picture drawn by the graphic pencil of a native artist, and marked by the simplicity of truth. Both the Syrian and the English scenes possess the charm of novelty in manner, style, and feeling." Times. In imperial 16mo. 300 pages, price 14s. TURKISH READING BOOK, With GRAMMAR and VOCABULARY, and a selection of Original Tales, literally translated, with copious Critical, Explanatory, and Idiomatical Notes, and accompanied by Grammatical References : the Pronunciation of each Word being given as now used in Constantinople. By WILLIAM BURCKHARDT BARKER, M.R.A.S. Oriental Interpreter, and Professor of the Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Hindustani Languages, at Eton ; Author of " Lares and Penates ;" " Turkish Tales in English," &c. &c. " Mr. Barker tells us in his preface that ' for a person who aspires to read and write a lan- guage with any degree of accuracy, something more is necessary than a superficial knowledge of grammatical rules ;' and this ' something else ' his grammar helps the student to. ' Simple but necessary forms and rules' are given as a ' foundation for observations of a more critical nature ; and are followed by a grammatical analysis of every difficult word,' by which the rules are rendered more familiar; while constant repetition fixes them upon the memory. The book opens with a table showing the power and position of each letter in the alphabet. This is fol- lowed by an explanation of the vowel points and signs supplementary to the alphabet, in use among Arab writers. The parts of speech are then treated of with great fulness and clear- ness, the table of verbs being extremely complete, and so arranged as to show the conjuga- tions at one view. The chapters on ' Derivation ' and ' Syntax ' will also greatly facilitate the study of the language. Then we have, further to assist the student, a literal interlinear translation of the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, and of the ' Pleasing Tales of Khoja Nasr-il-deen Effendi,' and a vocabulary of nearly 4,000 words. . . . " The notes, critical, explanatory, and idiomatical, at the foot of each page, contain copious references to the rules of Grammar and Syntax, so that, at every step he takes, the memory of the student is refreshed, and the rules which he has learnt by heart so applied, as to fix them indelibly on his memory. Great advantage will also be derived from the plan which the author has adopted of representing all the Oriental characters by Roman letters. . . . We have said enough to show that the Grammar before us has merits which are peculiarly its own; and that it offers such facilities for acquiring the Turkish language, that there is no gentle- man who may not in a few months make himself as well acquainted with it as with any lan- guage of modern Europe." Hertford Mercury, August, 1854. THE AMIRS OF SINDH. DRY LEAVES FROM YOUNG EGYPT; With 12 Plates, and a Portrait in Chromo-lithography of Mir Muhammad. By an EX-POLITICAL. Third Edition, demy Svo. price 22s. " A very entertain ing and instructive narrative it is." Morning Chronicle. ' The work is exceedingly well written." Morning Herald. " His descriptions are graphic, and many of the adventures recorded of startling interest." Economist. " A pleasant, lively, and informing volume of travelling observation." Spectator. " The volume before us is one of those rare productions ; and apart from its literary merits, which are considerable, the quantity of information it contains makes the publication one of great value to all who take any interest in Indian affairs. The author has a keen sense both of the picturesque and the ludicrous, and there is a raciness and degage air about some of his sketches which put us in mind of ' Eb'then.' " Daily News. JAMES MADDEN S RECENT PUBLICATIONS. ANCIENT EGYPT; Her Monuments, Hieroglyphics, History, and Archaeology, and other subjects connected with Hieroglyphical Literature. By GEORGE GLIDDON, late U.S. Consul at Cairo. Nearly 20,000 copies of this work have been sold in America. Small folio, containing as much matter as an ordinal-sized 8wo. vol. with nearly 100 Woodcuts, 