The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-07 00:00:00

PORTUGAL.

By her Majesty's brigantine Lynx, Lieutenant G.
J. Barslem, we have received the intermediate date due
from Lisbon prior to the sailing of the Tagus steamer
of Dec. 19.

LISBON, Dec. 18, 1841.—1 learn that M. Aguilar,
the Spanish Minister, is about to proceed to Madrid
on a short leave of absence, for the purpose of taking
his scat in the Chamber of Senators. M. Soler, the
Secretary of Legation, is to act for him meanwhile.
The new treaty about to be concluded (but happily not
yet so), merely stipulates, if I am correctly informed,
that our trade shall be
,placed on a footing with that
of the most favoured nation. Now this is perfectly.
absurd ; in. Portugal there should only be one most fa-
voured nation, and that one should be England. The
fact is, that for the last eight years we have been treat-
ing this country with far too much defelenee, and in so
doing have gone on weakening our ialuence by filling
the heads of the Portuguese with the most extravagant
notions of their own political importance. The
system of diplomacy we ought to pursue, in our
dealings with ,Portugal, is very simple, and requires
none of those astute maneeuvrings employed
by great nations to outwit etch other. In out-
ward show let us pay as much ceremonious respect to
the independence of this mighty power as would satisfy
the dignity of the Grand Lama of Thibet himself ; but
when a point is to be gained, instead of striving for it
by stratagems which here are needless, and arguments
to which the Portuguese always turn a deaf ear, let
the words " you must do it, or we double the import
duties on your wines, fruit," &e., be boldly uttered, and
the effect will be instant acquiescence. This was our
former mode of treating with Portugal in the days of
good old John the Sixth, and it ought to be adopted
again. While on this subject I must not omit to men-
tion that the increased rates of duties on foreign woollen
manufactures, English of course included, began to be
levied on Saturday last. This measure will necessarily
exclude a great many sorts of out coarser woollens.

There has been some very severe weather on this
coast. The Dutch brig Maria, and the Americanbrig Co-
lumbus, were both wrecked near Cape St. Vincent some
day last week. The crews were fortunately saved.
In touching upon the subject of our commercial
relations with Portugal I omitted to notice one evil,
which weighs sorely upon British traders resident at
or frequenting this port, and the removal of which
ought to be insisted upon by our Government in the
new treaty about to be concluded. I allude to the
Custom-house and port regulations, the grinding op-
pression of which has of late years become intolerable.
Of course the Portuguese have a right to make what-
ever regulations they may deem proper for the preven-
tion of contraband ; and were this legitimate object the
only one no foreign nation could have any right to
complain. But when it becomes quite apparent, as it
really is, that many of the regulations in question
are framed for no other purpose than to be a source
of emolument in the shape of fines and whole-
sale seizures, there certainly is ample ground for re-
monstrance ; and where there arc negotiations for a
treaty actually pending it would indeed be folly not to
make the removal of the evil the subject of au express
stipulation. My attention has again been forcibly
called to it by a couple of cases of great hardship which
occurred here last week. The customs' regulation in
this port is that ale, porter, and wines can only be im-
ported in cases or hampers containing three dozens of
bottles each, on pain of seizure, which, in fact, is the
penalty for every irregularity, however slight. Mr. G.,
a respectable merchant, ordered out from Liverpool a
hamper with three dozens of ale for his own use. On
the passage some person on board contrived to slip his
hand into the hamper and abstract one bottle ; and for
this deficiency in the number required by the regulation
the other two dozen and eleven were seized. Mr. G.
ventured to say that he thought it rather hard that be-
cause one bottle had been stolen on board he should
be robbed of the rest on shore ; for which piece of
insolence, as the Director-General termed it, he was
turned out of the Custom-house. The other case was
that of the seizure of a boat belonging to an English
merchant schooner, the master of which, who had
never been in this port, and could not consequently be
expected to have the whole of its multitudinous and
complicated regulations all at once at his fingers' ends,
went on board without going through the useless for-
mality of calling at the guard-boat to ask leave to do so.
Her Majesty's steam-vessel, Devastation, having on
board the new Protestant Bishop of Jerusalem, ar-
rived here on Monday last, and sailed again on` 't"
day in the prosecution of her voyage to
came in merely to afford the JA;-:
, of seeing Lisbon.,
FALMOUTH, JA