Committee themselves seem to have received this information with surprize, and perhaps with some incredulity: Last year (say the second Committee) it was thought hardly to deserve credit, when an excise officer stated the fact of a still being charged and discharged (according to his own personal observation) once in every eight minutes, and (according to information which he believed) once in every five minutes. We have now information of a distiller, who several months ago, by means of a new invention, had made such a farther progress as to have been able to charge and discharge his wash-still in less than three minutes, and who since, by an apparatus yet farther improved, has found that he can work at the rate of once in every 2 minutes; and we have the opinion of a gentleman of great science and knowledge in the principles of distillation, that even that is not the last attainable limit of rapidity. These facts excite surprise, accompanied with some suspicion of error or inaccuracy. But if there is no mistake in the statements of the distiller in question, what ordinary imagination can still stretch beyond his improvements and conceive it possible, if desirable, that this art should be pushed on even beyond that boundary?-that wash, say to the amount of 16 gallons, should, in the ordinary course of an extensive trade, be transfused into a still, the low wines evaporated from it, and the spent wash run off, so as to leave the still ready for the reception of the next charge, in a space of time shorter than the 22d part of an hour; and that this may be repeated at the same rate the whole year, or more than 105,600 times in two hundred days*. If there is any where in this business a conceivable ultimatum, where is the fancy to place it? Are we to proceed in its pursuit to a fractional part of a second, and still to expect the charge of the vessel with cold wash, which is to be raised throughout its whole mass to the heat of the boiling point, the evaporation of the spirit, and the effusion of the spent wash, to go on in succession, and yet all within that space or rather point of time, without imminent danger every moment of being stopped in our career by the sudden destruction of the apparatus, and even of the workmen, and the instantaneous dissipation of that spirit in the expanse of the atmosphere, which one would, à priori, súppose no human art could, under such circumstances, retain within the enclosure of any vessel, and force, as it were in the very instant of its formation, at once losing and resuming its liquidity, to proceed forwards in its discharge, in that form, along the channel of the worm ? This immense and almost incredible rapidity of distillation, the result of a system which drove the distiller to work against time, has been found to produce many more evils than the mere subtraction of duty from the revenue it is said to create a waste not only of fuel but of grain; a waste by which the - This is the distiller's year if he works only 300 days; and 1-3d of his licensed time, during that period, is employed in doubling.' public may be in certain cases most materially injured. It also deteriorates the quality of the spirit, and renders it at once worse flavoured and less wholesome. Finally, by enabling the wealthy and expert distiller to undersell the lower class of his brethren, who have not either apparatus or skill to attain the rapidity of his process, it tends to throw the whole business. into the hands of a few. Of these and other inconveniences,. the ultimate effects of the licence system, and of the different modes of collecting the spirit duties in the High and Lowlands which it has occasioned, the Committee enter into a very minute and laborious investigation, in which our limits will not permit us to follow them. We must therefore refer the reader, who wishes to obtain an accurate knowlege of the present state of the distillery laws, of the distillery itself in the Lowlands and Highlands of Scotland, and of the different complaints of the trade in these districts, to the reports themselves; in which we assure him he will find abundant information on those topics. We cannot, however, close this article without laying before our readers the outline of a system traced by the Committee, as a substitute for both the systems of which they have detailed the defects. It is one which, if properly filled up, they hope may be found to answer, better than either of the two modes which have already been tried, the joint purposes of the revenue, the manufacturer, and the farmer. It is, in fact, a combination of the licence system with that of survey; which promises, in a great measure, to unite the advantages of both, by making each corrective of the other: 1st, In the first place, the assessment of a considerable portion of the whole duty should continue to be made by licence, sufficient in its proportion at all events to secure, by anticipated paymentsand otherwise, a liquidated and certain sum from every legal distiller. 2d. The rest of the duty should be considered as commencing at the point where the distiller shall be found to have worked out his licence, and to be levied according to the surest plan that can be devised by actual or presumptive account, or both, of the full quantity of spirits produced. The exact amount of the licence duty will not perhaps be very material; it should be fixed within the limits.. of excessive rapidity on the one hand, and the slow work of the ignorant and unexperienced manufacturer on the other. 3d. The work should be constantly and strictly surveyed all along, and an account kept by the excise officer, and checked and proved by gauge, admeasurement, weighing, ascertainment of strength, &c. by the saccharometer and hydrometer, in the different stages of the manufacture, (but these checks to be so applied as not to interrupt, in a manner injurious to the manufacture, the conduct of the different processes,) and also by returns upon oath, and under the sanction of penalties, by the distiller. 6. 