1831.] Beer and Spirit Monopolies. Sid 



" talented people" disguise its presence in spirits offered for sale. 

 " They disguise this bpalescent quality, or tendency to become milky in 

 the spirit containing the essential oil, by what is called the doctor ; I 

 shall tell you what that is made of; the doctor consists of a combination 

 of oil of vitriol and oil of almonds" (the latter containing prussic acid of 

 course) " triturated together, and added in small quantities to the said 

 opalescent spirit, after which addition it will, unless it be very bad, 

 stand dilution with water without becoming milky." Such is another 

 of the commodities produced by the other great monoplists, with whom 

 the smaller distillers cannot compete — and of which twenty-one to 

 twenty-three millions of imperial gallons are now annually consumed in 

 the British empire — whilst, by an odious distinctive duty, rum, equally 

 a British production, and a much more wholesome spirit, is, to please a 

 few leading distillers, who are servilely backed by a prejudiced and un- 

 reasonable party of the landed interest, kept almost entirely out of the 

 British market ; the total quantity consumed in one year in the whole 

 united kingdom being little more than three hundred thousand gallons 

 —not an eighth part of the whole whiskey, rum, and other spirits con- 

 sumed. 



It is quite evident that so long as there is not in the cabinet a single 

 master-mind capable of fully understanding these questions, and of de- 

 tecting and controlling such of the interests of the contending parties as 

 may be at variance with the public benefit — the people of England must 

 continue to suffer both in their bodily health, and by having their general 

 comforts, and collective prosperity diminished by these monopolies. 



The point for which, as appears by the docuirents before us, the 

 West Indians contended, was simply this ; — that they should, in fairness, 

 and in common justice, be placed upon an equal footing with foreigners 

 in the English market ; but that this was not the case so long as the 

 foreign grower of barley could send his grain to England for consump- 

 tion in the breweries and distilleries, whilst the West Indian was pre- 

 vented from doing so, by heavy duties, and positive prohibitions. — They 

 contended that the brewers and distillers should have the option of using 

 molasses instead of foreign grain, whenever, by a bad season or other- 

 wise, the average price of English barley should exceed thirty-four 

 shillings the quarter (equal to thirty-seven or thirty-eight shillings for 

 the best malting barley) — and they argued that in common prudence, 

 and sound policy, we are bound to encourage our own, instead of foi'eign 

 production, and to afford as much relief as possible to a suffering portion 

 of the British community, especially if by doing so we should give a 

 better and cheaper beverage to the people — render ourselves, to a certain 

 degree, more independent of foreigners — and keep at home some part 

 of the money which we are now obliged to send to Bohemia, and other 

 countries, for barley, whenever, by bad seasons or otherwse, our own 

 crop happens to be damaged, or deficient in quantity. 



To shew that this substitution of molasses and sugar would not be in- 

 jurious to our own agricultural interests — evidence was adduced, ex- 

 plaining that the utmost quantity of molasses that could, in any one 

 year, be imported — even supposing that this additional encouragement 

 should be held out — was not more than about r>00 cwts., a part of which 

 would, as at present, be applied to other purposes, and all that could be 

 used in substitution for foreign barley would not be equivalent to more 

 than about a hundred or a hundred and fifty quarters of that grain. 



