The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-28 00:00:00

ABUSED PORTUGAL.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Six,—Although an Englishman, conceding to no
one a greater love of his country than I am proud to
cherish, I have resided one half of my life in Portu-
gal, from whence I have but lately returned; and I
have been much surprised to observe how much of
fallacy and misrepresentation, in respect of the affairs
of Portugal, finds its way into the newspapers, which
I ascribe to the proneness of correspondents to disre-
gard the golden rule of " the Duke," which enjoins
that no one meddle with subjects that he does not
understand.

Considering that long experience of the commerce
of Portugal may exempt me from the danger of any
undue meddling, I venture to address you on the sub-
ject of that trade, in respect of which, above all other
trades, it appears to me that the British public has
been most grossly abused; and lam induced so to
address you by the strange assertions of the City
Article of The Sun of Tuesday last.

That article complains that the Queen of Portugal,
in the recent speech closing the Cortes at Lisbon, said
not one word on the subject of any alteration in the
tariff duties, as affecting; British manufactures ; and
further pretends that " Great Britain has made con-
cessions in favour of the wines and other produce of
Portugal, whose Government seems doggedly disposed
to make no return."
As to concessions in favour of the wines of Portu-
gal, the only one ever made was in the year 1703,
when in return for the admission to consumption in
Portugal of British woollens, the wines of Portugal
were favoured by a reduction of one third from the
rate of duty paid on the wines of France.
But no further concession was made in favour of
Portugal wines by the treaty of 1810, which opened
the vast market of Brazil to British commerce at a
time that the " Continental system" gave a tenfold
value to any new market for our manufactures, which
were admitted then, for the first time, into Brazil at
the low duty of 15 per cent. ad valorem, while 30 per
cent. was levied on the manufactures of all other
countries.

By that treaty Great Britain enjoyed for a con-
siderable number of years a monopoly of the Portugal
and Brazilian markets, which she knew not how to
appreciate, but became enamoured of a restless theory,
professing, and only professing, the principles of free
trade, which her practice broadly contradicts, from a
want of courage to follow out those great principles.
In 1831 the partial advantage formerly conceded
to Portugal wines was wholly rescinded, when those
of France were allowed to enter at nominally the
same rate of duty ; but this apparent equalisation of
the duty has the effect of a most onerous differential
duty oil the wines of Portugal.
The present impost of ss. 9d. per gallon is only
45 per cent. on the value of the wines ;of France, the
consumption of which is confined to the rich and the
luxurious ; while it amounts to 150 per cent. on the
value of Portugal wines, which are chiefly consumed
by the industrious middling classes, who appreciate
the invigorating quality of the generous wines of
Oporto, which in spite of all the caprice of fashion,
and the suggestions of prejudice, are still acknow-
ledged to be the best tonic and restorative for the sick.
Thus it will be seen that Portugal wines, so far
from enjoying any favour, are actually charged with
more than treble the amount of duty paid on the
wines of France, on a comparison of their respective
market value ! Notwithstanding this crying injus-
tice, Portugal still admits at feasible rates of duty
not only the produce of the British fisheries, of which
she imports 12,000 tons annually from Newfoundland,
but almost every article, from the rudest to the most
finished of our manufactures; while France, on the
contrary, almost confines her importations to the
very first conversions of our industry, such as linen,
yarns, cotton-twist, pig-iron, cake-copper, and coals,
so indispensable to her own manufactures, and ajarge
amount of our invaluable machinery.
The great increase of our exports to France, con-
sisting chiefly of such articles as I have enumerated, so
far from being a subject of gratulation, only proves
her gigantic progress in the march of competition,
which in competition with the Zollverein threatens to
exclude us from the markets of Europe ; while the
growing industry of the United States is already un-
dermining our commerce in the Pacific and Eastern
Oceans.
After this statement, the accuracy of which I am
prepared to demonstrate, I would ask, where is the
justice or the policy of these unceasing attempts to
excite in the public mind a prejudice against Por-
tugal, whose trade with us is pining for want of
those reciprocal modifications of tariffs which were
stipulated for by the treaty of 1842 ?
Do the markets of Portugal become less important
to us, in proportion as hostile competition is extending
itself on every hand ; or, will her harbours be less
valuable to our naval interests and security, when
prostrate Spain shall have closed her ports, and the
Mediterranean be converted into a French ake ?

