424 IMMENSE CONSUMPTION OF SUGAR. 
M. Montveran (Essai de Stotistique sur les 
Colonies, p. 92,), at 45,000,000 kilog. (4l,05o, 
tons). This may appear large for a country 
in the situation of Spain ; but the quantity is 
deduced from comparing the imports with the 
exports; and it is explained partly by the 
moderation of the duties, and partly by the 
large consumption of cocoa, and other articles 
that require a corresponding consumption of 
sugar. Mr. Cook’s Table also omits the 
imports into Leghorn, Naples, Palermo, and 
other Italian ports. Neither does it give those 
into Stettin, Kdnigsberg, Riga, Stockholm, 
Gottenburgh, &c. It is, besides, very diffi- 
cult, owing to transhipments fiom one place 
to another, accurately to estimate the real I 
amount of the imports. On the whole, how- j 
ever, we believe that we shall be within 
the mark, if we estimate those for the whole ) 
Continent at from 285,000 to 310,000 tons, 
including what is sent from England. 
The following Table, compiled from the best 
authorities, exhibits the total consumption of 
colonial and foreign sugars in France at differ- 
ent periods since 1788, with the population, 
and the average consumption of each indivi- 
dual. — (See Ddoniveran, Essai de Statitisque, \ 
p. 96., and the authorities there referred to.) j 
years. 
Consumplion. 
Population. 
Individual Constirnpiion. 
1788 
Kilo ft- 
21,300,000 
23,600,000 
Kilu^. 
•906 
1901 
23,200,000 
31,000,000 
•813 
8l2 
16,000 OOo 
43.000 000 
•v72* 
1816 in 1319 average 
36,000,000 
S0,00.>,0l)0 
1-200 
1819 — 1823 — . 
47,000,000 
30,833,000 
1-666 
1822 — 1824 — .. 
47,260,000 
31,103,000 
1 513 
1824 — 1826 — .. 
66,750,000 
81,280,000 
1 •79-2 
18-26 — 1827 — . . 
62 500.000 
31,625,000 
1-976 
1830 — 
67 250,000 
3l,84.3,OoO 
2-126 
This, however, is independent of the con- 
sumption of indigenous sugar— (see post), and 
of the sugar introduced by the contiaband 
trade, — both of which are very considerable. 
I’he entire consumption of all sorts of sugar 
in France in 1832, including from 8, 000, 000 
to 9,000, 000 kilog. of beet-root sugar, and 
allowing for the quantity fraudulently intro- 
duced, may be estimated at about P8, 000, 000 
kilog, or 193,000, 000 lbs. , which, taking the 
population at 32,000,000, gives an average 
consumption of Gibs, to each individual, being 
about fth part of the consumption of each 
individual in Great Britain! This extraor- 
dinary discrepancy is no doubt ascribable to 
various causes ; — partly to the greater poverty 
of the mass of the French people; partly to 
their smaller consumption of tea, coffee, 
punch, and other articles that occasion a large 
consumption of sugar; and partly and prin- 
cipally, perhaps, to the oppressive duties with 
which foreign sugars are loaded on their being 
taken into France for home consumption. 
The United States consume from 70,000 to 
80.000 tons ; but of these, from 30,000 to 
40.000 tons are produced in Louisiana. 
About 170,000 tons of sugar are retained for 
home consumption in Great Britain, and 
17.000 tons in Ireland; exclusive of about 
12.000 tons of bastards, or inferior sugar, ob- 
tained by the boiling of molasses, and exclusive 
also of the refuse sugar and treacle remaining 
after the process of refining. 
On the whole, therefore, we believe we may 
estimate the aggregate consumption of the 
Continent and of the British islands at about 
600.000 tons a year ; to which if we add the 
consumption of the United States, Turkey, 
&c., the aggregate will be nearly equivalent 
to the supply. The demand is rapidly in- 
creasing in most countries ; but as the power 
to produce sugar is almost illimitable, no per- i 
manent rise of prices need be looked for. 
Taking the price of sugar at the low rate of 
1/. 4.i. a cwt., or 24/. a ton, the prime cost of 
the article to the people of Europe will be 
12.000. 000/. sterling; to which adding 75 per 
cent, for duty, its total cost will be 21,000,000/. I 
This is sufficient to prove the paramount im- 
portance of the trade in this article. Exclu- 
sive, however, of sugar, the other productsof ' 
the cane, as I um, molasses, treacle, &c.,are ' 
of very great value. The revenue derived by I 
the British treasury from rum, only, amounts 
to nearly 1,600,000/. a year. 
PROGRESSIVE CONSUMPTION OF i 
SUGAR IN GREAT BRITAIN.— We are | 
not aware that there are any authentic ac- I 
counts with respect to the precise period 
when sugar first began to be used in England, j 
It was, however, imported in small quantities ' 
by the Venetians and Genoese in the l4th and i 
15th centuriest ; but honey was then, and 
long after, the principal ingredient employed |i 
in sweetening liquors and dishes. Even in i 
the early part of the l7th century, the quan- j 
tity of sugar imported was very inconsider- j 
able ; and it was made use of only in the I 
houses of the rich and great. It was not till || 
the latter part of the century, when coffee 
and tea began to be introduced, that sugar ll 
came into general demand. In I70O, the j 
quantity consumed was about 10,000 tons, or ! 
22.000. 000 lbs. ; at this moment, the con- 
sumption has increased (bastards inclu- |j 
ded) to above 180,000 tons, or more than 
* Continental .system and empire. 
+ In Marin’s Storia del Commercio de' Venesiani '■ 
(vol V. p. 306^, there is an account ofashipment 
made at Venice for England in 1319, of 100,000 l! 
1 s. of sugar, and lO.OOo lbs. of sugar candy. j 
The sugar is said to have been brought from I 
the Levant. i 
