THE FAllMliR'S MAGAZINE. 



355 



condition as an absolutely necessity must be improved. 

 Tiie scarcer hibonr becomes, tlic more call will tbere be 

 for skilled labour. The seven or eight shillings a-week 

 man, who just existed, and did just as he always had 

 done, will go out of use. His place will be filled by 

 one with more energy, more education, and higher 

 aspirations. He will have to do the work of two or three 

 (if the old-fashioned class, and with the many aids now 

 brought to his hand he will do it. But it will be a fair 

 bargain. His lot will no longer be regarded more or 

 less as a matter of charity. Or, " it I dismiss you, 

 where will you go then ? To the parish for a loaf, or 

 to tlie beer-shop for a wire ?" ]5y no manner of means, 

 but to the Nottiiiffham Guardian office, and see how 

 many places for men of industry and good character 

 they have on their books. 



The interests of landlord, tenant, and lahoiirer are 

 identical. We were never coming to feel tliis more 

 than wo are just at piesent. Some mutual concession 

 must bo made, and some better understanding must 

 bo arrived at. The labourer, more than all, insists on 

 a better position, simply because he can command it. 

 There are other pursuits and other countries ready to 

 receive him with open arms, and to make the most of 

 him. What have we to bid against these ? An oc- 

 casional job when we want him, and nothing more — 

 or a comfortable home, good pay, and the feeling that 

 his presence amongst us is courted, and not scouted. We 

 must combine the two extraordinary but significant 

 advertisements we have referred to. For " Men of 

 industry and character liberal wages and good cot- 

 tages will be provided." 



THE VINEYARDS OF LA BELLE FRANCE, 



Punch, in one of those clever cartoons that enliven 

 his pages, lately represented General Beer in full retreat 

 before the light division of French Wines. Should the 

 Budget be recognised, it appears probable that the thick 

 porters, bitter beers, and mild and strong ales may ex- 

 perience a check ; and although it is not probable that 

 the popular taste will revert at once from these national 

 beverages to the wines of France, it is possible that they 

 may in time come to be as highly esteemed as they were 

 in England before an excessive duty obliged us to find a 

 cheaper substitute. Down to the Revolution, French 

 wines were vtry largely imported by us. In 1G87 it is 

 shown that we consumed no less than 3,800,000 gallons 

 of it. In consequence of a heavy prohibitive duty it 

 fell in 178G to 100,000 gallons; and so much had we 

 been weaned from the taste of it, that, when that duty 

 was decreased in 1830, the demand for it stood 

 where it did for some years, and such wines were not 

 used except by those classes or that class to whom the 

 price had not prevented the supply. 



The Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Malvoisie wines 

 sparkled in the cups of our ancestors, as we read in 

 many a history, and see confirmed in the gouty twitch 

 observable in the face of many of our fine old progeni- 

 tors. The Royalist and the Puritan both imbibed its 

 blushing stream, and both were forcible in character, 

 hating strongly, and hitting hard. How far the 

 vigorous constitution of the men of those times was 

 dependent upon the liberal use of these pure unadul- 

 terated wines, it is difficult to say ; but certainly we have 

 considerable hope in welcoming them back, that they 

 may check the murderous adulterations now going on, 

 to the ruin of the mind and body of her Majesty's sub- 

 jects, and do somewhat towards diverting the national 

 taste from the highly-brandied ports and sherries, and 

 the liquid fire in which the poor seek for forgetfulness 

 under the pressure of misery and heavy taxation. 



There may be some truth in the remark that our 

 climate necessitates a fuller or more bodied beverage 

 than is obtainable from France, and that light thin 

 wines are liable to be rejected with disdain by those who 

 regard the unctuous stream of black porter with steady 

 devotion, regarding it as both " victuals and drink ;" 

 but certainly during the summer season we do stand in 

 need of beverages less heady and heating than bitter 

 beer, and wines less stimulating than port and sherry. 



In connection with the remission of the duty on malt 

 and hops, this reduction will work very beneficially. 

 Should the Government be able to carry out their inten- 

 tions, they will go further to abolish intemperance than 

 all the teetotal advocates in the country, all honour to 



them ! The more such aliment can be introduced into 

 our homes, the less will be the inducement to seek them 

 elsewhere ; and when they come to be regarded amongst 

 the necessaries of life, like tea or coflfee, they will cease 

 to be abused as they are at present. 



It has long seemed very strange to me that we should 

 decline to receive tlie benefits which the sun confers 

 upon the South of France, and content ourselves with 

 all sorts of vile concoctions of home manufacture. Our 

 climate is not suited to the growth of the vine, but that 

 of France is. We grow many things that France can- 

 not ; why, then, have we been so long in finding out 

 that it is best to profit by what is best matured by the 

 climate of France, and allow her to benefit by what is 

 best matured by our climate ? And seeing that value 

 only consists in the labour of production, and that 

 barter is only the exchange of one value for another, wo 

 are not, in free exchange, charged for the work of the 

 genial climate which ripens the grape or the orange, 

 but enjoy that privilege just as freely as the natives of 

 France and Spain, paying only the carriage of its 

 products, which is perfectly fair. It seems a prodigious 

 folly to deprive ourselves voluntarily of such advan- 

 tages, and for one nation to build up artificial bari'iers 

 against another, instead of partaking, as God intended 

 them, in the particular benefits he has bestowed upon 

 each. We arc just coming to find out that we gain by 

 exchange rather than by isolation — that scarcity is not 

 to be mistaken for abundance — that we are rather to 

 regard the interests of the consumer than the producer, 

 who has peculiar and providential instincts to guide 

 him. Our taxes and expenditure may be heavy ; but we 

 are in a better position to meet them, if we receive grate- 

 fully the gratuitous gifts of genial climates, and busy 

 ourselves in work that will enable us to pay back Ihe 

 labour expended in their production. To establish pro- 

 hibitive duties is to increase our national taxation ; for 

 where would be the use of large standing armies and 

 powerful navies, if trade were free ? 



And France, in this matter of wine, presents a me- 

 lancholy illustration of the effects of thafilliberal policy 

 which pretends to improve commerce by prohibiting 

 the free intercourse of commercial countries ; for by 

 excluding the produce of other nations, she virtually 

 deprives, by the same laws, the reception of her own 

 produce into foreign countries. England must pay for 

 the wines of France with her own produce; which if 

 France refuse to receive, she has no equivalent of her 

 own to offer, and must procure one from another 

 country, which operation will restrict the trade and 

 raise the price of French wine. Thus, whilst France 



