- 
 
 A LETTER, 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE 
 
 RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL GREY, 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 ON THE STATE OF OUR 
 
 POLITICAL & COMMERCIAL RELATIONS 
 
 PORTUGAL 
 
 BY WILLIAM WALTON. 
 
 ' AB ALIO EXPECTES ALTER! QUOD FECERIS." 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JOHN RICHARDSON, 91, AND EFFINGHAM WILSON, 88, 
 ROYAL EXCHANGE; AND JOHN BOOTH, DUKE STREKT, PORTLAND 
 PLACE. 
 
 1831.
 
 U/3
 
 LETTER, &c. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 MY own observations and such lessons as 
 I have imbibed from the study of our best masters in 
 the science and practice of politics, always led me to 
 think that nothing was more opposed to the true 
 interests, and more derogatory to the character of 
 Great Britain, than for her to violate, or tamely 
 suffer others to violate, the rights of independent 
 nations, by interfering in the regulation of their in- 
 ternal concerns; or obstructing their efforts to 
 arrive at that precise form of government which 
 their institutions prescribe and their individual safety 
 demand. I have been accustomed to hear our lead- 
 ing statesmen declare that it was our preferable, 
 safest and more honourable policy to perform that 
 part, faithfully, which our rank and the respect of 
 other nations had assigned to us; whilst, with pleasure 
 have I heard them contend that the most sacred and
 
 imperative obligation, thereby imposed, was, the 
 maintenance of the just rights and independence of 
 the several nations, constituting the European Com- 
 monwealth. 
 
 Nature, in bestowing upon Britain the elements of 
 greatness and favouring her with a position that 
 shields her from external attack, has raised her in 
 the scale of nations and identified her with the pro- 
 tection of the weak; at the same time that the 
 principles of her Constitution and the good sense of 
 the people, command her rulers to confine their 
 ambition within just and equitable bounds. It thus 
 becomes alike her duty and her glory to defend those 
 who claim her support ; and, when she loses the hiuh 
 prerogative of being heard on the Affairs of Europe, 
 which has so long distinguished her, from that mo- 
 ment, the patriot's mind, no matter the division of 
 the globe in which he resides, will be filled with 
 sympathetic sadness. 
 
 In support of this principle, we nearly risked our 
 all, at a period when the most powerful league, ever 
 recorded in history, was arrayed against us. We 
 nevertheless persevered and, by the gallantry of our 
 troops, the vigilance of our navy and the aid of our 
 allies, came out triumphant ; but, if Fate had or- 
 dained otherwise ; had all our sacrifices of blood 
 and treasure then failed, so noble was the eau^e in 
 which we were engaged, that a popular orator,* 
 speaking of the cri>U of IHI'J and forbodinic the 
 uor>t, from IiU place in the HOIIM> of Common-, 
 feelingly exclaimed " Yet, after the general -uhjii- 
 
 Khcrttm. .'ul) -M
 
 gation and ruin of Europe, should there ever exist 
 an independent historian to record the awful events 
 which produced the universal calamity, let that his- 
 torian, after describing the greatness and glory of 
 Britain, have to say She fell, and with her fell, all 
 the best securities for the charities of human life 
 for the power and honour, the fame, the glory 
 and liberties of herself, as well as of the whole 
 civilized world/' 
 
 Great Britain, consequently, cannot be indifferent 
 to what is passing on the contiguous Continent. 
 She cannot disregard those signs which indicate 
 future movements among the States of Europe, dan- 
 gerous to that equilibrium which has hitherto pre- 
 served the whole Confederacy. Again, may we with 
 confidence say, " Soars Gaul's Vulture, with his 
 wings unfurled/' the storm is at hand, and it be- 
 hoves us in time to guard against the consequences. 
 No practicable effort ought, therefore, to be neg- 
 lected that can enable us to take the firm and 
 dignified attitude which the agitated state of Europe 
 requires. This we are bound to do for our own 
 honour and the general welfare. Rancour and in- 
 veteracy are again the prevailing vices of the day, 
 and their shafts more directly levelled against us. 
 Britain is thus called upon to prove herself the friend 
 of order and justice, and, if her principles of action 
 are sound and unchangeable, their application must 
 be alike to all. Each portion of the Great Family 
 becomes the immediate object of her solicitude, and 
 being thus bound and thus situated, she cannot with- 
 draw her attention to objects of more equivocal 
 policy.
 
 Imbued with these maxims, I have ventured to 
 address your Lordship on our Political and Com- 
 mercial Relations with Portugal, a subject respecting 
 which the country seems still to be in a strange state 
 of delusion a delusion, I regret to ay, at first arti- 
 ficially created, and since kept up for interested 
 purposes ; till, at last, the whole community, with 
 few exceptions, has become the too willing slave of 
 its own prejudices. The manner in which the Por- 
 tuguese question was treated, from the very first, is 
 one of those striking instances of national giddiness 
 and public folly which our own fertile annals can 
 afford, even in modern times ; and if, in my present 
 effort, I should be fortunate enough to throw any 
 new light upon a subject which I cannot but consider 
 of vital importance, I shall be amply repaid by the 
 reflection of having performed a duty to my country- 
 men. There never was a time when enlarged views 
 of our interests, foreign and domestic, for the pur- 
 pose of combining them in one solid and vigourous 
 system, were more necessary than at the present 
 moment. This is the only means of calling forth a 
 policy, suited to the present exigencies, as well as 
 the future prospects of the Empire : and his intentions 
 consequently will be treated with respect, who volun- 
 tarily steps forward with his humble offering. 
 
 Early associations may, perhaps, have created in 
 my mind a more than ordinary predilection for a 
 country, in which the most florid years of my youth 
 passed ; 
 
 Agnosco veteris vestigia Jlammte ; 
 and yet 1 have heard othci>, more entitled to public
 
 consideration than myself, speak of the " Benign 
 Mother of glorious Discoveries," with equal interest 
 and enthusiasm. I cannot turn to a page of their 
 history, without being struck with traits which re- 
 cord the bravery-of the Portuguese, and remind us of 
 their constant and characteristic fidelity to their 
 lawful Sovereigns. I never can obliterate from my 
 memory the signal services rendered to mankind by 
 Portugal ; I cannot be unmindful of the proud atti- 
 tude in which she stood, at the commencement of 
 the fifteenth century, as beautifully delineated by 
 our favourite Bard ; 
 
 " For, then, from ancient gloom emerg'd 
 
 The rising world of trade ; the Genius, then, 
 
 Of Navigation, that, in hopeless sloth, 
 
 Had slumbered on the vast Atlantic deep, 
 
 For idle ages, starting, heard, at last, 
 
 The Lusitanian Prince* who, heaven -inspired, 
 
 To useful love of glory rous'd mankind 
 
 And in unbounded commerce mix'd the world." 
 
 We must not besides forget that, whatever have 
 been the transitions through which Portugal, in 
 more modern times, has passed, she is still to be 
 viewed as a nation, once celebrated in every quarter 
 of the globe j as enjoying a geographical position of 
 the highest importance j as abounding in valuable 
 resources ; as capable of a trade of great magnitude, 
 even after all her Colonial losses, and as presenting 
 
 * Prince Henry, second son of John I. He was the discoverer of the 
 Azores and Cape de Verd Islands. He also pursued his discoveries 
 along the coast of Africa, for forty years, and died in the certain pros- 
 pect that a route to the Eastern World would soon crown those enter- 
 prises to which he himself had given birth.
 
 8 
 
 .in innumerable series of interesting object- to tin 
 consideration of the Historian, the Statesman aiui 
 the Merchant. Above all we can never regard 
 Portugal in any other character than as an old and 
 tried Ally, preeminently distinguished by the title of 
 " Faithful." 
 
 All this I have, nevertheless, sometimes been in- 
 clined to treat as a chimera as the magnificent 
 picture of a heated fancy, when I reflected on the 
 present state of our relations with the Court of 
 Lisbon. I almost doubted the evidence, spread be- 
 fore my own eyes, when I came to reason with my- 
 self on the indifference we evince towards a country 
 which, it was never yet denied, has made the greatest 
 sacrifices for us. I almost fancied myself carried 
 back to that crisis when every thing dear to us, as 
 individuals, and every thing valuable to us, as a 
 nation, was at stake I mean, when we first learnt 
 the military importance of the Peninsula and the 
 steady devotion of its inhabitants. Often, was I 
 astonished at the sentiments which I then heard 
 uttered, in the House of Commons. I was thunder- 
 struck at the ignorance which prevailed amonir u- 
 regarding the affairs of the Peninsula. Under the 
 circumstances in which we were at that period 
 placed, one would have thought that party-feeling 
 ovght to have subsided ; that opposition should have 
 ceased and that impediments would not have been 
 sullenly raised, in order to embarrass the progress 
 of a struggle, the unsuccessful termination of which 
 must have indiscriminately involved all parties in 
 one general ruin. 
 
 Influenced by the mo*t unaccountable infatuation,
 
 9 
 
 to my great surprise, I then beheld public men, 
 whose patriotism could not be doubted, although 
 their prejudices appeared unconquerable, condemn 
 every thing that was done to unite the interests of 
 the Peninsula with our own. The ardent spirit of 
 two nations, bereaft of their lawful sovereigns, was 
 uncherished, and even signal victories pronounced 
 barren of fruits, by a party, seemingly accustomed 
 to admire the delusive splendour of that fatal con- 
 flagration which, after destroying every thing vener- 
 able in France, threatened to extend its ravages to 
 all contiguous States. 
 
 Often also, as I pondered on the present position 
 of our affairs, in the same countries, I have asked 
 myself are those times of delusion returned is this 
 endlessly destined to be made a party-question ? To 
 it, I shall ever feel proud to reflect, I early turned 
 my attention and repeatedly ventured to publish the 
 result of my inquiries ; yet, when I reverted to the 
 state of public opinion among us, I almost appre- 
 hended that I had entered on a field of doubtful 
 speculation. Still I was satisfied with my diligence, 
 and, before I drew any one of my inferences, ba- 
 Janced well, in my own mind, the weight of the 
 conflicting evidence adduced, strengthening my 
 conclusions by such authorities as I found deserving 
 of credit. The question of right is now happily set 
 at rest, Brazil having pronounced the first verdict ; 
 that of expediency is therefore the only one that 
 remains to be considered. 
 
 Having established, as a leading principle, that 
 our vital interests lie in Europe and that, in guarding 
 them, the Peninsula presents itself in a prominent
 
 10 
 
 point of view, it is difficult, in an undertaking, like 
 the present, to look at only one of the two divisions 
 of which it is composed, particularly as in both we 
 found a ready theatre of action and there experi- 
 enced the aid of all kinds of physical, as well as 
 moral, circumstances. The very configuration of a 
 country that holds so imposing an attitude on the 
 Chart of Europe, is besides interesting to a power 
 that rules by sea ; and recent events have further 
 tended to create, between both component king- 
 doms, a sympathy of feeling and an identity of in- 
 terests which we cannot fail to respect, notwith- 
 standing our alliance is more immediately confined 
 to one. 
 
 Agitation prevails in the general mass of European 
 population, mixed with disappointed hopes and ex- 
 aggerated ideas, threatening to disturb that dis- 
 tribution and equipoise of power which it was the 
 object of modern policy to preserve. A restlessi 
 pervades all ranks of society, and constituted govern- 
 ments are already at a loss how to check the fiery 
 spirit that has began to blaze, with alarming fierce- 
 ness. Whether the minor States may hereafter be 
 threatened by any new eruption of violence, or am- 
 bition, it would be difficult at this moment to fore^ i : 
 but we cannot disguise the fact that, by recent oc- 
 currences, the French are now brought back to tin- 
 very period at which they once before started in 
 career of subversion and conquest, with tin- e\p 
 cnce of the past before them. It remains ih. ret'orc 
 to be M-en \\hetber implicit reliance can be placed 
 on their forbearance and moderation; or whether 
 their u r "\ eminent will have suflieicnt prudence and
 
 11 
 
 adequate power to suppress the internal energy and 
 curb the growing temper of the day. 
 
 Reflecting on the important objects of the present 
 European system, embracing, as it does, a variety of 
 interests, we are thus forcibly struck with the possi- 
 bility of its being endangered, through the operation 
 of unforseen and uncontrolable causes. This, there- 
 fore, suffices to put us on our guard ; and perma- 
 nent security having always been the aim of our 
 past efforts and the great desideratum of our 
 present wishes, we are naturally led to an estimate 
 of the force that appears interested in the support of 
 order ; that being the evident strength on which our 
 reliance is to be placed j nay, in the perilous situa- 
 tion in which we stand, it thence becomes our duty 
 not only to have the best possible understanding 
 with all our allies ; but also to uphold among them a 
 coincidence of views. 
 
 * Present appearances would consequently suggest 
 the most diligent precaution, as, in case a difficult 
 crisis should ensue, any discordance might render a 
 combined plan of operations impracticable ; at the 
 same time that it ought to be borne in mind, that 
 weakness and disunion would inevitably serve as an 
 excitement to aggression. Vigilant exertions are 
 thus rendered requisite on the part of the guardians 
 of the public peace, until time and the force of 
 public opinion shall have guaranteed the established 
 rule, and of these exertions an important share 
 necessarily devolves upon us. 
 
 Whatever turn affairs may take, it is, above all, 
 of the highest importance that a favourable opinion 
 should every where be entertained of the uprightness
 
 12 
 
 of our policy and the integrity of our views. In 
 order to diminish our moral influence, the govern- 
 ments which sprung out of the French Revolution, 
 were indefatigable. They represented us as bent 
 only on low and selfish interests ; as confiding on 
 the security of our insular fastness, and reckless of 
 the sufferings of others. Again are the same re- 
 proaches eagerly repeated by those who have an 
 interest in placing our policy in the most odious 
 point of view ; or dread the consequences likely to 
 follow the vigour of British interposition. The Re- 
 volutionists of Southern Europe, it is well known, 
 openly blame us for the failure of their subversive 
 plans and would glory in a fair opportunity of 
 revenge. 
 
 If, therefore, any coalition should be required ; 
 if, for the general safety of the whole, it should be 
 found expedient to knit the several concurring States 
 together ; to encourage their resistance and fix the 
 irresolute, we must commence by inspiring them 
 with a perfect confidence in our zeal. It is only by 
 a feeling of security and an entire reliance on the 
 sincerity of our professions, that they will become 
 true to their own independence, when menaced by 
 attack. Our obligations towards those who were 
 our immediate allies, during the late war, are indeed 
 still more imperative, as we, in some measure, 
 guaranteed to them that stability which we helped 
 them to achieve and the destinies of nation-* cannot 
 be trifled with. Confidence in the durability of 
 repose is essential to their happiness, and without 
 this no government can acquire strength no iu.sti- 
 tutioiib take root. In order to enable them to pur-
 
 13 
 
 sue their respective plans of social welfare and fortify 
 themselves in that post which they may be called 
 upon to defend, they must know, before hand, the 
 form of existence which they are destined to retain ; 
 and this would be utterly impossible, unless they 
 were well assured that the honour and interests of 
 that power to whom they may have to appeal for 
 support, are identified with their own. 
 
 We are therefore called upon to be prepared for 
 every emergency, and, without assuming an angry, 
 or suspicious attitude, to await the development of 
 those events by which we may be immediately, or 
 remotely, threatened. It is fervently to be hoped 
 that the peace of Europe may not be disturbed j but, 
 on that account, we are not to slumber. We have a 
 circle of foreign interests and relations around us, 
 within which, in extreme cases, our interference 
 must be felt. Whatever these interests and relations 
 
 * 
 
 are, it is our best policy to cultivate them with 
 candour and diligence, and by this means early 
 secure to ourselves the esteem and good will of those 
 to whom they extend. 
 
 What nations are most preeminently entitled to 
 the appellation of allies, thus becomes the next topic 
 of inquiry, and, in order to clear up any doubts upon 
 this point, I find no authority more respectable than 
 that of a lamented Statesman, whose memory is 
 revered by all parties.* Speaking upon this subject, 
 the experienced patriot " appealed to the policy of 
 our ancestors, who had always regarded Holland 
 and the Peninsula as those parts of Europe with 
 
 * The Earl of Liverpool, March 21, 1811.
 
 14 
 
 which it was essential to our best interests to main- 
 tain a close connection. In pursuit of this object, 
 thus Adeemed of such importance," he added, " the 
 best blood of our country was lavished, a century 
 ago." Again, nay, on a previous occasion, whilst 
 repelling the attacks of the Opposition und answer- 
 ing the question " What had we gained in the 
 Peninsula?" the same orator, rising from his seat 
 in the House of Lords, indignantly retorted thus 
 " Why we had gained the hearts and affections of 
 the whole population of Spain and Portugal we 
 had gained that of which no triumphs, no successes 
 of the enemy could deprive us. In Portugal, such 
 was the affection of the inhabitants, that there was 
 no want of a British soldier that was not instantly 
 and cheerfully supplied.* 
 
 Another statesman,t of whose services the country, 
 at a more recent period, was prematurely deprived, 
 during the Debate on the Foreign Treaties, (Nov. 
 11, 1813) emphatically observed " So much for the 
 state of Europe ; but, has this country gained nothing 
 by the glorious contest, even supposing peace should 
 be far distant ? Is it no satisfaction no compensa- 
 tion to her to reflect that the splendid scenes, dis- 
 played on the Continent, are owing to her efforts ? 
 Is it nothing to Great Britain, even purchased at so 
 high a price, that, under all the severity of her 
 sufferings and while her trade declined, her military 
 character has been exalted ? The victories of Ger- 
 many arc to be attributed to our victories in the 
 Peninsula. That spark, often feeble, sometime- - 
 
 * Ki bruary 22, 1810. t Mr. Can
 
 15 
 
 nearly extinguished as to excite despair in all hearts, 
 not above it, which we lighted in Portugal which 
 was fed and nourished there, at length burst in- 
 to a flame that dazzled and illuminated Europe. 
 The Portuguese are now looking upon the walls of 
 Bayonne, which " circle in those wolves" that would 
 have devastated their capital ; the Portuguese now 
 behold on the towers of Bayonne that standard 
 which their enemies would have made to float upon 
 the walls of Lisbon ! Great Britain," concluded he, 
 " has resuscitated Spain and recreated Portugal, and 
 may she still maintain that dignity of station and 
 support that grandeur and liberality of design upon 
 which she has hitherto acted; may she continue the 
 unoppressive guardian of the liberties she has vindi- 
 cated and the disinterested protectress of the bless- 
 ings she has bestowed." 
 
 In the very same times of danger and uncertainty, 
 Mr. Perceval* prophetically remarked ' that it was 
 impossible to suppose, that it could be the divine 
 intention of Providence to permit the continuance of 
 that system of oppression and usurpation, under 
 which Europe had so long groaned. It may not, 
 perhaps, be presumptuous in us to hope," continued 
 he, " that we may be the instruments of delivering 
 the world from its thraldom. It is not impossible, 
 in the dispensations of Providence, but that in that 
 very Peninsula in which the tyranny of France has 
 been so cruelly manifested, she may receive her 
 dekth-wound if. not, her grave." 
 
 * Vote of Thanks to Lord Wellington for the Defence of Portugal, April 
 26, 1811.
 
 16 
 
 Lord Sidmout h, in a very early stage of the con- 
 test,* also acknowledged " that he should feel much 
 reluctance at withdrawing our succours from Portu- 
 gal. Her long attachment to this country, the sin- 
 cerity of which had been so forcibly evinced, at 
 different periods, and most particularly in 1762, was 
 such that we ought to feel it incumbent upon us to 
 afford her every assistance in our power." Finally, 
 Lord Grenvillc, reverting to the past ; desirous that 
 the repose of Europe and the rights of independent 
 nations should not be again menaced by revolution- 
 ary madness, and, as if proud of the enviable posi- 
 tion in which the country stood, towards the close 
 of the struggle, forcibly exclaimedf " The crisis is 
 now arrived, when the mighty object to which our 
 wishes have been so long and so painfully directed, 
 is near its accomplishment. We fought for that 
 which we all along professed to fight for we armed 
 for that for which we all along boasted that we 
 armed we have maintained the contest for those 
 objects for which we always declared we maintained 
 it ; viz. as the only possible mode of asserting the 
 independence of other States, and, through their in- 
 dependence, supporting our own. The period has 
 now arrived when all Europe, with one voice, assents 
 to the truth of our assertion ; and though it be indeed 
 late, yet, with the blessing of Heaven, it will not be 
 too late for the full accomplishment of our great and 
 benevolent design. It has been to us long manifest, 
 that it was only by continued resistance; by the 
 
 In the Debate on the Convention with 1'uitim-al, Feb. 22, 1810. 
 f IHbatc on the Addrcw, Nov. 4, 1813.
 
 17 
 
 sacrifice of all partial views and interests; by a 
 determination to pursue just measures and common 
 objects, that the mighty fabric of French power, 
 long augmented by the ruins of neighbouring States, 
 was to be demolished and reduced to such limits, as 
 were consistent with the security and tranquillity of 
 the other kingdoms of Europe. I offer up my humble 
 thanks, with humble gratitude to the Supreme Dis- 
 poser of events that, after so long a period, he has 
 permitted me to behold my native land in such a 
 commanding situation, as to be able again to pursue 
 that which ought to be the only legitimate object of 
 foreign policy I mean, the establishment and pre- 
 servation of a balance of power in Europe. 
 
 " If we may now hope to resume that influence 
 on the Continent which we formerly enjoyed, to 
 which the struggle of Great Britain, long almost 
 singly maintained to which the powerful assistance 
 slie has afforded to the common cause to which the 
 uprightness and disinterestedness of her motives, 
 entitle her, we may, with gratifying, but not arro- 
 gant self-complacence, discharge those duties which, 
 while they promote and secure the permanent in- 
 terests of our own country, are not less conducive to 
 the general welfare of Europe. Be assured, my 
 Lords, that there is for this country no separate 
 peace. There is neither safety nor peace for Eng- 
 land, but with the safety and peace of Europe. As 
 for Continental Europe, it is equally true, that an 
 indissoluble union a firm confederation, in con- 
 junction with this country, can only secure, for all, 
 liberty, tranquillity and happiness ; can only obtain 
 peace, now almost beyond the memory of living 
 man. The plain duty of the country, placing its
 
 18 
 
 trust in Providence, is to improve, by every possible 
 exertion, the bright prospect that lays before us. 
 With the energies of Great Britain, duly applied, 
 ultimate success may be confidently anticipated. We 
 may now look forward to the speedy accomplishment 
 of that great purpose, for the attainment of which 
 we have already sacrificed, performed, and endured 
 so much ; and for which we are still ready to sacri- 
 fice, perform and endure." 
 
 It would be impossible to forget that, for a purpose 
 the most noble, we carried on protracted hostilities 
 in Spain and Portugal, under every species of ad- 
 versity, during which our officers displayed a new 
 military enterprise, and, to the dismay of the enemy, 
 evinced principles which subsided into the steady 
 measures of scientific war. We then sought our foe 
 upon that very Continent which, in the moments of 
 delirium, he had arrogantly called his own; ami. 
 finding in the two nations of the Peninsula firm and 
 devoted allies, eventually achieved the ends contem- 
 plated by the Grand Confederacy, and successfully 
 terminated a war of the most unprincipled aggression. 
 
 The above may suffice to shew the importance of 
 that country, in a political point of view; I shall 
 therefore proceed to the consideration of our Com- 
 mcrckil Relations with Portugal, which it is my 
 intention briefly to trace to their very origin. 
 
 Our intimacy with Portugal commenced, during 
 tin- earliest days of that monarchy. An army of 
 adventu: d to have amounted to 14,000 men, 
 
 embarked in 200 ships and composed of English, 
 d Flemings, bound to the Holy Land, 
 living to iltea of u ( ;uher, put iiito the Douro, 
 where they waited eleven days tor their leader.
 
 19 
 
 Count Arnold de Ardescot, whose vessel had been 
 separated from the rest. In the interval, a nego- 
 tiation commenced, through the medium of the 
 bishop of Oporto, and it was eventually arranged 
 that the fleet should proceed to the Tagus, where it 
 arrived on the vigil of St. Peter and St. Paul, 1147. 
 Alonzo I., lately proclaimed king, was at that time 
 preparing his second attack upon Lisbon, a for- 
 midable position, garrisoned by a large army of 
 Moors. The crusaders accepted the overtures made 
 to them and, having landed, materially contributed 
 to the success of the enterprise.* For this assist- 
 ance they received a large portion of the plunder, 
 together with valuable grants, of which many availed 
 themselves by remaining in the kingdom. Almada 
 and Sacavem were settled by Englishmen, belonging 
 to this expedition. On the taking of Lisbon, an 
 Englishman, of the name of Gilbert, also embarked 
 in the fleet, was appointed Bishop; and it is a curious 
 fact that he ordered the breviary and missal, of the 
 Anglican church of Salisbury, to be used in his 
 diocess, which practice continued till the year 1536, 
 when the Roman Liturgy was introduced. t 
 
 * These particulars are stated in a curious Latin letter, written by 
 Arnulfus, a person of distinction and one of the crusaders, in 1147, 
 printed in the Veterum Monumentarum, vol. i., page 800. Paris, 1724. 
 During the siege, the English were posted in a tower, purposely con- 
 structed, to the West, and the Flemings in another to the East, of the 
 
 city. 
 
 Far from the North, a warlike navy bore, 
 
 From Elbe, from Rhine and Albion's misty shore, 
 To rescue Salem's long polluted shrine 
 Their force to great Alonzo's force they join. 
 
 Lusiad, Book iii. 
 
 f Cunha, Bispos de Lisboa, part i., chap. i. Pereira, Chron. do 
 Carmo, Tom. ii., part 1.
 
 20 
 
 This circumstance gave rise to frequent epistolary 
 intercourse between the two countries ; but the 
 predatory spirit of the age, in which our island had 
 its full share, was adverse to commercial pursuits. 
 Through the intervention of the Earl of Flanders, 
 Edward I. however granted safe-conducts to the 
 merchants of Portugal, bearing date of 17th February, 
 1294, on conditions of reciprocity.* A quarrel after- 
 wards ensued, in consequence of the seizure of an 
 English vessel on the coast of Portugal, when inter- 
 course became suspended till the year 1308 ; but 
 proper explanations having been given, letters of 
 safe-conduct were again mutually exchanged. Ours 
 were dated October 3rd, and stipulated that the 
 Portuguese should " trade fairly, pay the usual cus- 
 toms and obey the laws of the land, while residing 
 in it."f In the year 1344 (January 8) the Sheriffs 
 of London were commanded to make proclamation 
 that the Portuguese should be received as friends 
 and allies, exactly conformable to Edward's policy 
 of conciliating the neutral powers. J 1 July* 1352, 
 Alonzo IV. having granted more protection to Eng- 
 lish traders in his dominions, our Edward HI. did 
 the same, by giving special letters to the command- 
 ers of five Portuguese vessels. 
 
 The first Treaty made between England and Por- 
 tugal corresponds to the year 1373, during the reigns 
 of the same Edward || and Ferdinand 1. ; but its 
 
 Rymer'i Focderm, VuL ii. p. 627. . 
 t Ibid. Vol. ill. p. 107. 
 Ibid, Vol. . p. 402. 
 {Ibid, pp. 740-1. 
 | Ibid. V..| Mi. p. 17.
 
 21 
 
 stipulations were merely those of general alliance, 
 most probably arising out of the conflicting preten- 
 sions, in those days, started to the Crown of Castile.* 
 It is however on record that the King of Portugal 
 secretly sent a minister to the English court, with 
 offers to support the views of John, Duke of Lancas- 
 ter, and from that period it is concluded that a closer 
 intimacy between the two courts was cemented. 
 
 The earliest remarkable mention I find made, in 
 Portuguese history, of British Resident Traders in 
 that country, occurs in a long series of Grievances, 
 presented by the Cortes of Evora, in 1482, to King 
 John II. This series is divided into 174 heads, or 
 chapters, all relating to the internal administration. 
 The complaint alluded to is curious, and being con- 
 fident that it never before appeared in English, I 
 subjoin an entire version. f 
 
 " Item Sire, the Inhabitants of your Kingdoms 
 receive great injury and your rights equal detri- 
 ment, from therein allowing foreign establishments, 
 such as of English, Flemings, Castilians and Genoese ; 
 the consequence of which is, that the English Resi- 
 
 * Our commerce was at so low an ebb in 1354, that the exports were 
 294, 184/. and imports 38,970/. 
 
 f The whole record, copied from the original, kept in the Torre do 
 Tombo, is inserted by the Viscount de Santarem, in his interesting 
 work, entitled Memorias para a Historia e Theoria das Cortes Gtfraes, 
 Sfc. (Lisb. 1828.) This transcript and that of the Cortes of Elvas, held 
 under Peter I., in 1361, are beautiful specimens of the manner in which 
 the ends of internal administration were formerly promoted, among the 
 Portuguese, and both are now reproduced by the learned and noble 
 antiquarian, as he himself declares, in order to shew " that our Cortes 
 were not the shadow of mere popular privileges, divested of reality, as 
 the innovators of the day have sought to inculcate."
 
