The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-04-02
Portugal Cutting on John Bulls Snip
ply of That Luxury.

Portugal Cutting on John Bulls Snip
ply of That Luxury.
Ridiculous as 1t may seem. the anger of
the Portuguese against England for Lord
Salsbury's bullying course, may, after all,
make itself felt in what is to England
tenderer spot than any sore corn. 1t may,
we mean, provided the furious outburst of
anger against England only lasts and does
not quickly burn itself out. For the pres
ent the pot continues to boil. The furious
Portuguese, having tired themselves out
with the folly of parading in pro-
cessions and yelling "Down with En-
gland" have since been organizing
big boycott, in the shape of commercial
crusade against England. They not only
stop all trade with that country, cutting OFF
even the port wine on which ruDicund John
Bull so largely depends, but are establishing
line of steamships, under the Spanish
flag. TO run between Lisbon and Brazil. The
Portuguese newspapers Drophesy that the
result will be the downfall of English
steamboat companies and of England'S COM
mercial greatness. This is, of course, alb
surd, but anything that hits England'S trade,
even TO small extent, touches her ION the
raw"
The boycott is brought to bear not only
upon English trade, but upon all in Portu-
gal VINO decline to enter into 1t. Thus the
prosperity of Oporto is threatened. Tie
chief export of that picturesque city is port
wine. of which four-ffths go to England.
The export of this product-which is duly
fortified" before shipping, and afterward
mixed up with various cheaper qualities,
II not with more harmful fluids. before be-
transferred in London to larger casks in.
the dark SubterraneaH cryptS known as the
London Docks-amounts, by OpOrt0 statls-
ties, TO over 100000 hectOlitres annually.
"a hectolitre equals about twenty-SiX and
one-half gallons or good deal more than
half barely The aggregate annual value
OF this to the shippers at OpOrtO must be
S40.000,000 or S50,000,000. Hence the ac-
tiou Of all the surrounding villages in fore
ing OpOrtO TO stop her trade with England
threatens the loss of the prosperity OF the
city, and it is no wonder the local authori-
ties come Into the arrangement very re-
uetautly. But the villages OF that part of
Portugal declared that they would buy no
supplies from OpOrtO unless that city for
maliy ami openly joined the campaign
against England As a result the City
Council. in the name of the whole town,
Issued protest against the action of Great
Britain.
Whether that means the stopping of all
shipments OF port wine to Great Britain, is
not clear. The import of English cotton
goods into OpOrto is over 81 600, 600 a year
and the cutting off of the trade would in
Jure Manchester's mills little, and num-
Der OF English wholesale dealers more. As
to Engiand's loss of her favOrite port
wine" that would make, perhaps, a louder
grumbling II might not be felt at first; the
divisions Of tie London docks devoted to
port wine exclusively, includes dozen acres
or more-and there. piled up, tier on tier,
so thick that the taper-guided explorer can
hardly pick his way through the dark,
strange maze, are casks of port" overhung
with still stranger-lOJking black fungi
dropping from the cellar-like rOof-the pro-
duct OF the escaping volatile vin0us princi-
pie lost from the wine by evaporation. For
there Is real wine in those tOmb-lke erypts,
however some Americans may discredit
the fact, and however the port may
be mixed with elder berry juice and other
nonvinous fluids. The evaporation is in
| creased by the brandy or whisky with
which the wine IS fortified" for English
palates, before it leaves 0porto. This is
done as soon as it reaches the 0porto ware
houses, after its voyage from the vine
yards down the tumbling DOuro. AS to
the original grape juice, 1t is trodden out of
the grapes, in the vot, or larger" with the
naked 1eet Of the peasants. men and women,
after the ancient style of the East.
This collection of a dozen acres of piled
up casks IN London docks will last a little
while, even in the face of John Bulls
steady demand; but it will not last for
| ever. ii the general onslaught on English
| trade and English steamer companies finds
| no other vulnerable point in John Bulls
| thick hide, the cutting off Of the port-wine
| supply would pierce him where Joab's
sword pierced Amasa, just under the fifth
Tib.-uartford Times.