Mr. Cartwright carried his Committee on Tuesday for a reinvestigation
of our present wine duties,—somewhat, we sus- pect, to his own surprise. Mr. Bourke's reply to him sounded very unpromising and almost hostile up to its very close, and then suddenly ended in acquiescence. It seems to be very widely believed that our present alcoholic scale does shut out from our markets many "natural wines," alike of France, Spain, and Portugal, and also that this scale is not by any means essential to the due maintenance of our spirit duties. All this Mr. Bourke appeared to be strenuously denying in the early part of his speech, while, at its close, he more or less admitted that so it might be. And, assuredly, in the present state of English commerce, it is very desirable not to offend needlessly by arbitrary restrictions, any one of the Continental neighbours with whom we might drive a profitable trade. The present alcoholic scale appears to act decidedly as a differen- tial duty against Portuguese and Spanish, and in favour of certain French wines. There are, however, not a few French wines— and "natural wines," too—quite as completely excluded by it, as those of Spain and Portugal themselves.
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