described, and of the coast of Labrador; but so soon as the same, or any portion thereof, shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish without previous agreement for such purpose with the inhabitants, proprietors, or possessors of the ground. And the United States hereby renounce forever any liberty heretofore enjoyed or claimed by the inhabitants thereof, to take, dry, or cure fish on or within 3 marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbours of his Britannic Majesty's dominions in America not included within the above mentioned limits." The American fishermen are, however, admitted into all bays, &c. for the purpose of shelter, of repairing damages, of purchasing wood, and of obtaining water, and for no other purpose whatever; and when there, they are to be placed under such restrictions as may be necessary to prevent their abusing the privileges hereby reserved to them. Cod Fishery, French.-France has always enjoyed a considerable share of the cod fishery. The following Table shows the extent to which she has carried it since the peace: Account of the number of Ships, with their Tonnage, Crews, and Cargoes, that have entered the different Ports of France from the Cod Fishery during the Nine Years ending with 1831.-(From the Tableau Général du Commerce de la France for 1831, p. 346.) The quantities of oil are exclusive of draches (huiles non epurés); there are also sounds, &c. Marseilles, Granville, Dunkirk, Bordeaux, La Rochelle, and Nantes, are the principal ports whence ships are fitted out for the fishery. But notwithstanding the apparent prosperity of this branch of industry, it may be doubted whether it be really so beneficial to France as would at first sight appear. It depends more upon artificial regulations than upon any thing else. Foreign cod is excluded from the French markets by the oppressive duty with which it is loaded; and the comparatively great demand for dried fish in Catholic countries renders this a very great boon to the French fishermen. But it is admitted, that this would not be enough to sustain the fishery; and bounties amounting to about 1,500,000 fr., or 60,000l. a year are paid to those engaged in it. These, however, have been recently reduced. St. Pierre and Miquelon, small islands on the coast of Newfoundland, belong to the French. Their right of fishing upon the shores of that island, and upon the great bank, was replaced, in 1814, upon the footing on which it stood in 1792. This concession has been much objected to by Mr. M⭑Gregor and others; we believe, however, that they have materially overrated its influence. [See article FISH for further accounts of the American cod fishery.-Am. Ed.] COFFEE (Ger. Koffe, Koffebohnen; Du. Koffy, Koffiboonen; Da. Kaffe, Kaffebönner; Sw. Koffe; Fr. It. and Port. Caffe; Sp. Café; Rus. Kofé; Pol. Krwa; Lat. Coffea, Caffea; Arab. Bun; Malay, Kawa; Pers. Tochem, Kéweh; Turk. Chaube), the berries of the coffee plant (Coffea Arabica Lin.). They are generally of an oval form, smaller than a horse-bean, and of a tough, close, and hard texture; they are prominent on the one side and flattened on the other, having a deeply marked furrow running lengthwise along the flattened side; they are inoderately heavy, of a greenish colour, and a somewhat bitterish taste. Historical Notice of Coffee.-The coffee plant is a native of that part of Arabia called Yemen, but it is now very extensively cultivated in the southern extremity of India, in Java, the West Indies, Brazil, &c. We are ignorant of the precise period when it began to be roasted, and the decoction used as a drink, though the discovery is not supposed to date further back than the early part of the fifteenth century. No mention of it is made by any ancient writer; nor by any of the moderns previously to the sixteenth century. Leonhart Rauwolf, a German physician, is believed to be the first European who has taken any notice of coffee. His work was published in 1573, and his account is, in some respects, inaccurate. Coffee was, however, very accurately described by Prosper Albinus, who had been in Egypt as physician to the Venetian consul, in his works de Plantis Egypti, and de Medicina Egyptiorum, published in 1591 and 1592. A public coffee-house was opened for the first time, in London, in 1652. A Turkey merchant, of the name of Edwards, having brought along with him from the Levant some bags of coffee, and a Greek servant accustomed to make it, his house was thronged with visiters to see and taste this new sort of liquor. And being desirous to gratify his friends without putting himself to inconvenience, he allowed his servant to make and sell coffee publicly. In consequence of this permission, the latter opened a coffee-house in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill, on the spot where the Virginia Coffee-house now stands. Garraway's was the first coffee-house opened after the great fire in 1666.