 22 
 
 dents, regularly every year, bestir themselves at the 
 wine and oil season, for the purpose of ascertaining 
 the quantities on hand and probable prices, accord- 
 ing to the appearances of the times ; and, in order 
 to learn the same with more certainty, at the period 
 of the crops, they bribe a broker to carry them 
 round the district of the City of Lisbon, who shews 
 them all the estates, and there they minutely in- 
 quire into the quantities of wine, oil and other 
 articles to be found; which information, as soon as 
 obtained, they send off to their own country for the 
 use of their partners ; in such manner that they arc 
 informed before hand of the merchandize that is to 
 be sent therefrom, according to the appearances of 
 the times, in order to sell it well and make better 
 purchases; they always thus being on the alert, where- 
 as your subjects are thrown off their guard : and ac- 
 cording to the said advices, when the English would 
 otherwise bring to the City of Lisbon three thousand 
 pieces of cloths, they only bring one thousand five 
 hundred, and this is occasioned by their residence 
 here, as they send over accounts of the signs of the 
 times, in order the better to sell what they bring 
 over and with greater profit purchase their returns ; 
 likewise, the Flemings and Genoese never do any 
 good to your Kingdoms ; they rather rob them of 
 their gold and silver coin, and discover your secrets 
 regarding Mines and the Islands ; and, as for the 
 Castilians, those of them who, tor their malpractices 
 in their own country, are despised and driven thcrc- 
 troui, in yuur KiiiirdiMiK are received and clieri>hcd ; 
 
 from which you experience great disservice, because 
 all endeavour to diminish your rights and destroy
 
 23 
 
 your Kingdoms ; in consequence whereof, Sire, your 
 People beseech Your Highness, from this time 
 henceforwards, not to allow the said Residents in 
 your Kingdoms, or Lordships, and that they should 
 go peaceably away, until a certain time ; and that 
 every foreign merchant shall return in the ship, or 
 vessel, in which he came, under a certain penalty, 
 because foreign Residents and Merchants, if per- 
 mitted to remain, are a living plague (plaga viva) 
 that destroys the land ; and the aforesaid will pro- 
 mote your service and be of great advantage to your 
 native subjects. 
 
 " ANSWER. The King answers, that he deems it 
 proper that those who are at present residing here, 
 as well as those who may hereafter come, shall not 
 be permitted to abide and have establishments in has 
 Kingdoms, without having previously obtained his 
 special license; and that no others shall remain 
 permanently in the country than those whom he 
 may deem necessary, and who may well, as they 
 ought, and to the advantage of the Kingdom, carry 
 on their dealings ; and whosoever does otherwise, 
 shall be arrested and lose every thing found apper- 
 taining to him, in the said Kingdoms and Lordships 
 thereof." 
 
 In the same Cortes, a similar complaint was in- 
 stituted against the residence of foreigners, in the 
 Portuguese Islands, owing to which the national 
 vessels, it is stated, were deprived of their freights 
 and the Crown of its legal revenue ; the cargoes, 
 chiefly consisting of sugars, being shipped to other 
 countries ; whereon, at the expiration of a year, all 
 foreigners, unprovided with a royal license, were
 
 24 
 
 ordered to depart, under the penalty of imprison- 
 ment and confiscation. 
 
 About the year 1560, Antwerp was in the zenith of 
 its prosperity and several rich Portuguese houses 
 established there, carrying on commerce with their 
 native land, to which they sent quicksilver, copper, 
 brass, tin, lead, arms, &c. ; and receiving, in return, 
 Eastern jewels, spices and drugs, as well as cotton, 
 indigo and sugar, from the coast of Africa, and also 
 Madeira wines, oil, salt, &c. Here the principal 
 commerce of Portugal was then concentrated. 
 
 In 15/1, Queen Elizabeth entered into a Treaty of 
 Alliance and Commerce with King Sebastian, whilst 
 a minor, and consequently during the administration 
 of Cardinal Henry, afterwards Henry I. ; stipulating, 
 " Ut perfecta esse amicitia et liberum utrinque com- 
 mercium; neuter quicquam ni alterius pracjudicium 
 attentaret, nee hostibus, rebellibus, aut prodictoribus 
 alterius auxilium prcestaret ; merces, pecunice, naves 
 sub arresto detentcc, restituerentur." Ever since the 
 year 1553, the English had been in the habit of 
 trading to the coast of Africa, of which the Portu- 
 guese were the original discoverers, and this, as it 
 was then deemed, intrusion, led to serious differences, 
 which it was the object of the above Treaty to adjust, 
 rather than to place the commerce between the two 
 monarchies on a new footing. The English were 
 not for the moment molested in the Guinea trade ; 
 but, in 1573, Queen Elizabeth appointed a com- 
 mi-Mon to inquire into depredations, committed by 
 tin- Portuguese; at the same time ordering an ac- 
 count of their property, found within her dominions,
 
 25 
 
 to be taken, in order that compensation might be 
 made to the sufferers.* 
 
 English subjects, settled in Portugal, nevertheless 
 continued to enjoy special favour and protection from 
 the Sovereigns; some individuals having licences, 
 containing privileges and exemptions, bestowed upon 
 them, as acts of grace, till the annexation of that 
 country to Spain, when our commerce was placed 
 upon the same footing as in the other dominions of 
 the Castilian Crown. 
 
 The Portuguese, it will be remembered, effected 
 their liberation through their own efforts, and the 
 authority of the new sovereign being acknowledged 
 by England, a Treaty of Peace and Commerce was 
 accordingly concluded between Charles I. and John 
 IV., and signed in London on the 29th January, 
 1642. After stipulating the usual introductory terms, 
 Article 1st declares that " neither party shall enter 
 into any war, or treaty, that may be prejudicial to 
 the other; 2nd, that a mutually free commerce 
 shall be established between the two kingdoms, as 
 well as the islands and dependencies thereof; the 
 loading and unloading of vessels allowed on the pay- 
 ment of the customary duties, with right to dispatch 
 the same either home, or to any other country the 
 parties interested may think proper ; 3rd, that the 
 respective subjects shall not be ill-treated; shall 
 have the advantages of natives and the British placed 
 on the same footing as provided by the Treaties ex- 
 isting betwe'en Great Britain and Castile ; 4th, that 
 British subjects shall have free trade and access to 
 all the European dominions of Portugal, in a manner 
 
 * Rymer's Facdera, Vol. xv. p. 721. 
 D
 
 26 
 
 similar to other allies, and there enjoy the game pri- 
 vileges as before the union with Castile ; 5th, that 
 both parties respectively shall only ship such articles 
 as suit them; 6th, that if the Inquisition should 
 seize the property of a Portuguese, or foreigner, who 
 w, or may become, indebted to a British subject, the 
 seizure shall only last one year and the debt re- 
 covered : 7th, that British officers and sailors shall 
 not sue for wages, on pretext of being Catholics, or 
 wishing to enter the Portuguese service ; 8th, that 
 British Consuls shall not be disturbed in their official 
 duty, on account of their religion ; 9th, that on a 
 British subject dying, the judicial authorities of the 
 laud shall not take charge of his property ; 10th, 
 that British vessels and property shall not be taken 
 for the King's service; llth, that British subjects 
 shall be allowed to ship all kinds of merchandize, 
 arms included, and convey the same to any part, 
 except Portuguese dominions and those of Castile ; 
 12th, that the truce made in India shall be con- 
 firmed ; 13th, that British subjects, established on 
 the coast of Africa, shall not be molested ; 14th, that 
 British subjects shall be put upon the same footing 
 as those of Holland ; 15th, that they snail enjoy the 
 same, or greater, privileges than the subjects of 
 other allied powers, as regards arrests, books of 
 accounts, residence and property ; 16th, that, as the 
 freight for British vessels, employed by Portuguese 
 in the Brazil trade, had not been stipulated, within 
 two years, commissioners shall be appointed to regu- 
 late the same; 17th, that the English shall not be 
 molested on account of their religion ; but, in this 
 respect, enjoy greater freedom than may be granted 
 to others ; 18th, that, in case any differences should
 
 arise and end in war, two years shall be mutually 
 allowed to the respective merchants for the final dis- 
 posal of their property; 19th, that if any thing 
 should be done contrary to the stipulations of the 
 present Treaty, it shall not on that account be con- 
 sidered as broken ; but due atonement made by the 
 offending party ; 20th, that this Treaty shall not be 
 considered as derogating from any other made by 
 the King of England ; 21st and last, pledges a strict 
 observance of all the conditions, &c." 
 
 In this manner was our connection with Portugal 
 first defined. By virtue of this transaction, the latter 
 gained the advantage of our recognition ; but, for 
 this act, whether of justice, or of policy, Holland 
 had been long prepared, notwithstanding the war 
 which the Dutch were at the moment carrying on in 
 Brazil ; and, in consequence of this favourable dis- 
 position and as a means of further conciliation, a 
 grant of free trade to Portugal had, in the previous 
 year, been made to them, dated January 21, 1641, as 
 acknowledged in the 14th article of the above Treaty. 
 Holland was, at that time, our rival in commerce as 
 well as in maritime power, and our ancestors must 
 besides have been obviously influenced by a variety 
 of other considerations. France had also some time 
 before acknowledged the new dynasty in Portugal, 
 as seen by the letters of Louis XIII. and Cardinal 
 Richelieu to King John IV., the first dated the 14th 
 and the second the 15th June, 1641.* 
 
 In return for this favour, if such it can be called, 
 the substantial benefits which we acquired, were, a 
 
 * These two documents are published entire in my Letter to Sir James 
 Mackintosh, p. 285 et seq.
 
 28 
 
 free commerce and special protection in Portugal, 
 even in opposition to the interests, as by themselves 
 expressed, and religious prejudices, of the inhabi- 
 tants; the means of holding fixed property; of 
 carrying Portuguese trade to Brazil, together witli a 
 variety of exemptions, not even enjoyed by natives. 
 Commerce on the coast of Africa was also confirmed 
 to us, and our traders at once freed from those levies, 
 embargos, and contributions, for the public service, 
 to which, in Spain, for example, the subjects of all 
 countries, in those days were exposed ; for it must 
 be recollected that it was not till the year 1667, that 
 the Treaty was concluded with us which guaranteed 
 to British traders and residents in the Peninsular do- 
 minions of Spain, those privileges which Philip IV. 
 had granted to us in Andalusia.* 
 
 The next Treaty made with Portugal was during 
 the Protectorate of Cromwell, which many natives 
 have likened to those dictated by the Romans to their 
 vanquished enemies. The Portuguese, I do not 
 hesitate to say, have always considered this not only 
 an onerous ; but also an humiliating Treaty, and the 
 terms, as viewed at this distance of time, really seem 
 to have been more enforced, than balanced, accord- 
 ing to any known principle of reciprocity. 
 
 The attitude in which Great Britain stood, at the 
 period alluded to, was truly singular. Speaking of 
 the Commonwealth, Hume observes that, " during 
 the variety of ridiculous and distracted scenes which 
 the civil government exhibited in England, the mili- 
 tary force was exerted with vigour, conduct and 
 
 VWe Chtlacr'i Treaties, Vol. ii.
 
 29 
 
 unanimity ; and never did the kingdom appear more 
 formidable to all foreign nations." We had just de- 
 feated the fleets of Holland and compelled the States 
 to sue for peace. The thirty years war was closed, 
 and, as our historian further remarks, " the bold and 
 restless genius of the Protector led him to extend 
 his alliances and enterprises to every part of Christen- 
 dom ; and, partly from the ascendant of his mag- 
 nanimous spirit partly from the situation of foreign 
 kingdoms, the weight of England, even under its 
 most legal and bravest Princes, was never more 
 sensibly felt than during this unjust and violent 
 usurpation." 
 
 In circumstances, like these, the new Treaty with 
 Portugal was concluded ; but, before I enter into a 
 discussion of its merits, I must convey some idea of 
 the manner in which the previous compact was 
 broken, 
 
 The curious dilemma into which the British fleet 
 was thrown, through the broils between Charles I. 
 and his Parliament, are well remembered by the 
 English reader. The Parliament, aware that the 
 possession of the fleet would render them, in the 
 opinion of foreign nations, the supreme power, re- 
 solved to dispossess the King of this valuable auxili- 
 ary, and, in 1642, appointed the Earl of Warwick 
 High Admiral. Whilst the Presbyterian party held 
 the ascendancy, naval affairs were conducted in an 
 efficient manner ; but, on the accession of the Inde- 
 pendents, in 1648, Warwick and the principal officers 
 were removed, to the great displeasure of the navy. 
 The officers newly appointed were sent back, and 
 the fleet passed over to Holland, to take on board
 
 30 
 
 the Duke of York, conformably to the known wishes 
 of the King, at that time a prisoner. The fleet con- 
 sisted of 17 good ships, although badly fitted and 
 officered ; but this force was nevertheless superior 
 to any the Parliament could bring against it. In- 
 trigues however counteracted all the prospective 
 effects of an incident which, at first, promised so 
 much; notwithstanding Warwick was restored to 
 the command and joined by several other vessels. 
 After a variety of casualties, on the decline of the 
 King's cause, the remaining ships were put under 
 the command of Prince Rupert, who left the coast of 
 Holland, in July, 1648. He first sailed to a port in 
 Ireland, whence, forcing his way through a blockading 
 squadron, with considerable loss, he proceeded to 
 the coast of France and next to the Mediterranean. 
 By Cromwell's orders, Admiral Blake pursued the 
 Prince, and finding him in the harbour of Lisbon, 
 haughtily demanded his expulsion. Receiving a 
 refusal, the Admiral blockaded the entrance of the 
 Tagus and took and destroyed a fleet of 15 Portu- 
 guese vessels, coming from Brazil. 
 
 Thus was our first Treaty with Portugal rescinded j 
 these occurrences happening in the months of Sep- 
 tember and October, 1650. Any elaborate inquiry 
 into the merits of this case, according to the prin- 
 ciples of international law, or the state of our ex- 
 isting relations, at so remote a period, would be of 
 no avail ; but, in looking at the affair, it must be 
 taken into consideration that the 19th Article of the 
 Treaty in question provides thus j " And if, during 
 the present Peace and Friendship, any thing should 
 be undertaken, committed, or done, contrary to the
 
 31 
 
 force and effect of this Treaty, by any one of the 
 aforesaid Kings, whether by sea, land, or fresh 
 water, their heirs, or successors, their vessels, or 
 subjects ; nevertheless, the present Peace and Friend-- 
 ship shall retain their full force and value, and those 
 only who may contravene this Treaty be punished 
 for its infraction." Pursuant to the 20th Article, it 
 was further agreed (that is by Charles I. on our 
 part) " that the present Peace and Alliance shall not 
 in any way derogate from the Alliances and Con- 
 federations, previously made and contracted between 
 the most potent King of Great Britain and other 
 Kings, Princes and Republics; but that all such 
 Confederations and Alliances shall be firmly pre- 
 served and hereafter remain in full force and vigour, 
 notwithstanding the present Treaty of Peace." 
 
 Prince Rupert, son of the Elector Palatine, was 
 an officer in the service of Charles I., with whom the 
 Treaty was originally made, and although the latter 
 had been put to death and his power usurped by 
 another, the right of his heirs was still acknowledged 
 by most of the European States. The Prince had, 
 besides, just before entering the port of Lisbon, 
 escaped from a storm, in the Mediterranean, and 
 was in want of repairs and supplies, so that it can 
 scarcely be contended that the British Admiral's 
 demand, addressed to a neutral, was founded on the 
 received maxims of maritime warfare. If it Was not, 
 this treatment of the Portuguese Sovereign was an 
 undue exercise of ascendancy ; no article in the 
 Treaty withholding from Prince Rupert the courte- 
 sies of hospitality. It ought further to be recollected 
 that, in consequence of the absence of all restrictions
 
 32 
 
 relating to articles, contraband of war, British sub- 
 jects had continued to supply the enemies of Portu- 
 gal with arms, during the whole time the Treaty of 
 1642 was in force. 
 
 Cromwell's Treaty with Portugal was signed at 
 Westminster, on the 10th July, 1654. Article 1, 
 after reestablishing the former relations of Friend- 
 ship and Commerce, and agreeing that neither party 
 shall enter into a separate War, or Treaty, enacts 
 " that no rebels, nor fugitives, shall be received, or 
 sheltered, in the ports of each other ;" 2nd, confirms 
 the same, in more specific terms; 3rd, declares 
 " that British subjects shall, in all public sales and 
 contracts, be treated like natives, notwithstanding 
 any previous judicial determinations and privileges 
 to the contrary ; 4th, that British traders shall not 
 be subjected to onerous charges for custom-house 
 guards ; 5th, that in case the property of Portu- 
 guese, or others, indebted to British subjects, should 
 be seized by the Inquisition, any other court, or 
 magistrate, such debt shall be paid therefrom with- 
 in six months ; 6th, that British sailors and officers 
 shall not sue for wages, within the dominions of 
 Portugal, on pretext of adhering to the Catholic 
 religion ; nor enter the service of the King of Portu- 
 gal ; 7th, that British Consuls shall be appointed by 
 the Protector, and not impeded in the exercise of 
 their functions on the score of their religion; and 
 also that, in order to judge all causes u hirh may 
 have reference to the subjects of the said Republic, 
 a Judge Conservator shall be appointed, from whose 
 award there shall be im appeal, except to the High 
 ( 'ourt of Justiciary, where the matter shall be decided
 
 within four months; 8th, prevents the administra- 
 tion of the property of deceased British subjects from 
 falling into the hands of the local courts ; 9th stipu- 
 lates that British vessels and property shall not be 
 embargoed for the public service ; 10th that British 
 subjects shall be allowed to export from Portugal 
 all kinds of merchandize, even arms, and the same 
 also from Great Britain, to the Castilian dominions ; 
 and also to import into those of Portugal, arms, 
 wheat, fish and all kinds of merchandize, without 
 exception, and there sell the same, wholesale and 
 retail, unobstructed by any public functionary, tri- 
 bunal, or otherwise; llth, that British subjects shall 
 freely navigate their vessels and trade from Portu- 
 gal to Brazil and any other Conquests thereof, in 
 the East Indies, Africa, &c. and therefrom back 
 again to Portugal, with all kinds of merchandize ; 
 except fish, wine, oil and Brazil wood ; 12th, secures 
 to "British subjects all rights and exemptions, granted 
 to the Dutch in 1641 ; I3th declares that no British 
 subject shall be arrested unless on a criminal charge 
 and taken in the act, without a written order from 
 the Judge Conservator ; that their persons, abodes, 
 account books and property shall enjoy perfect im- 
 munity j that no special protection, granted to Por- 
 tuguese subjects, or others, shall prevent those of 
 Great Britain from sueing for debts due to them, 
 even although the debtor should be a receiver of the 
 revenue, or privileged by title ; 14th, that they shall 
 not be troubled on account of their religion, or for 
 having English Bibles, or other books in their pos- 
 session, and have a burial-ground, &c. ; 15th, that, in 
 case of a rupture, public notice and two years shall 
 

 
 34 
 
 be given by both parties, for the removal of property, 
 &c, ; 16th, that if either party should contravene, 
 the present act shall nevertheless remain in full 
 force, the infractor Only giving satisfaction ; 17th, that 
 should disputes arise between the inspectors res- 
 pecting the fish, or other provisions, imported, the 
 same shall be settled by arbitrators, not Portuguese, 
 chosen by the government and the British Consul ; 
 18th, that vessels of war, as far as six, shall res- 
 pectively be admitted into the ports of each ; 19th, 
 that neither shall allow the ships, or property of the 
 other, captured by enemies, or rebels, to be taken to 
 their ports for sale ; it being further agreed that the 
 same shall be restored ; 20th, that British subjects 
 shall pay no other than the usual anchorage and 
 tonnage duties, and if therein any bad custom should 
 have been introduced, it shall be abandoned; 21st, 
 that British subjects shall be exempt from the pay- 
 ment of all dues to St. George's Chapel, bearing 
 anns, &c. j 22nd, that they shall have their own 
 dwellings, warehouses, &c., and allowed to carry 
 arms, in defence of themselves and property ; 23rd, 
 that the property of either party, found on board an 
 enemy's vessel, shall be respected ; 24th, that all 
 just debts due by the King of Portugal to British 
 subjects shall be paid in two years ; that all writings 
 and acknowledgments in which British subjects arc 
 concerned, relating to ve<>eK previously loaded by 
 the King of Portugal, or his suhjeets, bound to Bra- 
 /il, or Angola, and captured by Prince Rupert, or 
 his brother Maurice, shall be cancelled ; 25th, that 
 British property detained shall be restored ; finally, 
 2/th and 28th relate to the strict observance there- 
 of, &c.
 
 35 
 
 By a secret article, it was further concluded that 
 British subjects, within the Portuguese dominions, 
 on their merchandize, favourably valued in the Cus- 
 tom-house tariffs, shall pay no more duties than 23 
 per cent ; and if it should be intended to'^ raise the 
 said tariffs, because the true value of the merchan- 
 dize had advanced, that it should be done by the 
 advice of two British merchants j but that if the said 
 merchandize should fall, that the valuations shall in 
 like manner be lowered'; and should disputes arise, 
 that the same shall be settled by arbitrators, ap- 
 pointed by the British Consul and the Custom-house ; 
 finally, that Portuguese subjects, in the dominions 
 of the Republic, shall pay the same imposts and 
 duties, as established in May, 1654, &c. 
 
 Having stated the circumstances under which this 
 Treaty was concluded by Cromwell, in July, 1654, 
 the preceding enumeration of the principal stipula- 
 tions will suffice to convey a tolerably good idea of 
 the nature of that reciprocity on which it was found- 
 ed. The king of Portugal was thereby induced to 
 acknowledge the authority of an usurper, besides 
 subjecting himself and country to a variety of other 
 humiliations. He consented that we should have a 
 peculiar legislation for ourselves within his domin- 
 ions, in many respects, contrary to the laws of the 
 land, as well as the religious prejudices of his own 
 people ; and allowed the importation of various arti- 
 cles, to the detriment of his own domestic manufac- 
 tures. We thus also became carriers of Portuguese 
 trade to Brazil and other settlements in Africa 'and 
 the East Indies, and even obtained a participation 
 in the coasting trade.
 
 36 
 
 It would be difficult to repel the various argu- 
 ments adduced by numerous Portuguese writers, to 
 shew that this Treaty destroyed their cultivation 
 of wheat, as well as their fisheries; a charge very 
 generally raised and, I am sorry to be obliged to 
 add, now eagerly repeated. In the time of Eman- 
 uel, the population of Portugal was estimated at 
 four millions, and it is equally well known that, 
 during the reign of some of his predecessors, suffi- 
 cient wheat was grown for home consumption and 
 some exported. We have it on record that, in May, 
 1325, an English vessel was sent to Portugal to take 
 in a cargo of corn and other provisions, destined for 
 Aquitaine, and so deep was the interest which our 
 Edward II. took in the success of this enterprize, 
 that he wrote to King Alonzo IV. and his mother, 
 soliciting their special protection for the owner.* 
 In a word, the preferences assigned to us in this 
 Treaty are incalculable, and evidently obtained by 
 sacrifices much greater than were ever before de- 
 manded by one nation from another. 
 
 The Cromwell Treaty has nevertheless served as a 
 basis for all those subsequently concluded. In 1662, 
 a marriage contract was entered into for the es- 
 pousals of Charles II. with the Infanta Catherine, 
 
 Rymcr's Fadera, Vol. iv. p. 146. King Denlz died on the :Jfltl. 
 December, 1324. So famed was he for his attention to agriculture that 
 he acquired the name of Labrador (Farmer) 
 
 Now brave Deniz reigns, whose noble fire 
 
 Bespoke the genuine lineage of his sire. 
 Now heavenly peace wide wav'd her olive bough, 
 Each vale display 'd the labours of the plough 
 And smiled with joy. 
 
 l.'iM.ul. Book in.
 
 37 
 
 sister of John IV., stipulating that all previous 
 Treaties between the two countries should be con- 
 firmed and ratified ; that Portugal should give, as a 
 dowry, the city and castle of Tangiers with all the 
 dependencies thereof; two millions of cruzados ; the 
 island and port of Bombay ; and further allow free 
 commerce to Goa, Cochin-China and Diu, &c. In 
 a secret article it was further agreed, that the King 
 of Great Britain should " defend and protect all the 
 conquests, or colonies, belonging to the Crown of 
 Portugal, against all its enemies, as well future, as 
 present." 
 
 In the annals of our Portuguese connection, the 
 year 1703 is memorable for two transactions. The 
 first was a defensive Treaty, concluded during the 
 reign of Queen Anne, on behalf of Great Britain and 
 the States General with Portugal, which, after con- 
 firming all compacts previously made between them, 
 stipulates that, in case the Kings of Spain, or France, 
 should intend, or actually wage, war against Por- 
 tugal, or any part of her dominions beyond seas, the 
 other contracting parties shall interfere and prevent 
 the same ; that if their good offices should be of no 
 avail, they shall then declare and carry on war 
 against the aggressors, for this purpose providing 
 an adequate force, &c. ; and finally, that no peace, or 
 truce, should be concluded without the consent of 
 all, &c. 
 
 This Convention was signed on the 16th May, 
 1703, and followed by a new Commercial arrange- 
 ment, known by the name of the Methuen Treaty, 
 concluded on the 27th December in the same year, 
 of which the following is a copy.
 
 38 
 
 " Article 1. His Sacred Royal Majesty of Portu- 
 gal promises, both in his own name and that of his 
 successors, to admit, for ever hereafter, into Portu- 
 gal, the woollen cloths and the rest of the woollen 
 manufactures of the British, as was accustomed 
 till they were prohibited by the laws j nevertheless, 
 upon this condition ; that is to say, 
 
 " Article 2. That Her Sacred Royal Majesty of 
 Great Britain shall, in her own name and that of her 
 successors, be obliged for ever hereafter to admit 
 the Wines of the growth of Portugal into Britain ; 
 so that at no time, whether there shall be peace or 
 war between the Kingdoms of Britain and France, 
 any thing more shall be demanded for these wines 
 by the name of custom, or duty, or by any other title 
 whatsoever, directly or indirectly, whether they shall 
 be imported into Great Britain in pipes, or hogs- 
 heads, or other casks, than what shall be demanded 
 for the like quantity or measure of French wine, de- 
 ducting or abating one third part of the custom, or 
 duty. But if at any time this deduction, or abatement 
 of customs, which is to be made as aforesaid, shall in 
 any manner be attempted and prejudiced, it shall be 
 just and lawful for His Sacred Royal Majesty of 
 Portugal again to prohibit the woollen cloths and 
 the rest of the British woollen manufactures." 
 
 Tlii> Treaty, as regards Portugal, was carried into 
 effect by means of a royal edict, dated April 26, 
 1704, in these words ; " I have thought proper to 
 raise the prohibition which has hitherto been in force 
 against the n-r of the cloths of England, and it is 
 my wish that all my subjects may be enabled to 
 make use of them, as well as of any other woollen
 
 39 
 
 manufactures, accustomed to come from the said 
 Kingdom, in like manner and as freely as they did 
 and could use them, previous to the aforesaid man- 
 date prohibiting the same, which I hereby hold as 
 derogated." Peter II. thus not only allowed the 
 admission of British Woollens, but also recommended 
 their use to his subjects. 
 
 At what precise period the prohibition of British 
 Woollens above alluded to took place, I have not 
 learnt ; but it is more than presumable, that it was 
 intended as a protection to domestic manufactures. 
 At all events, the readmission was a matter of great 
 importance, as it will be in my power to shew, when 
 I come to discuss the nature and magnitude of our 
 commerce with Portugal, as settled on the last basis. 
 Adam Smith, speaking upon the subject, considers 
 this Treaty as disadvantageous to Great Britain and 
 favourable to Portugal, on account of the preference 
 given to her wines ; but, besides the facilities af- 
 forded to us of becoming the exclusive carriers, he 
 overlooks the disproportion of our manufactures 
 taken back in return. The time however to discuss 
 this topic, will be when I come to consider the modi- 
 fications which our Treaties have since undergone ; 
 but, in the mean while, it may not be improper to 
 remark that Mr. King, the Editor of the British 
 Merchant, dedicating his work, at the time much 
 esteemed, to Sir Paul Methuen, son of the negotiator 
 of the Treaty, says that, by it, " we gain a greater 
 balance from Portugal than any other country \ 
 besides having increased our exports thither from 
 about 300,000 to near 1,500,000 yearly." In 
 times of war, neutral vessels had brought us red
 
 40 
 
 wines from France and Spain, the consumption of 
 which it was besides in those days considered inex- 
 pedient to encourage without some return. 
 
