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    Untitled Article

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    THE WINE LICENSES,

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    SWINDLING.

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    Untitled Article

    personal responsibility that Mr . Hobsman denies , but the tribunal has failed to work as he requires . The opinion which is most influential in determining a man ' s conduct , is that of his associates or business constituents , and neither of the gentlemen named has found , or been likely to find , the quirks and tricks of their paper any bar to social and political success . ... Lord Palmebston asserts that Mr . Delane s intimacy with him is simply the result of agreeable manners and large Jhformation . No one , however , will believe-that his Lordship had not an eye to business as well as a desire fora pleasant acquaintance j and if ever Mr . Hokssian wished to get up a railway or establish a clothing mill he would be very likely to give a dinner to any one able to assist his y \ 1 m \ ^

    ^» __ . _ - . - * ^ ¦ t ^ TT ^ T - . _ _ V A- A- __ , 1 - a a . - ~ > ... A « - >» r * . A . \ -m * % *^ «»** ^* Mr . Disraeli thought the House ought to discourage the practice of quoting what the newspapers say , but the fact is , that public questions are better discussed by the Press than by the House of Commons , and that the Press represents the country better than the House of Commons , and if that House be not thoroughly reformed it will sink in influence and respect until it might be easily overthrown . If the Press had babbled as much weary nonsense as the House of Commons has on the subject of Beform for the last six weeks , it would be in danger of dissolution ; and no far-seeing statesman can think it prudent that the representative body should come to such a pass that one man should become a mere worth

    fashion , and be considered as the only person saying anything listening to . We do not stop to criticise the value of Mr . Gladstore ' s opinions and philosophy , but we mention a no ' orions fact when we say that the interest has gone in and out as he has moved , and that a va ^ ne impression of boredom has been the result of the remainder of ' the talk . A ' stronger argument for Parliamentary Keform could not be offered than the narration of the fact , that in the ordinary intercourse of society , and in the ordinary places where Englishmen congregate , unless some practical question connected with the Commercial Treaty has been discussed , no one , for a long time past , has heard the House of Commons mentioned . It snight as well have held its sittings in Kamschatka , or claimed to have represented TxmbiiCtoo .

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    rpHE Wine Licenses Bill is the necessary complement of the J- French Treaty . Without some such legislation , the sacrifices ^ which that achievement of " unadorned" diplomacy imposes upon this country would be considerably increased , and the advantages promised " by it greatly lessened . The large majority by which the second reading of the Bill was carried , is due to the general rccog ' - nition of this fact , . it would otherwise have hardly overcome the formidable opposition which it has aroused . The " teetotallers , " who resist it upon the foolish ground that it will inevitably increase t whos rests

    intemperance , and the Licensed Vicuallers , e opposition upon the much more rational apprehension of injury to their own interests , both command powerful organizations , which can bring great influences to bear upon the members of the House of Commons . The Bill , besides , contains , in its present shape , clauses of an inquisitorial and oppressive character , which outweigh , in the opinion of many , tlie soclal' ^ valfta ^ es ^ tsTrnaTn-provisions-hold-out'j and it is only the conviction that the measure is absolutely necessary , as well for fiscal reasons as for the full fruition of the treaty , that has secured Mr . Gladstone his majority of 74 .

    To reduce the duty upon wine , and provide no new channels for its distribution , would be a gratuitous sacrifice of revenue compensated by no benefit to the public . The only persons who could then derive any profit would be the rich , who are already in the habit of consuming wine , and even to them , as in the qualities they drink the duty has always borne a very small proportion to the price , the benefit would have been scarcely appreciable . The object of the reduction which has taken place is to give to the people generally the means of obtaining a light and wholesome beverage at a comparatively low price , and , by inducing this general consumption , to promote our commercial relations with the countries supplying it . It is anticipated that the increased consumption will make up for much of the revenue apparently sacrificed by the reduction , whilst the increased prosperity of the country , from the development of its industry , will render it easy to supply the balance from other sources . But under the existing- system

    of business or pleasure , can get no more satisfactory than tea , coffee , or lemonade . However respectably a public-house may be conducted , it is quite impossible for a lady , even under the protection of her husband or brother , to enter it , and even to many gentlemen it is most disagreeable to do so . If pastrycooks are allowed to sell wines , a lady can take a good lunch comfortably . There may , perhaps , be some persons who deny that ladies or children need ' anything more nutritious than lemonade , but th « ir denial is only the measure of their ignorance . As a rule , the absolute necessity for the use of generous drinks occurs niore frequently in the female organization than in the male . It would be a grea ' t social benefit to give people the means of obtaining such light refreshment : and to assert that intemperance would be thereby increased is as absurd as to suggest that the introduction of wine into general use will be the superaddition of a worse form of intoxication to the kinds already so common .