-(Moseley on Coffee, 5th ed. p. 15.)* M. de la Roque mentions that the use of coffee was first introduced into France in the period between 1640 and 1660; and he further states, that the first coffee-house for the sale of coffee in France was opened at Marseilles, in 1671; and that one was opened at Paris in the following year.-(Voyage de la Syrie, tom. ii. pp. 310-319.) Some time between 1680 and 1690, the Dutch planted coffee beans they had procured from Mocha, in the vicinity of Batavia. In 1690, they sent a plant to Europe; and it was from berries obtained from this plant that the first coffee plantations in the West Indies and Surinam were derived. Progressive Consumption of Coffee in Great Britain. Influence of the Duties.-In 1660, a duty of 4d. a gallon was laid on all coffee made and sold. Previously to 1732, the duty on coflee amounted to 28. a pound; but an act was the passed, in compliance with the solicitations of the West India planters, reducing the duty to 1s. 6d. a pound; at which it stood for many years, producing, at an average, about 10,000l. a year. In consequence, however, of the prevalence of smuggling, caused by the too great magnitude of the duty, the revenue declined, in 1783, to 2,869/. 10s. 104d. And it having been found impossible otherwise to check the practice of clandestine importation, the duty was reduced, in 1784, to 6d. The consequences of this wise and salutary measure were most beneficial. Instead of being reduced, the revenue was immediately raised to near three times its previous amount, or to 7,2007. 158. 9d., showing that the consumption of legally imported coffee must have increased in about a ninefold proportion !—a striking and conclusive proof, as Mr. Bryan Edwards has observed, of the effect of heavy taxation in defeating its own object.— (Hist. of the West Indies, vol. ii. p. 340. 8vo ed.) The history of the coffee trade abounds with similar and even more striking examples of the superior productiveness of low duties. In 1807, the duty was 18. 8d. a pound; and the quantity entered for home consumption amounted to 1,170,164 lbs., yielding a revenue of 161.245. 11s. 4d. In 1808, the duty was reduced from 1s. 8d. to 7d.; and in 1809, there were no fewer than 9,251,847 lbs. entered for home consumption, yielding, notwithstanding the reduction of duty, a revenue of 245,856/. Ss. 4d. The duty having been raised, in 1819, from 7d. to 1s. a pound, the quantity entered for home consumption, in 1824, was 7,993,041 lbs., yielding a revenue of 407,5441. 4s. 3d. In 1824, however, the duty being again reduced from 18. to 6d., the quantity entered for home consumption, in 1825, was 10,766,112 lbs., and in 1831 it had increased to 22,740,627 lbs., yielding a nett revenue of 583,751/ The consumption of the United Kingdom may, at present, be estimated at about 23,000,000 lbs., producing about 600,000% of revenue. We subjoin L. Quantities of the different Sorts of Coffee entered for Home Consumption in the United Kingdom, each Year since 1822. Lbs. 888,198 15.566,376 973,410 17,127,633 974,576 19,476,180 089.585 22 601.522 5th Jan. 1822 7,386,060 764 206,177 7,593.001 5th Jan. 1828 14,676,968 1,210 171,717 7,669,351 1829:16,151,239 2,984 1830 18,495, 107 6.197 1831 21,697,966 | 3,971 1832 21,501,966 3,9101,234,721 22,740,627 1833 20,964,301 17,591 1,970,635,22,952,527 1823 7,494,218 3,416 I. An Account of the quantity of Coffee retained for Home Consumption in Great Britain, the Rates of Duty thereon, and the Produce of the Dutics, each Year since 1789. * Charles II. attempted, by proclamation issued in 1675, to suppress coffee-houses, on the ground of their being resorted to by disaffected persons who "devised and spread abroad divers false, malicious, and scandalous reports, to the defamation of his Majesty's government, and to the disturbance of the peace and quiet of the nation." The opinion of the Judges having been taken as to the legality of the proceeding, they resolved, "That retailing coffee might be an innocent trade; but as it was used to nourish sedition, spread lies, and scaudalise great men, it might also be a common nuisance!" III. Account of the Quantity of Coffee Imported into the United Kingdom-continued. Lbs. IV. Account of the Quantity of Coffee exported from the United Kingdom, in the Year ended the 5th of January, 1836; distinguishing the several Sorts of Coffee, and the Countries to which the same was exported.-(Furnished by Custom House.) Russia Countries to which exported. Lbs. 1,319,652 9,985 Total Quantity exported. Lbs. 1,342,254 Lbs. 10,087 V. Account of the Amount of Duties received on Coffee in Great Britain and Ireland respectively in the Year ending 5th of January, 1836; distinguishing each Sort of Coffee, and the nett Produce of the Duties on Coffee in the United Kingdom in such year.