Star.
London, England, 1830-08-30 00:00:00

MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 30, 1830. l'ittcE 7D.

seem as if this institution was nothing more than a domestic regulation
and arrangement for the culture and improvement of the vineyards of
the district of the Alto Douro, and for preserving the wines of that
growth in their natural purity, free from those mixtures and adultera-
tions which are represented to have destroyed both their reputation and
consumption.
Upon this principle of retrieving the credit of these wines, by pre-
venting the exportation of such as should be found unfit for foreign
consumption, and by reforming the abuses both of the vintagers and
merchants in the making and selling that commodity, very extensive
powers and privileges are granted to the company, and many regulations
are laid down and prescribed in the law which establishes it, to which
your Majesty's subjects, in common with those of the King of Portugal,
are required to conform.
From amongst the many articles of' which this institution is composed,
it will be sufficient, as we'sonceive, if we select such particular regula-
tions only as appear to us most essentially to affect either the personal
rights or commercial interests of your Majesty's subjects, and of course
to substantiate the complaints of the British factory.
By the 29th, 30th, and 31st sections of this law, the wines on the
lbordera of Alto Douro and its district arc separated and set apart for
exportation to foreign markets ; severe restrictions are laid upon the
traffic in wines brought from without the limits of that district ; none
arc allowed to be brought down to the city of Oporto under penalty of
condscation, without permits, directing them from the house of the
vintagers to the board of administration of the company, and all are
subjected to the examination of tasters, who at pleasure set such a mark
of approbation or disapprobation upon them as they think proper, either
qualifying them for exportation, or condemning them as inferior wines,
lit only for the consumption of the country.
These limitations and restrictions, which undoubtedly operate
greatly to the prejudice and disadvantage of your Majesty's subjects
who trade in this commodity, by not only subjecting the goods and
merchandises of British traders to the examination of mean yet arbi-
trary judges, appointed by the company, who are competitors in that
trade, and of consequence in the depreciation of that particular com.
modify, thus exposed to their mercy, and from whose sentence there
lies no appeal; but also by making the exportation of their wines a
matter of difficulty and hazard, and rendering their property in that
article precarious and uncertain, are stated by the factory to be oppres-
sive violations:of those commercial privileges and immunities to which
they are entitled to treaty.
They contend that they are not only entitled to general
freedom of commerce in all the dominions of the King of Por-
tugal by the 2d article of the treaty of 1654, but that also by the 3d and
9th articles:of that treaty they are specifically at liberty ‘, to buy up all
sorts of wares, goods, and merchandize, and the same to use and enjoy
in the dominions of the King of Portugal, without being compelled to
purchase them of forestallers or monopolists, or circumscribed to a set
price ; to sell, traffic, and freely transport any sorts of goods, wares,
and merchandise whatsoever from the said dominions of the King of
Portugal, without being hindered or delayed for any reason whatsoever :"
and therefore they allege that a commerce established on such principles
of freedom ought not to be shackled with those restrictions which have
been before mentioned. And it does appear to us, that whatever may
be the fair construction and operation of the general stipulation of free
commerce in the 2d article of the said treaty, there can be no doubt that
the limitations and restrictions complained of are directly adverse both
to the letter and spirit of the specific stipulations contained in the other
articles above referred to.

What renders the conditions of the regulation respecting the institu-
tion of tasters more oppressive and severe, and makes h, if not imme.
diately, yet ultimately, and in its consequences an infraction of the tre-
aty is, that in cases where the mark of disallowance is set upon wines
by these tasters, and they thereby become prohibited from exportation,
the merchant whose property they are, has no market open to him for
the disposal of them except to this company, who are his rivals in the
trade, and who seldom give more for them than one-third part of the
prime cost, for the tavern.keepers and retail traders of the city and vi.
cinity of Oporto, who consume wines of an inferior quality, are re-
strained from purchasing them of the British merchant by the
28th section of this law, which ordains " that no wine shall be sold by
retail in the city of Oporto and in the neighbouring places to the dis-
tance of three leagues round that is not on account of this company."
To the settlements of the King of Portugal in the Brazils he is expressly
prohibited from exporting them by the 19th section of this law, which
gives to the company "the exclusive commerce of all wines, brandies,
and vinegars, which shall be shipped from the city of Oporto to any of
the four captainships of St. Paul's, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Per.
nambuco, and their respective ports."
Another regulation of this law complained of by the merchants re-
spects the absolute judicial power and authority granted to this com-
pany in the person of its judge conservator, by the 7th, Bth, and 9th
tendons, empowering him to seize, without distinction, boats and car-
riages for the conveyance of wines ; to press into the service of the com-
pany labourers, coopers, tavern keepers, and other artificers, and to
cause houses and warehouses to be given up to their use ; a provison
which, at the time it violates the privileges of your Majesty's subjects,
by superseding the jurisdiction and authority of their judge-conservator,
does spear to us leas justly a subject of complaint, by giving the com-
pany an unreasonable advantage over the British merchants. And
therefore upon the whole we are induced to join in opinion with the
merchants, and although nothing more is professed to be designed by
this institution than a domestic economical arrangement, yet the real
object of the law is to erect a monopoly in this article of commerce,
and under colour of improving the culture and quality of wines,
finally to exclude the Brush factory from any commerce or concern in
them.

