Assuming the actual consumption at only 45,000,000 lbs., or two pounds per head, we believe that a reduction of duty to 1s. per pound would so effectually destroy the illicit trader, that the revenue would gain by the change, not only by bringing upwards of 30,000,000 lbs. under duty, which at present escape, but by the great increase of the consumption consequent upon the encouragement given to the fair trader.
We would not, however, treat the question merely as a matter of revenue. We would strongly represent the injustice which this exorbitant duty inflicts upon those who pursue a legitimate trade, by enabling the smuggler to lessen the extent of their transactions by more than half what they would otherwise be; and we would further earnestly urge upon your consideration the demoralising tendency of such a systematic and extended violation of the law, not only upon those engaged in the illicit trade, also upon those parties who are found to connive at the practice from a sense of the gross injustice and impolicy of a duty so disproportioned to the value of an article of such extensive consumption.
We would refer to the opinion of a committee of the House of Commons on the growth of tobacco in Ireland, in 1840, as follows:—'That it further appears, from the evidence, that smuggling of foreign tobacco is at present carried on to a great extent, and that all the measures now adopted, at great expense to the country, are and will be ineffectual to repress it so long as the temptation of evading a duty equal to twelve times the value of the article on which it is imposed, remains."
We beg, therefore, respectfully to express our opinion, that if the duty on tobacco were reduced to one shilling per pound, it would be alike beneficial to the interests of legitimate commerce; to the consumers, who consist almost entirely of the poorer classes; to the revenue, by increasing the productiveness of the duty, and by greatly diminishing the expenditure so ineffectually incurred to suppress the illicit trade; and to the general morals of society by removing a powerful inducement to infringe the laws.
The imports of all kinds of tobacco for the last five years have been as follows:—
| 1848. lbs. | 1849. lbs. | 1850. lbs. | 1851. lbs. | 1852. lbs. | |
| Unmanufactured | 34,090,360 | 41,546,848 | 35,166,358 | 31,061,953 | 33,205,635 |
| Manufactured and snuff | 1,512,714 | 1,905,306 | 1,557,618 | 2,331,886 | 2,930,299 |
| 35,603,074 | 43,452,154 | 36,723,876 | 33,393,839 | 36,135,934 |
Gross duty received:—
| 1848. £ | 1849. £ | 1850. £ | 1851. £ | 1852. £ | |
| On raw tobacco | 4,267,579 | 4,328,217 | 4,337,258 | 4,386,910 | 4,466,533 |
| Cigars, snuff, &c. | 97,655 | 96,814 | 92,873 | 98,858 | 94,298 |
| 4,365,234 | 4,425,031 | 4,430,131 | 4,485,768 | 4,569,831 |
The amount of tobacco consumed is so limited that the trade will not admit of an excessive growth. In the two most thickly populated countries in Europe—France and England—not more than a certain quantity finds its way there. In France the trade is monopolised by Government, which gives out contracts to deliver a stipulated quantity at certain prices; in England the duty imposed is so enormous that only a limited quantity of certain descriptions can be imported without risk of loss. In Germany and Holland, where the trade is more extensively carried on than elsewhere, the duty imposed is almost nominal, and all classes of their citizens are enabled to use the weed at prices very little higher than its first prime cost. The tobacco trade constitutes so large a staple of American produce that it is singular greater efforts are not made upon the part of that Government to cause a reciprocal duty to be imposed, that more favor may be shown by European Governments to this particular article. England, from the duty imposed upon it alone, derives a revenue of £4,500,000, being about £160 to the hogshead, or from ten to sixteen times its original cost. France makes the trade a monopoly, from which she derives an income of £3,000,000 sterling.