-(Furnished by the Custom-house.) The introduction of tea and coffee, it has been well remarked, "has led to the most won derful change that ever took place in the diet of modern civilized nations,-a change highly important both in a moral and physical point of view. These beverages have the admirable advantage of affording stimulus without producing intoxication, or any of its evil conso quences. Lovers of tea or coffee are, in fact, rarely drinkers; and hence the use of these beverages has benefited both manners and morals. Raynal observes that the use of tea has contributed more to the sobriety of the Chinese than the severest laws, the most eloquent discourses, or the best treatises on morality."-(Scotsman, 17th of October, 1827.) Supply and Consumption of Coffee.-Owing to the rapidly increasing consumption of coffee in this country, the Continent, and America, the great value of the article, the large amount of capital and labour employed in its production, and the shipping required for its transport, it has become a commodity of primary commercial importance. It deserves particular attention, too, inasmuch as there are few, if any, articles that exhibit such variations, not only as to consumption, but also as to growth and price. These are occasioned partly by changes of commercial regulations and duties, and partly, also, by the plant requiring 4 or 5 years before it comes to bear; so that the supply is neither suddenly increased when the demand increases, nor diminished when it falls off. St. Domingo used formerly to be one of the greatest sources of supply, having exported, in 1786, about 35,000 tons; and it is supposed that, but for the negro insurrection which broke out in 1792, the exports of that year would have amounted to 42,000 tons. The devastation occasioned by this event caused, for a series of years, an almost total cessation of supplies. Recently, however, they have again begun to increase; and are understood to amount, at present, to above 20,000 tons a year. From Cuba, the exports of coffee have within these few years rather declined, owing partly to an increased consumption in the island, and partly to the efforts of the planters having, a little time back, been more directed to the cultivation of sugar; they may at present amount to from 18,000 to 20,000 tons; or, including Porto Rico, to 25,000 or 27,000 tons. In Java, also, the exports of coffee have, of late, been on the decline, but not to any considerable extent. In Jamaica and the other British West India colonies, the cultivation of coffee was greatly extended during the prevalence of the high prices, but the imports have fallen off from 12,000 tons in 1829, to about 10,800 tons in 1832. In Brazil, the growth of coffee has increased with unprecedented rapidity. So late as 1821, the quantity of coffee exported from Rio de Janeiro did not exceed 7,500 tons; whereas it now amounts to about 30,000 tons!* This extraordinary increase has probably been, in some measure, owing to the continuance of the slave trade; and it remains to be seen, whether the growth of coffee may not now be checked by the late cessation of that abominable traffic. The culture of coffee in India and Ceylon is daily becoming of more importance. In India, it is raised chiefly on the coast of Malabar, and the quantity exported is, at present, believed to exceed 4,000,000 lbs. The exports from Ceylon, in 1830, were 1,669,490 lbs. The total imports of coffee into Great Britain from the East Indies, in 1832, were 10,407,897 lbs. The following may, we believe, be regarded as a pretty fair estimate of the annual exports of coffee from the principal places where it is produced, and of the annual consumption in those countries into which it is imported from abroad, at the present time : Of this quantity, the consumption of Great Britain and America amounts to nearly a fourth part, and may be said to have arisen almost entirely since 1807. Of the entire export of coffee from Arabia, not more, perhaps, than 5,000 or 6,000 tons finds its way to the places mentioned above; so that, supposing these estimates to be about correct, it follows that the supply of coffee is, at present, about equal to the demand. The latter is, however, rapidly increasing; and it is impossible to say whether it be destined to outrun, keep pace with, or fall short of the supply. On the whole, however, we should be inclined to think, that though they may occasionally vary to the extent of a few thousand tons on the one side or the other, the probability is that they will be pretty nearly balanced; *M. Montveran is pleased to inform us, in his Essai de Statistique sur les Colonies, a work in other respects of considerable merit (Pièces Justificatives, p. 11.), that the exports of coffee from Brazil in 1830-31 amounted to 1,865,000 kilog. = 1,836 tons! In point of fact they were more than 20 times as much |