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only 20s. above the duty on plantation sugar, I should not be surprised to see the produce of the sugar duties increased by a million of money."

Those who were acquainted with Mr. Deacon Hume, and aware of the earnestness and sincerity of purpose which always distinguished him, were not surprised at the remarkable boldness with which he gave expression to his convictions before the Committee; hostile as those opinions were to the supposed interests of the existing Government; the effective manner in which he denounced the fallacies of reciprocity; and maintained the great principle that a wise nation ought to reform its own tariff, unfetter its own trade, without inquiring whether other countries would, or would not enter upon the same course of liberality. As a distinguished member of the House of Commons recently remarked to the writer of these ❝he gave utterance to his opinions before that committee, with a firm adherence to principles which were then so much in advance of the time, that his great practical knowledge, and the ability with which he maintained his views, alone saved him from the charge of Utopianism.” When the question was put to him, "Would you remove our own protection without any foreign country removing theirs?" his reply was, "Most certainly, and without even asking them. I dislike all treating excepting upon navigation. I would take what I wanted, and leave them to find the value of our custom." Such was his mode of dealing with these subjects such was the terseness of his diction. His motto might have

pages,

TESTIMONIES TO HIS EVIDENCE.

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been, "Fac recte, nil time;" for the love of right, and the unfaltering avowal of right, he was equally deserving of honour.

The writer is acquainted with two persons only, who heard his oral testimony before the Import Duties Committee: one, a valuable and intelligent member of it, Mr. Ewart, now member for Dumfries, whose opinion will be given in a future page; the other a banker of liberal opinions, who having paid some attention to the subject of free-trade, had settled down into a decided protectionist. There are few persons, as his most intimate friends affirm, whom after he had formed a decided opinion upon any subject it would be more difficult to bring over to a contrary conviction. But it was effected in this instance; and being convinced, he had the moral courage to confess, that he "could not withstand the evidence of Deacon Hume," who, he said, and continues to say, made him a free-trader.

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CHAPTER X.

THE EVIL EFFECTS OF PROTECTING DUTIES UPON MORALS AND
CIVILIZATION.

THE LONDON COFFEE-HOUSES.

"FOR the sake of its moral benefit, I know of no achievement," said Dr. Chalmers, "more urgently desirable than that of a free corn trade. There is not a more fertile topic of clamour and burning discontent all over the land: and were it only effectually set at rest, I am aware of nothing which might serve more to sweeten the breath of British society." No observation could possibly have been more just. But the remark would have been equally correct, if it had been applied to more limited interests.

It was a part of Mr. Deacon Hume's suggestion, and it was adopted, that after the Board of Trade authorities, and some leading merchants in London, Liverpool, and other towns, had been examined, some individuals of a very different class of life should be called in, and questioned as to the moral effects of high duties in the articles of coffee, tea, and sugar. The examination of five keepers of the modern coffee-houses,* afforded a

*Mr. William Hare, Colonial Coffee-house, 78, Lombard-street; Mr. James Pamphilon, 3 and 4, Sherrard-street, Haymarket; Mr.

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LONDON COFFEE-HOUSES.

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curious and interesting aspect of the progress of the new taste which had within a few years grown up among the middle and lower orders for drinking coffee instead of beer and spirits; proving to all, who were open to conviction, how extremely desirable it would be to make good the immense deficiency in the proper supply of coffee by our colonies. It appeared that there were not more than twelve of these coffee-shops in London twenty-five years previous to that date (1840): but that there were then 1,800: that they were increasing at the rate of 100 a year; that the price per cup of coffee is 1d. to 3d.; and that one of the keepers, who charged 14d. a cup, had from 1,500 to 1,800 persons daily at his house. The witnesses, one and all, complained bitterly of the pressure of the high prices of coffee and sugar on their trade; they said that, if they continued, they should be obliged to raise the price of the first-mentioned article, and so take a step which would have a very bad effect in checking the habit of drinking coffee in preference to beer and spirits. They affirmed on the other hand, that if the duties were lowered, the consumption of coffee would soon be five times greater than it was then, and that this was no extravagant anticipation a political writer contended was shown by the fact, that in Ireland coffee was being sold in the place of whisky in the public houses of the districts which were under Father

J. B. Humphreys, Crown Coffee-house, 41, High Holborn; Mr. Letchford, British Coffee-house, 37, High-street, Bloomsbury; Mr. Rogers, Angel Coffee-house, St. Clements.

Matthew's influence.

But as the evidence of these

individuals is short, and as interesting as it is instructive, we shall best conduce to the benefit of general readers, thousands of whom never see even the outside of a blue-book, by quoting it with very little abbreviation.

"Mr. William Hare, Mr. James Pamphilon, Mr. J. B. Humphreys, Mr. Thomas Letchford, and Mr. James Rogers, called in and examined.

Mr. Ewart. "You are all keepers of coffee-houses in London?" (Mr. Hare.) "We are."

"Is coffee alone consumed, or principally, in your houses?" -(Mr. Hare.) "Principally coffee and tea."

"Have the number of coffee-houses in London increased much of late years?”—(Mr. Humphreys.) “Very materially: the annual increase has been nearly 100 per annum."

"Do you recollect the time when there were scarcely any coffee-houses in London ?"-" Yes: when I was a young man there were not above ten or twelve coffee-houses in London; about twenty-five years ago. There are now, I think, from 1,600 to 1,800. I should think the average increase in the last six years has been about 100 per annum."

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"Has the charge for coffee to the consumer been reduced in consequence of this competition ?"-" Very materially. About twenty-five years ago there was scarcely a house in London where you could get any coffee under 6d. a cup, or 3d. a cup: there are now coffee-houses open at from 1d. up to 3d. There are many houses where the charge is 1d. where they have from 700 to 800 persons a day. There is Mr. Pamphilon, who charges 1d. a cup; and he has from 1,500 to 1,600 persons a day."

(To Mr. Pamphilon.) "What is the class of persons that

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