The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-15 00:00:00

AFFAIRS OF PORTUGAL.

1415130 N, JULY B.—With regard to the project of loan which
' wins one of the conditions on which the tobacco contract is
to be auctioned, it would be very unjust for capitalists to
termit themselves to be prejudiced by the recent conduct of
j),Din in annulling a similar contract. While in Spain the
tobacco revenues were for the first time let out to contrac-
wre, having previously been collected by the State, in Portu-
gal contractors have always had their management. But
:De faith of contracts has here been, for the most part, faith-
fully observed, and the principal and interest of a debt thus
lecired upon the tobacco revenues themselves would be in-
violably secure under all Governments. The break-down of
their tobacco enterprise in Spain gives probability to the sup-
Position that Messrs. Rothschild will successfully compete
for this contract in Portugal. The financial prospects of the
!:21intry never assumed so definite a shape as at present.
~five per cent. reduced in the expenditure of the State, and
D Per cent. added to the great bulk of its income, which will
413 e, immediately carried into effect, and is sure of approval in
the Cortes, amounts to a substantial increase of one-tenth in
the entire revenue ; and the additional half per cent. in the
dividend on the foreign debt, payable a year hence, becomes
:4811y practicable. The receipts of the Lisbon Custom-house
.or the year ending the 30th of June, 1843, were 1,974 i contos,
and those of the year ending the 30th of June, 1844, have
been 2,259 contos, showing a clear gain to the revenue in
tills single branch to the extent of 284 contos, or 64,2971.
'AI comparative maps which have been presented to the
Queen, the receipts of the Sete Cases (Excise) for the past
Yom' exceeded those of the previous year by 67 contos, and
the receipts of the Oporto Custom-house exceeded those of
the previous year by 283 contos, being a gain to the Trea-
li"' of about 79,0001. The entire Customs and Excise re-
teipts of Lisbon and Oporto exceed those of the previous year
.3' the enormous amount of 634 4-5 contos, or 143,4641.—an
lacrease owing almost entirely to a vigilant superintendence
,rs'ervading every nook of these establishments. This im-
Frovement will aid materially in carrying out the new finan-
cial projects.
The Queen has come in from Cintra.
Senior Cabral's operations against the newspaper press are
'Pr as follows :—ln the jury list which he has made out for
these three months, and which is composed of seventy indi-
Victuals, figure fifty-nine Government employes. A full exer-
tise of the right of challenge cannot fail to leave a majority
oap/oyes on the jury; and the Opposition papers, which
doubtless all be immediately tried, have every chance of
being convicted, and mulcted in heavy fines besides incarce-
ration. If this does not gag them, a Star Chamber is next to
be substituted for a jury selected fairly from the country, the li
said Star Chamber to be composed of judges and official per-
"lc This is the undoubted arrangement by which freedom
of thought is to be cherished in this land of liberty.
the
Tojal is on the point of concluding an operation with
e Bank for the advance of sufficient money to cover the
.14
`ltPenses of the State till the meeting of the Cortes.
A dispatch from the Portuguese Plenipotentiary in Rome
„announces that the Pope has consented to the entire sup-
kijession of the dispensed holidays in Portugal, to a diminu-
tion in the number of those which must still be strictly ob-
'erred, and to a transference of the festivals of the patron
taints of churches in all cases to
utie the Sundays. The requisite
f will be immediately forwarded.
The grape crop is so advanced that its quality for the
taming season may with tolerable safety be predicted. The
Weather for many weeks past has been at times broken, and
"'most always cloudy, while the heats have been very mode-
rate. If the advent of the genuine summer is much longer
ti be'ajed, the grapes will be seriously injured ; but it is pro-
:Die that we shall have suflicient heat for the purpose of
;getting, and the fine weather seems to have now set in.
e fruit is fully formed, and all that is required is sun to
orell it with succulent juice.
The commerce of Oporto and Lisbon was never in a state
of
greater depression than it is at present. Outrages against
property are now of daily occurrence throughout the wine
l'iltricts of the north of Portugal, and the robbery of churches
. again resorted to. There are likewise numerous commer-
el'll failures. The extensive and respectable house of Martin
tdDouglas has failed at Lisbon and Oporto to a large amount.
ay were general merchants, and established some time
p.'"'e a foundry at Oporto, which is said to have chiefly in-
oeved them. Amongst the other failures are two very bad
Domingos sde Almeida Ribeiro has had his failure pro-
kneed fraudulent by the Tribunal of Commerce, and J.
i,..,aPtista Medico, who fled from the town a few days since,
;Qehted to the merchants there some 40 cantos (near 10,000/.),
Z,Porsued to Vigo, but was found to have sailed for Eng-
ta in the packet. The depression in the wine trade is
tense, and unless the tariff convention is concluded with
ngland, the ruin of the export trade is expected.