The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-09 00:00:00

14

EVSPAI

<•,.
PORT UCH OOMMERCIAL AL. •
•
It was mentioned on Monday that a report hgesil
made by the Conitnercial Association of Oporto, at the
instance of the Portuguese Government, recommending
the speedy adoption of a complete system of commercial
freedom. This dodument has since been received, and
fully justifies the account given of it. After some intro-
ductory remarks on the principles of free trade, which,
although stale truisms to English ears, are absolutely
startling when expressed wii bout qualification by a body
of native gentlemen in communication with the ministers
of Portugal, it proceeds to denounce the prohibitory sys-
tem and the neglect of public works as the two causes
which have reduced Portugal, with the finest capacities
of any country in the world, to the condition of one of
the most degraded. Methods for' an immediate tom.
mencement of a reform in the fiscal arrangements of the
kingdom are then suggested, and, finally, the various
resources are alluded to, which are waiting only for the
most ordinary facilities to yield wealth on all sides. As
illustrations of the existing modes of trar--ft, facts are
mentioned such as exceed even the analogous accounts

of Central America. Potatoes; raised in tip? neighbour-

ing province of Tras os Montes are worth, at Oporto,
ten times their prime cost, and would, nevertheless,
from the expenses of carriage, prov, a losing speculation.
The greater part of the internal traffic is performed
by mules, and yet even for this method the roads
are so bad that the animals carry only about one-
fifth of their proper load, and travel four leagues a
day instead of ten. "We are compelled to confess,
it is added, " that it is more difficult to travel
through Portugal than in any other country of
Europe, or perhaps in the world. Articles conveyed
from Oporto to Braganza (ahout 90 miles) cost more
carriage than they would pay freight from Oporto to
Brazil and back again in our ma ships." With this
barbarous state of affairs the revenue laws are in corn-
pieta harmony, and the lowest officer of the tobacco
monopoly, or of the Custom-house, whose pay is about a
shilling a-day, has the power to stop a cart or a loaded
animal on the road, and to cause the cargo to be unloaded
and each package opened and examined. The committee
therefore contend for the summary abolition of all the
octroi-barriers in the interior,
as well as local tolls and
monopolies of every kind, and all permits and rallPertg-
At the same time a reform of the Customs tariff is
urged upon a scale that shall be free from the danger of
sudden ruin to the protected interests, and of a suffici-
ently progressive character to insure a speedy approach
to general freedom. There are many commodities, how-
ever, which are not fabricated in the country—such as
transparent cotton goods, certain qualities of handker-
chiefs (one of the staple articles from Glasgow), fustians,
bombazines, &c.—that might, it is pointed out, be at
onco admitted at a merely nominal rate. The adoption
of low duties generally would also create a large transit
trade with Spain, and the cheapness of the free goods
would induce purchasers from that country to complete
their assortments with others paying a fair tax, and thus
add considerably to the revenue. Meanwhile, the ad-
vantage of these alterations, in increasing the dispo-
sition to a reduction of the wine duties in England,
is not lost sight of, although the committee rightly
observe, that instead of waiting for that enlightened
measure, it is the business of Portugal to go into the
right path irrespective of it. "If Great Britain," they
remark, " would admit our wines for consumption
at 10/. per pipe, or even at double that duty, all
,Portugal might be converted into vineyards." Apart
from this view, however, it is acknowledged that the
country has yet to avail itself of the liberality of Eng-
land in admitting, almost free of duties, corn, animals,
oils, fish, fruits, vegetables, &c., which the geographical
position' of Portugal would enable her to supply in
abundance if the 200 per cent. profit, at which some of
them could be produced, were not snore than absorbed
by the dearness of interior transport. , Finally, with
regard to the material uniertakings that should
attend the new system, the most important are an
improvement of the bar of the Douro, as well as of
the harbour and river, the construction of docks,
the formation of interior roads, the canalisation of
rivers, the introduction Sf new agricultural imple-
ments, &c. The reception that may be given by the
Governinent to this report remains to be ascertained.
It has only just been issued, and there is reason to fear
that the intelligence of tile people of Lisbon and of the
country generally is tar behind that which prevails at
Oporto. Still, it is evident. that the time is ripening for
a general change, and that any men of vigour might now
commence the accomplishment. of all that has been indi-
cated. Notwithstanding the treatment experienced by
the English bondholders, English views are accepted in
Portugal with more readiness than in other continental
countries, and the present document is almost identical
in spirit with the work of Mr. J. J. Forrester, published
as a prize essay on Portugal last year. Whether any
broad and honest course of amelioration is to be looked
for from a Cabinet which has chosen periodical confisca-
tion as one of its regular means of getting over difficulties,
and which therefore cannot command the confidence of
capitalists, is a question, however, that cannot be very
hopefully entertained.