2s. In one volume 8vo. price 7*. Qd. OTIA ^IGYPTIACA. Discourses on Egyptian Archaeology, and Hieroglyphical Discoveries. By GEORGE R. GLIDDON. This volume contains some of the latest results of Egyptian inquiry, and is a most useful index to all the most recent publications on the subject : English, French, German. Italian, and American. ARIANA ANTIQUA; A Descriptive Account of the Antiquities and Coins of Affghanistan. By PROFESSOR H. H. WILSON. With a Memoir of the Buildings called Topes. There are only a few copies of this work remaining it will never be reprinted, as the Plates are destroyed. Royal ito. many Engravings and Maps, 21. 2s. THE ANGLO-INDIAN PASSAGE, OUTWARD AND HOMEWARD; Or, a Card for the Overland Traveller.from Southampton to Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta : with Notices of Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria, Aden, Bombay, Point de Galle, Madras, and Calcutta. By CAPTAIN DAVID LESTER RICHARDSON, Author of " Literary Leaves," &c. In one vol. post 8vo. with numerous Illustrations and Maps, price 5s. " There is really much useful information in this work; and its descriptive passages are especially calculated to convey a correct impression of the places described." Atlas. CRANIA JEGYPTIACA; Or, Observations on Egyptian Ethnography, derived from Anatomy, History, and the Monuments. By SAMUEL GEORGE MORTON, M.D. In one volume 4to. with numerous Illustrations, price 21s. a 2 JAMES MADDENS RECENT PUBLICATIONS. CRANIA AMERICANA; Or, a Comparative View of the Skulls of various Aboriginal Nations of North and South America. By SAMUEL GEORGE MORTON, M.D. ! In one volume, folio, illustrated by Seventy-eight Plates and a Coloured Map, price 1. 6s. MEMOIR ON THE COUNTRIES ABOUT THE CASPIAN AND ARAL SEAS; Illustrative of the late Russian Expedition against Khiva. Translated from the German. By CAPTAIN MORIER, R.N. With a Map by JOHN ARROWSMITH. In one volume 8i> o. price 7s. 6d. "This is purely a scientific work, treated in a scientific manner, and as unlike the flashy, unsatisfactory, and ephemeral tours that are abundantly published, as light is to darkness. This book contains facts valuable to all ages, and is a sort of landmark by which to note that silent progress of alternation which is slowly changing the face of the crust of this globe. This book, though a small one, is eminently deserving of a conspicuous station in all well- provided libraries ; and we recommend it also to the attention of the general reader." Metropolitan, March. In one thick volume, the Second Edition, A Popular HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA. Commercial Intercourse with China and the Insular Possessions of Engiauci. in the Eastern Seas. By W. COOKE TAYLOR, LL.D. M.K.A.S. of Trinity College, Dublin. In one vol crown Svo. oj 508 closely-printed pages, price 12s. " It is precisely such a summary as was wanted by the general reader, and will be most acceptaole to those who have not the leisure or the opportunity to master more elaborate works on the subject. Such a volume in particular has long been wanted in our schools, where little is taught of India more than may be learnt as a geographical exercise ; and yet the stirring and romantic interest of the theme, leaving out of view its importance, should recommend it to the teacher as likely to prove a welcome and animating addition to the usual course of historical instruction. Dr. Taylor confines himself for the most part to facts, avoiding a strong expression of political opinion one way or the other ; and hence his work may be the more safely entrusted to the youthful reader." John Bull, November 13. The Second Edition, in one thick volume, price 12s. What to Observe ; or, the Traveller's Remembrancer. By COLONEL J. R. JACKSON, Secretary to the Royal Geographical Society. In this portable volume are propounded questions on almost every subject of human investigation. " This volume may be declared to be a library in itself. It contains so much information in the shape of instruction to travellers ' what to observe,' that it makes travelling for the sake of acquiring knowledge