I would desire to meddle with nothing beyond my
province, and to confine myself to the mere question
of trade ; but the correspondent of The Sun has
made a sickly appeal to the " sympathy due to an
Old Ally, who at a vast expense of blood and treasure
defended the interests of Portugal."
1 shall only reply to such puling remarks by re-
ferring to the Treaty of Alliance, offensive and defen-
sive, which still subsists between England and Por-
tugal ; and without ascribing the magnitude of our
efforts in Portugal to the obligations of that treaty,
I would ask, whether any other theatre could have
been found, more favourable than the Peninsula,
whereon to enact at a distance from our own shores,
the horrors of war, in defence of British interests,
against the overwhelming influence of Napoleon ?
I would presume to ask " the Duke," whose love
of manly truth is so well known, and who can best
answer whether our allies of Portugal then proved
faithless ; or, whether the generous bands that tra-
versed her mountains to co-operate in the rescue of
the Peninsula failed to contribute to his triumphs on
the plains of Salamanca and Vittoria ?
Let him say, who so long suffering under every
privation as the Portuguese soldier; who so docile
under foreign command, and so enduring under the
rigour of an unwonted discipline, which might have
been considered the more intolerable as being foreign ;
who braver than they whose generous emulation so
largely contributed to that devotion and efficiency of
the allied army, which enabled the Duke to say " he
could go anywhere and do anything with such an
army," with which at length he dissipated the op-
pressorsof the Peninsula!

Finally, I would presume to ask his Grace calmly
to reconsider the claims of Portugal to a more
equitable regulation of her commerce with England,
and to inspire his colleagues with the desire to do
justice to such claims, with more of generosity rather
than of neglect, in proportion as the claimant is
thought to be weak and powerless.
The Government of Portugal has made every effort
to meet the claims of her foreign creditors, while her
domestic creditors, the unhappy holders of the Go-
vernment paper-money, which formerly constituted
one-half of the circulation of Portugal, receive neither
principal nor interest upon an enormous amount of
that paper-money, which was withdrawn from circu-
lation in 1833, upon a promise of redemption which
has never been fulfilled.

It requires only better information, and a more
dispassionate consideration of the conduct and affairs
of Portugal, to :arrive at a conyiction of her good
faith towards England, as evinced by the preceding
statement, which should be viewed in contrast with
the conduct of the repudiating States, before we exact
from suffering and abused Portugal the full penalty
of our bond. MERCATOR.
London, Dec. 26, 1844.

QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE.
IMPORTANT DECISION RELATING TO THE
ROYAL RESIDENCE AT WINDSOR.

WINDSOR, FRIDAY EVENING.—For a period of up-
wards of four hundred years, persons residing within the
precincts of Windsor Castle have not only been consi-
dered to be privileged from arrest for debt, but their
goods and chattels have also been considered quite as
secure as their persons from civil process. From a
knowledge of this fact, many "gentlemen in difficulties,"
and ladies too, are constantly in the habit of taking
houses or securing lodgings within the privileged circle.
A short time since, however, a gentleman who resided
in the Regent's Park took up his abode at one of the
military knight's houses, and about a fortnight ago he
was visited by one of the officers of the Sheriff of Barks,
and arrested (notwithstanding the privilege he claimed
as a resident within the Royal precincts) for a judgment
debt amounting to between 3,000/. and 4,0001. The
officer immediately conveyed his prisoner to the county
gaol at Reading. This was considered to be an ex-
ceedingly bold step on the part of the officer, and in the
very teeth, too, of a rule which had been observed in
similar cases for centuries before. We understand,
however, that the sheriff was indemnified from all
consequences which might result from it. The
defendant, immediately after his arrest, acting upon
the advice of his solicitor, took out a summons calling
upon the plaintiff and the sheriff to show cause,
before one of the Barons of the Exchequer, in which
Court the proceedings were taken, why he should not,
be discharged out of custody, upon the ground of the
arrest having been illegal, the defendant having been
captured within the (privileged) precincts of a royal pa-
lace. The case was heard by Mr. Baron Rolfe, in cham-
bers, on Friday, the 20th inst., Mr. Carrington and Mr.
J. J. Williams appearing as counsel for the defendant,
in support of the summons, and Mr. Taprel as counsel
for the plaintiff: The sheriff (appeared by his attoraey.
An immense number of authorities were cited by coun-
sel on both sides, in support of the cases of their respec-
tive clients. The arguments lasted nearly the whole day.
At their conclusion, the Learned Baron desired to have
handed to him the authorities referred to and affidavits
sworn on both sides, and also the summons, stating that
he should deliver his judgment on the following Monday.
On Monday last the whole of the parties attended at
Mr. Baron Rolle's chambers, when the Learned Baron
stated that he had examined all the authorities which
had been referred to by the Learned Counsel for the
plaintiff and defendant, and also the affidavits which
have been put in, and that his decision wao that the sum-
mons be discharged.