 Our commerce with Portugal thrived so well that, 
 towards the year 1745, 6 or 700 British vessels ar- 
 rived at Lisbon, annually, and we besides carried the 
 principal part of the trade of that port to the Medi- 
 terranean. The largest proportion of the supplies 
 of flour was also received from the British American 
 Colonies, of cod-fish from Newfoundland, and of 
 provisions from Ireland. The competitors in the 
 trade were nevertheless numerous and successful. 
 Russia supplied flax, hemp, leather, sail-cloth, un- 
 wrought iron, timber, coarse linens, pitch, tar, &c. ; 
 Hamburgh, German linens ; Holland, woollen cloths, 
 camlets, linens, spices, naval stores, round cheeses, 
 arms, &c. ; France, fine woollens, crapes, wrought 
 silks, fine linens and articles of dress, &c. ; all which 
 countries received in return a considerable balance 
 in money. 
 
 The earliest records I have been able to trace res- 
 pecting our imports from and exports to Portugal, 
 correspond to the commencement of the reign of 
 George III. of which subjoined is the reported official 
 value for the undcrnamed years. 
 
 England. Scotland. 
 
 1761 -Imports (Portugal) . . . . 299,088 8,446 
 
 ,, (Madeira) 3,380 
 
 Exports (Portugal) 1,291,560 
 
 (Madeira) 31,605- 
 
 1762 Imports (Portugal) .... 359,127- 6,274 
 
 (Madeira) 3,729 
 
 Exports (Portugal) .... 908,729- l<
 
 41 
 
 England. Scotland. 
 
 1762 Exports (Madeira) 43,232 216 
 
 1763 Imports (Portugal) .... 304,05611,081 
 
 (Madeira) 1,119 
 
 Exports (Portugal) .... 727,623 11,706 
 
 (Madeira) 37,278 239 
 
 1764 Imports (Portugal) .... 312,974 11,700 
 
 (Madeira) 5,792 
 
 Exports (Portugal) 1,244,198 1,169 
 
 ;, m (Madeira) 40,152 400 
 
 1765 Imports (Portugal) .... 354,307 13,996 
 
 (Madeira) 3,974 78 
 
 Exports (Portugal) 679,037 3,110 
 
 (Madeira) 40,797 320 
 
 1766 Imports (Portugal) .... 347,800 14,179 
 
 (Madeira) 6,988 33 
 
 Exports (Portugal) .... 667,104 695 
 
 ,', (Madeira) 36,260 1,863 
 
 In estimating the importance of our commerce 
 with Portugal, it must however be taken into con- 
 sideration that, at the above period, our exports were 
 only, in a few instances, greater to other countries. 
 Searching for our largest customers, I find that in 
 1761, we exported from England to the East Indies, 
 1,161,670; to Germany, 1,544,016; to Holland, 
 1,784,442; and to Spain, 1,048,222. It must 
 also be borne in mind that the reported official value 
 of .exported articles is always considerably under- 
 rated. 
 
 In 1765, complaints were made of the declining 
 state of our trade in Portugal, which, as far as I am 
 able to judge, chiefly arose from competition. Our 
 Woollens had been particularly affected by French
 
 42 
 
 and Dutch importations, the former of whom also 
 rivalled us in hats, silks, &c. The trade from New- 
 foundland had declined from 80,000 to 30,000 quin- 
 tals of codfish, and the Continental States interfered 
 with our supplies of flour. Butter and cheese were 
 also sent more freely from Holland, and Dutch, 
 Swedish and Danish shipping obtained readier 
 freights. Our sales of vessels were also diminished, 
 and our traders seem to have laboured under aggra- 
 vated disappointments, which they felt inclined to 
 attribute to a want of more decided favour and pro- 
 tection on the part of the Portuguese government ; 
 at the same time that the subjects of the latter were 
 constantly inveighing against the preferences shewn 
 to privileged foreigners. 
 
 These complaints were reiterated, in 1767> when 
 the establishment of the Oporto Wine Company, as 
 well as of the privileged Associations for carrying 
 on trade to Maranham and Pernambuco, became 
 topics of invective. Without stopping t< inquire 
 into any further causes, it is evident that our Portu- 
 gal trade was liable to incidental fluctuations, which 
 no foresight on our part could control, as long as the 
 Portuguese ports were equally open to other nations. 
 It was nevertheless valuable, and as a further eluci- 
 dation, I subjoin an abstract of general trade, cor- 
 responding to the year 1"67, exclusive of that to 
 Faro and Ireland, as well an of the bullion and dia- 
 monds received in return.
 
 43 
 
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 PQ 
 
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 03 03 
 
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 03 Q 
 
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 s 
 
 w a 
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 I-H . 
 
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 73 
 
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 ^-! fl 
 
 ^w C 
 
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 g <b 
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 K CJ 
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 ^3 S 
 
 .52 s 
 
 fe FQ 
 
 OS rrj 
 
 o 5 
 
 
 
 73 fc 
 
 a 03 
 
 03 U 
 
 o3 y 
 
 ?| 
 
 1 S 
 
 ^ s 
 
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 2 * 
 
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 gj -3 
 
 V? 
 
 *- ^ 
 
 1* 
 
 O .5 
 
 
 
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 tn W 
 
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 s ^ 
 
 .t5 
 
 & ^ 
 
 S - 
 
 PH fe 
 
 73 
 
 3 
 
 & S 
 a .s 
 
 - 
 
 e s
 
 44 
 
 In 1773> our trade with Portugal was at its lowest 
 ebb, as will be collected from the following state- 
 ment of imports and exports : 
 
 England. Scotland. 
 
 1773 Imports (Portugal) 349,214 12,817 
 
 (Madeira) 2,499 
 
 Exports (Portugal) 522,379 404 
 
 (Madeira) ......13,118 201 
 
 1774 Imports (Portugal) 373,247 20,506 
 
 (Madeira) 3,124 36 
 
 Exports (Portugal) 558,158 791 
 
 (Madeira) 25,495 6 
 
 In 1775j our exports from England to Portugal 
 increased to 632,989, whilst, in 1776, they declined 
 to 530,784, and in 1778 to 430,936. In 1779, our 
 exports rose to 647,813, and in 1780 again fell to 
 459,673. In 1782, they amounted to 687,324, and 
 in 1784 to 491,800. In 1785, our exports rose to 
 795,225. and in 1787 declined to 576,834, in which 
 year our imports from Portugal alone were 572,095. 
 In 1789, our imports were 654,665. and exports 
 698,724. ; in 1790, imports 704,885. and exports 
 635,214. ; in 1791, imports 814,351. and exports 
 617,501.; in 1792, imports 911,200. and exports 
 700,867. ; in 1793, imports 441,325. and exports 
 546,709.; in 1794, imports 665,106. and exports 
 551,324. ; in 1795, imports 790,047. and exports 
 550,750. ; in 1796, imports 614,450. and exports 
 645,325. ; in 1797, imports 454,797. and exports 
 595,082. ; in 1798, imports 645,665. and exports 
 742,234. ; in 1799, imports 910,831. and exports 
 1,065,666. 
 
 Finally, the trade of Portugal with Ireland, from
 
 45 
 
 March, 1781, to March, 1782, was, as follows ; cork, 
 drugs, dyes, almonds, figs, raisins, liquorice, oranges 
 and lemons, oil, pot-ashes, salt, raw silk, thrown 
 ditto, undyed, brandy, vinegar, wine and small 
 articles 99,557. 
 
 For the same period, the imports from Ireland 
 were, beef, butter, candles, cheese, fish, tanned hides, 
 linens, pork and small articles 146,368. 
 
 In 1809, the official value of our exports to and 
 imports from Portugal, stood thus : 
 
 England. Scotland. Total. 
 
 Exports 1,008,036 3,857 1,011,893 
 Imports 862,343 54,504 916,847 
 
 Balance .95,046 
 
 In the same year to and from Madeira, 
 
 . England. Scotland. Total. 
 
 Exports 187,092 38 187,130 
 
 Imports 10,410 10,410 
 
 Balance 176,720 
 
 In the same year, 247 British and 70 foreign 
 vessels entered the ports of England from Portugal, 
 Madeira and Azores. 
 
 In 1785, the quantity of gold and silver imported 
 from Portugal, was 1,102,700, whereas in 1795, it 
 was only 186,300. 
 
 In 1803, there entered inwards into the several 
 ports of Great Britain from Portugal and Madeira, 
 456 vessels, four-fifths of which were British, con- 
 taining 68,444 tons and navigated by 3610 seamen.
 
 46 
 
 The preceding picture will convey a tolerably 
 correct idea of the trade carried on between this 
 country and Portugal, up to the close of the last 
 century, under a competition that stands almost un- 
 exampled. In order, however, to judge of its im- 
 portance to us. as a manufacturing nation, it is 
 necessary to examine the principal articles of which 
 our exports have uniformly been composed. It is 
 very generally acknowledged that the value of wool, 
 as a raw material, is quadrupled by the labour be- 
 stowed upon it, before it is befitted for the use of 
 man, and this, it must be recollected, constitutes our 
 chief shipment to Portugal. In 1772, the official 
 value of our Woollens, cleared for that country', 
 amounted to 500,298. ; in 1773, to 408,2/0. ; in 
 1774, to 428,811.; in 1775, to 448,078., and in 
 1776, to 350,104. This requital for productive 
 labour, is therefore among the most material of our 
 considerations. 
 
 Till the Independence of the United States, we 
 had also the opportunity of supplying Portugal with 
 a large proportion of the flour consumed there ; it 
 being estimated that her own growth, for many 
 years past, is not equal to more than half of 
 her wants. Her markets have in like manner been 
 stocked with codfish from our Colonies, and the 
 following statement of the quantities exported from 
 Newfoundland, in the three years ending June 5th, 
 1801, is highly illustrative. 
 
 Dry Wet 
 
 Quintal-. Ban 
 
 1798 353,363 (><>-><; 
 
 I7KI 313,756 3.) is 
 
 1800 481,524 W
 
 47 
 
 The greater part of this fish was sent direct to 
 Portugal, Spain and other Catholic countries, con- 
 tiguous to the Mediterranean. 
 
 The quantities imported into Portugal at the same 
 period were, 
 
 1796 - 181,087 quintals 
 
 1797 129,402 
 
 1798 256,079 
 
 1799 267,867 
 
 1800 259,363 
 
 In contemplating the nature of our Treaties with 
 Portugal ; the circumstances under which the princi 
 pal one was concluded, as well as the privileges and 
 exemptions derived from them, it would be impossi- 
 ble to suppose that such a commercial intercourse, 
 as that carried on by British subjects, could fail to 
 be offensive to the native merchants. From our 
 connection and the competition of British capital 
 and industry, they date the ruin of their own mer- 
 cantile navy and the destruction of their manufac- 
 tures. They unceasingly reproach us for the absence 
 of fair reciprocity and the undue manner in which 
 our political and naval ascendancy has constantly 
 been exerted, in order to enforce interpretations of 
 clauses, in a manner never contemplated; or, at 
 variance with the economical administration of the 
 realm. On these topics, the best modern writers 
 have eagerly indulged, and I have often felt indig- 
 nant at the invectives which have fallen under my 
 own eye. 
 
 It would be impossible for me to enter further into 
 the subject of these complaints than I am now doing 
 by a fair review of the whole series of our Treaties.
 
 48 
 
 Portugal, situated as she is, evidently requires the 
 protection of a powerful ally, notwithstanding the 
 former motives of her fears and jealousies are now 
 greatly diminished ; and if that ally is Great Britain, 
 in the exercise of her delicate charge, it is fervently 
 to be hoped that, in return, she will never ask more 
 than impartial justice demands, or policy on the 
 other side can readily grant. All nations, whether 
 large, or small, are naturally independent of each 
 other, and to all are the acknowledged principles of 
 international law equally applicable. Self preser- 
 vation is the chief object of social communities, and 
 the ends by which it is attainable can never be pro- 
 moted, unless each is entirely free from internal 
 restraints. 
 
 Among the means, best calculated to secure har- 
 mony and good will among nations, the relations of 
 commerce are perhaps the most important. They 
 are in fact stronger and more lasting than the ties of 
 kindred dynasties; but, Commercial Treaties, in 
 order to be solid and mutually satisfactory, must be 
 founded on a well understood reciprocity, as those 
 compacts which rest only on the interest, or con- 
 venience of one contracting party, can never be 
 maintained without a recurrence to measures of 
 violence. 
 
 A nation ought, therefore, to calculate, with the 
 utmost caution and foresight, any preferences, or 
 exclusive favours, intended to be granted to another, 
 as they are liable to be converted into a monopoly 
 and thereby give encouragement to interlopers ; at 
 the same time that they excite jealousies among 
 parties, less favoured. Our commercial intm ..m -<
 
 49 
 
 with Portugal bears me out in this assertion. The 
 interpretation of our Treaties has given rise to end- 
 less remonstrances, into the merits of which it is 
 foreign to my present purpose to enter, although it 
 may not be improper to state a few of the leading 
 topics. 
 
 A degree of uncertainty still prevails among na- 
 tions, even in the enlightened age in which we live, 
 respecting the principles most conducive to the 
 extension of foreign commerce. Some statesmen 
 repose their plans on prohibitive measures ', others 
 on absolute freedom, whereas many prefer a miti- 
 gated system. This contrariety of opinions also 
 extends to navigation, and is perhaps stronger in 
 those countries which have experienced sudden and 
 important transitions. 
 
 Portugal has always considered that the possession 
 of a large circulating medium, afforded to her by a 
 connection with rich Colonies, was essential to her 
 welfare, and, on that account, prohibited the ex- 
 traction of gold and silver, which, notwithstanding 
 heavy penalties, led to an extensive practice of 
 smuggling, in which our countrymen were constantly 
 implicated. It is not for me to inquire into the 
 policy or impolicy of this measure. The restrictions 
 existed, as imposed by an independent government, 
 and consequently the infractors were liable to the 
 avowed consequences. Our merchants complained 
 of this privation, not only as being a hardship j but 
 also a grievance. The Portuguese government was 
 deaf to their remonstrances. They then endeavoured 
 to convince the authorities of their error, arguing 
 that, as the precious metals were no other than a 
 
 G
 
 50 
 
 merchantable commodity, it would be better to allow 
 their exportation, under a corresponding duty. The 
 government was inexorable ; the laws and prejudices 
 of the country being opposed to any such concession, 
 as seen by a reference to the proceedings of the 
 Cortes of 1482, page 22. On this subject, I could 
 also refer to many other public demonstrations of a 
 modern date. 
 
 From what has already been stated, it will easily 
 be collected that Portugal annually pays a large 
 balance of bullion to every nation trading to her 
 ports, and of the corresponding sums British vessels, 
 in the course of time, had become the principal car- 
 riers. The exchange business by this means was 
 chiefly concentrated in the hands of our merchants, 
 and, in defiance of the laws, the smuggling continued, 
 even at noon- day, particularly on board of vessels of 
 war. The forbearance of the local authorities is yet 
 proverbial among our old residents, which often led 
 to gross abuses, sometimes followed by denun- 
 ciations. 
 
 Peter II. died in 1706, and was succeeded by his 
 son John V., at the time only 17 years old. His 
 father had infused an unusual degree of vigour into 
 all branches of the administration. In that of justice, 
 he had shewn himself inflexible, without descending 
 to cruelty. He curtailed the power of the grandees 
 and punished the insolence of the people. His re- 
 venue was well administered and, in his transaction^ 
 with foreign courts, he promoted the commercial 
 interests of his subjects. With him it was a maxim 
 " that a Prince may be faithful to his Allies, with-
 
 51 
 
 out prefering their interests to those of his own 
 subjects." 
 
 John V. inherited these principles and particularly 
 distinguished himself as the patron of commerce. 
 Some very glaring cases of smuggling occurred to- 
 wards the commencement of his reign, in which 
 our people were again implicated, and a public 
 clamour raised in consequence of the lenity evinced 
 on the occasion. A project seems also to have 
 been formed with a view to render the existing re- 
 strictions more peremptory, which created fresh 
 alarm among our traders. Lord Galloway, com- 
 mander of the British forces, at that time in Portu- 
 gal, and Queen Anne's ambassador, interfered and, as 
 recorded by ourselves, in 1709, addressed the follow- 
 ing speech to the King, in the presence of his court. 
 
 " Your Majesty cannot be sufficiently commended 
 for the steady attention you have always shewn to 
 the affairs of your government ; and the pains you 
 have lately bestowed on examining into the balance 
 of trade, is a new proof of that merit which would 
 entitle you to the Crown, had it not descended to 
 you from a long and glorious line of Royal Ances- 
 tors but permit me, Sire, to observe, that there is 
 a greater King, one by whom all Kings reign, and 
 whose Providence is over all his works. Accord- 
 ing to his distribution of things, riches belong to 
 some nations and industry to others ; and by these 
 means the liberality of Heaven is made equal to all. 
 Vain, Sire, are all human councils, when opposed to 
 his wisdom, and feeble the efforts, even of Royal 
 Powers, when directed to cross his will. You have 
 forbid gold to be exported out of your dominions,
 
 52 
 
 and you would willingly enforce the prohibition ; 
 but the thing is impracticable. You may restrain 
 your subjects ; but you cannot set bounds to their 
 necessities. But, say this was possible : suppose 
 you could defeat the industry of the Northern na- 
 tions what would be the consequence ? Their hus- 
 bandmen, graziers, weavers, and all that infinite 
 train of manufacturers that now labour quietly at 
 home to clothe and feed your subjects, would then 
 turn soldiers j and, instead of seeing their merchant- 
 men in the river of Lisbon, you would hear of their 
 fleets conveying them to Brazil, to fetch much more 
 of that gold than you now fetch for them. Besides, 
 Sire, if they are gainers by the trade, they thereby 
 become the natural guarantees of your dominions. 
 It is not only their Treaty, but interests that bind 
 them to your services. You have potent enemies, 
 and you require powerful friends. The ambition of 
 France knows no bounds; and the pride of Spain 
 will teach her to keep up a perpetual claim to your 
 territories and Crown. You have no recourse, to 
 frustrate the views and defeat the endeavours of 
 those Potentates, but to the Maritime Powers ; and, 
 therefore, let me beseech your Majesty to consider 
 that every project to distress them is, in effect, a 
 scheme to destroy yourself." 
 
 Such a lesson on political economy was never per- 
 haps before, or since, addresssd to an independent 
 monarch by the representative of any nation, and it 
 would be needless for me to add that it gave offence, 
 notwithstanding the peculiarly privileged position in 
 which the orator at the moment stood. In conse- 
 quence of the various stages through which this
 
 53 
 
 rankling dispute passed, the question at length 
 ceased to be one of expediency, and, coupled with a 
 variety of other conflicting circumstances, in the 
 minds of the Portuguese, resolved itself into a doubt 
 whether, or not, we thought them entitled to the 
 rights of legislating for themselves. 
 
 The practice of smuggling away bullion still con- 
 tinued, and for this offence, in 1722, Messrs. Wing- 
 field and Roberts, two British traders, were seized, 
 tried and condemned to be hanged. Through the 
 influence of our resident minister and the dread of a 
 rupture, an order having been issued for the equip- 
 ment of a fleet, the lives of the parties were never- 
 theless saved and their property restored to them. 
 
 The ill will produced by these altercations, was 
 repeatedly manifested to us, during the Pombal ad- 
 ministration. This distinguished man has usually 
 been represented as a decided enemy of Great 
 Britain, and it is often alledged that this enmity was 
 partly occasioned by the rude conduct of some of our 
 custom-house officers, when on a visit to this country. 
 The charge must however appear frivolous to those 
 who scrutinize his leading principles of action. His 
 great wish evidently was, to preserve a situation of 
 independence to his country. He steadily adhered 
 to the alliance with England and resisted the solici- 
 tations and threats of France, notwithstanding he 
 complained of our " insolent prosperity" without 
 disguising his sentiments. He at the time felt and 
 thought with the great body of his countrymen, and 
 did not hesitate to write the following letter to Lord 
 Chatham. 
 " I know that your cabinet has assumed a do-
 
 54 
 
 minion over ours ; but, I also know that it is time 
 to put an end to it. If my predecessors had the 
 weakness to grant to you all that you required, I 
 never will grant to you beyond what I ought. This 
 is my last resolution; regulate yourselves accord- 
 ing to it." 
 
 In 1759, Admiral Boscowen, it will be remembered, 
 pursued and destroyed several French ships on the 
 coast of Lagos, during the neutrality of the Portu- 
 guese, which gave rise to the preceding remonstrance. 
 A correspondence with the British minister ensued, 
 and in reply the subjoined was returned by the Mar- 
 quess de Pombal. 
 
 " I beg of your Lordship not to remind me of the 
 condescensions which the Portuguese Government 
 has had towards the British Government ; they are 
 such that I do not know that any power ever evinced 
 similar ones to another. It is but just that this do- 
 minion should have an end, some time or other, and 
 that we should shew to the whole of Europe that we 
 have shaken off a foreign yoke. This we cannot 
 prove better than by demanding of your Government 
 a satisfaction which, by no right can you refuse to 
 us. France would consider us in a state of the 
 greatest weakness, if we did not give her some atone- 
 ment for the destruction which her squadron has 
 experienced upon our maritime coasts, where, ac- 
 cording to every possible principle, it ought to have 
 been considered in safety." 
 
 In a third letter the Portuguese minister, after 
 alluding to our commercial abuses; the immense 
 sums of gold which we had drawn from Portugal and 
 his intention to enforce the provisions of the pro-
 
 55 
 
 hibitive laws, with the utmost rigour, concludes 
 thus : 
 
 " True, it is, that to this you may answer me that, 
 notwithstanding all our prohibitions, gold will go out, 
 as it always has done, because your ships of war 
 have the privilege of not being searched at their de- 
 parture; but, on this subject don't deceive your- 
 selves. If I undertook to have a Duke d'Aveiro 
 beheaded, because he made an attempt on the King's 
 life, more easily will I have one of your captains 
 hung for carrying away his effigy, contrary to the 
 enactments of a law. There is a time in monarchies, 
 when a single man can do much. You well know 
 that Cromwell, in the character of Protector of the 
 English Republic, had the brother of an Ambassador 
 of His Most Faithful Majesty put to death $ without 
 being a Cromwell, I also feel myself empowered to 
 follow his example, in the character of minister-pro- 
 tector of Portugal. Do you do what you ought, and 
 I shall not do all that 1 am able/' 
 
 On the close of these expostulations, Lord Kinnoul 
 repaired to the Court of Lisbon, and at a public 
 audience offered the best excuses he could for the 
 conduct of the British admiral, managing, as well as 
 he was able, the other topics of complaint. 
 
 Whether, or not, the Marquess de Pombal con- 
 ceived that the political knowledge which he had 
 acquired in England, and the range of ideas into 
 which his travels led him, particularly qualified him 
 to raise the Kingdom of Portugal from the fallen 
 condition in which he found it, on his accession to 
 power, would now be a topic of fruitless inquiry. 
 He eventually became the leading political character
 
 56 
 
 in his native laud, and, by the dispassionate inquirer, 
 it must be allowed that he was actuated by an earnest 
 desire to promote its improvement, coupled with a 
 right conception of the means by which this was to 
 be accomplished. 
 
 To judge this man and consequently his measures, 
 we must look at the situation of the kingdom, at the 
 time he entered into office. 
 
 Portugal, of all countries, is the one that has ex- 
 perienced most advantages from the benign influence 
 of commerce, and afterwards felt the keenest ravages 
 through its decline. Their geographical position 
 seems to have taught the Portuguese that the ocean 
 was their congenial element. Their first attention 
 was directed to fisheries, and in October, 1355, a 
 Company of Oporto and Lisbon Merchants were 
 allowed to trade to our ports and fish upon our 
 coasts, by virtue of a special grant,* made to them 
 for fifty years, seemingly without any intervention 
 on the part of their government. They were next 
 distinguished for their establishments in Barbary and 
 on the Western shores of Africa. Their efforts sub- 
 sequently opened to them a brilliant period of power 
 and commerce in the East, which they held almost 
 exclusively for a whole century. At one time they 
 bad pushed their fisheries to the banks of New- 
 foundland. 
 
 Long and disastrous wars with the Dutch ; intes- 
 
 Rymer's Faxk-ra, Vol. v. p. 763. The maritime funds, called 
 Roltat t bonnet, or pockets, established by the Lisbon and Oporto Mer- 
 chant*, for the purpose of repaying the losses of foiling vessels are the 
 first indications extant of marine insurances.
 
 tine troubles at home, and other national misfortunes 
 led to the ruin of their agriculture and gradually 
 stripped them of a large portion of their foreign 
 commerce. The competition of other nations in 
 Colonial produce increased the dilemma, which the 
 Count d'Ericeira sought to repair by the establish- 
 ment of domestic manufactures, at a moment when 
 those of several of the Northern nations were rivaling 
 each other in general supplies. Their country was 
 consequently in a most deplorable condition when the 
 Portuguese Colbert took the helm of State, and the 
 earthquake of 1755 served to aggravate the public 
 calamities. He nevertheless persevered, and, by the 
 energy of his measures, restored the national credit; 
 opened new sources of commerce ; reorganized the 
 army and shewed himself the steady patron of the 
 arts and sciences. 
 
 Among the memorable acts by which his adminis- 
 tration was distinguished, the establishment of the 
 Oporto Wine Company is the one that presses more 
 particularly upon my attention. As before stated, 
 it became necessary to do something to relieve the 
 public wants ; the clamours of the people being loud 
 and violent. The Northern provinces, it is well 
 known, are the most populous, and this doubtless 
 became an important consideration in the eyes of a 
 Statesman, devising plans for the extension of agri- 
 culture and foreign commerce. The banks of the 
 Douro had long been famous for the vintage of red 
 wines ; but the export trade of the article was liable 
 to abuses and its growth susceptible of increase. 
 
 These two objects the Marquess de Pombal clearly 
 had in view at the time he determined upon the 
 
 H
 
 58 
 
 establishment of this Company, and the reigning 
 sovereign became the first subscriber for Shares. In 
 their operation, the regulations enacted may have 
 proved detrimental to the interests of British sub- 
 jects their complaints indeed shew this to have 
 been the case ; nevertheless, the projector was not 
 only warranted by circumstances, but also right in 
 his judgment, as will be seen by reference to the 
 earliest results. In the twenty years preceding 1756> 
 the one in which the Company was established, the 
 exportation of Port Wine averaged l/>729 pipes per 
 annum, and during the same period next following, 
 36,329 pipes. The price on the spot also rose from 
 40,500 to 124,377 reis, and the population of the 
 four districts in which the wine grows, increased in 
 the proportion of one third. The interest received 
 on the shares has usually been from 10 to 12 per 
 cent, and the original capital of 1,800,000 cruzados 
 is now estimated at 14 millions, owing to the pro- 
 perty since acquired by the Company. 
 
 The establishment nevertheless gave offence to the 
 British Residents and complaints against it were 
 successively forwarded to Lord Chatham, in 1/58; 
 to Lord Halifax, in 1764; to Lord Castlereagh, in 
 1812, and again by memorial to Mr. Canning, in 
 1824. The proper place to discuss the grounds of 
 these applications, will be when I come to examine 
 our definitive Treaty, made in 1810, as it contains a 
 modification of a most important nature. Suffice it 
 therefore to say, that several efforts were early made 
 to reconcile the commercial differences; General 
 O'Hara, afterwards Lord Tyrawly, being one of the 
 persons sent over to Lisbon on a special mission ; 
 but without effect.
 
 59 
 
 In December, 1750, a trading Association was 
 formed for Pernambuco, and new regulations intro- 
 duced for the corn trade. With a view to render the 
 capital more independent of foreign supplies of 
 wheat, orders were also issued to repair the roads 
 and open fresh communications with the interior. 
 
 In 1752, premiums were offered for the plantation 
 of the mulberry-tree, as an encouragement to the 
 cultivation of the silk- worm ; and, in the course of 
 the following year, as a relief to the revenue, the 
 Diamond contract was made a monopoly of the 
 Crown and a law enacted of which the following are 
 the two leading provisions. 
 
 " Art. 2. I also establish as a standing law, that 
 this prohibition and the penalties hereby ordained, 
 be put in force, without any difference, not only 
 against the principal transgressors, such as buyers, 
 seUers, bearers, or remitters ; but also against all, 
 and whatsoever other persons may concur with 
 them in it, whether by land or sea ; either by being 
 brokers, contrivers, or abettors of the persons con- 
 cerned in such smuggling, or by suffering it to be 
 done in their houses, carriages, shipping, or lading ; 
 
 " Art. 4. With this proviso always that, in all the 
 above-mentioned cases, if the transgressors of the 
 present law be foreigners, the punishment of banish- 
 ment to my dominions of America, or Africa, shall 
 not take place against them ; but rather, instead of 
 the said penalty, they shall be punished with im- 
 prisonment during my pleasure, and with the con- 
 fiscation of all the effects they shall be found pos- 
 sessed of within my dominions, and to be finally driven 
 out of them, without ever being admitted into them
 
 60 
 
 again. And in case they be not possessed of effects 
 equivalent to the value of what has been smuggled, 
 and of double thereof, as above ordained, then they 
 shall remain in prison till the said pecuniary penalty 
 be effectually discharged, by the full payment of the 
 said forfeitures," &c. 
 