almost superfluous." Literary Gazette, June 26. " A work that should be put into the trunk of every traveller, and especially of those who travel with a view to publication." Westminster Review. " For directing an individual how to qualify himself to be an intelligent traveller, both at home and broad, we know of no book equal to Colonel Jackson's ' What to Observe.'" The National. " This admirable work has just reached a second edition." The League. " It is seldom that a book is published which can be rec mmended to every class of society ; yet such is the case of this volume. It has already gone through an edition, and deserves to go through many." Britannia. JAMES MADDENS EECENT PUBLICATIONS. The OEIENTAL ALBUM-The Valley of the Nile, Consisting of a Series of Drawings of the Costumes of Egypt and the Red Sea, with Letter-press description, beautifully Illustrated with Wood Engravings, and printed on the finest paper, corresponding in size with the Mounted Plates, so that the whole may be bound in one splendid volume. Thirty-one Plates, mounted on card-board, and coloured equal to the most highly-finished water-colour drawing, and executed by the first artists of Paris, in portfolio. Published at 151. 15,?., now reduced to 101. 10s. An inspection of this work is respectfully solicited. Another edition, at 21. 15s. and 41. 4s. No expense has been spared to make this one of the most beautiful Works which have ever issued from the press. " Mr. Prisse is a very skilful draughtsman ; his works are not, as the illustrations of travels too often are, mere diagrams, but they reproduce to the sight the forms as they appear in life. The lithographic copyist has bestowed commensurate pains and skill on the prints, and has very happily caught the style of his original. The air of life, the force of effect, the brilliant but harmonious colouring, render the prints among the very finest works of their kind. " A book of this kind is not only entertaining as an ornament for the drawing-room table not only interesting as a specimen of book-work in the cultivation of art but is most valu- able as supplying information which no writing, even by the most graphic hand, can convey. Written description is vague, and is inevitably eked out by epithets, which are always equi- vocal or doubtful ; the skilful artist defines objects with the lucidity of sunlight, and needs no epithets. But the aspect and make of things are essential elements for a true judgment. The politician, for example, will derive valuable information, in the most restricted and utili- tarian sense of the word, from seeing the soldiers and the peasantry of Egypt paraded before him, as they are by Mr. Prisse. The influence of such a book on the mind is analogous to that of travelling ; it extends our knowledge of different modes of existence, and helps us to limit our category of necessaries. To possess such a work, therefore, is a luxury which counteracts the influence of luxury; though, indeed, to many it will furnish materials much more sub- stantially useful than any mere luxury." Spectator. A JOURNEY from NAPLES to JERUSALEM, By way of Athens, Egypt, and the Peninsula of Sinai ; including a Trip to the Valley of Fayoum, Together with a Translation of M. LIN ANT DK BELLEFOND'S " MSmoire sur le Lac Moeris." By DAWSON BOERER, Esq. In one vol. 8vo. ivith numerous Illustrations, and a Map of the Valley of Fayoum, price 14s. " It is not only a pleasant but an attractive narrative from beginning to end, with which the reader never tires. In conclusion, we would say, that, with the strong lights the deep shadows the bold, though sometimes highly-coloured, pictures the brief and rapid glances at Oriental life and habits and customs but, above all, with the fresh and ever-buoyant spirit which pervades this work, we have been much interested." Atlas, Dec. 28. ENTERPRISE IN TROPICAL AUSTRALIA. By GEORGE WINDSOR EARL. One volume, post Svo. price 4s. with Map. Recollections of Scenes and Institutions in Italy and the East. By JOSEPH BELDAM, Esq. F.R.G.S. Barrister-at-Law. Two volumes, Svo. price 24s. JAMES MADDEN S RECENT PUBLICATIONS. Stansbury's