THE INTERNATIONAL TOAST.— WINE.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 266, 8 May 1860, Page 4

THE INTERNATIONAL TOAST.— WINE.

(From the London Speeiator.) ■ It is a great mistake io suppose that the advantage to be derived fronisthe removal of any one commercial restriction is limited to the direct profit accruing from the transactions of dealers in that one article. The case of wine is an excellent example to the contrary. It is proposed, they cay, to reduce the duty from 5s 9d. to 3s, and finally to Is. At present, the duty is sufficient to exclude from the British, market two large and important classes of wines—those which are not expensive, and those which suffer by long keeping; the latter including many wines of a very wholesome and exceedingly pulriteable kind. Now, although the oidium ha? iifflicted the vintage grown for existing markets, it is evidently the lact that wiie enough'.Jor any extension would be produced in France and Spain, while an animated, and a steady because extensive market, .would no doubt encourage the vintage jn other countries, particularly in Australia and the United States. The Emperor Napoleon is already at the work of promoting forest clearances in France,—'the grand arrears to be made good in the internal progresa of that country. Energetic capatalists are by degrees,—and individually by no slow degrees, as in the case of Salamanca, —extending railways in Spain,—the most pressing want in that country. But extension of railways in' Spain, or of cultivated land in France^ means, increased resources for the whole body if the people, increased intelligence, new, want 3, knowledge how to procure those wants* and wherewithal to satisfy them. • It means growth of towns already large, like Lille, Havre, Marseilles, and Dunkirk; it means the rising of new towns in "the centre of districts now forest, at the stations of new railways. It means more people to be clothed, with a higher standard of 'costume, —greater consumption therefore of wool and cotton; for which Napoleon has already prov:ded. No country can import largely that does not produce largely and export largely; hence growth of shipping, especially in the exporting countries; and if French shipping has increased tenfold during the last thirty years, w.e know that the work for it will increase in a far more rapid ratio. Every step taken in the extension of the wine trade, therefore, tends to promote clearances, railways, growth of towns, hotels, multiplication of official posts, municipal and national, imports of wool and cotton, manufactures of the same, milliners' and dressmakers' business, tailoring, shoeraaking, horse dealing, cartwrights' business, purveying business, and the thousand callings that fill the Commercial Directory, with journalism, law, physic, learned associations, and science itself. And each one in that endless list oi human activities helps to promote the rest, with all the attendant consequences of nationul wealth, national power, national contentment and tranquillity

It has been observed that wine-drinking countries show a far larger proportion of sobriety than others; some of the most fertile in wine being conspicuous for temperance. Italy, for instance, shows, even among its laboring class, and' cottagers who have cellars stocked with wine, a temperance that the Grandest of all Grand Teetotal Committees might envy. If Italy has seen any rettograde tendencies lately, it has been under the infliction of a vine disease which has promoted the resort to other alcoholics. There are, we know, concurrent causes of this greater temperance, but it is observed also in flic winedrinking c'asses of the more civilized communities Perhaps the cardinal reasons have not been sufficiently subjected to rigid continuous examination. We might accept th« fact, em(liriciilly; lint its cau-es, of course, would he more i. stnictive. It has been observed that

laboring classes in some countries,—our ow

for instance,—" do nut take to wine;" but. they do B) in proportion to the awakning of their intelligence.

In most countries, wine is considered the

jewel of the talle, —the- crowning elegance, —the point of the argument in n aiming of the feast,—the "flow of s >v!" in the foim of im' ports, to counterbalance the fluv of soul outwards in conversation. It is a > much happiness bottled. We delight to set it, like the flowing jewel it is, in briliiant gla^s. There are many reasons fur all these bright undeniable facts Most wines are beautiful to look at. Ideas of

their growth in the lands of painting, the brilliant grace of the vine, the lamlscupH and climae of which the sparkling fluid is condensed es sence, charm the-memory. Of all things at table, wine is the darling of the poets.

Your national enjoyment of the table, the generous pleasure of the feast, lies in your knowing that the satisfaction you have is shared. Love itself can condescend to share that form of

the consciousness of existence, and the sweetest grape is that which, bitten in half, slides down

two throats—the sweetest wine is drunk out of one glass. But wine at large,—do we nor share it with all the choice spirits of iinmor-

;ality, and with all that they held in converse,

—with the gayest wits that throng Parnassus' side,—with the most heroic bards and the most sublime,—with the sweetest poets, and the sweetest creatures thar they have made to live for us? Of all the viands that support, and cheer life, it is the one we best can dwell upon, — can best prolong, not in the abundance of

the draught, but in the temperate deliberation of the sip. Of all. flowing spirits, it is the one which has the nicest economy of the coarser stimulanC embodied in the .greatest aroma, in the most diffusive bouquet, the most genial exhilaration. It supplies one want of common daily existence, especially to multitudes townprisoued,—a zest of life, a taste of pleasure bright and vivid. And the most cold blooded of philosophic economists will allow that a spice of pleasure in the day, a dash of sunshine in the food, makes the man of more value for his duties—more content to bear the ills and crosses of life—better able to see that there is something still worth living for, some hope in endeavor.

Push the bottle, dear Reader! This is really very nice wine that is, I hope, going to be " only Is. a buttle." And does it not really taste all the better,—more fragrance and zest iv it, —now we know that it is going to be relished in the cottage, is destined to be the pledge of friendly commuuion between the. nation?.- And wliom-shall we toast in the glass thus uewly consecrated to humanity ?