The Sun.
London, England, 1801-08-21 00:00:00

SHREWSBURY, • Au G., 12. •

On Wednes4ay. morning Robert Welland, for
a .barglary, was executed at Red-hill, near Worces-
ter, pursuant to his sentence,: he
.confessed his
crime, and died penitent.—Thoyne, Thomas, \Vas-
sal,
~and Hopley,- tondemned -for—siteep-Stealing,
were reprieved.
.On Saturday last . John Nutts„ found. mute of
malice by an inquest of twelve men, at our Assize,
and Thomas Bennett, conviaed of horse-stealing,
were executed in front of the County gaol: both
of them died ,sensible of their crimes,
.and very
penitent. , •
The evidence given by Mr. Cartwright on the
former arraignment of Nutts; that 3, he was mute
out of malice, not by the, visitation, of God," was
strongly verified in the behaviour of .Nutts the,day
previous to execution, when he earnestly requested
IVIr. Cartwright would let him see the person who
had so wickedly advised him, as he passed'to fhe
fatal tree on the Morrow.- Accordingly, befere he
ascended the scafFold,,he:was conduced to him, and
with great composure said; " God forgive you! I
wish 1 hafinder been led by you—you arc a wick.cd
man. • God forgive you! 1-fieely fitrgie yoU."
The same; day, George Fearns, John SMith, '17,110.
teas Spittle, john Palmer, and Thomas Harper, Were,
executed at Stafford, pursuant to their sentences,

The Bengallndiaman, recently arrived:Worn India,
lost, Mr., M vrcx EL L,.her thircl Of4cer, shortly after
'her qtitting.England;on her.ourward-bound passage,
limier the following circtimstances Mrr-,
cHELt, while employed in superintending, the stow,-
age of .the -cables in. the tier, 'fOund' himself_ much,
interrupted by the interferent;e of the _ship'S pout_
terer ; who; instead of repairing to his allotted sca-
lion on the,gun-deck, -persisted in taking a share in
duty for which- he was. .by -no means qualified.
After various orders ,to quit .the place, totally disre-
garded by the intruder, the Officer was proceeding
toinforce them in. a More compubory mode, when.
the other,' suddenly d; awing his knife.; alined it
with great v::olence at his hcaft-: as it fell.upon the
nibs, the knife did not then eLietratc ; but he
mediately made .ariother: and"-more successful stab,
which;. entering the stomach,pt oved mortal. The
murderer was seized; ag has been ever Since in
irOns on board the

The Green Castle, Franklin,, from .jamniCa and
St. Michael's to Liverpool, was 'captured 6th July,
near the Island of St. Michael's.

ACCOUNT 09 TUE
PORT WINE TRADE OF PORTUGAL.

- •
Extraca-,:d from a Paper in the Third Volerne.of the Memo-
rias Econornicas, printed at Lisbon.

IN 168 ;, the Upper Douro was as yet but little
cultivated, and 'very pour. , At that time- the Eng_
lish, as well as other European nations, loved sweet
wines, to,which but -few parts -of this distriet are
adapted. Lisbon then exported it in Considerable
quantities, nor did the Exportation of Port Wine-
increase immediately after the Treaty of Methuen;
in 1703 ; but soon ;the taste for Red Wine began
constantly to increase; -and the English, 'who' now
settled in 'the countrrin great numbers, encouraged
the cultivation of the vine• in order to have wine
Cheaper ; which vacc:eeded so well,- that from 1750
to 1755, a pipe of the best wine.wat sold-for only
.ten -milreas. "At this even the Members •of the
-English-Faaory were discontented, and fearing'so.
cheap a price might injure their Trade, held -a
meeting; but. a-shrewd Merchant, -named :Stuart,
prevented any increase of price, and persuaded' them
ratlier to direa their attention to a Spanish. Mer-
chant,. Bartholomeo Pancorvo, and put him" down.
Pancorvo being a scheming man, determined to open
a direa Trade with other. Northern Ports,. and
therefore offered, a higher price;. but • his money
failing, he could not go through with his specula_•
tion, and bec.ame a bankrupt. . The English then
adulterated the wine
.terribly, mixing it with the
sour wines of Beir4 and Minim, coloured it, and in
short, at length destroyed its reputation:. "-=
In 1.756, the Company of Upper Dintro (a Co;n- •
anhia do alto Douro), was established by an paler
of the :Cabinet (ed-,:ara), which stilllcontinuesin
force,.and has prlilac.-ecl much igoodtn the country,
though its regulations and condua are very faulty.
It consists of a Provedor,or Chief InsPeaer, twelve-
Deputies, six Counsellors, and' a Secretary: These
nominate a kir.d Of. Tribunal, consisting of a' De-
sembargador juiz Coilsc;rvad6r, a Desembargador
with their subordinate attendants; a .
tary, a Meirinhoi; a taixeiroS, FcitoreS,
nistradores, Sze. an intricate and complexCon`stitti,
don, which annually costs fipo,ooo crusades. 'phis
Company dcpendi on' the- King, and
is notAinclerthe'jurisdi'ititin!Ofany other Trihanal
for' which reason:they ventured on Many aThitrary
ass. They' were resolved to keep up
.the reputa-
tion of-the wine, and that' the pride should be fixed.
Their Funds at first. consisted of -1,200,000. Cru-
sades, Which, however;', were not. destined merely
Thepurchase•of wine, but to Make loans to the
pe:asants at three :per cent. - TheSe, however, hav,e
very:sercietn taken, place, evasions, having 0-ways
been- used to avoid the. • •
. -