Arithmetical Class Tablets, Simple Addition, Simple Subtraction, Simple Multiplication, No. 1, Simple Multiplication, No. 2, Simple Division, Simple Long Division, Reduction. By the use of these Cards, a Schoolmaster or -Teacher may keep any number of boys employed at one time. Cloth case, containing seventy-five cards, closely printed on both sides, with Key, price 5s. HAND-BOOK OF HYDKOPATHY. For the use of Medical Men and others, Showing how almost every Disease ought to be treated, and explaining the whole rationale of the Water Cure, as practised by Vincent Priessnitz and himself for the last Fifteen Years. By DR. WEISS, of Friewaldau, near Grafenberg. The Second Edition, now ready, in one volume, &vo. price 5s. " Mr. Weiss understood and practised the water-cure with greater safety, and more unde- viating success, than any other of its professors, with the exception of Priessnitz himself." Vide Claridge's Hydropathy. INITIA LATINA : a Guide to Latin for Beginners. By the Rev. J. EDWARDS, King's College, and W. CROSS, Queens' College, Cambridge. The Third Edition, greatly improved, in one volume, \Zrno. price 3*. " A clear, simple, and efficient introduction to the study of Latin." Atlas. "Notwithstanding the many other ' Collectaneje Sententiae ' and 'Delectuses' used at schools, we consider this the most serviceable that has as yet issued from the press." Mirror. Oral Exercises for Beginners in Latin Composition; With a Hand- Book to ditto. By the Author of, and intended as, a Companion to the "Initia Latina." In two volumes, 12mo. price 3s. 6d. " We do not know that, in all our experience, we ever saw lessons better calculated to effect these objects, with ease both to the pupil and the master. Had we to commence our educa- tion again, they are just the books we would select for our instruction." Britannia. In one volume, post 8vo. price 6s. FACTS AND EEFLECTIONS, By a SUBALTERN of the INDIAN ARMY. - JAMES MADDENS RECENT PUBLICATIONS. In two volumes, 8vo. 'illustrated with numerous Portraits, &c. price 24s. THE HISTORY OF THE SIKHS, With a PERSONAL NARRATIVE of the WAR between the BRITISH and SIKHS. By W. L. M'GREGOR, M.D. Surgeon H.E.I. Company's 1st European Fusileers, late 1st E. Light Infantry. The first volume contains the lives "of the Gooroos, the history of the In- dependent Sirdars or Missuls, and the life of the Great Founder of the Sikh Monarchy, Maharajah Runjeet Singh. The second volume is devoted to an account of the War between the British and Sikhs, during the latter part of 1845, and the early part of 1846. The work is embellished with correct and faithful likenesses of the Maharajah Runjeet Singh, and Khurruk Singh, as well as of Prince Nonehal Singh, and the Rajah Goolab Singh, and Dyan Singh, Soochet Singh of Jummoo, and Sirdars Juwaheer Singh and Lall Singh, the late Prime Ministers of Lahore. "With a most complete Map of the Jalindhur Doab, lately ceded to the British ; and a Plan of all the Battle. In one volume, folio, with 33 Plates. Plain copies, 11. Us. Qd. ; coloured, 21. 2s. Historical Researches on the Origin and Principles of the BUDDHA and JAINA RELIGIONS ; Embracing the leading Tenets of their System, as found prevailing in various countries. Illustrated with Descriptive Account of the Sculptures in the Caves of Western India. By JAMES BIRD, M.R.A.S. &c. In one volume, post Svo. price 7s. 6d. KOSSUTH AND MAGYAR LAND; OR, PERSONAL ADVENTURES DURING THE WAR IN' HUNGARY. By CHARLES PRIDHAM, Esq. B.A. F.R.S.S. late Correspondent of " The Times," in Hungary. In one volume, post Svo. price 10s. 6tZ. TRADE AND TRAVEL IN THE FAR EAST ; Or, Recollections of Twenty-one Years passed in Java, Singapore, Australia and China. By G. F. DAVIDSON. " The production of an active, intelligent, and impartial mind, and as such deserving of a thorough perusal." Chambers. JAMES MADDEN'S RECENT PUBLICATIONS. HYDKOPATHY; or, the Cold- Water Cure: As practised by VINCENT PRIESSNITZ, at Griifenberg ; showing how this extra- ordinary Man, by the sole aid of Water, Air, and Exercise, cures all Diseases which can be cured by any other means, and many which are declared