 All these measures gave great offence to our mer- 
 chants, particularly the last, as it tended to restrain 
 the exportation of diamonds. The motives on which 
 they were founded may, I will admit, appear con- 
 trary to the received principles of political econo- 
 mists to us they may wear the garb of anti- com- 
 mercial restrictions ; nay, we may think that they 
 emanated from a narrow-minded policy they may 
 have proved injurious to persons, engaged in foreign 
 trade ; but it must nevertheless be admitted that 
 they formed part of a general scheme for public im- 
 provement, warranted by the prevailing exigencies 
 and suited to the circumstances of the times. Re- 
 forms in the public schools, as well as in the instruc- 
 tion of the lower orders, were equally connected with 
 this plan ; and any one who has lately visited Portu- 
 gal, with an observant eye, will remember that many 
 of her best institutions owe their origin to Pom bal. 
 Of his memory his countrymen are, to this day, as 
 proud as of their most distinguished heroes, in 
 former times, and they must be the best judges of 
 his merits. His substantial fame is indeed derived 
 from his measures for the public improvement, and 
 it is a curious fact that those who are most divested 
 of party-prejudices, consider the establishment of 
 the Oporto Wine Company as the masterpiece of that 
 patriotic Statesman. This is the avowed opinion of
 
 61 
 
 many of the most esteemed French travellers. Its 
 administration may have been liable to abuses ; but 
 for these the founder is not blameable. The insti- 
 tution, it may be said, is not suited for the liberal 
 and enlightened age in which we live this is a 
 province into which I am not called upon to enter. 
 
 Our traders on the spot, as well as some of our 
 diplomatists of the day, however considered several 
 of the Marquess de Pombal's schemes as directly 
 nay, pointedly, levelled against British Commerce. 
 In those days, they gave him no credit for what they 
 called his theoretical and splendid ideas of ameli- 
 oration . They viewed his plans as so many innova- 
 tions, and, arguing that 
 
 Acta exteriora indicant interiora secreta, 
 
 they at once pronounced him the fell and decided 
 enemy of this country. 
 
 We cannot, My Lord, forget that, in former times, 
 more particularly, the narrow-spirited jealousy of 
 commerce often passed for patriotism and, on this 
 account, both the government and the public were 
 misled. Our ancestors drank from the perverted 
 fountains of intelligence, even as we ourselves, too 
 oft, are still compelled to do ; but, during the reign 
 of Joseph I. the sincerity of Portugal towards Great 
 Britain, as well as the faith of Treaties, was put to 
 the severest test. 
 
 Let us bear in mind that, in 1561, the memorable 
 Treaty was concluded between France and Spain, 
 known by the name of the Family Compact, resting 
 on the principle that the interests of the two King- 
 doms should be intimately and inseparably blended.
 
 62 
 
 It would be foreign to my purpose to describe the 
 alarming sensations felt in this country on the news 
 of this transaction j it would be tedious to enumerate 
 the expedients to which we were then driven in order 
 to counteract its effects. Suffice it to say, that one of 
 the first measures, adopted by the Confederates, was, 
 to call upon Portugal to join the Alliance ; and, in 
 case of refusal, she was threatened with an attack. 
 
 Portugal was, at the moment, in the most de- 
 plorable situation. The ruins of the earthquake 
 were still reeking no shelter provided against 
 the coming storm. Although the threat was uttered 
 against Portugal, it was well known that the blow 
 was levelled immediately against us. And yet what 
 was the alternative which the faithful Joseph and his 
 minister preferred ? On this very occasion the Por- 
 tuguese sovereign declared, " that he would rather 
 endure to see the last tile of his palace fall upon his 
 head, than be wanting to his friendship with Great 
 Britain,"* and instantly ordered every possible pre- 
 paration to be made for defence. In order to con- 
 cert general measures more efficiently, an extraor- 
 dinary minister was forthwith sent to the court of 
 St. James.f 
 
 An invasion ensued, and, in 1763? the Peace of 
 Paris restored tranquillity to Europe and secured 
 the integrity of Portugal ; but, if the Marquess dc 
 Pombal had lived at a later period, when projects of 
 overthrow, or resistance, engrossed the attention of 
 
 Quf antct iqfreria ver ca/tir tobre il a ultima telha do teu Pafo t do 
 fiie affattarte da Amizadc da Crao Bretanha. 
 1 1). Martinho dc Mcllo.
 
 63 
 
 Statesmen ; when power was the only foundation of 
 security the only prop of national existence ; when 
 fame and renown were alone obtained by wielding 
 the sword of destruction, or trying new experi- 
 ments, he and his country, unprovided, as they were, 
 must have sunk under the pressure of the storm. 
 The king and his minister unquestionably consulted 
 their real and permanent interests, and considering 
 the position in which we ourselves then stood, we 
 ought to be the foremost to do justice to them for 
 their foresight and devotion. 
 
 I now, My Lord, approach that period of our con- 
 nection with Portugal, which assumes a more than 
 ordinary interest, and I hope that my anxiety to 
 clear up the question on which I am engaged, will 
 be deemed a sufficient apology for the great length 
 to which I have already gone. I took up my pen 
 with feelings of deep and true sincerity, confident 
 that the only mode of overcoming prejudices, is by 
 cool and dispassionate reasoning, supported by facts 
 which rest on unquestionable evidence. In the course 
 of my inquiry, I was compelled to push my researches 
 to a remote period ; but the particulars which I have 
 thus endeavoured to rescue from the stream of time, 
 were essential to a just comprehension of the subject. 
 
 We have, I venture to repeat, reached a period of 
 singular aspect one, fraught with events of fearful 
 omen, and every day's experience tends to convince 
 us that we must be adequately prepared, both at 
 home and abroad. If it is intended to sow the seeds 
 of national improvement, within our own immediate 
 circle, we must in like manner look to our com- 
 mercial relations. They have always been considered
 
 64 
 
 as the true measure of our prosperity. Commerce, no 
 one knows it better than Your Lordship, is the great 
 sinew of our political existence. It is a mine of gold, 
 yielding the richest treasures, worked by the numer- 
 ous engines of British industry, and the produce 
 circulated through the mercantile genius of a whole 
 nation. Were it possible to undermine this pillar of 
 the State, or even to impair its energy and extent, 
 then might our enemies fairly boast that they had 
 pared the claws of the British Lion ; then, and then 
 only, would modern Carthage really totter, while 
 her cotemporaries, struck with awe and amazement, 
 would survey the gigantic task achieved and the 
 commercial world shake to its very foundation. 
 
 The uninterrupted interval of peace between the 
 commencement of the French revolution and Buo- 
 naparte's invasion, in 1807, which Portugal was for- 
 tunate enough to enjoy, at a time when most of the 
 other Continental nations were engaged in active 
 warfare, materially contributed to change the aspect 
 of the country. The Portuguese then copiously 
 gathered the fruits of Pombal's labours, and I very 
 well remember that reflecting Englishmen, on the 
 spot, beheld with interest and sympathy the develop- 
 ment of industry among a people with uhom we 
 were so closely connected. During the first seven 
 years of the present century, the port of Lisbon con- 
 stantly presented a busy scene, and to it we enjoyed 
 the greatest share of unrestrained access. Commerce 
 and agriculture were equally prosperous. The ex- 
 ports to the coast of Africa nearly doubled, in 
 1801,* and it was the same with those to the Azores 
 
 In 1796, the exports were, 587,000 oruzados ; in 97, 607,000 ;
 
 65 
 
 and Atlantic Islands.* The trade carried on with the 
 ultramarine provinces, including Brazil, was equally 
 active ; but the balance generally against Portugal, 
 owing to the magnitude of the imports.f 
 
 Previous to the revolution and as already noticed, 
 France carried on a considerable trade with Portu- 
 gal, which, owing to the events of the war, almost 
 ceased till the year 1801, when the import duties 
 
 98, 1,104,000; 99, 1,768,000; 1800, 1,854,000; 1801, 2,635,000, 
 and continued nearly at .the same rate till 1808, when they fell to 
 52,000, and during the eleven succeeding years did not recover beyond 
 645,000, the returns for 1818. 
 
 * In 1796, the exports in cruzados were, 674,000 ; in 97,. 922,000 ; 
 in 98, 1,919,000; in 99, 2,901,000; in 1800, 1,282,000; in 1801, 
 736,000 ; in 1802, 1,036,000 ; in 1803, 1,298,000 ; in 1804, 1,689,000 ; 
 in 1805, 1,045,000 ; in 1806, 1,230,000 ; in 1807, 732,000 ; in 1808, 
 207,000; in 1809, 763,000; in 1810, 1,003,000; rising progressively 
 till 1819, when they amounted to 1,326,000. 
 
 f In 1796, the imports in cruzados, were, 33,534,000 and exports 
 18,819,000 ; in 97, imports 13,799,000 and exports 24,129,000 ; in 98, 
 imports 32,005,000 and exports 31,046,000 ; in 99, imports 37,923,000 
 and exports 51,146,000 ; in 1800, imports 37,127,000 and exports 
 33,802,000; in 1801, imports 43,819,000 and exports 32,833,000 ; in 
 1802, imports 32,416,000 and exports 32,000,000 ; in 1803, imports 
 35,483,000 and exports 31, 853,000 ; in 1804, imports 33,945,000 and ex- 
 ports 37,264,000 ; in 1805, imports 39,608,000 and exports 30,612,000; 
 in 1806, imports 40,269,000 and exports 28,285,000; in 1807, imports 
 42,422,000 and exports 26,871,000 ; in 1808, imports 1,537,000 and 
 exports 4,325,000 ; in 1809, imports 14,641,000 and exports 9,777,000; 
 in 1810, imports 9,873,000 and exports 9,528,000 ; in 1811, imports 
 13,260,000 and exports 8,699,000 ; in 1812, imports 13,068,000 and 
 exports 7,820,000; in 1813, imports 18,198,000 and exports 10,687,000 ; 
 in 1814, imports 23,798,000 and exports 17,465,000 ; in 1815, imports 
 32,549,000 and exports 27,521,000 ; in 1816, imports 31,594,000 and 
 exports 35,922,000; in 1817,imports 27,874,000 and exports 28,202,000; 
 in 1818, imports 30,036,000 'and exports 26,605,000 ; in 1819, imports 
 23,532,000 and exports 20,391,000. 
 
 I
 
 66 
 
 being reduced in her favour, it assumed an active 
 appearance, particularly in 1804-6-7 and 8, leaving 
 a balance chiefly on the side of Portugal, and again 
 became suspended through the convulsed state of 
 Europe. The commercial relations of the Low 
 Countries experienced a similar impulse and at pre- 
 cisely the same period. Hamburg had long con- 
 tinued to engross a large portion of the Portupic-e 
 trade, her exports, chiefly consisting of Brazilian 
 produce, in 1776, amounting to 15,686,000 em/ados ; 
 in 1800, to 14,625,000 and, in 1801, to 20,205,000. 
 This commerce has been uniformly advantageous to 
 Portugal ; but, subsequent to the period last men- 
 tioned, it declined materially, and from 1808 to 
 1814, became nearly nominal. 
 
 An active traffic is also carried on with Spain, 
 notwithstanding the productions of the two count ric> 
 are so much alike ; but chiefly in a clandestine man- 
 ner. The intercourse by sea, nevertheless, annually 
 gives employment to about 150 vessels ; and for- 
 merly a large portion of the wools re-reived in Eng- 
 land and Holland from Lisbon, passed from Spanish 
 Estremadura and Catilc through the province of 
 Alem-Tejo. Russia furnishes the chief supplies of 
 hemp, flax and tallow, extremely to her own advan- 
 tage ; so much so that, in 1S01, her imports into 
 Portugal amounted to 7>034/KM) cm/ados and her 
 export* only to KM,000. The commerce of I'ortu- 
 iral with Sweden has increased since the annexation 
 ot Norway, and thence it is that her principal sup- 
 plies of iron, steel, pitch and tar are obtained. For 
 the very *amc reason, the commercial intercomx- 
 with Denmark ha- diminished, beinir now chictly
 
 67 
 
 confined to a few cargoes of wheat. That with 
 Prussia is also extremely limited. The principal 
 part of the Levant trade is carried on with the ports 
 of Venice, Naples an<J Leghorn, although the Greeks 
 have been in the habit of supplying occasional car- 
 goes of wheat and olive oil. Some glass-ware, mu- 
 sical instruments, toys and other minor articles are 
 also brought from Trieste. The trade carried on with 
 the United States, particularly in years of scarcity, 
 is of magnitude, and the balance uniformly against 
 Portugal. The supplies of wheat, flour, Indian corn, 
 staves, pitch and tar were very extensive in 1801-10 
 11-12 and 13, when our armies were in the Penin- 
 sula, leaving an immense profit to the importers. A 
 few cargoes of wheat, barley, bees-wax, &c. also 
 continue to come from Morocco ; but this trade has 
 greatly diminished since 1802. 
 
 The three following abstracts, constructed from 
 official data obtained in Lisbon and corresponding 
 to the years 1796, 1806 and 1819, exhibit a com- 
 parative view in reis, or the national currency, of 
 the commerce of the various foreign nations carried 
 on with Portugal. Great allowances must never- 
 theless be made for smuggling and under-valuation. 
 
 1796. Imports. Exports. 
 
 Great Britain ...... 4451,737,334 4887,076,129 
 
 Holland 807,446,109 495,378,415 
 
 France . . . 245,057,388 23,260,800 
 
 Hamburg 1634,468,644 5474,545,984 
 
 Spain < . 382,168,601 633,987,731 
 
 Russia 1644,090,744 158,966,038 
 
 Sweden 673,064,648 165,236,358 
 
 Denmark 13,053,865 143,687,548
 
 68 
 
 1796. Imports. Exports. 
 
 Italy 1134,532,268 2598,271,614 
 
 Germany 43,766,392 69,504,000 
 
 Prussia 201,240,986 106,437,180 
 
 United States 105,928,130 440,985,800 
 
 Barbary States .... 814,218,582 789,030,3/9 
 
 1606. 
 
 Great Britain 0587,150,292 8201,116,996 
 
 France 1286,636,057 5395,402,285 
 
 Holland 874,672,543 1058,386,020 
 
 Hamburg 1241,804,660 2608,950,772 
 
 Spain 1204,506,810 1461,863,875 
 
 Russia 2385,011,124- 316,717-510 
 
 Sweden 461,462,548 126,963,065 
 
 Denmark 62,604,092 54,000,4 10 
 
 Italy 1254,184,812 3386,274,054 
 
 Prussia 66,798,8 IS - 7,336,200 
 
 United States 915,999,641 - 458.33 i 
 
 Barbary States 120,042,354 179,959,115 
 
 1819. 
 
 Great Britain 7463,156,836 4209,087,093 
 
 Spain 2121.762,(MiS 1945,514,369 
 
 France 307,249,522 649,586.775 
 
 Austria 1360,073,727 472,593,985 
 
 Russia 001,198,306 123,392,645 
 
 Holland. 517,451,403 594,<i7<>.:H'2 
 
 Sweden 400,413,439 97,958,150 
 
 Pruia -182,681,217 46,177,220 
 
 Denmark 189,23(1.758 - 55,991.375 
 
 Hamburg 708.781,500 1286,402.7 Hi 
 
 Italy 2165,976,459 1573,2)2,195 
 
 Unit nl Stairs 54:J.37S,S20 189,791 ,200 
 
 liurbary BtatM 19,38 4,.HiO 45,977,380
 
 69 
 
 These tables convey a very clear idea of the pro- 
 portions of trade enjoyed by the several nations in 
 the habit of frequenting the ports of Portugal, at the 
 head of whom Great Britain is uniformly to be 
 found. They also indicate some remarkable fluctu- 
 ations, and at the same time point out the com- 
 mercial relations generally advantageous, or adverse 
 to Portugal, in regard of balances. The produce 
 brought from her Colonies, long fed her export trade, 
 particularly during that brilliant period which pre- 
 ceded the departure of the Royal Family for Brazil, 
 and of that we also had a predominant share. In 
 1799 and consequently during the war, we imported 
 209,731 bags of cotton, 96,410 of which came from 
 Lisbon and 4251 from Oporto, all grown in Brazil. 
 
 Although, in an earlier part of my labours, I took 
 occasion to notice that I had not been able to con- 
 sult official returns of our imports and exports to 
 and from Portugal of a more remote date than to- 
 wards 1760, it must not, on that account, be con- 
 cluded that this valuable branch of our foreign com- 
 merce did not prosper till so late a period. The 
 returns furnished from the Custom House only at- 
 tained a state of perfection towards the close of the 
 last century ; but we have other authentic and 
 curious data respecting the early trade with Portu- 
 gal, which also prove the opinions of our ancestors 
 respecting its importance. 
 
 It will be remembered that, at the close of the war 
 with France which crowned the Duke of Marl- 
 borough with laurels, two Treaties were proposed, 
 the one of Peace and the other of Commerce, the 
 latter of which gave rise to a series of discussions
 
 70 
 
 and inquiries, certainly till then unprecedented in 
 British commercial annals. At the time the Treaty 
 of peace was concluded at Utrecht, in 1713, a Com- 
 mercial one, consisting of 29 Articles, was also 
 adjusted, in the most elaborate manner, and sub- 
 mitted to Parliament for ratification. The country 
 took the alarm and an eminent writer of the day,* 
 speakingon this transaction, remarked that "although 
 Great Britain had so humbled France with the sword, 
 yet France, according to the old maxim, was too 
 hard for her at the pen, and through the unskilful- 
 ness of her ministers in trade, brought her to ratify 
 a Treaty of Commerce that must, in a very few years, 
 have proved her utter destruction. But, as good 
 fortune would have it," adds the same writer, " this 
 Treaty could not take effect, unless the Parliament 
 consented to reduce the high duties and take off the 
 prohibitions, so wisely laid on French commodities, 
 which would have destroyed all the best branches of 
 our trade and deprived many hundred thousand 
 manufacturers of their subsistence," &c. 
 
 Queen Anne's ministers were however determined 
 to carry their point, and had prepared a large party 
 to support their measure in the House of Commons. 
 Under their auspices, a paper under the title of 
 " Mercator" was published, three times a week, the 
 great object of which was, to shetv that comrm r< < 
 with France would be beneficial to the Kingdom. The 
 
 Mr. Charles Kin, Editor of the British Merchant, purposely started 
 in 171.*, under tin- hiishi-st |>;itmnai;r, lor tin- d'iM -ii^'nm of thin subject, 
 in uli'u li uiue of our most distinguished merchant* at the time took 
 f*rt.
 
 71 
 
 Editor was allowed access to the public offices and 
 continued his efforts with great zeal, until he was 
 driven from the arena by the replies under the sig- 
 nature of the "British Merchant," patronized by 
 some of our distinguished noblemen, particularly the 
 Earls of Halifax and Stanhope. Examinations also 
 took place in the House of Commons, and, eventually 
 the ministers, by way of experiment, and, as it was 
 then stated, " knowing that French wine was a 
 relishing liquor to English palates," made a motion 
 to take off the duties upon them, for two months, 
 which, almost at the moment when it was ready to 
 pass, was lost and the subject dropped. 
 
 A ministerial victory on this occasion, of course, 
 would have destroyed the Methuen Treaty, which 
 had then only undergone a ten years trial ; but as a 
 proof of the interest at the time excited, it is re- 
 corded that " many pamphlets were published to 
 open the eyes of our Legislators, and to convince 
 them that the preservation of our looms and the 
 rents of Great Britain, was of greater consequence 
 to the nation, than gratifying our palates with French 
 wines. These papers and the convincing arguments 
 used by some gentlemen examined at the bar of both 
 Houses of Parliament," we are further told, " had 
 the good effect of throwing out the pernicious Bill 
 of Commerce." Sir Thomas Hammer, speaker of 
 the House of Commons, who, at the time when the 
 Court had the greatest influence ever known in Par- 
 liament and strenuously espoused the Bill, joined his 
 influence to its opponents, and thus it was rejected 
 by nine votes, at a time when it was expected that 
 the question would have been lost, as it was then
 
 72 
 
 contended, " notwithstanding the importance of the 
 vote, which was no less than the trade, safety and 
 power of Great Britain." 
 
 At this period, it was, that our early commerce 
 with Portugal underwent a thorough investigation, 
 it having been directly attacked by the advocates of 
 French interests, a very prevailing fashion in those 
 days at court. Notwithstanding the great revolu- 
 tions commerce has since experienced, and the new 
 channels of vent and supply which the industry of 
 man and political transitions have since opened. 
 there were many maxims of our forefathers upon 
 this subject, derived from experience, which are still 
 entitled to great respect. 
 
 In 1662, the total exports of England were 
 2,022,812, and in 1699, 6,788,166, affording an 
 increase, in this short interval, of 4,765,354. In 
 1699, the value of our woollens exported alone 
 amounted to 2,932,292, and at that period, the 
 United Provinces afforded us the best general mar- 
 ket. In 1678, the French trade, which had greatly 
 interfered with our own manufactures, was pro- 
 scribed as a common nuisance, notwithstanding the 
 opposition of the Court, and to that salutary mea- 
 Mirc it is allowed that a large share of our progressive 
 prosperity may be attributed. Notwithstanding the 
 impulse thus given to local manufactures and the 
 consumption of home-made articles, our Clothiers 
 -nlVered materially and frequently implored the 
 a*si>tance of the Legislature "to support their totter- 
 ing and declining trade." 
 
 Under thc-e peculiar circum-tanco, an applica- 
 tion was made by Queen Anne'- minister at the
 
 73 
 
 Portuguese court for the admission of our woollen 
 manufactures, which being agreed to upon supposed 
 principles of reciprocity, the Methuen Treaty, as 
 already mentioned, was carried into effect, in 1703.* 
 From the inquiries and discussions which followed in 
 1713, it very clearly results that at the above period, 
 the Portuguese had woollen manufactures of their 
 own, first established by foreigners,t at Porto Alegre, 
 Cavilham, &c. ; and although it was soon discovered 
 that the staple of their wool was too short for bays, 
 they nevertheless continued to make good cloths. 
 In June, 1684, the importation of all foreign woollens 
 was prohibited, conformably to Count d'Ericeira's 
 project to increase the exports and lessen the con- 
 sumption of foreign manufactures. % According to 
 the highest commercial authority of those days, 
 " the Portuguese went on so successfully and their 
 manufactures of woollen cloths increased to such a 
 degree, that both Portugal and Brazil were wholly 
 supplied from their domestic fabrics, the materials 
 of this manufacture being their own and Spanish 
 wools," 
 
 * Mr. Methuen, the British negotiator, had been envoy extraordinary 
 at the court of Lisbon, from 1691 to 1697, and returned thither in 1700, 
 with proposals for the treaty. 
 
 f Our merchants at the time engaged in the Portuguese trade, de- 
 clared that an Irishman, of the name of Courteen, a servant in the family 
 of Queen Catherine, an Infanta of Portugal, in 1681, carried thither 
 clothiers and bay-makers, where they set up manufactures. 
 
 J Our merchants were allowed a year to receive such woollens as had 
 been ordered and were on their way, and obliged to reship whatever 
 arrived after that period. 
 
 That this disposition to establish manufactures also then prevailed 
 among the enlightened Spaniards, is evident from the Commercial work 
 
 K
 
 74 
 
 Such was the situation of Portugal, according to 
 the shewing of our own merchants, at the time Bri- 
 tish Woollens were re-admitted to entry, after an 
 exclusion of twenty years, and in defiance of the re- 
 monstrances of the native manufacturers, whose es- 
 tablishments were thereby destroyed. The Methuen 
 Treaty was at the time considered as " the founda- 
 tion of one of our most valuable branches of com- 
 merce," and the highest encomiums passed upon its 
 negotiator. Had the French Treaty above alluded 
 to, been carried into effect, besides the great injury 
 which we should have experienced at home, the loss 
 of our commercial footing in Portugal must also 
 have followed, as may be seen from the subjoined 
 letter from an English Merchant, dated Lisbon, 
 Nov. 7> 1713, and produced in evidence. 
 
 " I am of opinion you had as good stop your hands, 
 at least send sparingly, till I can give you some more 
 certain news about the Brazil ships, and that you 
 
 of D. Geronimo de Uztariz, whose great cure for the maladies of his 
 country was, " Manufactures and a Reform of Duties;" and he success- 
 fully contended " that there was no foundation for the notion of those 
 who argue that their is not a sufficient number of inhabitants in Spain 
 to furnish hands for the looms, formerly employed." This work was 
 translated into English by John Kippax, by command of Frederick, 
 Prince of Wales, who dying in the interval of the publication, it was 
 dedicated to his son, afterwards George III. The dedication states that 
 the oriirin il was first printed at Madrid, in 1724 ; afterwards sup- 
 pressed and only reprinted in 1742. It is the earliest work tin- 
 Spaniards have produced on internal improvement, and judging from the 
 impulse and protection at present given to every thing in Spain that 
 tends to amelioration, one would be inclined to think that it is now that 
 the author's countrymen hare learned to appreciate the value of the 
 maxim*, to long ago recommended for adoption by one of their best 
 patriots.
 
 75 
 
 find what will be done in your Parliament in relation 
 to the French trade ; for I dread their taking some 
 resolutions that will prove destructive to this. Thus 
 far you may depend on, that if the Bill in favour of 
 the French Commerce passes, this Court will do their 
 utmost to oppress the English trade j and it is much 
 to be feared, that the Treaty being broken by us, 
 they will not be content to prohibit Cloths only, but 
 proceed to forbid bays and other goods, which the 
 French are proposing to bring hither, and are repre- 
 senting how much more advantageous to Portugal a 
 trade with France would be than with England, 
 France taking off great quantities of their sugars and 
 tobacco, and England nothing but their gold, except 
 it be some wine and fruit, which does amount but to 
 a small part of the trade. And as I should be sorry 
 you should engage in this trade with any disadvan- 
 tage, I give it as my opinion, that one cannot act 
 too cautiously in it at present." 
 
 This shews the precarious situation in which we 
 stood with regard to our Portugal trade, only a very 
 few years after the Treaty of 1703 was carried into 
 effect. It has before been asserted, on authorities of 
 the day, that our exports to that country more than 
 quadrupled through the operation of the treaty, and 
 it seems equally clear that we then began to receive 
 large supplies of Portuguese bullion. From August 
 1710 to August 1713, there were coined at the Mint 
 1,055,528. 17. chiefly from Portuguese moidores, 
 and in some parts of England no other coin was cur- 
 rent.* Our troops acting in Catalonia and other 
 
 * A letter, written by a party of merchants in Exeter, on the subject
 
 76 
 
 parts of the Peninsula, Gibraltar and even in the 
 Netherlands, at various times were supplied with 
 monies obtained from our merchants established 
 in Portugal, and it must be further taken into ac- 
 count that a large portion of our bullion shipped to 
 the East Indies was obtained from Lisbon and 
 Cadiz. 
 
 During the examinations before Parliament, in 
 1714, it was affirmed that our exports of woollens to 
 Portugal, previous to the Methuen Treaty, never 
 exceeded 330,000, to which were added 70,000 in 
 other articles, and, since it had been in operation, 
 that the total exports to that country had not been 
 less than 1, 300,000. t This treaty was therefore 
 extremely important in its effects, and by no foreign 
 State could greater consideration have been shewn 
 towards us. At the time the negotiation took place, 
 
 of the Treaty with Portugal, dated October 31, J713, after alluding to 
 its publication, concludes thus ; " for now we plainly see the preserving 
 that trade is preserving our own broad, and that breaking that ti r.ity 
 would be our ruin, for we have hardly any other money current among 
 us but Portugal gold. 
 
 t As a proof of the value of the foreign commerce carried on with 
 Portugal, during the commencement of the last century, it may be 
 noticed that, in a return of vessels which arrived at the port of Amster- 
 dam, in the year 1734, the proportion stands thus ; from London 51 ; 
 Petersburg 22 ; Kuucn 33 ; Cadiz 53 and Lisbon 32, and in 1741 the 
 number was 80. In the same year, there arrived at Lisbon from Hra/.il, 
 15) millions of crnzados in gold ; 220 arrobas of gold-dust and ingots ; 
 437 arrobas of bars of gold ; 48 arrobas of wrought gold ; 8871 marks 
 of silver ; 42,803 pieces of eight ; 3 millions 36 octaves and 5 quintals 
 of diamonds; besides 11,000 rolls of tobacco; 113,000 hides; 1000 
 chests of sugar and other minor articles. In 1736 there arrived at 
 I. Mum from Pernambuco only, 27 vessels, bringing 1,300,000 cruzados 
 for merchants and 200,000 for the King ; 4 octaves of diamonds ; 6294
 
 77 
 
 the wines of Portugal were admitted into England 
 and paid little more than half the duties levied on 
 those of France. This difference however was not 
 established at the request of His Portuguese Majesty; 
 but, because such was the interest of England. The 
 rate of duties had been previously settled by an Act 
 of Parliament and for a long term to come.* The 
 preamble of the treaty sets forth, " that her Sacred 
 Royal Majesty of Great Britain hath signified to His 
 Sacred Royal Majesty of Portugal, that it would be 
 very acceptable to her if the Woollen cloths and the 
 rest of the Woollen manufactures of Britain might 
 be admitted into Portugal, by the prohibitions being 
 taken off," &c.f The proposal was accepted, and 
 the King of Portugal agreed to admit our Woollens 
 into Portugal, per omne tempus, non aliter quam fieri 
 solebat, antiquam per pragmaticas sanctiones interdi- 
 
 chests of sugar and 700 small ditto; 8600 rolls of tobacco; 34,000 half 
 hides aud 13,000 whole ditto; 11,500 weight Brazilwood; and 450 
 quintals of violetta wood. 
 
