Reports of British and American trade.
A compaction of lats annual reports of British and American trade, shows some curious facts in regard to what
Americans and Englishmen eat and drink, and otherwise consume.
In regard to coffee, the
United States consumed nearly five times as much as
Great Britain, whilst the consumption of tea, on the other hand, was nearly seventy-four millions of pounds in
Great Britain to not more than twenty-nine millions here.
The annual consumption of sugar in
Great Britain was 847,693,400 lbs.; here, 437,029,020 lbs, of foreign sugar, twenty-four and a half millions of molasses — a good deal of it made into rum — and three hundred pounds of cane and maple sugar, made in this country.
Of cocoa, the annual consumption of
Great Britain, more than three million pounds; here, not quite one million.
The British annual consumption of wine is 6,697,146 gallons, and of brandy, though the
English duty is very high on brandy, gin, &c., 1,108,115 gallons; rum, three and a half millions of gallons; gin, 26,238.
Although the old
United States duties were also high on brandy, the consumption was as great as in
Great Britain.
Of imported ‘"spirits, from grain and other materials,"’ including cordials, our thirsty population imbibed 2,769,383 gallons, and, in addition to this, disposed of any number of barrels, hogsheads and pipes of ‘"Old Bourbon,"’‘"Young
Bourbon,"’‘"Apple
Jack,"’‘"Stone Fence,"’‘"Rot Gut,"’‘"Medford Rum"’ and ‘"Blue Ruin,"’ all made in the model Republic, and by the ‘"most intelligent and virtuous people on the face of the earth."’ So much enterprise has been shown in this admirable branch of American manufactures that, over and above our own immense consumption, we have exported as much in one year as 5,024,735 gallons.
The Sons of the Pilgrims achieved a spiritual conquest even over the Disciples of the Koran, the faithful in
Egypt being enticed by Brother Jonathan to forget the teachings of Mahomet to the extent of 8,500 gallons of
New England rum;
Turkey in
Asia, 330,120 gallons, and
Turkey in
Europe,
fifteen hundred thousand gallons. If the present war does not interfere with the progress of American civilization, we may expect
New England will convert the Turks entirely from the errors of Mahomet within the next twenty-five years. Nor has that exemplary section withheld its benignant influences from the benighted sons of
Africa, but has beneficently distilled 900,000 gallons of the
Puritan's delight into her thirsty throat.
In regard to tobacco, there pass through her Majesty's Custom-Houses annually fifteen millions of pounds of
stemmed tobacco, and more than nineteen millions unstemmed.
The
United States imported from
Havana nearly three hundred millions of cigars; from other foreign countries nearly ten tons of snuff, and six millions pounds foreign tobacco in other shapes.
After exporting in the leaf and manufactured nearly thirty millions dollars worth of tobacco, more than fifty million pounds must have been retained for domestic use.
Great Britain, with an area of not quite 120,000 square miles, enriches her lands with 353,541 tons of guano.
This is more than double the quantity employed by the
United States, with an area of nearly three million square miles.
The largest customers of
England were
India, which, exclusive of Ceylon and
Singapore, buy the annual amount £16,782,515; 2d.
The old
United States £14,013,083; 3d.
Australia £10,464,198.
The greatest purchasers from the old
United States were--1st.
Great Britain, (exclusive of colonies,) about £168,105,848, (mostly Southern productions;) 2d.
France, £32,741,917; 3d.
Cuba, £14,433,191.
Whether the world can long stand the interruption of such a trade, remains to be seen.
It must be a good deal more than a paper blockade that is going to keep
England and
France out of Southern ports.
