The Sun.
London, England, 1838-10-26 00:00:00

MADEIRA WINE.

(From the Times.)
The Annexed letter is written by an intelligent wine-mer-
chant of long standing in the City. It is but just th4t all
the benefit to be derived from its publication should, in
such a case, be given to the Madeira merchants :

" TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMER.

" Sir—Some months since I read in the City Article of
your journal a statement that spurious wines were imported
from France into the island of Madeira, lodged in the entre-
pots, branded with the Madeira brands, and exported to the
United States as the genuine vint:ige of that island.
" At the time I thought it might be the production of some
party inimical to the administrat:T of the Custom-house at
Funchal, who certainly has never been remarkable for courtesy,
urbanity, or manners, for which reason I expected the subject
would die a natural death, but I observe that you make further
reference to it in your City article of the 11th instant, reite-
rating your conviction that this practice prevails in the port of
Funchal.

" R ference to any book descriptive of the island of Madeira
will show you that the city of Funchal commands such a per-
t', ct and minute view of the beach and shipping, that it would
scarcely be possible to land a bottle of wine without its being
known to the large proportion of the residents, whose chief
occupation it is to continually overlook and take notice of every
trifling detail that occurs in the shipping department of the
somewhat quiet port of Funchal, where the merchandise re-
quiring to be lodged in entrepot fer export is so limited that
the entry of any such article, and in the quantities alluded to
by your informant, could not be made without its being gene-
rally known.
" The high and oppressive duties on British manufactures
may have caused smuggling to have been carried on, and gua-
ranteed it in the eyes of the community ; but that there should
be smuggling of goods into the Government stores, contrary to
the fiscal regulations, contrary to the interests of the entire
mercantile community, and contrary to the interests and pre-
judices of the whole population of Madeira, where almost every
boatman is a vine cultivator, is as much at variance with pro-
bability as I believe your informant's statement to be adverse
to fact.

" The only known attempt surreptitiously to introduce wine
into Madeira was seven pipes from the Azores, which were
seized, publicly destroyed, and the parties implicated banished
to the condemned settlements on the coast of Africa.

" The assumption on the part of the Funchal merchants,
that you were influenced by 'sinister views,' is scarcely in ac-
cordance with the general estimation in which your journal is
held in the island of Madeira, where it is much read and highly
popular, on account of its acknowledged talent and generally
correct information.

" Permit me to hope that you will do justice to Madeira by
relieving the commerce of that island from an imputation that
could not be otherwise than prejudicial to its staple commodity
of traffic. " Your very obedient servant,
" New Broad-street, Oct. 22

a D.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

SHERIFFS' COURT. RED LION-SQUARN.-TIILIRSDA r,

HOLLYWELL V. RICHARDSON.

In this case the plaintiff was stated to be a confectioner, re-
siding in Great Russell-street, and the defendant an oil and
Italian warehouseman in the neighbourhood of Covent-garden.
The action was brought to recover 701. for money lent at two
different periods in 1836—a promissory note upon a Is. 6d.
receipt stamp was given for 601., and interest upon that sum
was sought to he obtained. It was proved by Ann Styles, a
servant of the plaintiff, that the defendant on several occasions
had admitted being indebted to the plaintiff, but had pleaded
his inability from time to time to pay the amount. The
Under- Sheriff, in summing up, directed the Jury to return a
verdict for the plaintiff for 701., which they accordingly did.

CRIMINAL COURT-THURSDAY.

OLD COURT.

John Neinninger, a German, was found Guilty of stabbing
a female, named Susannah Tee, with a knife. The circum-
stances under which the wound was inflicted were shortly as
follows :—The prisoner went borne with the female, and a
quarrel arising about money, the prisoner attempted to get
out: The female refused to allow him to do so. He then
seized a knife, and struck her with it violently.
Robert John Searle was found guilty of wilfully stabbing
with a knife Charles Davey.
Henry Barlett, aged 23, a sailor, was indicted for felo-
niously stabbing and wounding William Harris, with intent to
do him some gri, vous bodily harm upon the high seas.
The prosecutor, a man of colour, was a cook on board the
David Clark, and on the 17th of last September, as the ship
was off the Land's End, Cornwall, the prisoner came up to
him at dinner time, and wanted to be served with the meat for
his mess. The cook declined to do so until he had served mess
No. 1, which he was then attending to. The result was that
bad language was used by both parties, and in the end the
prisoner seized his knife and cut the cook across the fingers,
and afterwards the prisoner ran his knife throul-h the cook's
arm. The Jury found the prisoner Guilty. Sentence, one
year's imprisonment in the Penitentiary.