 * In 1714, the value of a tun of Portugal wine stood thus, 
 
 Average prime cost 18 
 
 Freight and expences home 6 
 
 Leakage and insurance 3 
 
 Duties .. ..24 1 
 
 51 1 
 
 It was then ascertained that the prime cost of Port Wines for ten years 
 had been 22 milrees and that of Lisbon 38 milrees per pipe. Two 
 pipes make one tun, the average selling price of which in those days 
 was 30/. per pipe, or 60/. per tun. 
 
 t Pergratum sibifore, si Lanei Panni cceteraque Britannica Lanijicia 
 in Lusifaniam admitterentur, eorum interdictione sublata.
 
 78 
 
 cerentur. The duties, established previous to the 
 prohibitions, were 23 per cent. ; but, as our mer- 
 chants at the time very candidly confessed, this rate 
 was often reduced to 12, on the real value. On these 
 conditions were our woollens re-admitted into Portu- 
 gal, to the destruction of her own manufactures, 
 whilst her wines came into our markets with a 
 charge of 24. per tun upon them, more than 100 
 per cent., after paying us freight ; and our merchants 
 moreover boasted that they had thus secured to 
 themselves and descendants a predominating share 
 in the mines of Brazil ! 
 
 How far the Methuen Treaty, as well as that ne- 
 gotiated in 1810, in their operation, proved to be 
 founded on the principles of just reciprocity, will be 
 a topic of consideration hereafter. In the mean 
 while, I shall merely remark that in 1704 we entered 
 on the enjoyment of a large and profitable trade with 
 Portugal which, under incidental fluctuations, has 
 continued ever since. The most active period was 
 from 1722 to 1738, during which we had an annual 
 balance of a million sterling in our favour, besides 
 freights. It then partially diminished j but again 
 revived in 1756, and so continued till 1765, when we 
 experienced great competition. The amount and 
 fluctuations of this commerce, from the year 1761 to 
 1799, will be easily understood from the returns of 
 imports and exports already furnished for that 
 period, during which Portugal had often an annual 
 balance in her favour ; but this arose from the <-ir- 
 cumstancc of the bullion and diamonds secretly con- 
 veyed away not entering into account. 
 
 The various statements which precede, will have
 
 79 
 
 rendered it evident that, at the end of the year, Por- 
 tugal has usually had to pay a considerable sum on 
 the balance of her trade, which has chiefly been done 
 by the bills of our merchants, who thus took upon 
 themselves the shipment of the equivalent given in 
 specie, or diamonds. Hence arose those clandestine 
 exportations of which mention has already been 
 made, in defiance of the penalties awarded by the 
 laws, and so often made the topics of complaint.* 
 What was the precise quantity of precious metals 
 and stones thus brought away it would be impossible 
 to state ; but it is well known to all those who have 
 had intercourse with Portugal that parcels of both 
 were embarked in British men of war, when occasion 
 offered, to be sent home on account of merchants, or 
 conveyed elsewhere to supply the wants of ou^go- 
 vernment. Vessels bound to the East Indies, some- 
 times touched at Lisbon for bullion ; and Baretti, 
 writing from that city, in 1760, says that the English 
 packet weekly took away about 50,000. ; which is 
 most probably an exaggeration ;f but that we have 
 
 * Our merchants complained of the extreme severity of the measures, 
 adopted by the Portuguese government, to prevent the exit of the pre- 
 cious metals and diamonds, as noticed page 59, but did not remember 
 that in an Arret issued by the King of France, on the 8th of March, 
 1713, to prevent East India manufactures from being bought, or sold, 
 within his Kingdoms and Colonies, the penalties extended even to the 
 tailors and embroiderers ; their journeymen and apprentices, who were 
 not only incapacitated for ever ; but had their names registered on 
 tables and hung up in the courts of justice, in order that their infamy 
 might be perpetuated. This was done for the protection of home manu- 
 factures ! We also have had severe laws to prevent the extraction and 
 melting of gold and silver coin. 
 
 t At this present time, the freight charged upon bullion brought from
 
 80 
 
 received from Portugal in bullion and diamonds at 
 the average rate of a million and half sterling per 
 annum, from 1705 to the invasion of the French, is 
 an opinion in which some of our most experienced 
 merchants both here and in Lisbon readily agree. 
 
 Early in the present century, our connection with 
 Portugal assumed a more important aspect. Previous 
 to this period, no country ever experienced more 
 disheartening transitions, which were greatly aggra- 
 vated by the events arising out of the French revo - 
 lution. Peter II. endeavoured to repair those 
 ravages which the successive wars^ with Spain had 
 deeply imprinted on his kingdom, and zealously 
 patronized agriculture and industry. His efforts 
 were not however seconded during the long reign of 
 John V. ; but, under Joseph and his minister Pom- 
 bal, new life and vigour were given to all the im- 
 portant branches. A seven years war, during which 
 Portugal was invaded three times, followed by the 
 emigration of the Royal Family to the New World ; 
 the destruction of her manufactures and the opening 
 of the Brazilian ports to foreign nations, greatly 
 added to her misfortunes. 
 
 Through these events, Portugal became a severe 
 sufferer. Trivial, as her national industry generally 
 appeared to foreigners, her merchants nevertheless 
 had been in the habit of shipping to Brazil a variety 
 
 Lisbon in the Falmnuth packets is a subject of dispute between our go- 
 vernment and the shippers, who complain of the high rate ropmed from 
 them, against which they have formally remonstrated. The charge is 
 nevertheless regulated by the Admiralty, and | goes to the Admiral ; | 
 to the Chest of Greenwich Hospital, and the rest to the Commander of 
 the packet, who has to pay the British Consul's commission.
 
 81 
 
 of articles, of her own growth and manufacture, to 
 which the Portuguese settled abroad gave a decided 
 preference. These articles chiefly consisted of cot- 
 ton, woollen and silk manufactures from her own 
 looms; gold and silver lace; hats; linens; hard- 
 ware ; velvets, &c. the amount of which, for a given 
 period of years, may be seen from the following re- 
 turns, reduced into cruzados. 
 
 1796 6,106,500 1808 568,000 
 
 7 7,160,750 91,129,000 
 
 S 10,329,000 10-1,079,500 
 
 914,080,750 11 974,000 
 
 1800 9,606,250 12 995,750 
 
 110,030,750 131,388,000 
 
 2 8,676,508 141,855,000 
 
 3 6,936,500 152,348,500 
 
 4 8,449,250 162,895,250 
 
 5 6,311,750 172,829,500 
 
 6 4,799,250 183,350,250 
 
 7 2,936,500 193,106,750 
 
 The privation of these supplies, the produce of her 
 own labour, was doubtless felt by Portugal, as well 
 as the absence of the Colonial produce which she 
 had been so long accustomed to receive in return ; 
 but it is a curious and important fact that our own 
 direct trade with Portugal and the consumption of 
 British merchandize in her European dominions, was 
 rather benefited than otherwise, by these revolutions, 
 as will appear from the subjoined abstracts. 
 
 The following is an official return of the number
 
 82 
 
 of vessels entered inwards and cleared outwards 
 from and to Portugal, during the undermentioned 
 years. 
 
 INWARDS. OUTWARDS. 
 
 British. Foreign. British. Foreign. 
 
 1800 296 78 217 136 
 
 1 _ 395 113 182 181 
 
 2 37342 246107 
 
 3 _ 282 82 22060 
 
 4 _ 241 131 197 H7 
 5_274 127 204103 
 
 6 354 114 210 122 
 
 7 __ 305 85 216182 
 8165193 231 159 
 9 47466 444 132 
 
 10 53691 466 176 
 
 11 385 48 537 114 
 
 14 428123 296140 
 
 15 449 140 448 177 
 
 16 31383 29797 
 
 17 50370 38396 
 
 18 520 94 376 113 
 
 19 58857 39687 
 
 20 543 54 359 89 
 2156044 41063 
 
 22 62555 52585 
 
 23 623 76 474 118 
 
 24 58284 414 131 
 
 25 742 111 532 131 
 
 26 675 76 531 120 
 
 27 71064 565120 
 
 28 67666 53494 
 
 29 56267 500 103
 
 83 
 
 The following is a return of the Woollen goods ex- 
 ported from Great Britain to Portugal, Madeira and 
 Azores, in the years specified. 
 
 /. *. d. 
 
 1812 62,827 
 
 14* 95,872 
 
 15 727,805 16 1 
 
 16 568,453 12 4 
 
 17 572,664 4 6 
 
 18 381,613 16 10 
 
 19 412,415 15 
 
 20 426,851 15 6 
 
 21 386,948 9 7 
 
 22 342,814 9 6 
 
 23 485,625 1 6 
 
 24 475,685 3 
 
 25 360,468 16 
 
 26 349,936 14 
 
 27 263,659 6 
 
 A Return of the official value of British Imports 
 and Exports from and to Portugal, Madeira and 
 Azores, corresponding to the undernamed years. 
 
 IMPORTS. 
 
 Official value. 
 
 1800 918,048 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 9 
 
 EXPORTS. 
 
 Official value. 
 
 1*011,923 
 2,027,630 
 1,777,549 
 1,170,226 
 600,137 
 1,124,098 
 
 * Returns for 1813 cannot be had in consequence of the fire at the 
 Custom House.
 
 1810 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 i 
 
 17 
 
 632,482 
 
 18 
 
 776,180 
 
 19 
 
 509,572 
 
 20 
 
 465,273 
 
 21 
 
 480,609 
 
 22 
 
 546,173 
 
 23 
 
 566,353 
 
 24 
 
 450,730 
 
 28 
 
 587,355 
 
 29 
 
 584,818 
 
 IMPORTS. EXPORTS. 
 
 Official ralae. Official value. 
 
 2,228,833 
 6,164,858 
 1,757,984 
 1,370,655 
 1,623,907 
 1,908,879 
 2,795,385 
 2,774,851 
 2,146,473 
 2,670,191 
 2,581,757 
 1,764,032 
 
 Importations of Portugal Wines, compared with 
 those of France for the undermentioned years. 
 
 Tnn*. Hlul.-. 
 
 1798 Portugal, .... 15,791 2 
 
 Madeira, 645 3 
 
 99 Portugal, 22,519 3 
 
 Madeira, 652 2 
 
 French, 1,662 
 
 1800 Portugal, .... 19,323 2 
 
 Madeira, 943 
 
 French, 2,078 
 
 1 Portugal, .... 28,671 
 
 Madeira, .... 106 
 
 French, 3,861 
 
 2 Portugal, .... 22,023 
 
 Madeira, 114 
 
 French, 1,2/6
 
 85 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 Official value of imports and exports from and to 
 Portugal, Azores and Madeira, corresponding to the 
 undermentioned years. 
 
 Imports. 
 
 1790 99,465 
 2 202,298 
 
 1800 114,836 
 10 214,032 
 
 Exports. 
 
 202,833 
 154,159 
 97,251 
 202,075 
 273,017 
 154,937 
 138,426 
 81,930 
 105,138 
 94,494 
 92,026 
 124,651 
 80,759 
 70,318 
 69,977 
 
 The Prince Regent, afterwards John VI., on leav- 
 ing Portugal, arrived first at Bahia, on the 21st of 
 January, 1808, and hy a provisional order, dated the 
 28th of the same month, addressed to Count da 
 Ponte, the governor, directed " that all merchan- 
 dize, conveyed thither in foreign vessels belonging to 
 powers at peace and in amity with the Portuguese 
 Crown, or to his own subjects, should be admitted 
 into the Custom Houses of Brazil, on the payment 
 of 24 per cent, duties. This was followed by a 
 decree, dated Rio de Janeiro, April 1, in the same 
 year, revoking and annulling all prohibitions and 
 
 15 
 
 77,214 
 
 16 
 
 54,494 
 
 17 - 
 
 45,871 
 
 18 
 
 66,913 
 
 19 
 
 57,988 
 
 20 
 
 70,131 
 
 21 
 
 48,702 
 
 22 
 
 44,370 
 
 23 
 
 56,369 
 
 24 
 
 56,311 
 
 25 
 
 77,361
 
 86 
 
 obstacles to the establishment of manufactures by 
 his own subjects in Brazil ; and, by another decree, 
 bearing date of the llth June, the duties on nation- 
 al merchandize, entering in vessels under the Portu- 
 guese flag, were regulated at 16 per cent. By 
 another edict, issued on the 28th January, 1809, it 
 was further ordained that foreign merchandize, 
 shipped from Lisbon and Oporto and having there 
 paid duties, should experience a corresponding alle- 
 viation, on arriving in Brazil. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it was, that our 
 " Treaty of Commerce and Navigation" was con- 
 cluded at Rio de Janeiro and signed on the 19th of 
 February, 1810. The preamble recites " that the 
 Contracting Parties, being equally animated with 
 the desire, not only of consolidating and strengthen- 
 ing the Ancient Friendship and Good Understanding 
 which so happily subsist, and have, during so many 
 ages, subsisted, between the two Crowns ; but also 
 of improving and extending the beneficial effects 
 thereof to the mutual advantage of their respective 
 subjects, have thought that the most efficacious 
 means for obtaining these objects, would be to adopt 
 a liberal system of commerce, founded on the basis 
 of reciprocity and mutual convenience," &c. 
 
 The object of this Commercial Treaty evidently 
 was to establish, in a formal manner, those con- 
 ditions on which the British were to enter into a 
 participation of the free trade established in Bra- 
 zilian ports, which naturally followed the change in 
 the seat of the Portuguese government ; but another 
 change, equally important, has since occurred, which 
 renders it highly problematical whether the Com-
 
 87 
 
 mercial Treaty of 1810, under the professions 
 avowed, is suited to our present intercourse with 
 Portugal. Article 32 stipulates "that the Treaty 
 shall be unlimited in point of duration; that the 
 obligations and conditions expressed, or implied, in 
 it, shall be perpetual and immutable, and that they 
 shall not be changed, or affected in any manner, in 
 case His Royal Highness, the Prince Regent of Por- 
 tugal, his Heirs, or Successors, should again es- 
 tablish the seat of the Portuguese Monarchy within 
 the European Dominions of that Crown ;" but no 
 provision was made either for the separation of 
 Brazil, or the negotiation of a new Commercial 
 Treaty with that country, in the character of an In- 
 dependent Empire a treaty totally different in all 
 its parts, to the one left subsisting with Portugal. 
 
 The skill and dexterity with which the Treaty in 
 question was negotiated, stand almost unexampled ; 
 but whether the circumstances were propitious for 
 such a negotiation, or whether in its operation the 
 Treaty has proved to be founded on " that perfect 
 reciprocity regarding the duties and imposts to be 
 paid by the respective parties," as laid down in 
 Article 4 and strongly inculcated in several others, 
 is a matter that deserves particular consideration. 
 The Portuguese contend that the Treaty was made 
 at a time when their country was humbled by mis- 
 fortune, and that of this circumstance Great Britain 
 unduly took advantage. If such were the opinions 
 prevalent among the Portuguese, prior to the decla- 
 ration of Brazilian Independence, and of this, after 
 the numerous and spirited writings published upon 
 the subject, there can be no doubt, they have been
 
 88 
 
 materially strengthened by the separation of the 
 two countries, owing to the peculiar and ivlutive 
 situation in which they are left. The Treaty might 
 have been well adapted to the new sera in commerce 
 that then beamed upon us; it unquestionably tended 
 to unfold the resources of Brazil ; but, it unfor- 
 tunately happens that what was at the time pre- 
 eminently advantageous to the one, in many respects, 
 could not fail to be ruinous to the other. 
 
 Several of the Articles of the Treaty indeed relate 
 exclusively to Brazil, and have since been rendered 
 null and void by a change of circumstances. The 
 general tendency of the arrangements was, to lower 
 the duties on goods imported in British vessels to 
 the same standard of those paid on merchandize 
 shipped under the Portuguese flag. This at the 
 time might suit the incipient state of Brazilian com- 
 merce ; but not that of Portugal ; and it besides 
 indicates a preference unusual among independent 
 nations; a preference of which we ought not to 
 stand in need. Owing to the great competition which 
 the Colonial produce of Brazil has experienced with- 
 in the present century, particularly cotton, it became 
 difficult to bring it to a general market, unless ship- 
 ped under very low export duties ; but this could be 
 no criterion in the European dominions of Portugal. 
 It might even have been expedient to levy moderate 
 rates on foreign goods brought to Brazil, owing to 
 the great facilities for smuggling along an extended 
 line of secluded coast, where the merchant might be 
 disposed to resort to evasions, in order to bring his 
 commodities to market with any prospect of success-
 
 89 
 
 ful sale ; but it does not follow that the same pre- 
 caution is required in countries differently situated. 
 It would be impossible to try each Article sepa- 
 rately by the test of experience; but there are 
 several which require special notice. Article 4 
 stipulates that " port charges, tonnage and anchor- 
 age dues" shall be perfectly equal to both parties; 
 whereas, in practice, the Portuguese complain that 
 the rates paid by them in our ports, bear no propor- 
 tion with those required from British vessels in theirs. 
 Article 5 determines which vessels shall be considered 
 national, and, as regards ourselves, all those are 
 deemed British, " built in our dominions and owned, 
 navigated and registered according to the laws of 
 Great Britain/' which consequently includes prizes 
 and all other vessels legally nationalized ; whereas 
 those only are considered Portuguese vessels "which 
 were built in the dominions of Portugal, taken by 
 her ships of war, or by her subjects having Letters 
 of Marque, and condemned as lawful prizes in her 
 courts." This of course excludes the Portuguese 
 from the use of purchased vessels, besides establish- 
 ing restrictions and requiring proofs of formalities 
 from which we are exempted, by merely producing 
 a register, duly executed. In its operation, such a 
 clause must again be disadvantageous to Portugal, 
 in consequence of the great disproportion of prizes 
 which, in all maritime wars, we have to nationalize. 
 The object doubtless was to discourage the purchase 
 of vessels from the United States, and at the time 
 the provision was introduced it might appear as an 
 incentive to ship-building in the ports of Brazil ; 
 but it could not fail to be detrimental to a country 
 
 M
 
 90 
 
 that besides the Court removing to the Colonies, had 
 been stripped of its mercantile navy and, by a series 
 of national disasters, was prevented from repairing 
 the loss.* After the misfortunes of Portugal, partly 
 attributable to the firmness of her alliance with us, 
 such a distinction does not savour much of that 
 " liberal system of commerce, founded upon the basis 
 of reciprocity and mutual convenience," which the 
 Treaty holds out as the best means " of consolidat- 
 ing and strengthening our ancient friendship and 
 good understanding." 
 
 Article 10 permits the appointment of a Judge- 
 Conservator to try and decide all cases brought 
 before him by British subjects," &c. This privilege 
 was exacted in Cromwell's Treaty of 1654, and it is 
 probable that the administration of justice in those 
 days required more than ordinary protection in 
 Portugal; but, in modern times, particularly when 
 it has been abolished in Brazil, it is a matter of 
 great doubt whether it is expedient to retain it. 
 The creation of such a jurisdiction within a foreign 
 realm, is in itself monstrous, and rendered much 
 more so by Cromwell's demand that the appeals 
 from the Judge, appointed by himself, should be 
 decided by the Portuguese courts, in four months ! 
 From the year 1645 to the accession of King Philip, 
 
 It U actually a (act that, on the 23rd November, 1816, the 1/1.0... n 
 Regency Untied an order for the purpose of restrainini; foreign vessels 
 from carrying on the roasting trade within the dominion* of Portugal, 
 alleging that, in some part* of the I'nited Kingdom and adjacent Islands, 
 where the trade had been opened to foreign nation*, the latter were 
 
 ylng merchandize from one Portuguese port to another, to tl 
 i In -ion "i i,.i'i\. , .iiid i liirtU '.uiii' t<> (In w.mt t M .-
 
 91 
 
 we enjoyed a similar privilege in Spain, but it was 
 given up in the Treaty of 1665, as useless, it having 
 been ascertained that, for several years previous, no 
 appointment had been made. No other foreign 
 nation ever sought to obtain such a privilege in 
 Portugal, and with us it would cease to be of use, 
 from the moment our treaties were made straight and 
 clear and efficient men appointed to the Consular 
 offices. 
 
 Article 15 agrees te that British goods shall be 
 admitted into the dominions of Portugal, as well in 
 Europe, as in America, Africa and Asia, on paying 
 generally and solely duties to the amount of 15 per 
 cent." &c. It has already been observed that on 
 the re-admission of our Woollens into Portugal, in 
 1704, the duties were fixed at the old rate of 23 per 
 cent., in those times considered fair and moderate. 
 This standard for the payment of duties on British 
 merchandize was regulated by the secret Article, 
 appended to Cromwell's Treaty in 1654, in which it 
 was further covenanted that Portuguese commodi- 
 ties, in our ports, should pay the same duties as had 
 been fixed by law, in the month of May, in the same 
 year, that is, 12. on the pipe of wine, the prime 
 cost of which was 9. It was then eagerly contended 
 that the King of Portugal having engaged, on his 
 own behalf and that of his heirs and successors, per 
 omne tempus, to admit all our Woollen manufactures 
 into his kingdom, as was accustomed before the pro- 
 hibitions, he thereby not only agreed never to pro- 
 hibit them again ; but also divested himself for ever 
 hereafter of the right of raising the duties, an ex- 
 clusion held equally binding on his successors.
 
 92 
 
 There is something strange in the stipulation of a 
 perpetuity in the rate of duties ; but, at all events, 
 it appears that 23 per cent, was the protecting 
 charge levied upon British merchandize, imported 
 into Portugal, from 1654 to 1810, that is, for a period 
 of 254 years. The only return we seemingly gave 
 for this concession, was, that Portugal wines should 
 be brought into our market at a charge of one third 
 less than is paid on those of France, which terms 
 being perfectly indefinite, it has happened, in war 
 time for example, that the duty on the pipe of Por- 
 tugal wine has been raised to 55., and at the 
 present moment stands at 28. In 1780, Chevalier 
 Pinto, the Portuguese envoy, presented several me- 
 morials, alleging an infraction of the Treaty, by 
 additional duties being laid upon Portugal wines ; 
 when the complaints were deemed frivolous ; and, 
 with respect to the additional duty, it was answered 
 that, as the wines of France would be thereby affected 
 in the proportion stipulated in the Treaty with Por- 
 tugal, his nation could have no just cause for iv- 
 monstrances. 
 
 Whether it was contemplated that such would be 
 the operation of the Treaty, at the time it was made, 
 were now a fruitless inquiry ; but, in this respect, 
 absence of reciprocity must be evident to every one. 
 In consequence of the heavier expences which go- 
 vernments incur, in modern times, it hat* been, usual 
 to raise, rather than lower, duties ; at least this was 
 our practice. How then could the government of 
 Portugal exist, when so large a proportion of her 
 in i ports paid only 15 per cent. ? As before noticed, 
 a reduced duty of this kind might suit the circum-
 
 93 
 
 stances of Brazil ; but, I ask the candid and impar- 
 tial reader whether it could support an old State, in 
 Europe ? Could other nations, paying 30 per cent., 
 be satisfied with such an enormous preference as this 
 in our favour ? When the Braganza Family reached 
 Brazil, as before noticed, the duties then payable by 
 allied and friendly powers were fixed at 24 per cent., 
 and subsequently on national goods, imported under 
 the Brazilian flag, at 16 per cent. On what prin- 
 ciple, then, could we ask for a reduction in Portugal 
 to 15 ? This new regulation in fact deranged the 
 whole of the system, pursued in the Custom Houses 
 of that country.* Even after the negotiation of the 
 new Trecity with us, goods brought home from the 
 Portuguese dominions in Asia, were charged 32 per 
 cent, duties, including 4 under the title of donativo, 
 or gift, which the importers themselves of old had 
 voluntarily allowed the government for the special 
 purpose of rebuilding the Exchange and warehouses, 
 destroyed by the earthquake, in 1755. The Portu- 
 guese were thus actually paying 32 per cent, on 
 merchandize entered from their own distant settle- 
 ments, at the very time that our new Treaty com- 
 pelled them to receive our home manufactured cot- 
 tons ; nay, even those of Bengal, at the reduced 
 rate of 15 ! This crying grievance, as it was sup- 
 posed, was remedied a year afterwards, that is, by 
 an Alvara, or royal order, dated February 4, 1811, 
 
 * It will be considered as a curious transition in commerce, when 
 it is known that, in 1816, shipments were actually made from British 
 ports to Brazil, of rum, low-proof brandy, wine and even salt, to which 
 the derangement in duties was the chief inducement.
 
 94 
 
 by virtue of which the duties payable on Asiatic 
 goods, imported into Portugal from her own esta- 
 blishments in the East, were fixed at 16 per cent. ; 
 but, the Custom-house officers in Lisbon still de- 
 manding the 4 per cent, donativo, which they alleged 
 was not affected by the royal order, notwithstanding 
 the object for which it was first appropriated had 
 been completed fifty years before, it actually follow- 
 ed that the Portuguese were paying 20 per cent, on 
 their Asiatic goods, at the same time that it was 
 ad libitum with us to import into Portugal our own 
 cotton manufactures, as well as those of the East 
 Indies, at the low rate of 15 per cent.! In the fol- 
 lowing year, a memorial was submitted to the 
 Regency by the Portuguese merchants concemed in 
 the Asiatic trade, in which this grievance was stated 
 at full length, and it was therein alleged that the very 
 preference alluded to " had not only deranged the 
 business of the Lisbon Custom House ; but also sus- 
 pended all shipments beyond the Cape of Good Hope 
 for the ensuing monsoon." 
 
 The political economy of commerce consists In 
 selling cheaper than one's rivals, and this most as- 
 suredly Great Britain can do in the various branches 
 of her manufactures. Unreasonable preferences 
 lead only to jealousies and distrust, and this unfor- 
 tunately has been the case in Portugal. During the 
 time of the Cortes, that is, in 1822, a curious dis- 
 cussion arose on the interpretation of the 26th Article 
 of the Treaty of 1810, which runs thus j " it is agreed 
 and declared that the stipulations contained in for- 
 mer Treaties respecting the admission of the Wines 
 of Portugal, on the one hand, and the Woollen Cloths
 
 95 
 
 of Great Britain on the other, shall at present re- 
 main unaltered." This, of course, relates to the 
 Methuen Treaty, and although the quantum of 
 duties was not therein specified, reference being 
 made to a known and established custom, long in 
 force, there was no difficulty in making the applica- 
 tion. The duties were consequently restored to the 
 rate of 23 per cent., as regulated in Cromwell's 
 Treaty; but the Constitutionalists when in power 
 argued that if the stipulations relating to the re- 
 ciprocal admission of wines and woollens were to 
 remain unaltered, the duties on the latter could not 
 be reduced to 15. The matter was eventually re- 
 ferred to a Committee of the Cortes and this inter- 
 pretation confirmed. A correspondence upon the 
 subject ensued with Mr. Canning; but, as soon after- 
 wards the French proceeded to invade Spain, the 
 question was I believe waived, on condition that the 
 British government should insist on their not pass- 
 ing the Portuguese frontiers. 
 
 I shall now merely remark that according to 
 Article 33, " the contracting parties reserve to 
 themselves the right of jointly examining and revis- 
 ing the several articles, at the expiration of 15 years, 
 and of then proposing, discussing and making such 
 amendments, or additions, as the real interests of 
 their respective subjects may seem to require," &c. 
 The Treaty was ratified by Great Britain on the 18th 
 June, 1810, consequently, the term above specified 
 expired in 1825, and yet the same confusion still 
 prevails, notwithstanding the important change in 
 circumstances. 
 
