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That the duties have been imposed without any reference to the encouragement of its consumption; that the quantity required by the public for their wants and comforts has never entered into the consideration of the legislature; that all they have looked to has been to get a certain amount of revenue from tea, treating it, important as it is to the people's sustenance and well-being, as a subject unworthy of consideration, _per se_, and for their benefit; that it has been taxed from time to time, heavier and heavier, as its consumption increased; so that, looking at the changes which have taken place in these duties, it would appear as if their object had been to check, if not altogether destroy, the use of tea amongst us, as though it were a poisonous or noxious thing, a species of opium, which, on moral and political grounds, ought to be prohibited. The memorialists found, by a return to an order of the House of Commons, dated the 11th of February, 1845, that in 1784 the tax was 12-1/2 per cent.; in 1795 it was raised to 20 per cent.; in 1797 to 20 per cent. under 2_s._ 6_d._ per lb., and 30 per cent. at and above that price; in 1798 to 20 and 35 per cent. respectively; in 1800 to 20 and 40 per cent.; in 1801 to 20 and 50 per cent.; in 1803 to 65 and 95 per cent.; in 1806 to 96 per cent. on all prices; and in 1819 to 96 per cent. under 2_s._ per lb., and 100 per cent. at and above that price, continuing to the termination of the company's charter. In 1834, the trade being thrown open, the duty was attempted to be levied according to a scale which was supposed to mark quality, being 1_s._ 6_d._ per lb. on the lowest tea, 2_s._ 2_d._ per lb. on the middle, and 3_s._ per lb. on the finest kinds. This scale was also constructed on the principle of taxing as near as may be the article with an average duty of 100 per cent., but was abandoned in 1836, and succeeded by a uniform duty of 2_s._ 1_d._ per lb. until 1840, when the additional 5 per cent. imposed on all Customs duties brought it up to 2_s._ 2-1/4_d._ per lb.
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A resolution was passed declaring the duty of 2_s._ 2_d._ exorbitant, impolitic, and oppressive. In supporting a resolution that a reduction of duty would remove inducements to intemperance and thereby diminish crime, an employer of labour felt assured that if the legislature would cheapen tea, coffee, sugar, and soap, it would give the means of prolonging lives instead of shortening them, and keep a man at his own fireside instead of his going to the tavern, with the ten thousand evils in its train. The speaker, however, caused considerable amusement when he expressed the opinion that if the Irish population could get tea at a cheap rate, they would, to a considerable extent, abandon whisky. Put a cup of tea and a glass of whisky side by side, we venture to say that ninety-nine out of every hundred Irishmen would prefer the whisky.
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An Irishman, says Dr. Pope,
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he answers,
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An illustration of this anomaly was given by a speaker at a second meeting held at Liverpool in 1848, for the purpose of securing a reduction in the duties.
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Tea, says the speaker,
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We admit the fact, said the Rev. Dr. Hume,