by the Faculty beyond the power of their art. By CAPT. R. T. CLARIDGE. May be had of any Bookseller in the kingdom, price 64, " The first point which impressed and struck me was the extreme and utter innocence of the water cure in skilful hands in any hand not thoroughly new to the system. I fancied it must be a very violent remedy, and-that it doubtless might effect great magical cures, but that if it failed it might be fatal. Now I speak not alone of my own case, but of the immense number of cases I have seen patients of all ages, all species and genera of disease, all kinds and conditions of constitution when I declare upon my honour, that I never witnessed one dangerous symptom produced by the water cure in any of the numerous institutions I have visited." SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON on the Water Cure. A CHINESE MANUAL. Recueil de Phrases Chinoises Compose'es de Quatre Caracterea et dont Expli- cation sont ranges dans 1'ordre Alphabetique Frai^ais. Just published, in small folio, price 12s. In three volumes, 8vo. price 31. 7s. BOPP'S COMPARATIVE GRAMMAR, Translated by Professor EASTWICK and Edited by Professor H. H. WILSON. (The Second Edition of Vol. I. is now ready, and may be had separately.) " Bopp has created a new epoch in the science of comparative philology." Edinburgh Review. " I find your translation very clear, and a true and exact rendering of the sense of the original." PROFESSOR BOPP. " I have frequently compared your translation with the original, and I am certain there are few books so carefully translated into English as this." PROFESSOR MAX MULLER. M It is out of the question for us to attempt to do full justice to a production of such magnitude, and such recondite learning we must content ourselves with simply calling the attention of English scholars to the translation, as worthy of their deepest study." Athenaeum, Dec, 1854. JAMES MADDEN'S RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 9 PROFESSOR H. H. WILSON'S INTRODUCTION TO THE GRAMMAR OF THE SANSKRIT LANGUAGE. In one volume, &vo. price 18s. doth. THE HITOPADESA. THE FIRST BOOK, OR MITRA-LABHA. The Sanscrit Text, with an Analytical Glossary, Sanscrit and English, showing the Construction as well as the Signification of the Words. By Professor F. JOHNSON, of the East-India College, Haileybury. In one volume ito. price 10s. MAKAMAT ; Or, Conversational Anecdotes of Abou'l Kasem al Hariri of Basra. During Seven Centuries acknowledged in the East as the Model of Rhythmical Elegance. Translated into English Verse and Prose, and Illustrated with Annotations. By THEODORE PRESTON, M.A. &c. Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. One handsome volume, 8vo. 18s. ; on large paper, 24s. ^ f3 ey. THE EASTERN TRAVELLER'S REMEMBRANCER; Containing Dialogues, Familiar Phrases, &c. in the Arabic and Roman Cha- racters, for the use of Travellers by the Overland Route. By ASSAAD YACOOB KAYAT. In a neat volume, l.'2mo. price 10s. boards. ARABIC SYNTAX, Chiefly selected from the Hidayut-oon-Nuhvi, a Treatise on Syntax in the original Arabic. By H. B. BERESFORD, B. C. S. In one volume, royal 8m price 10s, Qd. cloth. 10 JAMES MADDEN'S RECENT PUBLICATIONS. In one volume, 12 wo. price 3s. 6d. ARABIC DERIVATIVES IN HINDUSTANI, Their formation and application to the above Language ; Being an easy method of acquiring a vast number of useful Hindustani Words. By LIEUT. BENSON, Madras Army. In one volume, greatly enlarged, a Second Edition, ARABIC GRAMMAR. A Grammar, with a selection of Dialogues and Familiar Phrases, and a short Vocabulary in Modern Arabic. By CAPTAIN FLETCHER HAYES, M.A. In one volume, royal 12 wo. cloth, 8s. A Pocket Dictionary of ENGLISH & HINDUSTANI, By CAPTAIN ROBERT SHEDDEN BOBBIE. In one volume, royal 12 wo. cloth, price Is. 6d. A Pocket Dictionary of ENGLISH and PERSIAN. By WILLIAM THORN HILL TUCKER, Bengal Civil Service. In one volume, 12 wo. price 12s. A Dictionary of ENGLISH and GUJARATI. By E. P. ROBERTSON, Esq. C.S. Gujarati is one of the languages necessary for a Student to pass his Examination. Now ready, in royal Svo. price 21. 