 On the 10th of August, 1827, our Commercial
 
 96 
 
 Treaty was concluded with Brazil ; Article 2nd of 
 which allows the respective appointment of Consuls, 
 in the usual way : 3rd, empowers them to act as 
 arbitrators, in cases of disputes arising among thrir 
 own countrymen and to take charge of their pro- 
 perty, when dying intestate, as far as the laws of the 
 respective countries allow ; 4th, declares that the 
 subjects of either of the contracting parties shall 
 enjoy the most perfect liberty of conscience, in mat- 
 ters of religion, according to the system of tolera- 
 tion established and practised in their respective 
 States ; 5th, that they shall freely dispose of their 
 property by sale, gift, or testament ; be exempt from 
 military levies, &c. j 6th, that " as the Constitution 
 of the Brazilian Empire has abolished all particular 
 jurisdictions, it is agreed that the appointment of a 
 Judge Conservator shall only subsist until some 
 satisfactory substitute can be established;" ~\\\. 
 allows facilities to individuals for the settlement of 
 their affairs, in case of rupture ; 8th, agrees not to 
 admit deserters ; 9th, relates to salutes ; 10th, stipu- 
 lates reciprocal freedom of commerce and navigation, 
 except in the coasting trade ; llth, that port-charges 
 shall not be greater than paid under the national 
 flag; 12th establishes the nationality of vessels, re- 
 ciprocally ; 13th, that the subjects of each shall, in 
 the dominions of the other, freely trade with other 
 nations, in every kind of merchandize; 14th, never- 
 theless excepts such commodities as the Crown of 
 Brazil may have reserved in exclusive monopoly for 
 itself; 15th designates contraband of war ; 16th, re- 
 lates to the establishment of packets; IJtli, to 
 pirates; 18th, to shipwrecks; 19th, establishes a
 
 general duty of 15 per cent, on all merchandize 
 brought from Great Britain, or her Colonies, and en- 
 tered for consumption rated on tariff prices j 20th, 
 the Emperor of Brazil binds himself not to admit the 
 goods of any other nation at a lower rate than the 
 one above specified, except those of Portugal, com- 
 ing direct in Portuguese, or Brazilian vessels ; 21st, 
 that Brazilian produce and wares in Great Britain 
 and her Colonies, shall pay no greater duties than 
 are levied on the same articles imported from other 
 foreign countries j 22nd, that excepted articles shall 
 be warehoused for exportation ; 23rd, that all British 
 merchandize imported shall be accompanied by a 
 corresponding cocket, Consular certificate, &c. ; 
 24th, allows Brazilian subjects to trade to British 
 possessions in Asia, as far as is granted to the most 
 favoured nations j finally, Article 28 agrees that the 
 stipulations contained in this Treaty shall continue 
 in force for fifteen years, &c. 
 
 After this short analysis of our Treaty with Brazil, 
 it may be proper to add that the duties are there 
 fixed, by law, for all foreign nations at 15 per cent., 
 which thus precludes every species of preference and 
 distinction. The real difference between the two 
 compacts it is not for me to point out they must be 
 obvious to every one, and from what I myself have 
 had occasion to notice, those Portuguese who enter- 
 tain the strongest predilections towards us, cannot 
 look upon the present state of their commercial 
 relations with Great Britain, without feelings of in- 
 dignation. 
 
 The subject among ourselves indeed seems totally 
 misunderstood, so confused is the aspect which it has 
 
 N
 
 98 
 
 assumed, owing to the complications abounding in 
 the original instruments, as well as the cxpartc in- 
 terpretations put upon some of their most material 
 clauses. There even appears to be a doubt whether 
 our intercourse with Portugal is valuable, or injurious, 
 and whether it ought not to be formally abandoned, 
 or tacitly relinquished. We seem as if we were not 
 sure of the ground on which our trade to that 
 country stands, and yet shrink from investigation. 
 On the precise nature of our relative footing, a con- 
 troversy has been going on ever since the year 
 1758, during which memorials have been presented 
 to Parliament ; a report made by the Lords of Trade ; 
 special envoys sent out with a view to explanation 
 and adjustment, and yet, after all, nothing has been 
 settled the question has not been put at rest ; nay, 
 it was merely hinted at in our Treaty of 1810. 
 In a word, we accuse the Portuguese of breaking 
 their old engagements, whilst they return the com- 
 pliment; and yet, after the lapse of nearly a century, 
 it has not been decided which party is in the right. 
 We reproach the Portuguese for not favouring us 
 enough j whereas the French call them the com- 
 mercial vassnls of England and upbraid them for 
 their subserviency ! 
 
 By both ministers and merchants, certain points 
 are eagerly selected as the objects of their peculiar 
 censure and pointed crimination ; the discussion is 
 periodically renewed in the spirit of anger, and then 
 the charges are suffered to drop, as if undeserving of 
 further trouble; or as if we were unequal to the 
 inquiry. This mode of proceeding is unusual with 
 us, in matters connected with our vital interests)
 
 99 
 
 but the question has been at length brought to such 
 a state of dilemma, that we can no longer look upon 
 it with indifference. This is not one of those mys- 
 teries which it may be thought expedient to hide 
 from the eyes of the people. If we carry on a large 
 and valuable trade with a foreign nation, and that of 
 Portugal, I shall ever contend, is of this description, 
 the precise conditions on which that trade rests, 
 ought to be made known. Our national enterprise 
 has tauntingly been called a mercantile struggle for 
 money, in which the government aids by its powers ; 
 its influence and its negotiations ; how then does it 
 happen that our commerce with an old and faithful 
 Ally is so much neglected ? Commercial treaties 
 are generally made with a view to obviate difficul- 
 ties ; ours however with Portugal seem calculated to 
 create them, and when they have occurred, they are 
 left to chance for a remedy ; in the mean while that 
 the evils go on continually increasing. 
 
 Yes, My Lord, I am one of those who have long 
 thought that our commercial relations with Portugal 
 required a complete and early revision. No com- 
 merce, to its extent, was ever more sure and valu- 
 able, and yet the foundations on which it rests are 
 truly chaotic. Our treaties, conventions and other 
 private and public instruments with this single 
 power, are innumerable 3 many of them made in 
 times when the principles of commerce were not 
 understood, and consequently now obsolete nay, 
 they are often found monstrous in words, as well as 
 in substance. Some contain stipulations not only 
 questionable, on the grounds of policy ; but also im- 
 practicable. By the course of events, many engage-
 
 100 
 
 ments have become void, in some respects, and 
 unreasonably burdensome, in others. Some Treaties 
 were made for a fixed period, and others negotiated 
 under circumstances of peculiar difficulty and dis- 
 advantage. Some are marked by improvident con- 
 cessions, as it were, wrung from a prostrate nation ; 
 aud reminding one party only of humiliations, with- 
 out confering any real advantage on the other. 
 Several contain stipulations in favour of moral 
 honesty, inconsistent in their terms and incompati- 
 ble in their operation with the dignity of any mon- 
 arch. These numerous acts, covenants and stipu- 
 lations, have been so blended and confounded by 
 being successively renewed, confirmed and invigo- 
 rated, that at length the merchant and the statesman 
 find themselves entangled in a labyrinth, from which 
 extrication is no longer possible. 
 
 In proof of my assertion, I will state one case to 
 which 1 have before alluded. In August, 1758? a 
 Memorial was forwarded by the British Factory at 
 Oporto to Lord Chatham, and subsequently a Re- 
 monstrance to his Secretary, Mr. Wood, on the 29th 
 April, 1750, lamenting that no answer had been 
 given. Again, another Memorial was transmitted 
 to Lord Halifax, both virulently complaining that by 
 Treaty the British in Portugal have a right to buy, 
 sell and export all articles of merchandize ; but that, 
 owing to the restrictions of the Royal Oporto Com- 
 pany, they are compelled to take out permits for 
 their wines j limited to the purchase of a certain 
 class and, in particular districts, inhibitnl from 
 making and buying brandy ; in a word, they com- 
 plain of a grievous aud unnatural monopoly to which
 
 101 
 
 they ought not to be subjected, according to the 
 existing relations between the two Crowns. 
 
 Such is the substance of those two memorable 
 Petitions, and the grounds on which the allegations 
 contained in them rest, it was said, are to be found 
 in the 2nd and 3rd Articles of Cromwell's Treaty, 
 made in 1654, and to the following effect ; 1st, " there 
 shall be free commerce between the Republic of 
 England and the King of Portugal, their subjects, 
 &c. as well by land, as by sea, in all and each one 
 of the territories, islands, Colonies, &c., where com- 
 merce was formerly, or is now carried on, in such 
 manner that the subjects of either may, without any 
 safe-conduct whatsoever, or any other general, or 
 particular licence, proceed by land, sea or rivers, to 
 the said territories, islands, Colonies, &c. of the 
 other, and enter the same, &c. j and therein import, 
 sell and purchase merchandize, lay in provisions, 
 &c. ; and with the same freedom depart therefrom 
 with their merchandize, &c. without impediment ; 
 saving, nevertheless, the laws and statutes of each 
 country. 3rdly, that the people of the said Republic 
 shall have liberty to purchase all kinds of goods, 
 commodities and merchandize, in the kingdoms, ter- 
 ritories and islands of the King of Portugal at the 
 first hand, in parcels, or to any amount, when and 
 where they like ; nor shall they be compelled to 
 purchase them from the forestallers, or monopolists; 
 nor shall they be restricted to a fixed price/' &c. 
 
 Such are the stipulations agreed to in 1654, and 
 of a breach of them, as I have before noticed, com- 
 plaints, loud and acrimonious, have been thus going 
 on ever since 1758, and are as likely this year to be
 
 102 
 
 renewed, as they were the last. This question there- 
 fore merits the most serious attention ; but it must 
 not be examined according to the different relations 
 of power, at the present day. It must be tried agree- 
 ably to the principles of good faith and fair reci- 
 procity, as between equals. If we claim a specific 
 and important right, alleged to be derived from an 
 instrument intended to secure to us privileges, or 
 the benefits of a friendly and reciprocal commerce, 
 it must be ascertained whether that instrument 
 really contains conventional evidence of the fact, 
 and if it does, we must next proceed to inquire 
 whether the use which the favoured party wishes to 
 make of it, is proper and consonant to public law. 
 
 In this fair course, there is no assumption of su- 
 periority, on one side no submission to insult, on 
 the other. The independence of the party arraigned 
 by our complainants at the bar of public opinion, is 
 then unquestioned his sovereignty is not violated. 
 The Oporto Factors urge a plea, involving a mo- 
 mentous principle, which, once admitted, all attempts 
 to limit its operation would be in vain. A miscon- 
 ceived stipulation in a treaty, it must be further 
 borne in mind, has often proved more fatal to the 
 question of right, than the pillage of a dozen wars ; 
 at the same time, it will be agreed that when, by a 
 Bolcmu compact and with a fair equivalent, one party 
 acknowledges the injurious claim of another, he is 
 bound by his own act and must submit to the con- 
 sequence. 
 
 From my earliest youth I have been anxious to see 
 this question terminated. I ever thought, and still 
 think that, after the disagreeable stages through
 
 103 
 
 which it has passed, no treaty with Portugal could 
 he satisfactory and conclusive, without it. On the 
 spot, I endeavoured to make myself acquainted with 
 the details, more from curiosity than interest, and 
 certainly with no public view ; hut I am glad that 
 an opportunity of publishing a partial result now 
 presents itself. My researches were pursued among 
 persons of all classes and nations ; nevertheless, it 
 was with me a subject of the deepest regret that I 
 never could meet with the result of the conferences 
 held between Mr. Hay, our Consul-General in Lis- 
 bon, and the Count de Oeiras, afterwards the Mar- 
 quess de Pombal, respecting the Factors' Petition of 
 1758. Explanations were then demanded by Lord 
 Halifax the subject was green and fresh, and the 
 questions and answers it is more than presumable 
 contain important elucidations which ought not to 
 be lost. Of these conferences all I was able to 
 learn, is, that they were boisterous ; accompanied 
 by language, the most virulent, and ended in denun- 
 ciations forboding evil. 
 
 I do not however here stand forth as the champion 
 of the Oporto Wine Company. I merely speak the 
 language of an observant spectator, having neither 
 view nor interest, in the issue of the question. I feel 
 called upon to discuss the construction put upon two 
 Articles of a public treaty, and when I profess to be 
 impartial, I can at the same time confidently add, 
 that I am the last who would wish to see the sacrifice 
 of a single one of those real benefits which were justly 
 acquired, and have hitherto cherished our commer- 
 cial enterprise. 
 
 I know full well that I am treading on ticklish
 
 104 
 
 ground. I have not forgotten the nature and ten- 
 dency of the debates upon this very subject in the 
 House of Commons last year the clamour then 
 raised still dings in my ear ! I have weighed well 
 all the arguments studiously raised upon it, both in 
 England and Portugal, and I do not wish to elude ; 
 but rather meet them in their full force. I write 
 more with a view of suggesting matter for future 
 consideration, than of entering into the various topics 
 of so large and interesting an inquiry, and after thus 
 candidly avowing my motives, I rest with perfect 
 confidence on the good sense of my countrymen for 
 that award to which only I aspire. 
 
 How the wine Factors could, in 1758, allege the 
 breach of a Treaty negotiated in 1654, in reference 
 to the purchase and shipment of a commodity at 
 that time not even in existence, will not be readily 
 understood.* The right to buy and ship all articles 
 of merchandize, granted by treaty, extended only to 
 things which the contracting party really and actu- 
 ally possessed, and by no fair construction could it 
 embrace what they might afterwards acquire. This 
 principle of common sense forms an acknow- 
 ledged maxim of public law ; but, at a future period 
 of time, coming into the possession of a new mer- 
 chantable commodity, what is there in the clauses 
 
 Howel, in hi* Letters, written in 1634, says that Portugal had no 
 wine* worth shipping. The Inspector-General of Imports and Exports 
 in 1669, declared that no Portugal wines were cnt-ml on the Custom- 
 House Books at that time. It is equally well proved that Port ui m - 
 were not introduced into England till 1700, on the failure of the 
 Florence vintage*, when they were sold for medicinal purposes, being 
 found highly stomachic.
 
 105 
 
 of the Cromwell Treaty, that can restrain the owner 
 from administering his acquisition in such manner 
 as to render it more beneficial to the community, 
 as well as more productive to the government ? 
 When treaties of reciprocal commerce are made, 
 each party gives up a real and substantial benefit, or 
 right, and each in return receives a real and substan- 
 tial compensation. If our treaty restrained the Por- 
 tuguese government for ever hereafter from improv- 
 ing its agriculture ; opening new sources of wealth, 
 and promoting industry among its people, merely 
 because the regulations might be offensive, or 
 injurious to a portion of our subjects living under its 
 laws, what is the equivalent rendered back by us ? 
 I know of no such privileges enjoyed by the Portu- 
 guese in Great Britain. If the interpretation of the 
 Oporto commentators were to prevail, it would in- 
 evitably follow that, in the excess of his complai- 
 sance, King John IV., who treated with Cromwell, 
 had not only ceded the interests of his subjects $ but 
 also surrendered up the attributes of national inde- 
 pendence ; and, that nothing might be wanting to 
 complete the goodly work, the Portuguese would 
 now be told that their treaties being perpetual and 
 immutable, these rights so resigned cannot be re- 
 vived. 
 
 If we examine the charges instituted with a view 
 to obtain redress, it will be found that they amount 
 to a flagrant deviation from honour and good faith, 
 and as such have, over and over again, resounded 
 within the walls of the British House of Commons. 
 The sovereigns who have reigned in Portugal, ever 
 since this dispute commenced, even including the
 
 106 
 
 great Joseph, among us were held up as men who had 
 broken the national faith, in order to remedy mis- 
 chiefs resulting from their predecessors improvi- 
 dence; and yet these charges, as I have before said, 
 are from year to year left pending ! Is this fair ? 
 Is it consistent with common justice ? But, I will 
 go further into the case, in order that I may not be 
 misunderstood. 
 
 In July, 1812, the late Oporto Factors presented 
 another Petition to Parliament, in which, after enu- 
 merating their losses arising out of the French inva- 
 sion, they state that " they had looked forward with 
 the confident hope of resuming their trade, freed from 
 the numerous vexations and annoyances under which 
 they had for many years laboured, and of which 
 grievances his Majesty's Ministers have always been 
 sensible." They then proceed to say " that with 
 great satisfaction they observed their hopes realized, 
 as they imagined, by the new Treaty (meaning that 
 of 1810) the 8th Article of which provides that the 
 commerce of British subjects shall not be restrained, 
 interrupted, or otherwise affected by the operation 
 of any Monopoly, Contract, or Exclusive Privileges 
 of sale, or purchase, whatsoever ; but that the sub- 
 jects of Great Britain shall have free and unre- 
 strained permission to buy and sell, from and to 
 whomsoever and in whatever form, or manner, they 
 may please, whether by wholesale, or retail, without 
 being obliged to give any preference, or favour, in 
 (in sequence of the said Monopolies, Contracts, or 
 Exclusive Privileges of sale, or pun-hasr." 
 
 The Memorialists next submit that, " notwith- 
 standing this Trraty. they continue labouring unnYr
 
 107 
 
 the same numerous oppressions which they have so 
 many years suffered by the continuance of the un- 
 controlled, arbitrar yand excessive power of the 
 Oporto Monopoly, as long since proved and acknow- 
 ledged by the Lords of Trade, particularly in their 
 Lordships' Report to his Majesty in Council, in 
 which their Lordships emphatically declare" thus : 
 
 REPORT " The tendency and intention of that 
 establishment was the exclusion of his Majesty's 
 subjects from the traffic in the Wines of Portugal, 
 and their Lordships further observed that it was not 
 necessary to enter into a minute discussion with 
 respect to many particular regulations of this Com- 
 pany, which they think justly objected to by the 
 Merchants, as highly grievous and oppressive ; for 
 their Lordships are of opinion that a fatal objection 
 lies against them all, viz., that they all contribute to 
 establish in the Company a monopoly against British 
 subjects, from which by Treaty they have a right to 
 be exempted/' 
 
 Such is the authority adduced, and the Petitioners 
 then refer to various other Memorials, individually 
 and collectively presented by them to the Lords of 
 Trade, praying that, previously to any Acts of Par- 
 liament being passed for carrying the said Treaty 
 into effect, an explicit declaration should be ob- 
 tained, expressly announcing and declaring, beyond 
 all doubt, that by the 8th and 25th Articles of the 
 said Treaty, British subjects were absolutely ex- 
 empted from the power and control of the Wine 
 Company at Oporto." 
 
 Before I proceed any further, it may be. proper to 
 observe, that this Petition was signed by 35 persons,
 
 108 
 
 some individually, which reduces the number of 
 firms to 19, and from the tenour of their prayer it 
 was evident that nothing short of the abolition of 
 the Royal Company would satisfy them. 
 
 Another Memorial, similar in substance and effect, 
 signed by 16 firms and dated October 14, 1824, was 
 addressed to Mr. Canning, as Secretary of State for 
 Foreign Affairs, and afterwards laid before Par- 
 liament, in which the grievances complained of 
 are stated more in detail, and in support of the 
 several allegations, the Treaty of 1810 is again in- 
 voked. This Petition however goes further and ex- 
 presses a hope that, " in the revision of the Treaty, 
 (at that time early expected) those rights would be 
 secured to the complainants which they ought long 
 since to have enjoyed," &c. 
 
 In looking into this affair, the great difficulty that 
 occurs is, the question of right, for without this is 
 properly established, our government could have no 
 substantial grounds of interference, unless in the 
 way of negotiation. I have already discussed the 
 point as connected with the Treaty of 1654, and 1 
 can scarcely think that the one of 1810, the most 
 material Article of which is above quoted, confers any 
 new right, privilege, or exemption, applicable to this 
 case. Laws and treaties have not a retrospective 
 effect, unless express provision is therein made. I 
 have always understood that the Portuguese au- 
 thorities totally deny the right alleged, and when 
 applied to upon the subject, have substantially given 
 for answer that the abolition of a Royal and Corpo- 
 rate Body, and more particularly one from which 
 the country derives the most signal advantages, is a
 
 109 
 
 pretension, inconsistent in itself, and an innovation, 
 so destructive of national rights, that they would 
 never submit to it. 
 
 Unless by special covenant, therefore, I cannot 
 ee how the Treaty can be made to bear upon this 
 point ; or how the work is to be achieved and the 
 wishes of the Oporto Memorialists complied with. I 
 do not comprehend what Monopoly is meant by the 
 8th Article on which so much stress is laid ; but, if 
 the term was intended to refer to the Oporto Com- 
 pany, it ought to have been so declared. It is well 
 known that the Treaty of 1810 was made under the 
 immediate auspices of Mr. Canning almost under 
 his dictation, and in full possession of all the previous 
 disputes and difficulties, as he then was, why was 
 this point, the one of all others that most required a 
 revision, left more dubious and complicated than it 
 even was before ? It cannot for a moment be thought 
 that the clause alluded to was purposely introduced, 
 in order to strengthen the claims of the Oporto 
 Petitioners, and being once embodied in the new com- 
 pact, that it would be easy, at any time afterwards, 
 to give it the interpretation that was wished. 
 Such an act of duplicity were impossible. Mr. Can- 
 ning could not have sought to take the Portuguese 
 government by surprise. It could not be thought 
 that a nation whose honour and consistency, in- 
 dependent of its interests and prosperity, were 
 staked on the issue of this question, would become the 
 dupe of such a clumsy contrivance. Our minister's 
 object, consequently, could only be prospective, like 
 that of the other Contracting Party, although I 
 regret to state, I have often heard his intentions
 
 110 
 
 assailed, and severely too, when the Memorials above 
 alluded to were made the topics of discussion. 
 
 But, even for a moment supposing that the clause 
 in question empowers us to demand the abolition of 
 the Oporto Company, as being a grievance and a 
 monopoly ; supposing also that British subjects arc 
 thereby entitled to privileges, exempting them from 
 the operation of a general law in Portugal, how 
 would the matter then stand ? The very same 
 Article 8th, so confidently pleaded, has a conclud- 
 ing paragraph in fact a counterpart, which the 
 Memorialists carefully keep out of view, although so 
 essential to a just comprehension of the negotiator's 
 meaning. This concluding paragraph runs thus : 
 " And his Britannic Majesty does, on his part, en- 
 gage to observe faithfully this principle, thus recog- 
 nized and laid down by the two High Contracting 
 Parties." 
 
 Here our sovereign engages to observe faithfully 
 thin principle, thus recognized and laid down, which 
 evidently implies hereafter; how then is a retroactive 
 effect to be given to his pledge ? He assents to a 
 principle ; but is he alone to give the definition of 
 that principle, in case of doubt, and then make the 
 application ? In a word, are we to take the law 
 into our own hands ? But, supposing that we arc ; 
 granting, for the sake of argument, that a Treaty 
 made in 1810, authorizes us to demand the abolition 
 of a general law, passed in Portugal so long ago as 
 the year 1756, the principle on which we engaged to 
 act being reciprocal, it follows that the Portuguese 
 would stand on precisely the same ground with re- 
 gard to us. They would turn round and say
 
 Ill 
 
 Gentlemen, we equally demand the abolition of the 
 East India Company's Monopoly, established in 1700; 
 of the Excise on wines and spirits, first granted by the 
 fifth Money Act, W. and M. Parl. 2, Sess. 2 ; finally, 
 we ask to be exempted from the grievances and 
 hardships of all those " Monopolies, Contracts and 
 Exclusive Privileges" which, in Great Britain, mili- 
 tate against our interests. What, let me ask, would 
 then be our position ? If the " principle, recognized 
 and laid down," rests on the basis of reciprocity, 
 what answer could we make ? Would not the Oporto 
 merchants and their upholders in this country have 
 done well, if they had considered all these points 
 and weighed them carefully, before they proceeded to 
 insult and r eproach the government of a country 
 under the laws of which the interested parties were 
 living ? 
 
 Jhe whole tenour of the Treaty breathes recipro- 
 city, as in principle and general practice understood 
 among nations ; it being intended that each party, 
 in commerce and navigation, should be respectively 
 put on an equal footing. What was to be altered in 
 the previous relations was publicly declared, and 
 hence we find that, in the 25th Article of the new 
 Treaty, it is thus set forth ; " But, in order to give 
 effect to that system of perfect reciprocity which the 
 two High Contracting Parties are willing to establish, 
 as the basis of their mutual Relations, His Britannic 
 Majesty consents to waive the right of creating Fac- 
 tories, or incorporated Bodies of British Merchants," 
 &c. The right here alluded to I do not find re- 
 corded in any of the old treaties j or specially con- 
 ferred by any royal grant of the kings of Portugal
 
 119 
 
 that has yet come under my notice j* but, the motive 
 M hich led to the insertion of such a clause, bears me 
 out in what I have said upon this point. All that 
 was to be destroyed, or rescinded, is expressly men- 
 tioned. There was no wish to look backward beyond 
 this, and that such was the view which our own 
 Legislature took of the subject, who seem to have 
 been almost as much alarmed as the Portuguese 
 government will be when they hear of what is pass- 
 ing among us, appears evident from the very Act of 
 51 Geo. III. C. 47, S. 9, passed for the special pur- 
 pose of giving effect to the Treaty, the most material 
 clause of which runs thus, " Provided always that 
 nothing in this Act shall extend, or be construed to 
 extend, to repeal, or in any wise alter the duties, &c. ; 
 or to repeal, or in any wise alter any special privi- 
 lege, or exemption, to which any person, or persons, 
 bodies politic, or corporate, is, or are now entitled 
 by law -. but the same shall be continued as hereto- 
 fore," &c. And, do the Portuguese require a better 
 salvo than this ? 
 
 British Supercargoes first established themselves under the sanction 
 of privileges, granted by the Court of Portugal, as shewn in the early 
 part of this Letter. Cromwell appointed Thomas Maynard Cousul- 
 (ieneral in 1656, and his brother, Walter Maynard, Vice Consul at 
 Oporto In 1659. It was only in 1727, that our merchants, residing at 
 the Utter place, incorporated themselves and made rules for their own 
 proceedings ; but I never beard of these being continued by any com* 
 petent authority. When a deputation from the Oporto Factory went to 
 Lisbon, to confer with the Marquess of Pombal respecting a letter which 
 they had put forth, signed under that designation, he told them " that 
 be bad new heard of any British Factory but one, and that was on the 
 tout of Coromandel." The Factory was an association formed by our 
 merchants for the protection of their own interests ; but I never heard 
 of lu being known to thr government of cither country.
 
 113 
 
 Witli so many imputations against the Royal 
 Company established to promote the Agriculture of 
 the vines of the Upper-Douro, on record, and which 
 have evidently made deep and lasting impressions in 
 some of the highest quarters, it would be both unfair 
 and unjust in me, particularly as the question of 
 Port Wines, through a peculiar circumstance, is at 
 this moment revived, not to inquire a little further 
 into the nature of the institutions on which the au- 
 thority of that Corporate Body is founded. Besides 
 the allegations above referred to, there is a Report 
 from the Council of Trade before the world, which 
 ought not to remain unnoticed. I do candidly 
 confess that I have not been able to meet with 
 this Report any where else than in the Memo- 
 rial of 1812, as reproduced by me, which certainly 
 bespeaks a special favour, at the time shewn to the 
 Petitioners ; but, as the application in which it is 
 quoted was printed by order of the House of Com- 
 mons, after a smart discussion which took place on 
 the 22nd July, in the same year, I am warranted in 
 considering this as a sufficient evidence of the fact. 
 
 I have already briefly alluded to the motives which 
 led to the establishment of the Corporate Body in 
 question; the circumstances under which it was in- 
 stituted, and also the immediate effects it had upon 
 the agriculture of the country. I think that what I 
 then stated will be deemed unobjectionable. I ar- 
 gued that the measure formed part of the undeviating 
 policy of the most enlightened and patriotic adminis- 
 tration Portugal ever possessed, and confidently con- 
 tended that it was carried into effect according to 
 the known principles and usages of nations. I flatter 
 
 p
 
 114 
 
 myself that I adduced sufficient evidence to support 
 my position. I have therefore only to examine into 
 the nature of the Company's institutions, and after- 
 wards ascertain whether its servants, in accomplish- 
 ing the purposes for which they were invested with 
 power, have gone heyond the compass of their 
 Charter, or abused the ends for which their grant 
 was designed. 
 
 It is a fact, established by our own countrymen, 
 that the adulterations, originally introduced by them- 
 selves, coupled with a combination on their part, in 
 the year 1755, not to buy the wines of that vintage, 
 first led to the establishment of regulations for the 
 protection of the growers ; the advancement of their 
 interests, and the reputation of an article that, in 
 the course of time, had become a staple commodity 
 of the kingdom. A company was consequently 
 formed, under the immediate auspices of the reign- 
 ing sovereign, to whom the special care and direction 
 of this important and since flourishing branch of 
 national agriculture was confided. A law was 
 thereon enacted, denominated " Of the General 
 Culture of the Vineyards of the Alto Douro," in 
 the preamble of which the objects above stated 
 are distinctly avowed ; it being therein further set 
 forth that it was desirable " to avoid, on the one 
 hand, the excessively high prices which, by render- 
 ing the consumption impossible, ruin the trade; and, 
 on the other, to prevent the article from being de- 
 pressed o low that the growers could no longer 
 bear the expences of its cultivation." 
 
