§ I.—EXTENT OF THE SUBJECT.
Tun quantity of wheat annually consumed in the United Kingdom may be estimated at fourteen millions of quarters.* This, at 58s. 4d. per quarter, the average price of the last year, would cost 41,000,000/. The quantity of sugar retained for home consump- tion in 1842 was 3,876,465 cwt.; which, at 62s. per cwt., the average price of 1842, (including the duty,) would cost upwards of 12,000,000/. The value of all the sugar consumed in a year in the United -Kingdom would therefore appear to be almost two- sevenths of all the wheat consumed in a year. . It will be apparent to every one, that an article of food consumed to such an extent must have become a necessary of life to a very numerous class of the community. This is quite as weighty a con- sideration as the largeness of the sum-total in estimating the im- portance of sugar as. an article of consumption. It is not merely the commodity of which much is consumed, but the commodity of which much is consumed by a great many, that is important to the public. Nothing is more fallacious than the practice of stating in arithmetical ratios facts which cannot be ascertained, or even facts which have not been ascertained with sufficient certainty to war- rant the adoption of that method. Whatever ratios, therefore, are employed in the attempt now to be made to form an approximative estimate of the number of sugar-consumers in this country, will be understood to be hypothetical.
A great quantity of the sugar annually consumed is used with tea, coffee, and cocoa : the consumption of these articles, therefore, may aid in conjecturing the diffusion of sugar-consumers through society. The quantities cleared for consumption, in 1842, were—
Tea
37,391,012 lb.
Coffee 28,583,931 lb.
Cocoa 2,251,145 lb.
Our inquiries lead us to believe that the consumption of tea by families of the middle classes, in which no coffee is used, may average about 24 lb. per annum. Coffee is heavier in proportion to the quantity of extract it yields; and if any families used it alone, more might be required—say 30 lb. Cocoa may also be taken at 30 lb. If the consumption of these articles were confined entirely to the middle classes, we might say—
Tea, at 24 lb. per family, gives 1,558,000 families. Coffee, at 30 lb 952,762 — Cocoa, at 30 lb 75,038 — Total 2,585,800 — Now 2,585,800 families, at 4.8 persons to the family, would, upon the assumption that all families consumed about the same quantity, give 12,611,840 individuals, using tea, coffee, or cocoa. As the stimulating qualities of tea and coffee limit the quantity which each individual can consume, the average per family is not likely to increase as we ascend to the wealthier classes ; on the other hand, there can be no doubt that it must be materially diminished as we descend to the less affluent classes. The number of individuals babitually using tea, cocoa or coffee, as stated above, is therefore
' • Mr. M•Culloch, in his Commercial Dictionary, published in 1835, estimated tl.e consumption of wheat at twelve millions of quarters.
out of question too low an estimate. Viewed as an index of the ' number of habitual sugar-consumers, however, it must be taken into account that many of the poorer classes drink their tea or . coffee without sugar. Making every allowance, it is difficult, with the facts now stated before us, to estimate the number of persons in the United Kingdom in 1842 who habitually used sugar along with tea, coffee, or cocoa, at a lower figure than thirteen mil- lions. The population of the United Kingdom, by the census of 1841, was nearly 27,000,000: thirteen millions would give rather less than one-half of the community as daily sugar consumers. The number of those who use it occasionally in puddings, in different kinds of drink, and in the food of chil- dren or invalids, is considerably greater. Any person who looks to the habits of the industrious classes may be convinced that the use of sugar is very general. In the large towns of. the. ma- nufacturing-districts, there are grocers, no contemptible part of whose income is derived from couples of ounces of tea with cor- responding quantities of sugar purchased weekly by fethales from the smaller towns in the neighbourhood, when they come to deliver in their work to the great manufacturers. The growing number of houses in which artisans are supplied with tea or coffee instead of the beer they used to drink at meals, in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, &c., ' is another indication of the extent to which sugar is consumed by the less affluent classes. Perhaps a more striking indication still, is the allowance of an ounce per diem to paupers : the dietary scales of poor-houses under the new Poor-law are not on such an extra- vagant footing as to lead us to expect any thing in them which may not be considered as a necessary of life.
From the consideration of the aggregate amount of sugar annu- ally consumed, let us turn to take into account its commercial im- portance. In 1840, there were imported into the United Kingdom 4,035,845 cwt. of sugar ; 229,511 cwt. of raw sugar, and 235,048 cwt. of refined sugar were exported..t. The sugar imported gave employment to near17141,000 tons of shipping from the West Indies, to 30,000 from Mauritius, to 26,000 from Bengal, and to 36,000 from other sugar-exporting countries. The sugar exported gave em- ployment to about 23,000 tons of shipping sailing to our colo- nies in the West Indies and North America, to Russia, Prussia, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and Turkey. It is impossible to state in figures the amount of home labour set in motion by the purchase, manufacture, and transport of so large a quantity of sugar. The 3,594,832 cwt. of 1840, the 4,208,324 cwt. of 1841, and the 4,699,261 cwt. of 1842, represent a corresponding value of British industry. The tonnage employed in the trade is an index of the sailors, ship-builders, provision-dealers, and others to whom it gave employment. The mere refining of' the sugar is a considerable manufacture.
There is yet another point of view in which sugar falls to be considered—as a source of revenue to the State. The Government revenue derived from this article of consumption alone was, in 1840, 4,449,033!.; in 1841, 5,049,1891.; in 1842, 4,884,4151. § These considerations are enough to show the national import- ance of sugar. It is for the interest of the State that a branch of consumption which yields so large a contribution to'the aggregate Tables of Revenue, &c., p. 62. 1 Tables of Revenue, Re., p. 63. revenue should continue to increase ; it is for the interest of our merchants, manufacturers, shipowners, and all whom they employ, that so extensive and profitable a branch of commerce should flourish, it is for the interest of the whole community that an article so generally consumed, for which there is such a universal taste, should be as cheap and plentiful as possible. The attain- ment of an abundant and cheap supply of sugar is the great object : it lies at the bottom of the other two. The cheaper the sugar, and the greater its consumption, the more flourishing will be the trade to which it gives rise. In proportion as the habitual con- sumers of sugar increase, Government will find it more easy by mode- rate and judicious duties to derive a large and steady revenue from it. "How can sugar be made and kept cheap ? " is the great question. But another, of certainly not inferior importance, is indissolubly associated with it. Sugar, like most other Tropical products, was long exclusively, and still is to a great extent, produced by the labour of slaves. But the moral sense of the British nation has declared that within its dominions slavery shall not exist, and that the national energies shall be tasked to abolish slavery throughout the world. The problem, therefore, which we have undertaken to solve, is of a complex nature—" How is sugar to be made cheap by free labour'"
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