2s. About 700 pages, handsomely printed, with copioxis critical and explanatory foot-notes; a new and literal English Translation, in prose and verse (being the first entire English Version), of the ANVAR-I SUHAILI. By E. B. EASTWICK, F.R.S. F.S.A. M.R.A.S. Professor of Urdu and Librarian in the East India College. A Translation of this Persian Classic has long been a desideratum to the student, and it is hoped that this Version will be found to meet the require- ment, as well as that of the literary public at large. JAMES MADDEN'S RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 11 ANVAR-I SUHELL A NEW EDITION OF THE PERSIAN TEXT. Edited by Lieut.-Col. J. W. J. OUSELEY, Professor of Arabic and Persian in the East India College, Herts. 4to. " Your edition of the Anvar-i Suheli beats all that have hitherto appeared. The correct- ness of the text reflects the highest credit on Colonel Ouseley's care, as the neatness of the typography does to your press. It is really a luxury to read such a book." DUNCAN FORBES, LL.D., Professor of the Oriental Languages at King's College, London. ANVAR-I SUHELI. THE FIRST BOOK. THE PERSIAN TEXT. Edited by the Rev. H. G. KEENE, late Arabic and Persian Professor at the East India College, Haileybury, Herts. 8vo. ANVAR-I SUHELI. THE FIRST BOOK, LITERALLY TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. By the Rev. H. G. KEENE. 8vo. AKHLAK-I MUHSINI. To which are prefixed A FEW EASY STORIES for Beginners. Edited by Lieut.-Colonel OUSELEY. 8vo. AKHLAK-I MUHSINI. TRANSLATED LITERALLY INTO ENGLISH. By the Rev. H. G. KEENE, sometime Professor at the East India College. Second Edition. 8vo. BAGH BAHAR. AN ENTIRELY NEW ENGLISH VERSION, WITH NOTES. By E. B. EASTWICK, F.R.S. F.S.A. M.R.A.S. &c. Royal Svo. " The ' Bagh o Bahar is unquestionably a work of more value and importance than Solwan ; and we are not surprised that Mr. Eastwick, who is Professor of Urdu at Haileybury, under- took its translation. Urdu, some of our readers may like to know, is the Hindu word for a camp ; but the Urdu language means the colloquial and ordinary tongue spoken by all classes Hindus, Mussulmans, grown people and children of our Eastern possessions. Hence its value to every person about to become a resident in India, and the reason why the Company require all candidates for office, civil or military, to be, to a certain extent, proficient in it. The 'Bagh o Bahar' is one of the works in which they are examined ; and Mr. Eastwick's main reason for publishing this very literal and accurate version is, that it may be of use to all learners of Urdu. In this point of view it is valuable ; and although we may not agree entirely with the translator as to the positive merit and interest of the work, we are quite ready to admit that the version was wanted, and that it must from its style and accuracy (as far as we are able to form a judgment on the point) supersede Mr. L. F. Smith's version, to the second edition of which Professor Forbes lent his name." Athenccum. ._ 12 JAMES MADDEN'S KECENT PUBLICATION^. Nearly ready, handsomely printed in imperial I6mo. BHAGAVAD-GITA; Or, DISCOURSES on DIVINE MATTERS of KRISHNA and ARJUNA A Philosophical Poem. The SANSKRIT TEXT, with a VOCABULARY. Also, a New Translation in Prose, of the BHAGAVAD-GITA. With very copious Critical, Philosophical, and Explanatory Notes ; and Introductory Chapters on the Hindu System of Philosophy, a Critical Examination of the Book, and an Index of Proper Names. By J. COOKBURN THOMSON, Member of the Asiatic Society of France. In post Svo. price 7s. 6d. cloth, Concise Grammar of the Hindustani Language, To which are added, Selections for Reading. By B. EASTWICK, M.R.A.S. Professor of Urdu in the East India College, Haileybury. GULISTAN. A NEW EDITION of the PERSIAN TEXT, with a VOCABULARY. By E. B. EASTWICK, F.R.S. F.S.A. M.R.A.S. &c. 8vo. " I consider it everything to be desired. Three grand requisites for beginners you have supplied 1st, a good vocabulary ; 2d, the division of the work into sentences, by means of a simnle punctuation. This part particularly pleases and flatters me, for I was myself the first that had the