The institution of exclusive companies trading to several of the Pot.
tuguese colonies in America, particularly one to Gran Ptraand'3laran-
ham, and another to Paraiba and Pernambuco, is stated by the mer.
chants to be not only an innovation irreconcilable either to the spirit
or the letter of the treaty, but a measure confessedly of the most perni-
cious consequences to the trade and interests of Great Britain.
Before the establishment of the hlaranham Company, in the year
year 175 G, the trade to that settlement is stated to have been In a most
flourishing condition, employing annually at least fifteen or sixteen
ships, which number is now represented to be reduced to three or
four. The Pernambuco Company has been but lately erected ; but it
is not to be doubted experience will show, that this institution will be
productive of similar effects, and that the prejudices resulting to corn.
mere° from this establishment will probably be proportionably greater,
as the trade and navigation to Pernambuco is much more considerable
than that to filaranham.

Amongst the many oppressive and prejudicial consequences com-
plained of by the merchants as resulting from these institutions, there is
one which, in our opinion, deserves particular observation ; and this is
the absolute disability which the Portuguese factors, who carried on this
commerce upon the credit of the British merchants, are laid under, by
being thus at once excluded from this trade of ever discharging the debts
which they have contracted with your Majesty's subjects, who have
supplied the Brazil markets with goods and nv:rchandize through their
intervention. To have protected the British merchants from the very
heavy losses which this sudden regulation, by disabling their creditors
front paying their legal debts, must have thrown upon them, was a me'.
sure which natural justice could not, as we conceive, have dispensed
with, even though the treaties had been silent upon this head.
- -

But without prosecuting this inquiry any further, or entering into a
discussion of the principles upon which these Companies may have
been instituted, we shall proceed to exanine thearguments adduced by
the merchants to support their assertion, that these ins:itutions arc di-
rect infractions of treaty.
They represent that those Companies are restrictions upon, and vio-
lotions of, that general freedom of trade, unrestrained by monopolies,
which British subjects are entitled to carry on in Portugal and its do-
minions, by the 2d, 3d, and 9th Articles of the Treaty of 1654. The
general as well as specific stipulations of which articles having been al-
ready stated, it is only necessary to observe, that when we appply the
privileges given thereby to the case in question, and consider how
far the commerce of your Majesty's subjects is circumscribed and
restricted by these exclusive Companies, it is evident, without
straining the letter of the treaty, that these institutions are
incompatible with that freedom of trade, and unlimited right of pur-
chase as well as sale granted and conceded by these articles; for would
it not be the grossest evasion to say that the British merchants enjoyed
the right of selling to whom they pleased ((unrestrained by monopolies),
while the subjects of his Most Faithful Majesty, the few excepted who
compose these companies, are incapacitated, from buying their goods, by
being prohibited from sending them to those markets to which they are
most immediately adapted ? If we add to this the further stipulation
which provides against their being compelled to purchase of nionopo.
lists, and if these exclusive companies (of which there needs no proof)
evidently are monopolists, we think we may, with the merchants, pro-
nouncJ this particular stipulation to be infringed ; for, virtually corn-
pelled they are, to purchase of them if they can get the products of their
respective districts from no other hands; and what other species of cool.
pulsion could the treaty have in contemplation but a virtual one?
Conclusive as these arguments arc, there yet remains to be stated
stipulations in favour of your Majesty's trailing subjects, not only