A BOLD ADULTERATOR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6511, 9 January 1882, Page 5

A BOLD ADULTERATOR.

A curious story of the effects of adulteration comes from France. Some time, ago Monsignor Justin, Archbishop of Besanqon, received from a wine merchant a present of a cask of truly excellent red wine, and begged that if Monsignor was satisfied with it he would deign to recommend it to the clergy of bis diocese. Archbishop Justin, who had but lately been appointed to the see of Besanqon, and was unaccustomed to the ways of the place, being struck by the quality of (he wine, and by its low price, recommended it without scruple to his clergy. The vendor consequently received many orders; but the wine which he proceeded to distribute among (he lesser olergy was of a very different quality to (hat with which he had supplied the Archbishop. One priest, more experienced than the rest, went to the expense of having the wine analysed, and then it was found (hat (his extraordinary beverage did not contain a single drop of grape |uioe. It was a compound fabricated jy some new process, cheaper to the manufacturer than the common processes used at Cette, where sham wines are made in such large quantities for home and foreign consumption. Great was the scandal whion resulted upon this discovery, and the consequences were most painful to religious people, for the Archbishop of Besamjan was obliged to order that all the masses in which the spurious wino hod been used should be annulled. This decision was announced in the pulpit of about a hundred ohurohes, with the effect that all the masses which had been vitiated had to be said over again. The poor priests who have been victimised have, of course, been the chief sufferers; for masses, whether offered up for the living or for the souls of the dead, are generally paid for. It wos impossible, however, for the Archbishop to act otherwise than he did, for no compromise could bo admitted in a matter touching the sanctity of the mass. The wine merchant has found it expedient to decamp from Besanqon without leaving his address.