courage to introduce into this country this very rational and palpable improve- ment." DUNCAN FORBES, LL.D. Professor of Oriental, Languages, at King's College, London. Beautifully printed with Coloured Border, and head and tail-pieces, and with Illuminated fac-simile Illustrations (in gold and colours), from a valuable MS. copy of the Gulistdn, in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society. Demy 8vo. elegantly bound. GULISTAN. Or, ROSE GARDEN of SADI OF SHIRAZ. Translated for the first time into Prose and Verse. By EDWARD B. EASTWICK, F.R.S. F.S.A. M.R.A.S. &c. The Publisher has the high satisfaction of referring to the following expressions in a note from the Hon. C. B. Phipps, Keeper of the Privy Purse to Her Majesty, dated " Windsor Castle, January 3, 1853," acknowledging a copy of " The Gulistan," forwarded by the Pub- lisher for presentation to Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen : " I have presented the beautiful copy of ' Gulistdn' to the Queen. H<>r Majesty has accepted the book, and it was very much admired." " The translation is careful, and executed with great skill, as might be expected from one who has edited the text of the ' Gulistdn.' .... The exterior of the book is quite in Oriental style. Many pictures in illuminated colour-printing faithful copies of Persian MSS. vignettes, and the binding ornamented with arabesques in gold exhibit the skill and taste of the Publisher." DR. MAX MULLER, Professor of Modern Languages in the University of Oxford: in the " Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes." JAMES MADDEN'a RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 13 PEEM SAGAR, A New Edition of the HINDI TEXT, with Notes and a complete Vocabulary. By E. B. EASTWIOK, F.R.S. F.S.A. M.R.A.S. &c. 4to. " En 1851, M. Edward B. Eastwick, Professeur d'Ourdoo a 1'East-India College d'Hailey- bury, donna une excellente edition du Prem Sdgar, a laquelle il joignit une traduction, remarquable par sa scrupuleuse fidelite et par I'elegance du style. Ce travail du Professeur d'Haileybury a prouve une fois de plus, que la langue anglaise, maniee avec habilite, s'adapte admirablernent aux inversions moderees et au mouvement general d'un recit poetique. Entre le texte introuvable de Tchatourbhoudj-Misr et la version du Prem Sdgar traduite de maniere a n'y plus revenir, se placait le manuscrit de Lalatch, moins ancien que le premier de ces deux ouvrages, et superieur au second comme monument litteraire (puisque le Prem Sdgar, a etc redige en prose par Cri-lallou-dji-Lal en 1804)." M.THEODORE PAVIE. Extract from the Preface to a French Translation of the Tenth Chapter of the Bhdgavat Purdna. PREM SAGAR. TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, By E. B. EASTWICK, F.R.S. F.S.A. M.R.A.S. 4to. " ' At a time," says the translator, ' when tbe Brans'? t^'on o p the Vedas ia unfolding to the world the religion of the Hindus as it existed in the dim ages of antiquity, a tiansiatioa uf tne " Prem Sagar " may be thought opportune, displaying, as it does, the religion of that great nation at the present day.' . . . The ' Prem Sdgar ' is a Hindi version of the Braj Bhakha trans- lation of the tenth chapter of the ' Bhagavat Purana.' . . . We must not omit to mention the highly creditable way in which the original text is printed ; the type is very clear, and great care seems to have been taken to render the work accurate, and the edition, indeed, in all respects, will bear a most favourable comparison with any published." Westminster Review. HITOPADESA. THE SANSKRIT TEXT, WITH A GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS, Alphabetically arranged, and an English Index of Words, serving the purpose of a reversed Dictionary. By FRANCIS JOHNSON, Professor of Sanskrit at the East India College. Imperial 8vo. " The Hitopadesa is the original of the celebrated ' Pilpay's Fables.' The great merits of this work as a CLASS BOOK, long since led to its introduction into the East India College at Haileybury, near Hertford." HITOPADESA. TRANSLATED LITERALLY INTO ENGLISH. By FRANCIS JOHNSON. Imperial 8vo. 14 JAMES MADDEN'S RECENT