 Adequate funds having been raised by the sale of 
 shares, in the purchase of which wines were received
 
 115 
 
 in part payment, advances were made to the needy 
 farmers ; severe penalties enforced against adulte- 
 rators,* and a variety of other conservative measures 
 adopted. The aspect of the country almost imme- 
 diately changed. At t first the annual exportation of 
 Port Wines did not exceed 5000 pipes, whereas in 
 1780, it amounted to near 30,000. In 1701, the 
 Douro wines were sold by the grower at 2. 15s. per 
 pipe ; in 1731, at 13. ; in 1755, at 3. and in 1779 
 at 8. From that period the fluctuations, often oc- 
 casioned by combinations, ceased, and the price 
 advanced according to the demand for a foreign 
 market. 
 
 By the very nature of this institution, the Company 
 became a body of merchants, entrusted also with 
 fiscal powers. Compelled at the moment to act on 
 a principle of economy, the government was obliged 
 to interest the shareholders in benefits which it 
 hoped to obtain through the aid of their co-operation, 
 and beyond doubt to this judicious participation in 
 the results, the success of the measure may be mainly 
 attributed. It was deemed necessary to concentrate 
 the cultivation of the protected article ; to restrain 
 its growth within due bounds, and reduce it to a 
 standard, proportioned to its utility ; the market for 
 which it was intended being limited. It was also 
 found advisable to establish a test, in order to ascer- 
 tain the quality, and this was only to be done by 
 issuing permits, in order to prevent deceptions, sirni- 
 
 * The elderberry was formerly used for colouring, and this plant was 
 seen growing in great abundance throughout the vineyards. One of the 
 Company's laws subjected the owner of a wine estate to a severe penalty 
 on which this drug was found.
 
 116 
 
 lar to the practice of branding the barrels of each 
 kind of flour, in the United States ; or accompany- 
 ing the hogsheads of tobacco with a surveyor's cer- 
 tificate. 
 
 The regulations for these purposes framed, conse- 
 quently, contained the elements of an encouraging, 
 as well as directing power; it being primarily under- 
 stood, that the quality of the article was the impera- 
 tive condition on which the trade in it was to stand. 
 By a seasonable supply of funds, the cultivators were 
 enabled to bear any delay in the sale of their wines, 
 and thus no longer left at the mercy of the greedy 
 speculator. The necessity of removing every undue 
 control over the will of the grower, in fact sug- 
 gested the first idea of the establishment. So great 
 had been the abuses practised in this trade ; so really 
 distressing the combinations at various times ex- 
 perienced, that the government was imperiously 
 called upon to interpose a power in order to pre- 
 vent their recurrence. Deputations had been sent 
 up from the wine districts, and their sufferings and 
 clamours could no longer be disregarded. The ap- 
 peal could not be resisted and interference became 
 indispensable. 
 
 It was therefore determined to take this ineipicnt 
 branch of national agriculture under the protection 
 of government, for the benefit of the grower, as well 
 as the consumer, by the adoption of such measure- 
 as would produce an equilibrium between the >eller 
 and buyer, and at the same time secure the advan- 
 tages of a steady market. To obtain tlii- desirable 
 end, it was deemed necessary to facilitate the fiscal
 
 117 
 
 action at home, without throwing any embarrass- 
 ments in the way of exportation. 
 
 With this view, the Company was formed, and to 
 it the law confides not only a fiscal authority, as 
 regards wines, but also entrusts it with the receipt 
 of the King's duties imposed upon them. It even 
 interferes in the application of these duties, as far 
 at least as regards the improvement of the communi- 
 cations with the interior provinces. The Board is 
 chosen by the great body of Shareholders, and, in 
 cases of doubt, obliged to consult the King's autho- 
 rities. If, in the exercise of their functions, the 
 Directors deviate from the general statutes of the 
 realm, they are liable to the same penalties as all 
 other infractors of the public law. Beyond the limits 
 ascribed for them, they enjoy no special privileges, 
 or exemptions. The wines are sold at a public fair, 
 duly proclaimed ; publicity, competition and regu- 
 larity having been considered essential to the success 
 of the enterprise. The Company competes, through 
 the medium of its commissioners ; but favoured by 
 no preference. The fair being opened, the grower 
 is obliged to sell to the purchaser who first reaches 
 his cellar-door, whatever quantity he requires, which 
 places all the competitors on the same footing. 
 
 It is however alleged that the price is peremp- 
 torily fixed. This is by no means the case. The 
 law establishes a maximum, which the seller cannot 
 exceed; but he can lower it, as much as he pleases, 
 in favour of a British purchaser, a preference which 
 a Portuguese does not enjoy. The quantity of wines 
 proposed for embarcation, we are told is limited ; 
 assuredly for reasons which require no explanation ;
 
 118 
 
 and this being done, it is the duty of the Company to 
 prevent the shipment of those which have been re- 
 jected. The quality is fixed by the award of practi- 
 cal and skilful men, and by these means it was hoped 
 that mercantile artifices would be counteracted : but 
 even the public tasters, four in number, are not the 
 servants of the Company. Two are appointed by 
 government and two by the growers. Penalties are 
 further denounced against those who should dare to 
 adulterate the wines, as the law declares, " either 
 by using grapes, grown on other lands ; mixing 
 the white and red together j or by employing bad 
 brandy, elderberries, or any other ingredient foreign 
 to the preparation ;" but of the infliction of these 
 penalties the Company is not the arbiter ; all crimi- 
 nal process, instituted by the Directors, being sub- 
 jected to a judicial inquiry. 
 
 After this brief exposition, I ask the impartial 
 reader to decide whether, with any shadow of justice, 
 an institution of this kind can be called a monopoly, 
 in the sense alleged! The law holds out induce- 
 ments to the grower to cultivate good vines and, at 
 the same time, restrains him from deceptions. The 
 property thus fostered is originally Portuguese, and 
 does not pass into the hands of another, until the 
 transfer is made, when it is taken under all the 
 restrictions previously imposed upon it. If however 
 the purchaser objects to the proof of the official 
 tasters, he can use his own judgment, two months 
 being allowed him for his selections, before the fair 
 in opened. He cannot certainly lay in his stock 
 until proclamation is made; but he has the oppor- 
 tunity of obtaining beforehand the information requi-
 
 119 
 
 site to guide him in his assortments. This is the 
 principal restraint. He is indeed compelled to em- 
 bark the article, as it was bought, and this is the 
 more reasonable, because if adulterated, the dis- 
 credit eventually falls upon the grower, whose brand 
 the cask bears. The foreign merchant can even buy 
 up the rejected wines, if he chooses ; although he is 
 not allowed to ship them under a denomination that 
 would lead to a fraud. The Oporto brand, or permit, 
 is all that is withheld from him ; but he can have 
 recourse to another port he has Figueiras and 
 Viana at hand. The quantity approved for the 
 foreign market is always equal to the demand, and 
 the law is besides the same for all. In a word, 
 there can be no monopoly, when it is a public fact 
 that the British buy three fourths of the wines annu- 
 ally vintaged on the banks of the Douro, and regu- 
 larly ship them on their own account. In doing 
 this, they are certainly subjected to regulations to 
 these they equally were in Cromwell's time, for the 
 very Article of his Treaty on which so much stress 
 is laid, says that the contracting parties may buy, 
 sell, &c. " saving, nevertheless, the laws and statutes 
 of each country," which naturally implies those made, 
 or such as might hereafter be enacted, 
 
 How then the Lords of Trade, in their official 
 character and when giving advice to the Crown, 
 in the Report above mentioned, assert " that the 
 tendency and intention of that establishment (mean- 
 ing the Oporto Company) was the exclusion of his 
 Majesty's subjects from the traffic in the Wines of 
 Portugal," it would be difficult to imagine. The 
 produce of the Douro vineyards could be of no use
 
 1*20 
 
 cither to the growers, or the government, unless ;t 
 market could be had for it, and this was only to be 
 found in England. Of this the projectors were fully 
 sensible, and in order to answer the end desired, 
 care was taken to render the article unobjectionable, 
 so as to insure a safe and steady demand, and at the 
 same time preserve the growers from disappoint- 
 ment. .As before seen, success crowned their hope-. 
 and in very few years the exportation of Port Wines 
 rose from 5000 to 40,000 pipes, affording the Portu- 
 guese government an annual revenue of about 
 / 0,000., and ours often of a million sterling, and 
 sometimes more -, besides the freights gained by our 
 ships and the profits out and home by our mer- 
 chants. Where then is " the exclusion or the mo- 
 nopoly against British subjects" alleged by the 
 Council of Trade ? When their Lordships penned 
 their Report, they could have known little of the 
 origin and history of an establishment, which the 
 Portuguese consider as the pride of their country, 
 and most enlightened foreigners have pronounced 
 the hot institution they have among them. 
 
 It really seems to me, that those British subjects 
 who stirred up this question and endeavoured to 
 ^curc a triumph by resorting to the weapons of 
 contumely and reproach, in so doing were un\\ i- . 
 unjust and glaringly impolitic. When parties arc 
 agreed in matters of right, the way is open to ar- 
 rangements for mutual convenience. The regulations 
 of the Oporto Company may be detective thi> is the 
 common infirmity of all old institutions; but of this 
 I'.u-t \\c ought to have convinced the Portuguese 
 \. rnment and urged a reform, fairly and temperately,
 
 121 
 
 instead of demanding the overthrow of an establish- 
 ment, interwoven with the best interests of the 
 country ; an establishment on which the daily bread 
 of thousands of families depends. 
 
 We have allowed the wound to rankle almost too 
 long to admit of a cure ; yet I think, with the deep- 
 est sincerity of heart, that men of integrity and 
 capacious minds would still find expedients to recon- 
 cile the exercise of those rights which cannot be 
 refused to Portugal, with the interests and security 
 of our countrymen. We lost the golden opportunity 
 of 1810 ; we have slumbered for the last two years, 
 and yet our errors are not irretrievable. The true 
 friend of his country must, however, see with con* 
 cern that, far from endeavouring to remove, pains 
 are studiously taken, and in the highest quarters, to 
 increase obstructions in the way of a fair and honest 
 adjustment ; and that instead of appeasing irritated 
 feelings and simplifying the question, it is endea- 
 voured, by the use of general terms and severe in- 
 vectives, to persuade the world that the Portuguese 
 ought to relinquish a right, divested of which, they 
 could scarcely exist as an independent nation. The 
 Portuguese are a high-minded people and if, in the 
 prosecution of a foreign claim, or in any other way, 
 they become convinced that their sovereignty and 
 independence are invaded, no dread of consequences 
 will deter them from asserting their honour. To 
 preserve that they consider their first duty their 
 highest concern. With it, they hope to enjoy 
 peace, consideration and commerce ; without it, 
 they are aware that they can enjoy nothing long, for 
 a nation that sacrifices its honour, cannot for any 
 
 Q
 
 122 
 
 length of time preserve its independence, and this it 
 
 has always been our policy, as well as our duty, 
 
 firmly to uphold. 
 
 Having gone thus far into this division of my sub- 
 ject, it might be deemed unnecessary to dwell any 
 
 longer upon it ; or to notice the various debates in 
 Parliament which have had reference to the Treaty 
 of 1810. Lord Althorp's project for the equaliza- 
 tion of the duties on wines, having however been 
 just brought forward, and a new interest thereby 
 excited in the public mind, 1 felt irresistibly called 
 upon to extend my plan a wider field being now 
 opened for discussion. The state of our affairs with 
 foreign nations, as well as our conduct towards 
 them, I again argue, ought not to be concealed. 
 The measure, proposed as an aid to the revenue, is 
 besides of so novel a nature ; so fraught with danger 
 to our commercial interests, and at the same time so 
 destructive of national faith, that every elucidation 
 of the principle on which it is intended to act ; every 
 leading feature of the case, must be deemed both 
 seasonable and important. Hitherto, our statesmen 
 have considered that our obligations towards Portu- 
 gal were complied with, as long as we continued to 
 receive her wines at one third less duties than those 
 of Prance, and how this latitude was used 1 have 
 already explained ; but the new administration ap- 
 parently think that they can dispense with even this 
 bond, as it were, disregarding the consequences. 
 
 The question has therefore been rendered com- 
 pletely national, and as such, it luckily hapju-ns, 
 that 1 have treated it, during my present labours, in 
 all I have said with regard to Portugal. Alarm is
 
 123 
 
 by this time spread throughout the country, and it 
 seems universally allowed that besides a breach of 
 faith towards an Ally j a serious injury will be in- 
 flicted on some of the most valuable branches of our 
 domestic industry, if the innovations, held out as a 
 financial expedient, are persisted in. I must thus 
 crave your Lordship's attention a little while longer. 
 I am not fond of indulging notions which have not 
 the benefit of experience to recommend them ; nor 
 do I consider it consistent with the honour of his 
 Majesty's government, or the interests of his sub- 
 jects, that our commercial relations with any coun- 
 try should continue suspended on doubts and un- 
 certainties. This is my impression, and when the 
 better half of the Letter which I have now the honour 
 of addressing to your Lordship, evidently written on 
 the spur of the moment, was in print, I had no idea 
 of receiving such powerful aid with the public as that 
 which my Lord Althorp's budget has afforded me 
 that memorable budget of wild experiments that 
 direct violation of wholesome regulations, enacted 
 and practised in ages of our commercial greatness 
 and prosperity that fearful leap, in the dark, from 
 a height which it would never be in our power to 
 regain, and that sudden resolve, uttered in the 
 gloomy midnight of our aggravated calamities. 
 
 Yes, My Lord, the new financial measures struck 
 every reflecting man with awe and surprise. Those 
 who had any thing at stake, trembled at the dangerous 
 consequences of the innovations, immediately affect- 
 ing our commercial system at home, and anticipated 
 serious derangements abroad. The appalling spectre 
 of liberal policy and French trade stared them full in
 
 124 
 
 the face, and they considered the contents of the 
 Chancellor's budget as an ominous specimen of what 
 was to follow. So it happened with myself ; yet I 
 am not singular in my ideas of commerce ; nor do I 
 think that we are benefited by unnatural preferences. 
 I have had some experience in these matters, and 
 this advantage I havo had the opportunity of con- 
 firming by extensive observation. I am not opposed 
 to theory, only so far as it is unsupported by prac- 
 tice. I love my country and rejoice at its prosperity ; 
 but I am not insensible of the disadvantages under 
 which we labour when competing with foreigners. 
 I am aware that we possess wealth and mechanical 
 power, almost unbounded. I am also fully sensible 
 that the competition excited among us, elicits that 
 intelligence, industry and enterprise ; that nicety of 
 calculation, incessant effort and speculative spirit 
 which astonish our rivals and carry the objects <>l 
 our productive labour to the furthest limits of the 
 globe : but, I am equally mindful that if our foreign 
 trade and the consumption of domestic manufactures 
 docs not go hand in hand with those numerous dis- 
 coveries which are called the improvements of the 
 age those inventions which display the talent and 
 develop the ingenuity of man, they will become bane- 
 ful, instead of beneficial ; and the maxim, so fashion- 
 able and so much admired that axiom of allowed 
 \c Hi nee which, for the last fifty years, taught us 
 to believe that " to lessen the amount of manual 
 labour is to diminish the sum of human misery," 
 \\ill prove fallacious and abortive. 
 
 l.'ndrr tlior iinpn ^'um-, it is, that I venture again 
 to call your Lordship'* attention to the object and
 
 125 
 
 purport of the present Letter, almost confined to a 
 review of our commercial relations with Portugal. 
 On the antiquity of this commerce ; its importance 
 and the political advantages attached to it, I have 
 already dwelt at some length ; but much have I yet 
 to say, if I were not afraid of trespassing on your 
 Lordship's patience. I have traced this intercourse 
 with our oldest Ally to its origin, as far almost as 
 public records are attainable, and marked its various 
 fluctuations amidst the revolutions of maritime war- 
 fare and the struggles of competition. As far as my 
 confined limits would permit, I have gone back to 
 the earliest dawn of historic information, and dis- 
 tinctly shewn that our connection with Portugal has 
 always formed the basis of a safe and lucrative trade, 
 whether we consider the amount of tonnage em- 
 ployed ; or the value and nature of the outward and 
 return cargoes such a trade as must ever be deemed 
 of the utmost importance by the enlightened Legis- 
 lator; the political Economist and the practical 
 Merchant ; a trade, in short, which, if now lost, the 
 injury thereby sustained must be justly attributed to 
 our own conduct. 
 
 From returns, already presented by me (page 82) 
 it will be seen that, on an average of 13 years, from 
 1817 to 1829, both inclusive, 608 British and 55 
 foreign vessels have annually entered inwards from 
 Portugal, and 461 British and 103 foreign cleared 
 outwards for that country. We send forth our goods 
 to find the best and safest markets, and, in doing 
 this, Portugal most assuredly affords us infinitely 
 more scope than we do to her. Formerly, from other 
 countries, she could receive the manufactured com-
 
 126 
 
 forts now supplied by us, perhaps on terms more 
 advantageous to the consumer, for reasons suffici- 
 ently explained when I noticed the competition of 
 Hamburg, Prance, &c. ; but, for nearly the last 
 thirty years, fortuitous circumstances have materi- 
 ally favoured us. From the commencement of the 
 present century, this trade has scarcely been inter- 
 rupted by any other cause than the French invasion, 
 and, as seen in the estimate (page 83) our exporta- 
 tion of Woollens to Portugal and her Dependencies 
 are always considerable ; on an average from 1815 
 to 1827, both inclusive, equal to 447,283 per aim. 
 In 1815, they amounted to 727*808, when our 
 total exports of woollens were as high as 9,387,455. 
 The United States of America and the East Indies 
 and China were alone larger customers in this article 
 during that year.* 
 
 The returns of general imports and exports (page 
 84) stand equally conspicuous. The trade carried 
 on between Ireland and Portugal is likewise valuable. 
 As regards Newfoundland, it was asserted last year 
 in the House of Commons, by a competent person, 
 " that this Colony absolutely existed in consequence 
 of the low rate of duty at which British fish was 
 introduced into Portugal, and that if ministers should 
 not be able, whenever the Treaty was revised, to 
 secure the same advantages for the introduction of 
 British cured fish, that Colony would be decidedly 
 
 la 1816, or total exports of Woollen* were 7,847,280 ; in 1817, 
 7,177,335; In 1818, 8,145,327; in 1819, .5,989,622; in 1820, 
 45,587,758; In 1821, 6,465,988; in 1822, 6,490,454; in \U2.\, 
 5,635,776; in 1824, i/,,oi:i,2IO ; In 1825, 6,201,479; in 1826, 
 4,990,997 ; and in 1827, 5,292,418.
 
 127 
 
 lost to this country."* This year an assurance was 
 again given to the House that this trade alone with 
 Newfoundland gave employment to 200 vessels an- 
 nually. 
 
 Such is the nature of the trade which we have 
 been in the habit of carrying on with Portugal and 
 her Dependencies, and from the details into which I 
 have entered and the corresponding proofs adduced, 
 it will appear evident that the extent of our supplies 
 has not been in the least affected by the separation 
 of Brazil ; a fact which I am confident will take 
 many persons by surprise, although readily accounted 
 for by those who are perfectly aware of the transi- 
 tions through which Portugal has passed, within the 
 last few years. As far as regards the consumption 
 of articles derived from productive labour, I am well 
 assured that we have been gainers by that event, and 
 shall be considerably more so, as soon as the country 
 is settled. To shew the importance of these supplies, 
 it ought further to be borne in mind that, formerly, 
 almost all the goods exported to Portugal were ship- 
 ped in London, and now they go chiefly from Liver- 
 pool. From the metropolis we merely send partial 
 quantities of tin, lead, drugs, copper, hemp, soap, 
 hosiery, painter's colours, a few linens, fine cloths, 
 tortoise-shell and articles of fashion ; but the bulk of 
 the orders are transmitted to the neighbourhood of 
 the manufactures of Yorkshire, Sheffield, Glasgow, 
 &c. ; the port of London not retaining more than 
 one tenth of the export trade to the Portuguese do- 
 minions which it had twenty years ago. 
 
 Mr. Robinson, Debate on the Commercial Relations with Portugal, 
 June 16, 1830.
 
 128 
 
 Nothing more strongly denotes the value of this 
 trade than this very transition. In 1811, an extra- 
 ordinary year, owing to the circumstance of the 
 British army being in the Peninsula and as seen 
 from the preceding statements, our exports to Por- 
 tugal were 6,164,858 ; and after the trade had 
 assumed a proper level, on an average of five years 
 successively, that is, from 1821 to 1828, both inclu- 
 sive, they exceeded two millions and a half sterling 
 per annum. On an average, this is considerably 
 more than we send to Brazil, receiving in return 
 commodities which interfere with the productions of 
 our own possessions in the East and West Indies. 
 In 1828, the official value of our exports to Portugal 
 and her Islands were 2,581,737, and in 1829, 
 1,764,032, leaving a partial and temporary decline, 
 attributable only to the convulsed state of the 
 country. 
 
 Hitherto, the trade of Portugal has not reached 
 the standard proportioned to the capabilities of the 
 country. Alta sedent drills vulncrn dextrtc, and un- 
 der such circumstances, no commercial plans could 
 prosper. It is only when we shall have reached the 
 end of those scenes of broil those acts of violence, 
 committed and threatened from our own territory, 
 that the peaceable pursuits of traffic can be re- 
 sumed. Surrounded by doubt and uncertainty, no 
 confidence no amicable intercourse can exist ; it 
 i- therefore impossible for foreign commerce and 
 internal industry to flourish. Liable to attack ; 
 exposed to the evils of anarchy, in dread of 
 a civil, if not a predatory war; with mcnaees of 
 \ entrant v and extermination, unceasingly renewed.
 
 129 
 
 the peasant is deprived of all incentives to exertion, 
 and thus is the course of those efforts impaired, 
 which would otherwise have operated towards his 
 advancement. Portugal, like Spain, has many dor- 
 mant resources which can only be developed in times 
 of peace. The Portuguese are well aware that much 
 is yet wanting to complete their social happiness, 
 and they are also as much alive to their own inter- 
 ests as any nation in Europe. They are well con- 
 vinced that property is the invigorating principle of 
 the faculties and exertions of man, and that to dis- 
 regard the benefits with which nature has distinguish- 
 ed them, either by tameness, or an antisocial feeling, 
 would produce consequences, infinitely more per- 
 nicious than the worst vices, or abuses, arising out 
 of the less shackled schemes of poKcy and manners. 
 
 In many respects, we labour under the greatest 
 errors regarding a country with which we have, for 
 upwards of three centuries, been on the closest terms 
 of alliance and friendship. Portugal contains men 
 who are an ornament to the age in which we live, 
 and that they will shew themselves the true friends 
 of their country, by promoting its prosperity, there 
 can be no doubt, whenever there is a rational pros- 
 pect of an adjustment of the present differences, 
 satisfactory to the parties interested and advan- 
 tageous to all nations. Their country was once the 
 cradle of commerce, as I before took occasion to 
 remind your Lordship, and when we look back to 
 the whole series of our political and commercial 
 connection with a nation, the destinies of which have 
 often been confided to our care, we cannot be regard- 
 less of the important considerations which the review
 
 130 
 
 presents. Portugal has still ample Colonies and 
 insular possessions left, to open a field of enterprise 
 to her hardy and sober natives. Her position is the 
 finest in Europe the most important, in many 
 respects, and, following the suggestions of true com- 
 mercial wisdom, combined with the fertility of their 
 land and the valuable productions which Nature has 
 scattered over it, we may still expect to see the 
 Portuguese send forth from their favoured ports, 
 such a tide of commerce, as will retrieve their cir- 
 cumstances and lay the foundation of future opulence 
 and strength. The energies and talents of one man 
 altered the aspect of his country, during the last 
 century, and there is no reason why the combined 
 efforts of others cannot do the same in the course of 
 the one in which we are fast advancing. 
 
 There is still one point to which it may be proper 
 to advert, before I close my remarks on our Com- 
 merce with Portugal. Many persons think that we 
 give to that country unrequited preferences. Some 
 imagine that, in the admission of her wines, they dis- 
 cover that a great and valuable concession had been 
 made, without any equivalent they even speak of 
 special favours. Let us see how this matter really 
 stands in fair account. Granting that our exports to 
 Portugal are equal to two millions and a half sterling, 
 and again I remind your Lordship that goods shipped 
 are always undervalued, on reaching their destination, 
 tlu'se goods pay 15 per cent.; whereas those of 
 other nations are charged 30. In this item alone, 
 we have therefore a saving, or preference, equal to 
 3/5,000., independent of 30,000. more in reduced 
 duties on 200,000. of cod-fish, *cnt from Newfound-
 
 131 
 
 land.* Here is the contrast. On an average, I will 
 say that we annually import 25,000 pipes of Portugal 
 wines, containing 1 15 gallons each. The duties hither 
 to chargeable on them were 4s. 10d., and on the wines 
 of France 7s, 10d., leaving a difference of 2s. 5d., the 
 amount in which Portugal is favoured. On 2,875,000 
 gallons, the contents of 25,000 pipes, Portugal, com- 
 pared with France, is thus favoured to the extent of 
 347,395. 16s. ; whilst, at the same time, our re- 
 venue gains an enormous sum by these imports ; 
 British merchants a profit, out and home, and we 
 besides give employment to 700 ships, including those 
 from Newfoundland, annually navigated by 100,000 
 seamen, the collective freights of which are not less 
 than 250,000. 
 
 Here I pause, to contemplate the extent and value 
 of that trade which we are about to barter away for 
 a feather. I cannot comprehend how it can be 
 deemed expedient for the welfare of this realm, to 
 despoil our manufacturing and shipping interests of 
 so large a share of annual and safe support, for the 
 mere advance in the revenue of a trifling sum, liable 
 to contingencies, and which besides cannot be done 
 without the infliction of a wound that will be difficult 
 to cure. And what, let me ask, is the sum we are 
 likely to gain by the proposed change, as regards 
 Portugal? On all hands I hear it answered, 
 100,000! And do we forget what a source of re- 
 venue Portugal wines were to us, during the late 
 war, when we raised the duties from 28. per pipe 
 
 * The importations of cod-fish into Portugal were, for 1816, 349,500 
 quintals; 1817, 301,359; 1818, 304,550; and 1819, 234,914.
 
 132 
 
 to 55 ? Besides, if Portugal has no returns to give, 
 she must cease to consume our merchandize. We 
 have often been accused of a wish to reduce the in- 
 habitants of the Peninsula to an agricultural state, 
 so as to bring their commercial intercourse to a 
 passive trade. Why strengthen the grounds of this 
 charge at this peculiar moment ? Political econo- 
 mists among the Portuguese, of old, have contended 
 that we encouraged the growth of wines, whilst they 
 were induced to abandon their wheat-fields, in order 
 to render them more dependent upon us for supplies 
 of the first necessaries of life. Both charges may 
 be unfounded ; but the revival of them will be the 
 natural consequence attendant on our proposed 
 measures ; and it must not be forgotten that those 
 very domains now devoted to the shrine of Bacchus, 
 once smiled under the golden harvests of Ceres. 
 
 Let us therefore ponder, before we take an incon- 
 siderate step. After all their sufferings all their 
 sacrifices, the Portuguese may safely appeal to the 
 reason and justice of Great Britain, to decide 
 whether it is fair and right to place the conveniency 
 of one party on a line with the existence of the 
 other. But, if His Majesty's ministers feel inclined 
 to disregard them, at least, it becomes imperative to 
 look at home. It has been thought that if the 
 chariot of free trade could roll on unimpeded, on an 
 even and unbounded plain, and not where mountains 
 of difficulty arc constantly presenting formidable 
 obstacles to its progress, treaties of reciprocity 
 would be useless. To us, these great obstacles are, 
 the domestic burdens under which we arc weighed 
 down. Remove these, and we could compete in the
 
 133 
 
 open market ; but, until this is done, the loss of any 
 part of our commercial footing must be felt, in pro- 
 portion to the size of the immediate privation. 
 Wherever we are transplanted in our commerce, 
 our productive capabilities are injured, and by repe- 
 tition we become exposed to unnatural convulsions 
 in our commercial system. 
 
 It therefore becomes our duty, as well as our 
 interest, to preserve, with the utmost vigilance and 
 caution^ all those channels of trade, even the small- 
 est, to which we have been accustomed. The benefits 
 derived from them ought to be cherished, as so 
 many restoratives to a suffering population, and not 
 sacrificed to any views of temporary expediency. 
 As agriculture is the foundation, so are manufactures 
 the pillars and navigation the wings of commerce. 
 Without its controlling and salutary influence, 
 streaming and carrying health and vitality through 
 every part of the system, political disease must in- 
 evitably ensue. Its benefits are infinitely more 
 valuable to the community at large, than those aris- 
 ing out of plans of partial retrenchment, to which 
 even it is found necessary to resort, since it is un- 
 questionable that the combined action of labour and 
 commerce opens to us the best sources of wealth. 
 
