We shall now endeavour to examine the relation of the sugar duties to the consumption, to the revenue, and to the trade with the sugar-producing countries. The sugar duties have been subjected to considerable changes at different periods, in consequence of the clamour of the colonial interest for protection and encouragement, and of the policy pursued by the British Government in relation to slave-grown sugar. At the commencement of the nineteenth century, the duty on British West India sugar was 17. per cwt., on East India and Mauritius 38. 2d. per cwt. and 427. 168. 3d. per cent. ad valorem; and on foreign sugar, 17. 148. per cwt. At these rates the consumption of sugar in the United Kingdom amounted to about 2,800,000 cwts. or 18 lbs. per head. The enthusiastic adoption of an anti-slavetrade policy led to the adoption of such measures as might discourage such an unlawful industry, and with a view to exclude from the British market slave-grown sugar, the duty on foreign sugar was raised, in 1803, to 21. 48. 9 d. per cwt., and in 1824, to 2l. 38. per cwt. These high duties restricted materially the supplies of sugar, and kept the average consumption extremely low. The importation, down to 1834, never exceeded 3,900,000 cwts., and the consumption per head was no more than 17 lbs. In 1846 the first step was taken to remove the prohibition by reducing the duties on foreign sugar to 1l. 48. 6d. per cwt. for white clayed, if imported direct from the country of growth, and other qualities in certain proportions. This measure was attended by an immediate increase in the consumption to 22 lbs. per head. In 1848 Lord John Russell intro F duced his scheme for the abolition of all differential duties, and provided for the ultimate reduction of duties on all sugar to 10s. per cwt. As the reduction proceeded, the consumption further extended to 34 lbs. per head. The reduction of duties was, however, suspended in 1855, in consequence of the Russian war; and this, together with a considerable rise in the price of sugar, led to an immediate decline in the consumption to 28 lbs. So great, however, has been the prosperity of the people, during these recent years, resulting from a succession of good harvests, abundant labour, and active commerce, and so largely has the consumption of tea and coffee increased, that, with a fall in the price, the consumption not only recovered itself, but now exceeds 34 lbs. per head. The revenue has in the same manner increased considerably, notwithstanding the great reduction of duties. For the entire period from 1800 to 1845, when colonial sugar was charged 30s. per cwt. and foreign sugar 60s. per cwt., the revenue continued at about 4,500,000l. per annum. In 1845, with the lowering of duties on colonial sugar to 10s. and 148., and foreign free-labour sugar to 288. and 208., the revenue fell to 3,500,000l. showing a grievous loss of 1,600,000l. from the preceding year. But from this point it soon recovered itself, till in 1848 the amount again reached the average of 4,500,000l. Then a further reduction of duty took place, and foreign sugar, whether slave or free-labour, was admitted at the same duty. Another temporary loss was again experienced, the revenue falling to 3,900,000l.; but from that point it rose rapidly, till in 1859 it reached 5,900,000l. A comparison of duties and revenue in 1818 and 1858 shows a remarkable contrast. In 1818, with 30s. on British West India sugar, 408. on East India sugar, and 63s. on foreign sugar, the revenue was 2,700,000l. In 1858, with an average rate of duty of 148., the revenue was 6,000,000l. The effects of such reduction of duties upon trade are not less extraordinary. With an increase in the importation of sugar from an average of 4,500,000 cwts. to 9,000,000 cwts. per annum, the value of which amounted to 12,000,000l., we have an immensely increased amount of transactions both at home and abroad in the article itself. But the sugar trade is not limited to the quantity consumed in this country. A very large portion of the entire quantity of sugar produced in the colonies which supply the markets of the world passes through the hands of our sugar merchants; and these transactions have been more than doubled by the facilities offered in the British market, which induce a greater number of cargoes to call first at a British port. Besides this increased trading in sugar, the value of which it would be difficult to estimate, there has been a considerable increase in the value of exports to the producing countries. If we compare the quantity of sugar imported from such countries and the British produce and manufactures exported to them since 1845, we shall find that, with the exception of the British West Indies, the increase has been constant and parallel. The prospects of the sugar revenue are exceedingly Years. hopeful, leading us to anticipate, at the present rates, a revenue of 7,000,000l. to 8,000,000l. The principal causes which have led to the immense increase of consumption already experienced are all in full operation, and there is every reason to expect that, with the further expansion of general prosperity, we shall have a largely-increased consumption, and a yearly improving revenue. We might have desired the realization of the contemplated reduction of the sugar duties to the fixed limit of 10s.; but the wants of the revenue have not yet permitted it, and it does not appear that the present limits are too high to interfere materially with the consumption. We append a table showing the quantity of sugar consumed at different periods, the revenue derived therefrom, and the relation of such to the population. cwts. £ 8. d. 8. d. 48 4224 TOT 2 lbs. 17,256,000 18 7 3 10 19,765,000 16 3 38 3 II 3 21,335,000 17 12 60 4 22,903,000 17 14 4 I 8. d. 1801-1804 2,847,519 3,362,702 26 I 74 3 1815-1819 2,854,638 3,649,787 29 50 3 79 5 1820-1824 3,385,700 4,244,899 27 4 бо 32 II 1825-1829 3,657,745 4,735,315 27 4 33 O 1830-1834 3,941,653 4,557,219 24 6 27 I 51 7 24.328,000 18 1835-1839 3,903,260 4,565,311 24 I 36 4 60 5 25,653,000 17 1840-1844 3,935,712 4,943,574 25 27,023,000 16 1845-1849 5,614,057 4,069,199 14 6 27,929,000 22 1850-1854 7,154,461 4,116,566 II 6 27,595,000 29 1855-1859 7,800,000 5,500,000 14 O 45 o 28,500,000 31 1859 9,000,000 1860-1864 10,000,000 1865-1869 12,000,000 38 7 63 9 6,000,000 14 O 8,000,000 : : ... 29,000,000 34 39 3 7 5 3 7 8 2 II II I SECTION II. TEA. THE Consumption of tea in Europe is of comparatively recent date. The article was quite unknown to the Greeks and Romans, and it was not introduced into Britain till about the end of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century. Yet, in a short period in the life of a nation, we find it so identified with our customs and habits as to become almost indispensable, both to the noble and the peasant. No article of food could be more popular among the working and poorer classes especially, than tea and sugar. They are indeed, with them, next to bread, the prime necessaries of life. In the various parts of England, those whose wages range from 8s. to 128. a week almost live upon bread and tea, and the women especially take it at all meals. In Wales, tea is said to be equally a great necessary in the poor man's cottage; and from Scotland the reports are, that rich and poor use it most liberally. Many of the working classes use tea three times a day; and, among the working females, tea and sugar constitute the chief articles of their diet. In Ireland, tea and sugar are consumed even by the poorest, although they thereby deprive themselves of more nourishing food; and in the south of Ireland, among the agricultural population, those who cannot afford to use these articles for general diet, |