PUBLICATIONS. SAKUNTALA. OR, SAKUNTALA RECOGNISED BY THE RING; A Sanskit Drama, by Kalida'sa ; the Devandgari Recension of the Text, now for the first time edited in England, with literal English Translations of all the Metrical Passages, schemes of the Metres, and copious Critical and Explanatory Notes. By MONIER WILLIAMS, M.A. Professor of Sanskrit in the East India College ; formerly Boden Sancrit Scholar in the University of Oxford. " It was not till 1835 that he (Sir William Jones) was discovered to have used one of the MSS. which the meddlesome pundits of Bengal have grievously injured by their interpolations and fancied emendations. The text of the present edition, on the contrary, is based on MSS. of a more ancient date, and the copyists of which were less disposed to tamper with its integrity. The editor has also freely availed himself of Dr. Boehtlingk's edition of the same recension. He has done everything in his power to meet the wants of the student by sup- plying him with useful translations and explanatory notes, as well as by adopting excellent typographical arrangements. The manner in which the work is got up does great credit both to editor and publisher. If English scholars do not now attain to a more correct appreciation of this great dramatist, it will be their own fault." Athenceum. Royal 8vo. 230 pages. PRAKRITA-PRAKASA; Or, the PRAKRIT GRAMMAR of VARARUCHI, with the COMMENTARY (Manorama') of Bhdmaha. By EDWARD BYLES COWELL, of Magdalen Hall, Oxford. The first complete Edition of the Original Text, with various readings from a collation of six MSS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and the Libraries of the Royal Asiatic Society and the East India House. With copious Notes, an English Translation, and an Index of Prdkrit Words ; to which is prefixed an easy Introduction to Prdkrit Grammar. " II etait done important de publier en entier le texte original de son ouvrage, et M. Cowell, jeune et digne eleve de M. Wilson, et deja connu par son Vikramorvasl, dont nous avons parle en temps opportun, a voulu rendre service aux indianistes ; et non seulement il a publie les sutras de Vararuchi, d'apres six manuscrits, mais il les a accompagnes du commentaire de Bhamaha, de nombreuses notes, d'une traduction, d'appendices importants, et d'un index des mots pracrits, qui est de la plus grand utilite pour I'usage de ce volume. De plus, M. Cowell a place en tete de cet ouvrage une introduction a la grammaire pracrit, qui se dis- tingue par la clarte et la precision." M. GARCIN DE TASSY, Membre de VInstitut, in the "Journal Asialique," Feb. 1854. VIKRAMORVASL A Drama, by Kdlida'sa. The Sanskrit Text. Edited by MONIER WILLIAMS, M.A. Svo. This edition of the " Vikramorvasi" has been favourably noticed in aa article in the Foreign Quarterly Review, October, 1850. JAMES MADDEN'S RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 15 VIKRAMORVASI. Translated into English. By E. B. COWELL, of Magdalen Hall, Oxford. 8vo. "II y a deja longtemps que le celebre Wilson a, dans son Theatre Hindou, fait connaitre ce drame que la tradition attribue a 1'auteur de Sakuntala. Mais M. Cowell a voulu en donner une traduction litterale, en prose, en faveur des eleves du College civil de la Com- pagnie des Indes a Haileybury, et pour accompagner le texte recemment public par M. Monier Williams, Professeur de Sanscrit an meme etablissement. Ce dernier texte est la reproduc- tion de celui de Calcutta, si ce n'est que le savant editeur a, dans 1'interet de ses eleves, remplace les passages Pracrits par leur traduction en Sanscrit : et qu'il a admis, en outre, quelques corrections de 1'edition de Lenz. Quant a la traduction de M. Cowell, elle est tres- propre a rintelligence du 'texte; elle est de plus, enrichie de quelques notes d'erudition, et d'un tableau raisonne de metres employees dans le drame." M. GARCIN DE TASSY, Membre de I'lnttitut, in the "Journal Aaiatique." Selections from the MAEABEARATA. 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This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. NOV 20 1947 3fllar 1 56?T ICLF (N) 9,'47(A5702sl6)476 YC 26103