Chartreuse

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 51, 19 December 1907, Page 10

Chartreuse

, A few years ago the French- Govermasrit seized tf-e ancient Abbey of the Grand* Chartreuse, near GrenoLle!

i - ■_ _ -~ As was customary in such cases, the official magsmen made a pretty clean sweep. They seized not merely the buildings and lands that belonged to the monks since the year 1084 _; but they al.o ' pinched ' the fowls and ducks, purloined the spare habits and ransacked the library, ' cribbed ' the porridge-pots, nabbed the simi U contents of the larder, and sent the monks adrift with, little beyond the clothes 'they wore. But there was one thing of all others that the Government cracksman ached to get his fingers on. That was the secret of the manufacture of the well-known liqueur, mown as chartreuse, which is described as 'the finest liqueur the woill j ro-. duccs.' • This valuable trade secret is, however, guarded by something better than bars -of brass and triple steel. One monk alone, beside the Abbot, possesses the secret. It is handed down from generation to- generation. And the silent monks of the Grand Chartreuse have learned, by . ages of. discipline, tba useful art of holding their tongues. « I' The pi,underevs' were, .however, able .to seize ..the bottles, the labels, and such snrll stosks cf the .liqueurs as the r monies— foreseeing trouble— had permitted to < remain on hands. Unable to- manufacture the genuhu ar~- . ticje; tljc French Government proceeded 'to con/oct 'a fra.wdiilfri.l imitation. This w,as plxcecl..in quantities upon^' the world's markets, wi.th the cM label attached. WithA its-curioiis notions; of commercial mor.-I'ty, the Govern-, merit next arrogated to itce'f an exclusive proprietary right in the nanie ' chartreuse. '" It", ilso soujrht,.an injunc- '. tion.in Englaiwl against the use of the word' by- the monks, who were (and still are)- manufacturing the genu- : inc -liqueur in Tarragona," Spa ; n. The upshot of the liti-' gation is told in a cable message from Louden in last week's daily papers :—: — ' The Court of Appeal decided that -.tin mon^s are exclusively entitled to the use of Ihe word " Chartreuse " for their trade mark outside France, thus reversing Mr Justice" Joyce's decision.' ' ; The composition of chartreuse is o^e" cf the mot valuable trade secrets. Tt is said -that sr me years -ago the Rothschilds offered to Ihe General cf 'the Order," through the Pope; no less than 80,000,0.00 francs (about£3,4oo/000) tfor the tra:nsfetf .of the rights involved in itsmanufacture. The intention (it was surmised) was to form a great limited liability company to manufacture and market the liqueur. ,So runneth the story. However, the secret "has neither been bought nor sold, n3ither discovered nor betrayed. According to an article written some years ago in the ' Revue- dos Deux Mondes 'by the Vicomte d'Avenrl, the annual profit on tre liqueur ampuntod to about £120,000. -' The monks taste the.liqiucurs only, on "the rarest occasions, and the profits on it, beyond the -simplest and poorest living expenses, were ' altogether spent in charity '—distributed to poor families in the Dauphine and the rest of France j the~ restoration and repairing of poor churches ; the building and maintenance "of hosnitals "and .other charitable institutions ; -while the,' path of commerce in all the province was made easier by the construction and repair of roads and bridges, and the towns a n-l villages were furnished with copious and permanent supplies of /water. Thedeparture of the monVs from the Grande Chartreuse, wa a blow to "the province -ard to- Fr.-mce. Tarragona ah/.l Spain 'will be the gainers by their neighbor's loss. -.