4th. From 4th. From such survey and checks, the officer should form a regular and progressive account current, between the licence duty and the quantity of produce, according to the rate per gallon which the manufacturer is ultimately to account for. 5th. This account should be balanced frequently, and settled at stated periods; and if the distiller should at any time give notice of an intention of ceasing his work, the balance at the time of such ces sation, if in favour of the revenue (i. e. if he should appear to have made a greater quantity of spirits than the portion of his licence duty for the time elapsed was sufficient to cover), the amount of the fixed rate of duty on each gallon of the surplus should be immediately paid. 6th. But if it should happen that he should not have worked during the time up to the just apportionment of his licence duty, he should be at liberty to go on; and so toties quoties to the end of his licence year. 7th. At the end of such year a general balance should be struck, and the whole surplus duty arising on the general excess of work over the licence, forthwith paid; and no return of duty on the account of any supposed less quantity of work or produce than had been covered by the licence should ever be made, unless in particular cases to he ascertained by law, as fires, bankruptcies, or deaths; the essential principle of licence being to preclude such return of duty, by raising a conclusive presumption to its full extent against the manufacturer, who, if it is not so highly calculated as to exclude the fair latitude and freedom which ought to be allowed him (having embarked voluntarily on that condition), can never complain of such anticipated liquidation of his credit, as to part of the account between him and the excise." The perseverance and zeal with which the Committee have explored the complex system of distillery regulations, and colJected information from all quarters to elucidate a dark and doubtful subject, entitle them and their learned chairman to public thanks:-but we know not to what motive are to be ascribed the hot anathemas which they pronounce against those who, unauthorized and uncalled, presume to obtrude their advice on subjects of this kind; particularly so far as they are connected with criminal law. It is not,' say the Committee, given to every presumptuous individual to employ, with safety to the public or credit to himself, his unskilful and sacrilegious hands in the improvement, reparation, or embellishment of the nicest and most delicate part of the Temple of Justice.'-In our humble opinion, it is the privilege and the duty of every Engglishman, to suggest to his countrymen whatever improvement he may consider as likely to strengthen or to grace even the most delicate part of that holy fane; and we do not think that he who avails himself of this privilège, and who discharges this duty, with due respect to existing laws and the fixed principles of the constitution, deserves the epithets of obtrusive and sacrilegious. If we have a free press, surely every man, on this or any subject, under the restrictions which we have just mentioned, has a right to communicate, without reproach, his sentiments to the public. Wall.... ART. VIII. Mr. Tooke's View of the Russian Empire during the A$ There are six orders of knighthood in Russia, the chief of which is that of St. Andrew; the rest are those of St. Catharine, St. Alexander Nefsky, St. George, the Apostle-like Prince Vladimir, and St. Anne of Holstein. Mr. The splendor of the Russian throne, under the late Empress, has perhaps not been equalled in modern times. Tooke states the following particulars: The annual expences of the palace were about 1,500,000 rubles. About two hundred tables were spread there twice a-day; and the dishes for them reckoned to amount to 2300 rubles. Every third day the court-purveyor received the money for making this provision. The waste at court was carried to an inexpressible height. The houses or apartments which the empress caused to be fitted up for the persons to whom she gave quarters, contained frequently in furniture more than three times their value. Twelve hundred candles were every day delivered out to the guard, who never consumed one hundred. Every officer about the palace asked for what he would in glasses, decanters, and things of that nature: nothing ever came back; and this happened every day.-The quantity of China-ware that was broke is incredible. Whoever broke any was obliged to shew shew the fragments, but the fragments of four or five pieces would, very well serve for a dozen, as he was never required to fit them to gether. They whose business it was to clean the silver made rapid fortunes. They had a certain substance, which by rubbing brought off much of the metal; the diminution was apparent to every attentive observer. For the four months which the empress passed at Tzarskoe-Selo, 25 English miles from town, the Neva-water for her own table (as she would take no other) cost her ten thousand rubles annually.' To preserve the internal security of so vast an empire, and to prevent disturbances in the provinces, it is necessary to keep a considerable body of troops, which in Russia are partly regular and partly irregular. The latter, however, are not merely an undisciplined rabble; and the Kozaks have even acquired great military reputation. The whole Russian army consists of about 600,000 men, of whom the author reckons at least 500,000 effective soldiers in active service. They are universally allowed to be more capable of bearing fatigue than any other troops of Europe; and another very great advantage is that their wants are few: on which point Mr. Tooke has the following remark: It is incredible and inconceivable how the common soldier makes his small pay and provision suffice; nay, he even accumulates a little capital, or at least on holidays can afford to treat himself with strong liquors. Not to mention that at times a commander deprives him of some under various pretexts. To satisfy all his wants, he has no more than a yearly pay of six or seven rubles (in garrison it is still less) with his allowance of flour and grits: he buys, in the mess, meat and grease, or oil; clubs with some others to purchase a horse to carry his little pack on long marches; must pay for every button, &c. which he happens to lose; and buy articles of clothes when those allowed him are not sufficient: for neither his two shirts made of cheap linen, nor his boots, for which only 45 kopeeks are allowed him, (and therefore cheap leather is used,) with a pair of shoes, will last the year through with constant use.' Under the late empress, the Russian Navy consisted of three fleets, entirely distinct from each other; one in the Baltic, another in the Euxine, and a third the galley-fleet. Before the time of Peter I. who was the founder of the Russian navy, they had only small coasting vessels and river craft armed vessels of any kind were till then strangers in Russia. That monarch, as is well known, travelled into foreign countries, in order to learn a better method of building ships, and to introduce it into his empire. Russia had formerly only two dock-yards, those of Peters burgh and Archangel; to which have lately been added those of Kherson, Cronstadt, and Taurida. At Petersburgh and L 4 Cronstadt, |