. . -
• The Company havenot inileed a complete rriono-
`poly ofThe wine of Upper .Douro. "4'he Memb:rs
are 'bound in take wine from each grower at a fixedprice*.. But if grower prefers selling and
transporting' his wine elsewhere in- the country, he
may. This however mnSt.be done throngh the in-
tervention of the Company, who receive six per •
cent.- It is evident these regulations necessarily
give them a very considerable monopoly ; but the •
restraint went still farther: a list was made of the
produce of each vineyard for the last preceding five
years, and no one was permitted tb sell a larger
qUantity, either to the Company or any one else.
Thus all increase Of this species_of agriculture is en-
tirely stopped,and what is still worse,, the Com-
pany employ various evasions not to
,take all the
wine grown, nor at the prices fixed.
The district of Upper Douro was divided into
such parts as were to produce Winhos de feitorl4
(falory or export wine), and vinhos de ramo (Wine
fOr Home consumption), theifortner alone being des,
tined for foreign parts, the latter being sent to the
colonies and other provinces of the kingdom, but
subjea to the same restraints as the . other. The
diVision itself 'is not properly made ; .for, there are
distrids which bear had, export wine, and ethers,
as for instance, the parishes of Villarinho des
Freires; Aliacoes do 'Corgo, I-19rmida, AbaSsas,
Guiaes, Galafutar CouyelinhaF., GOivaes; and others,
where a wine-is produeed.wlrii.,h far excels. most of
the wines destined for exportation, The Port Wine
de Radio, which we drank in good houses„ was So.,
excellent, that rat first thou,,,,,ht.this_ was• the name
Of the beSt Poet Wine,• and was much astonished
when I learnt the contrary, and tasted the com Mon
bad ramo-wine. Every possible .precaution is now
taken to prevent ,the adulteration of the export
wines with the vinhos de ramo. ,• It was at first
prohibited to send out of their distrids the grapes
for the export wine; under penalty., that in that
case
othey should pass for vinhos de' ramo, in Order
`to prevent' every kind of fraud; which 'produced
the ill effed of disabling the poorer farmers, who
could nut n.iw carry their grapes to the press, from
selling any &tory wine.' But even this did not
.prevent all deceptions of 'this kind, which were of-
len contrived with great art. Hence, in x 768, a
•list was made of the distri6ls, where vinhoi. de
ram° were produced ; but. this not answering- the
expedation formed, ;recourse was had to coercion,
a force employed, in consequence of which
many
,f-amilies Were ruined, and even the buildings
employed for pressing wine• in the neighbourhood
of the distridS of the vinhos de.ramo were pulled
down.. SuCh a measure diininished indeed the frauds
e'orinnitted, but it yet remains to he seen how moch
ii will contribute to the real improvement•of this
important produdion;
The care the Company bestowed on the goodness
of the wine went
itrio "far: In 17.57 manuring with
dung was prohibited, because it tended to produce
a large quantity, but of bad quality. Orders were
.also given to cut dowrt every elder-tree within five'
leagues round; Uppei;Douro, to
.prevent colouring -
'the wirie with. .their terries. yn 1771 this order
was extended. to- the,Provipces.of ,Beira, Traz.:os-
, montes, and Minho ;'but no.attention vas paid to
the phytolacea decandria, which is grown in large
quantities in Beira for colouring wine, as I have

* A pipe of the best quality was at first fix(rl at 2 to_ 30
milreas, thar,of inferior quality at 2o to 2,5. 11l 4769, the
price was raised, thaking the. forniler 3o tb 35, and the latter
25 tO 30.
+ Pokeweed, or American Night-shade.