    refreshment keepers of refreshment rooms and to pastrycooks . To a very large section of the population this change of the law will be a great boon . At present , as Mr . Gladstone says , there is an unnatural divorce between eating and drinking . The man who goes to an eating-house for his dinner , must , unless he is prepared to wash it down with thick coffee or wholesome but' cheerless water , wait until he has done , and then cross the "street to the publichouse for his draught . If he could have a large glass of light wine at his dinner for two or three pence ,. he would gain much in health and comfort . It is not so much , however , to the frequenters of this class of establishments that the boon will be given . 1 h . e permission to pastrycooks to sell wine will be a great convenience to professional men , and a much larger one to ladies . At present , a lady , let her have walked ever so far , be thoroughly tired out by a long shopping expedition , visit to a picture exhibition , or any other jaunt

    It is , of course , impossible to suppose that the " teetotallers believe in their own predictions of a necessary increase of drunkenness , from the greater facilities of obtaining wine licenses . They know very . welt that the general introduction of wine will rather act in the contrary direction , and they are equally well aware that ample opportunities are now given for intoxication . When there is a . public-house vending fiery compounds at the Corner of every street , it is ridiculous to allege Jhat the grant of a license to the eatmg ^ house in the middle _ to sell wine to the people dining there , is putting additional temptation m the way of anybody to get intoxicated . But the . truth is , the party and with all the

    have adopted the foolish system of repression , cling folly o ( fanatics to their notion of spreading virtue by Act ot Parliament . - They want to shut up all places in which strong drinks are sold , and they , therefore , feel it necessary to oppose a law which will increase the number of such establishments , although they know well enough that the temperance they profess to desire will be promoted by this measure . They have their own pet scheme of salvation , and they wish to prevent anybody ' s being saved except by it We have much more respect for the opposition of the Licensed Victuallers . It is in its origin honest and straightforward , if it has in the course of the controversy attempted to clothe itself under professions of a scarcely legitimate character . The publicans h ^ 5 AVP Mint their nroner tv is endangered by this slight opening ot

    — their trade . WedoT ^ riniinlrtri ^ r ^ rire-ladies-and--genU < t ! neiv-who may lunch at the pastrycook ' s , the families who may send to the shopkeeper for wine , would under no circumstances be customers of the publican . He may lose the sale of the few pints of beer hitherto consumed by the persons who come to him to drink after having dined at the eating-house , but that is the extent of his loss , and it will be inappreciable . Still , he has the right to do his best to defeat the Bill , if ho thinks it threatens to deprive him of the capital lie ..,.. „ :. ^ ,, ™ ri ;« valinnrxt nnmi nri « x istin

    business . We are glad to believe he won't succeed , because the measure he opposes will do him little harm , and will prove an immense advantage to the middle and lower classes . As it stands now , the Bill requires much amendment ; it taxes too many people , and gives too much power to the police ; but Mr . Gladstone has expressed his readiness to have it so modified in committee as to prevent much of the inconvenience and injustice it now threatens to inflict upon individuals , and we hope to find in the same process of revision the public convenience still further consulted .

    an appreciable increase of consumption is an impossibility . Tho people in whom this taste for wine is likely to develop itself will not order a dozen or two from a regular wine-merchant , —they are not disposed to make such an outlay j nor will they send to a publichouse for Bmall quantities as they want them , —they havo a groat distrust of the quality of the articles sold there , and n natural disinclination to send their servants to a place where they aro likely to make mischievous acquaintanceships . They will send , however , for

    small quantities to the grocer or other shopkeeper with whom they are in the habit of , dealing , and whoso interest , as the wine will not 1 ) 6 consumed on his premises , must be to sell a fifood , genuine article at n moderate price , so that his customers may come to him for it again . This family consumption , which Mr . Gjwestone ' s Bill allows any shopkeeper- who ' . chooses to err . bnrk in tlio trade to cater for , is not reprobated even by Mr . ' HAitpY , who would ,. however , prevent tho possibility of it by confining tho snlo to the publican and regular wine-merchant , a restriction whinh , as we have shown , would entirely prevent the growth of any taste for wine . The more important , as well as the more hotly contested proposal of tho Bill is that to give licenses for the sale of wino to the

    Untitled Article

    IF any preacher or private moraliser is inclined ( o affirm that the greed of gain is tho crying sin of the time , ho certainly has as good an opportunity for making out his case as often falls to the lot of fair arguer or special pleader—greed of gain occupying the middle station between dishonesty , which is its minister , and luxury and vanity , which are , in far the greater number of instances , its final object—instances , wo mean , private' not political . We have now before us three degrees of rascality , or rather rascality in three degrees the upas tree of scouridreliein flourishing in every zone ot vegetation , high or low , and blooming with equal Vigour- in every political atmosphere :--a true British constitution confidential clerk doing his bad business to tho extent of a quarter of a million , n peculating minister of an old-fashioned monarchy ; and third , witb not very clean hand « , tho very President himself of Hkioht s . Edea— ' " Whore bastard Freedom waves Her fustian flag , in mockery over slaves ; With whips and charters , niannclea and rights , Svith slaving blncks and democratic whtteB :

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    May 12 , I 860 . ] ' The Leader wild Saturday Anal ]) st . 445

    The Wine Licenses,

    THE WINE LICENSES , ' : _

    Swindling.

    SWINDLING .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 12, 1860, page 445, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2347/page/9/