520 



{«" A R M E II S ' R E G ! S T i: R . 



[No. 9 



The consumption of mn!n^s('p is triflin;(r, except 

 in the United Stiitos and Great iiritain. — Theie is 

 soniii vent lor il on ti\c c-oniinent, to he ufed in 

 curing tol)aixo ; and in England it is used for nm- 

 kini>;°a ha^tard susrar, and (or cheap preserve?. 

 In Tik; United State-- alone il is useil lor liie table. 

 The quantity of refined suu:ar consumed in rhe 

 United States is pniaii compared wiili tlie hrown. 

 It probably does not exceed one-tenUij while, on 

 the contrary, in France it constitutes four-fifths ol 

 the entire consunifXion. The proportion is less 

 than this in Great Brilaui ; hut it is nuich o-reater 

 there, and in Europe generally, than in the United 

 States. Brown sugar contains, on an average, 

 three to five per cent, of dirt ; oi" course, molas- 

 ses cannot [tii more. pure. The consmppiion of 

 this last in the United States, is about 150,000,000 

 lbs. annually; but probably more than lialf of it 

 has heretoibre been disiilled into rum, producing 

 more than 10,000,000 gallons per annum. 



The sugar cane appears to have been, in all 

 nges, a source of beverage in some Ibrm. Lucan 

 describes ilic eastern recruits of Pumpey's army 

 thus, 



— "qaique bibuiit tencra ab anuiuirie succos" 



The Jews had an inebriating liquor which they 

 called sacar, from which some etymologists in fact 

 derive saccharimi, but we think erroneously ; be- 

 cause it is certain, that ihe ancient sugar, with its 

 name saccharon, came li-om India, and etpially 

 certain, that the Jews knew not sugar. It is not 

 improbable, however, that some relationship exists 

 between the Hebrew sucar, and the Hindoo s,7a/-- 

 kara, or sarkara; inasmuch as the drink, expressed 

 by the formei', was the juice of a reed, and, befure 

 lermentation, sweet. Bruce f)und the cane used 

 in Egypt and Nubia for making a driidf, by con- 

 cocting it in water. The inhabitants o( Angola 

 have made a similar use of it from time ininieino- 

 rial ; so too did the ancient Ethiopians. The peo- 

 ple of all countries are li)nd ofchewing and sucking 

 sugar canes. The laborers every where grow (iit 

 towards the maturity, and during the cropping of 

 the sugar cane. The Arabian horses were obser- 

 ved lo^grow fit in Spain by It'eding on the pulp, 

 after the juice was expressed. Sugar, eaien in con- 

 siderable quanli'ies, has the same effect. The 

 king of Cochin-Chiua causes his body-guard, con- 

 sistmg of a hundred men, to feeil mostly on sugar 

 and sugar canes, in order that they may appear 

 more stout and handsomelhanotlier troujis. i\Iany 

 aged persons have Ibund great henefu, iiom the 

 li-ee use of sugar. It tends to render the skin arkl 

 cartilages soft and supple. It might be excellent 

 nourishment liir patients submitting to experiments 

 upon distorted limbs or spine. Il is sliirhily laxa- 

 tive, and was valued on that account by the an- 

 cient practitioners. Dissolved in water it is an ari- 

 tidote against arsenic, corrosive sublimate, verdi- 

 gris, blue vitriol, and other mineral poisons, and 

 also those of fish, as lobster, dolphin, cunuer eel, 

 &c. "Suixar," says the author of '-Diet and 

 i)igestion," "seems to be the first support of ve- 

 getl^ble lile, and it is well known to be the princi- 

 pal food of young animals. It pcrha|)S yields 

 more chyle than any other co'-'siituent of plants." 

 Sugar, like common salt, is usoful aller excess in 

 eatmg. It precipitates digestTon, particularly with 

 ur after llui'ts ; it excites the secretions of tiie di- 



gestive organs, and is good lor old and inactive 

 stomachs. There are many successful examples 

 of ageil persons lakmg it as their principal lood 

 durinir many years. Dr. Rush entertained a high 

 opinion of its dieteiical qualities. 



But, in proportion as sugar is wholesome, al- 

 coliol, which is made from the same principle in 

 [)lanis, is deleterious. The solid and nutritious 

 par! ol' milk is sugar;' but, when fermented and 

 distill(*(l, it bectimes one of the most inflaming of 

 ardent spiriis. i. e. burning spirits. 



The origin of the excessive importation of mo- 

 lasses into iliis country, and ol' the excessive use 

 of distilled spirits resulting from that importation. 

 are among the most instructive matters in our 

 history. 



Il is.bul litlle more than a century since (hat im- 

 portation began. In the French West Indies the 

 sugar manufacturers used to throw away their mo- 

 lasses, as indeed they did at first in Jamaica, and 

 as ihey do to this day in the islands of Bour- 

 bon and Java. The 'New-Englanders, particu- 

 larly in and about Boston, takiuir note nf ihis cir- 

 cumstance, induced the French, for a trifling con- 

 sideration, to preserve this residuum, and deliver it 

 on board the colonial traders. Arrived at Bos- 

 ton ami other ports, the adventurers entered the 

 article free of duly, and it was then converted into 

 New England ruin. In a lew years, the business 

 so enhirged itsell, that ib.e trade was extended !o 

 the Duu-.h and Danish colonies. In exchange, 

 our pcop/le gave to the Frenchmen and others, 

 horses and iiujles to work their suiiar mills, lumber 

 Ibr their houses, and fish and other provisions for 

 the planlaiions. In 1715, a few years alter the 

 commencement ol this traffic, the British island 

 colonies complained of it to the government, as di- 

 minishing the demand for their producis, and dis- 

 a|)i)ointing them of their vvontcil supplies. Here 

 upon n fien-e and protracted contest arose betwixt 

 the island andcontinental colonies, which was not 

 (erminatetl until 1733, when the islands prevailed, 

 and a duty of 6(/' a gallon was laid on molasses, 

 and OS. per cwt. on sugaVs, imported into the conti- 

 nental colonies Irom a'ny foreign port or place. 

 The penality fjr violating the act was to Le the 

 Ibrlt'iture of vessel and cargo. But the New-Eng- 

 landers,who had dispulji'd every inch of the passage 

 of the, act, seem never to have thought of submit ling 

 to it after it was passed; and they continued the old 

 IralTic, eluding the duties and defying the law. 

 A British llein was sent tqenli>rce it, ami a stale of 

 irrilalion arose, in which the parties all but came to 

 blows. In fact, this di<] never cease, from that 

 time down to the revolution; and the liunous act 

 Ibr raisinir a revenue in America was called, in the 

 lan<nja'Te' of the day, ''the sugar and molasses 

 aci?' 



- The principal reasons allc.dged for the trade were 

 that a large supply of rum was indispensable to 

 the continental colonists Ibr carryhig on the Indian 

 trade and the fisheries. These reasons have ceased. 

 Rum has nearly finished its mission to the poor In- 

 dians; and the iisliermen, we believe, generally go 

 upon ihe temperance plan. The real root of the 

 matter was, and is, that no other people, since the 

 woilil began, were ever furnished w^ith so great a 

 quaniiiyljf exciting liquor Ibr so small a price. 

 The custom house dniies, in other countries, either 

 kept out molasses and rum, or admitted them with 

 60 heavy conditions) that they could not be afiurd- 