 No one can reflect, without feelings of emotion, 
 on the scenes which the past winter unfolded to our 
 v$ew, when we beheld one part of our population 
 preying on the other. Our weavers attribute their 
 miseries to the superabundant supply, occasioned 
 by machinery; and other classes, looking at the 
 nation, bleeding and suffering at every pore, equally 
 assure us that the real cause is exhaustion, brought
 
 134 
 
 upon us by excessive production. Want of em- 
 ployment and the consequent privation of the neces- 
 saries of life, it is again urged, are the causes of 
 that extreme wretchedness which has so frequently 
 ripened into disaffection and crime. The shock in- 
 deed has been felt in every interest in every rank, 
 from the throne to the cottage, and it was the hope 
 of relief that mainly placed your Lordship and your 
 colleagues at the head of public affairs. 
 
 Let me then ask, is this the moment to curtail our 
 exports ? Is this the season to disoblige our oldest 
 customers ? Yet that such will be the effect of what 
 we are doing towards Portugal, I trust, my Lord, it 
 will be in my power to prove; not that I dread the 
 mere equalization of the duties on wines ; I rather 
 tremble at the spirit in which that measure is 
 enacted, and our whole conduct towards an injured 
 Ally. My remarks are for the present confined to 
 Portugal; but I consider that country as only a 
 single link of the general chain of our commercial 
 connection, although decidedly one of the most im- 
 portant. To export our manufactures, is to remu- 
 nerate the productive labour of the country; but 
 those manufactures cannot be consumed where anar- 
 chy and civil war prevail. 
 
 The great diminution in the exports of our staple 
 commodities, within the last few years, has been 
 really alarming. In 1825, the year ending on the 
 ensuing 5th of January, we exported 344,440,liH ( .) 
 yards of cottons; in 1826, 336,459,204, and in 1827, 
 267,021,683, thus shewing a decrease of upwards of 
 67 millions of yards in two years ! In 1825, we ship- 
 ,,o,l 7 yards of woollms ; in 1826, 7,H03,77<>,
 
 135 
 
 and in 1827, only 4,941,707 ! In 1825, we exported 
 63,000,000 yards of linens ; in 1826, 52,000,000 and 
 in 1827, 39,000,000 ! In 1827, the revenue, compared 
 with the preceding year, fell short to the amount 
 of 1,242,170! The results of the last two years, in 
 reference to Portugal, are still more alarming. In 
 the returns, (page 84) it was seen that, in 1828, 
 our imports from Portugal, were 587,355 and 
 exports 2,581,757 j but in 1829, the imports were 
 584,818, whilst the exports fell to 1,764,032; 
 and, during the last year ending on the 5th January, 
 1831, I can assert that the decline has been propor- 
 tionate, although I cannot state the exact amount. 
 
 If, however, besides incurring a loss of trade, we 
 render ourselves liable to the charge of breaking our 
 national faith, by the line of policy which we seem 
 determined to pursue with regard to Portugal, the 
 consequences to be apprehended become infinitely 
 more serious. The discussion of this part of my 
 subject, naturally leads me to take a cursory view 
 of the arguments used, the other night, in the debate 
 on the Commercial Relations with Portugal and the 
 production of papers thereon, as moved for by Lord 
 Viscount Strangford. I am not one of those, My 
 Lord, who think that the main question at issue 
 rests on any interpretation we may now please to 
 give to a particular article of the Methuen Treaty \ 
 or whether this forms an integral part of the one 
 negotiated in 1810. It is not merely whether we 
 have, or not, given notice to Portugal of a sudden 
 determination to alter a rule that has been standing 
 between us, for considerably more than a century, 
 that becomes a topic of consideration. It is not
 
 136 
 
 whether Adorn Smith was right, or wrong, in his 
 remarks on the Methuen Treaty ; whether this com- 
 pact has proved injurious, or advantageous to British 
 interests ; or whether trade and money seek a level 
 which in the course of time will necessarily be found, 
 that forms any part of the present inquiry. The par- 
 ticular Article of the treaty alluded to, on which so 
 much stress is laid, is not of such portentous import 
 in itself, as at first sight might appear; but it is 
 rendered so by a reference to the times and circum- 
 stances of those mutual engagements which it was 
 intended to record, and now deemed of such little 
 value that one party proceeds at once to expunge 
 them, seemingly as if beneath his dignity to state to 
 the other any reasons for his precipitate conduct. 
 
 Between all nations, having intercourse with each 
 other, acts of courtesy and good will are due, and 
 much more so are they from us to Portugal. What 
 we are doing in reference to that country, I again 
 insist, will be taken as the evidence of a wish to 
 break our engagements ; to injure the Portuguese 
 and insult their institutions ; and so anxious must 
 the sovereign of these realms be to have his reputa- 
 tion for good faith not only unsullied ; but also un- 
 Mi-pected, that I am confident he will feel the position 
 in which he is placed by inflicting a wound, so foreign 
 to his wishes. What ! with so little ceremony, as 
 this, can we break our obligatory tics ? Shall pique, 
 ur the personal enmities of a few individuals, lead 
 Great Britain to forget the centuries which have 
 rolled on, whilst we were in amity and the closest 
 alliance with a nation that has made the greatest 
 sacrifices for us !
 
 137 
 
 As 1 have very clearly shewn, in a former part of 
 my Letter, the Methuen Treaty was accepted by 
 Portugal at the express solicitation of Queen Anne ; 
 pergratum sibi fore, are the words used in the pre- 
 amble, and the introduction of our woollen goods 
 into that country was then considered extremely 
 propitious, and as affording a special relief to the 
 manufacturers of this particular denomination of 
 merchandize, " who had frequently implored the as- 
 sistance of the Legislature, to support their tottering 
 and declining trade" As before noticed, Peter II, 
 not only accepted the proposal, even under the dis- 
 advantage of short returns ; but, as seen page 30, 
 also issued a royal edict, actually recommending the 
 use of British Woollens to his subjects ! Through 
 this preference, he in fact destroyed all the woollen 
 manufactures within his own realm, and rendered 
 the inhabitants of Portugal, as well as Brazil, de- 
 pendent on England for the supplies of an article 
 which, for upwards of twenty years before, they had 
 obtained from their own productive labour ! 
 
 And is the new wine measure such a requital as a 
 great and magnanimous nation would make for 
 favours and sacrifices, like these ? I recollect, my 
 Lord, a time when we considered the government of 
 the United States as capricious and inattentive to 
 the rules of good breeding, as well as forgetful of the 
 principles of good faith, because Mr. Jefferson re- 
 fused to ratify a Convention, made with us, actually 
 according to his own wishes in perfect accordance 
 with his own instructions. What then will not be 
 the feelings of the Portuguese, when they hear of the 
 abrogation of a ratified and solemn treaty, of this
 
 138 
 
 very same description, that has besides been in force 
 for the last 127 years, without even giving them a 
 previous hint of our intentions ; nay, at a moment 
 when, possibly by the very last Falmouth packet, we 
 had been demanding of them the strictest observ- 
 ance of all our Treaties, the Methuen one conse- 
 quently included. I also well remember that, in 
 December, 1826, when the new Treaty with the 
 United States lay for signature, some demonstra- 
 tions and threats, on the part of the enemy, render- 
 ing it evident that the commerce of neutrals would 
 be implicated in a manner not contemplated in the 
 unfinished compact, so scrupulous was our reigning 
 sovereign and so anxious to guard against all impu- 
 tations, hereafter, that he directed a clear and 
 pointed declaration to be made to the American 
 Commissioners upon the subject, and that declara- 
 tion bears the signatures of Lords Holland and 
 Auckland. Was not Portugal entitled to a similar 
 compliment, before an old boon, solicited from her, 
 was trampled under foot ? 
 
 Yes, my Lord, it is at the spirit in which this 
 resolve was taken, that my feelings revolt. Lord 
 Goderich, who, in the late debate, spoke first in ex- 
 planation, assured the House " that Ministers under- 
 stood, to the fullest extent, the nature of what they 
 had done that they had proceeded in conformity 
 with all treaties and no power on earth had any 
 cause of complaint." After contending that no 
 notice was necessary in order to annul the pre- 
 i-\i-tiiiir < i i^agcments, his Lordship emphatically 
 added " that, if England fell back from the stipula- 
 tion, Portugal was enabled to take her former po-
 
 139 
 
 sition and right herself." This is precipitate work 
 in reference to a treaty that was negotiated per omne 
 tempus ; but, I should like to ask the noble Viscount, 
 whether this places Portugal on the ground she 
 stood when Queen Anne solicited the admission of 
 our Woollens, and in return pledged to receive her 
 wines, on that express condition. Where are now the 
 manufactures of Porto Alegre and Cavilham? They 
 are in ruins whilst the banks of the Douro teem 
 with the luscious juice. Portugal can right herself; 
 truly, but in doing this, she must injure both parties. 
 She can obtain her woollens from the French, who 
 have over and over again offered them to her ; nay, 
 pressed her to accept them ; but, it unfortunately 
 happens, that the French will not consume her wines. 
 To obtain this very advantage, which we have so 
 generously cast into the lap of France, M. Hyde de 
 Neuville, only three or four years ago, in vain ex- 
 erted all his skill and ingenuity, as many of his 
 predecessors had done before him. For this he 
 courted Pamplona, who sold his country to Napo- 
 leon, and for this he intrigued with him during the 
 famous Abrilada, which on another occasion I took 
 the pains to unmask. 
 
 Under such circumstances, I do not say treaties ; 
 but would not common courtesy every-day civility, 
 have suggested the propriety of some intimation 
 being given of a measure that could not fail to 
 create a revolution in the commercial concerns of 
 Portugal ? The Methuen Treaty forms a prominent 
 feature in that of 1810, although not named, and if it 
 did not become an integral part of it, as is now 
 alleged ; or in other words, if, as per Article 26,
 
 140 
 
 " the stipulations contained in former treaties con- 
 cerning the admission of the Wines of Portugal, on 
 the one hand, and the Woollen Cloths of Great 
 Britain, on the other, were, for the present, to 
 remain unaltered;" how did it happen that the 
 duties on our Woollens, by the M ethuen rule fixed 
 at 23, were reduced to 15, as soon as the new 
 Treaty came into operation ? This is precisely what 
 the Constitutionalists of 1820 contended for, when 
 they had remonstrances made to our government, as 
 noticed by me, page 94. But if the new interpretation 
 is to prevail, it necessarily must follow, according to 
 the avowals made, that for the last 20 years we have 
 actually been depriving the Portuguese government 
 of a revenue of 8 per cent, on our imported woollens, 
 amounting, in that course of time, to no less than 
 800,000., of which sum, it is to be hoped, that those 
 who have now quarrelled with Port Wine will com- 
 mand immediate restitution to be made. 
 
 Lord Goderich next asked the noble mover 
 " whether he had ever heard of such a body as 
 the Oporto Wine Company! It was," said his 
 Lordship, " without exception, the most detestable 
 monopoly that ever existed. It was the most in- 
 jurious and pernicious to Portugal, and at the same 
 time the most destructive to the interests of those 
 countries whose rights it invaded. The government 
 of this country," added his Lordship, " had com- 
 plained of the establishment of that Company, as 
 being flagrantly unjust, and declared that, by allow- 
 ing it, the government of Portugal had violated all 
 its treaties with this country." So far the noble 
 Viscount j and is it possible that, scarcely a mouth
 
 ago, I should have come to conclusions so totally 
 different ! When penning my remarks on the Oporto 
 Company and its founder, T distinctly declared that 
 I had weighed the matter well, and deduced no other 
 than irresistible inferences. I then fearlessly pledged, 
 in token of my readiness to support my position, 
 even in the face of popular clamour, that I had pur- 
 sued this inquiry, for years, and examined the ques- 
 tion, in all its bearings. I am not apt to deceive 
 myself; nor should I wish to mislead others. I had 
 not indeed the advantage of a seat in the Council 
 of Trade; but, upon this subject, I am now more 
 than ever convinced that I had clearer sources of in- 
 formation at command than were within the reach 
 of that Board ; at least, I examined both sides of 
 the question. I once before grappled with a noble 
 Lord, who was r a member of that honourable Coun- 
 cil, and one of its most useful ones; but now no 
 more. I found him influenced by the strongest pre- 
 judices and labouring under the grossest errors on 
 this head; but he was thunderstruck when I ex- 
 hibited to him the reverse of the medal. He could 
 not believe his own eyes when I adduced evidence to 
 shew that the Company, although restricting British 
 subjects in the facilities of purchasing wines, which 
 they had over and over again abused, had produced 
 beneficial results to the consumer, and proved highly 
 advantageous to Portugal. 
 
 I have already trespassed so far beyond my pro- 
 posed limits, that I could not travel over the same 
 ground again, in order to rebut such sweeping 
 charges. My sentiments upon this point are in print, 
 and cannot be altered by mere invective, or asser -
 
 142 
 
 t 'n m ; but it is a curious coincidence that I should 
 have completely anticipated these old imputations, 
 now so eagerly revived ; and if I had any further wish 
 at heart, it would merely be, that what I have there- 
 on briefly stated, may fall under the notice of those 
 persons who feel inclined to indulge in inductions, 
 so hasty and illiberal. I do not stand in awe of in- 
 veterate errors ; nor would I respect them the more 
 because I found them deep-rooted among my coun- 
 trymen. The elucidation of truth is the only legiti- 
 mate object of historic research, and with this view 
 only I entered upon the subject. I am well aware 
 that we have not yet emerged from the noted era of 
 blind infatuation; but, on that account, I do not 
 feel timid. This has now become a matter of higher 
 order than mere mercantile interest, and cannot be 
 tried by the considerations of profit and loss. It must 
 therefore be examined in reference to a national 
 right, which Portugal never surrendered ; and if the 
 naked question is fairly propounded, from what 1 
 have already seen of its details, I should not fear 
 the award of a disinterested judge, no matter the 
 clime in which he was born. 
 
 When, however, a noble Lord roundly asserts 
 that a foreign nation has violated all its treaties 
 with this country," some specific proof, one would 
 have thought, was due to his hearers and the public. 
 Reference at the moment was made to an incident 
 that happened 72 years ago ; how then is it that we 
 have made so many treaties with Portugal since ? 
 The very same nation which the noble Lord now 
 denounces as Faithless, was, in the House in 
 which lie- >pokc, only a few years ago, cnthusi-
 
 143 
 
 astically hailed as the Most Faithful ! Whence 
 these contrarieties ? For my own part, I have not 
 been able to detect the violation of a single treaty, 
 in the case in question, and yet nothing could ex- 
 ceed my patience and my diligence. The infraction 
 of the one made with Cromwell, was invariably 
 alleged by the first Oporto Memorialists ; yet I have 
 scrutinized the Articles to which so much weight is 
 ascribed, and rose from my search unable to dis- 
 cover grounds for any such accusations. As regards 
 the Company having proved " injurious and per- 
 nicious to Portugal," unless it is because the people 
 were induced to grow wine, instead of wheat, I really 
 cannot conceive how his Lordship calculates. I have 
 produced figures to shew the contrary, except in the 
 sense above mentioned, and in this certainly his 
 Lordship did not speak; nor can I but think that 
 data, similar to mine, must be found in the archives 
 of the Board of Trade, if only sought for. 
 
 I am indeed aware that there have been many 
 complaints made upon this subject; much cross 
 language, mixed up with no small portion of idle 
 and empty menace ; but in what has it all ended ? 
 If, during a continued series of 52 years remon- 
 strances, any right had been ascertained- any charge 
 established, should we not have seen some traces of 
 our success in the Treaty of 1810 ? I have already 
 described the nature of the Oporto Institution ; the 
 circumstances under which it was founded, and, after 
 an attentive perusal of the late debate in the Upper 
 House, I should not wish to recal a single line that 
 I had written ; although I am sensible how difficult 
 it is to make men discriminate who are under the
 
 144 
 
 influence of strong political impressions. Every 
 country has certain facilities and advantages, pecu- 
 liar to itself, either natural, or acquired, and these it 
 is the interest of the government to nurse and 
 cherish. This we did, in every thing connected with 
 our manufactures, until a modern policy was intro- 
 duced, and now it is too late to return to the old 
 practice. In establishing the Oporto Company, the 
 Portuguese did no more than follow the example 
 which we ourselves set them. 
 
 In Portugal, I do not hesitate to say, we might all 
 along have done much by negotiation, had we gone 
 the right way to work. Unfortunately, we bullied 
 and threatened. The pride of the Portuguese being 
 roused, they soon discovered that by quitting the 
 ground of right, merely to rely on a supposed con- 
 sent, resulting from convenience and changing with 
 circumstances, besides humbling themselves, they 
 would be serving our mercantile ends, without any 
 requital ; and hence it no longer became possible to 
 bend their high spirit, or to persuade the govern- 
 ment to brook degradation. The same happened 
 with the bullion question, to which also I have before 
 alluded. A law was passed to prevent the exit of 
 precious metals and penalties denounced against 
 the offenders. Instantly we cried out our rights 
 are invaded a hue and cry was raised. Unable in 
 tliis manner to annul the law, our flag was used for 
 smuggling ; but, if we had convinced the Portuguese 
 that it was to their interest to allow the exportation 
 of bullion and diamonds, as merchantable commodi- 
 tit>, under a moderate duty, it is well known that 
 tin- Marquess dc Pombal would have embracid the 
 opportunity of advancing the public revenue.
 
 145 
 
 Suddenly, however, the matter assumed its real 
 shape and character. Lord Goderich, after warmly 
 reprobating the oppression and annoyances of the 
 Oporto Company and upbraiding the Portuguese for 
 their neglect of all former complaints, declared 
 " that he was a member of the Board (of Trade it is 
 presumed) when all these circumstances were brought 
 before Government, and its indignation being at 
 length roused, a remonstrance was drawn up and 
 sent to Brazil, setting forth that, unless the British 
 merchants were allowed to buy and sell, where and 
 when they thought proper ; without any hindrance, 
 or control, on the part of the Oporto Wine Company, 
 that his Majesty's government had determined to 
 bring into Parliament measures to facilitate the in- 
 troduction of wines from other countries," &c. This, 
 his Lordship remarked, had reference to what passed 
 in 1813, that is, a year after a Factor's Memorial 
 had been presented, and three subsequent to the 
 signing of the Treaty of 1810. 
 
 Lord Althorp's wine measure, it thus turns out, is 
 derived from an old scheme, evidently now revived 
 with a view to punish the Portuguese for their neg- 
 lect and obstinacy; and, in no other light, do I 
 venture to assert, can they consider it, in the face of 
 these declarations from the mouth of one of His 
 Majesty's ministers. The project, however, bears a 
 date, even anterior to the one above mentioned. 
 Mr. Canning, always an oracle on the affairs of 
 Portugal, and under whose immediate eye the Rio 
 de Janeiro Treaty was negotiated, on the 22nd of 
 July, 1812, when, although no longer in the ministry, 
 he must nevertheless have had the real meaning and 
 
 T
 
 146 
 
 intent of the material clauses fresh in his memory, 
 presenting an Oporto petition, suggested to the House 
 that a heavy duty on Port Wines should be laid, 
 until the stipulations were performed. 
 
 In those days also, it would seem retaliation was 
 disregarded. Lord Castlercagh however argued 
 " that such a measure might obstruct the negotia- 
 tions, at the moment actively going on upon these 
 points ;" but, it is a curious fact that, during the 
 whole of this discussion, Mr. Baring and Mr. Whit- 
 bread were the only speakers who appeared to un- 
 derstand the difficulty. The former suggested " that 
 too strict a performance of such stipulations should 
 not be required, as perhaps it might not be in the 
 power of the Portuguese government to abolish such 
 a monopoly ;" adding, " that he understood that the 
 British merchants in Portugal were on the same 
 footing with the Portuguese, and that therefore 
 there was the less reason to complain." Mr. Whit- 
 bread, in his usual straight-forward manner, "ex- 
 pressed his astonishment that, in the present state 
 of our relations with Portugal, the British merchant 
 should have any reason to complain against the 
 Portuguese government;" and well he might, if he 
 had taken only a slight glance at the history of our 
 connection. 
 
 Endlessly then have these negotiations been going 
 on, oven within the present century, upon the very 
 same question boisterously agitated during the la-t ; 
 but, may I be allowed to ask, did they end in any 
 declaration, on the part of the Portuguese govern- 
 ment that, arronlinir to its interpretation, the Oporto 
 < '>ni|iiiuy \va- in-'liitleil in the 8th, or 'J.'itli Article of
 
 147 
 
 '; . . ,,. 
 
 the Rio de Janeiro Treaty? Did the Portuguese 
 
 ever consent to call it a monopoly? The British 
 public, who are called upon to sacrifice a large por- 
 tion of their old trade, in order to punish the in- 
 fractors of treaties for their obstinacy and neglect, 
 as long ago insinuated by Mr. Canning and now 
 openly alleged by Lord Goderich, certainly ought to 
 know something upon this subject. Lord Strang- 
 ford, the other night, speaking in reply, remarked 
 " that he strenuously endeavoured to get rid of the 
 Oporto Wine Company and did not succeed." Doubt- 
 less, upon this head, his Lordship received peremp- 
 tory instructions from Mr. Canning, and I can readily 
 conceive that the position of the noble negotiator 
 must have been painful indeed, if, in his conferences 
 with the Portuguese Commissioners, he was com- 
 pelled to exhibit the Report of our Board of Trade, 
 above alluded to; or found it necessary to use 
 paragraphs of instructions, at all consonant with the 
 sentiments uttered by Lord Goderich. 
 
 We are however told that a new and formidable 
 stand was made, in 1813. The Portuguese govern- 
 ment therefore was then assailed upon a point that 
 had been under discussion for 52 years, and what 
 was the result ? The moment was most propitious ; 
 the Court of Portugal had removed to Rio de Ja- 
 neiro ; the seat of government was established in 
 the New World ; the fate of that country where the 
 ashes of the ancestors of the Braganza Family lay, 
 was uncertain ; the surviving members had only a 
 distant hope of revisiting it ; the Prince Regent 
 himself was a water-drinker, and yet was any dispo- 
 sition shewn to comply with our pretensions ? From
 
 148 
 
 the measure just taken, we are led to conclude that 
 the new remonstrances were equally unsuccessful ; 
 but, if the matter was deemed of such transccndant 
 importance that the same application was urged, 
 during three successive reigns, would it not have 
 been more advisable to have tried the experiment, 
 in some more judicious manner, on the accession of 
 a fourth monarch ? Before the honour and good 
 faith of the country were hazarded, would it not 
 have been better to have taken legal advice on the 
 interpretation, given to our treaties ; would it not 
 have been more wise to canvass the matter afresh 
 with the Portuguese j and, above all, would it not 
 have been a more eligible mode to send out a Com- 
 mission to Oporto, in order to ascertain whether all 
 that we had heard of the Company was true, or 
 false ? 
 
 What strange anomalies have we witnessed in this 
 country upon this very topic. It was only last year 
 that a motion was made,* tending to the overthrow 
 of the Oporto Company, and, as one of his argu- 
 ments, the honourable mover observed that " every 
 body knew how long the community of this country 
 had been compelled to injure their health, by the 
 use of a certain repulsive liquor, mixed with brandy 
 and drugs, denominated Port Wine ;" and further 
 on he alleged " that 135 pipes, shipped at Guernsey, 
 on reaching the port of London, were multiplied into 
 2343 pipes. This," he added, " was the work of the 
 \\li\c brewers," and then appealed to the Spectator 
 and Dr. Henderson for a description of them. And 
 
 Mr. VUliert, June 15, 1830.
 
 149 
 
 yet the enlightened member of the House of Com- 
 mons would have had that Company abolished, which 
 was instituted expressly to prevent adulterations, 
 and to keep these very wine brewers who now 
 resort to Guernsey, out of the waters of the Douro ! 
 
 The Oporto Company, as already shewn, is a cor- 
 porate Body, composed of Cultivators, Merchants 
 and Capitalists, created by Charter, with a Board, 
 chosen by ballot and entrusted with fiscal powers, in 
 every thing regarding Port Wines. If its officers, in 
 the exercise of their fiscal duties, give rise to annoy- 
 ances, let these be compared with those of our own 
 Excise laws, stockings and permits, to which the 
 foreigner, as well as the Englishman, is subjected. 
 Our Excise regulations are onerous in the extreme ; 
 but they are ordained by law and cannot discrimi- 
 nate, or be dispensed with. In an infinitely milder 
 degree, similar rules are enforced at Oporto and 
 have produced the best effect. In Lisbon, no Royal 
 Company exists there the trade is free, and yet 
 what is the consequence ? Red wines are unknown 
 and the white in disrepute. From 15,000 pipes, the 
 exportation is reduced to 1000 per annum. 
 
 The British merchants at Oporto, it must also be 
 remembered, have made their large fortunes since 
 the Company was established ; and subsequent to 
 the year 1758, it was, that they began to build those 
 extensive and splendid structures in which their 
 stocks are deposited. As I before noticed, in their 
 purchases, they enjoy preferences which do not ex- 
 tend to the Portuguese. Unless they wish to mo- 
 nopolize the whole trade and keep it to themselves, 
 their clamours are therefore unfounded. Mr. Pitt
 
 150 
 
 looked more into this matter than any minister ever 
 did before him, and pronounced these Oporto com- 
 plaints to he the murmurs of interested men. It was 
 he also who laid an extra duty on Spanish red wines, 
 in order that they might not be used to adulterate 
 Port. This he did in the very same spirit that led 
 to the formation of the Oporto Company ; and, if 
 some similar means could only be devised to pre- 
 vent the flagitious practices of the Guernsey and 
 London wine brewers, the health of his Majesty's 
 subjects most assuredly would not be impaired. The 
 revenue would also materially advance, as then real 
 Port would be drank, and not the infusion of drugs 
 to which that name is given. 
 
 Notwithstanding my earnest solicitude to contri- 
 bute all I possibly can to the elucidation of this 
 question, and my full conviction that it is only by 
 inquiries of this kind that loose and general as- 
 sertions can be brought to issue, it is not in my 
 power to dwell upon it any longer. May I, however, 
 before I quit it altogether, ask permission to make a 
 few remarks upon one passage of the speech de- 
 livered by your Lordship, the other evening, in re- 
 ference to our commercial intercourse with Portugal. 
 Your Lordship, after expressing a confident expecta- 
 tion that this intercourse would not be materially 
 affected by the new measure, is reported to have 
 said " that it was an admitted fact, that our com- 
 mercial dealings with Portugal had, tor some yrars, 
 been lessening ; all in consequence of the pernicious 
 monopoly which the Oporto Company enjoyed, in 
 tlu- ttvtli of tin- Methuen Treaty !" 
 
 < .1 1 a i < .od ' and is it possible that such a delusion
 
 151 
 
 as this can prevail in the mind of the prime minister 
 of these realms. What your Lordship calls a " mo- 
 nopoly," I have shewn to he an institution, esta- 
 blished for the protection of the fruits of an im- 
 portant branch of national agriculture ; a just 
 interposition of the law to shield the cultivators on 
 the Douro from abuses which had often blighted 
 their fairest prospects. I have traced this institution 
 to its origin, and distinctly shewn, that our com- 
 merce with Portugal has occasionally been affected 
 by the competition of other nations ; but, never by 
 such a cause as the one here alleged. I have fur- 
 nished returns, commencing with a period, six years 
 anterior to the foundation of the Company, continued 
 up to the latest date, and the evidence resulting 
 from them is totally the reverse. I have even 
 proved that the consumption of our manufactures, 
 io Portugal, has advanced, since the separation of 
 Brazil. The abstract, inserted page 84, shews that, 
 from 1817 to 1828, both inclusive, our exports to 
 that country gradually rose from 1,757,984. to 
 2,581,757-; but, in 1829, declined to 1,764,032., 
 and in a similar proportion I fear, last year, solely 
 on account of the convulsed state of the country. 
 To this cause only is the decline of the two last 
 years to be attributed. 
 
 We have, in our Parliamentary History, a case in 
 principle very analagous to the one submitted to the 
 Upper House on the 21st ult., in which your Lord- 
 ship acted a prominent and brilliant part. In 
 February, 1787, a long and animated debate took 
 place on the Commercial Treaty made with France 
 by Mr. Pitt, who seemed anxious to connect us with
 
 152 
 
 that country, even at the hazard of breaking with 
 Portugal. Mr. Fox, deprecating this line of policy, 
 contended " that the Methuen Treaty was justly a 
 favourite with this country ; it had been productive, 
 during tle course of near a century, of the most im- 
 portant benefits, and he therefore trusted that before 
 Parliament sanctioned any new engagement that 
 might endanger so sure and tried a source of com- 
 mercial advantage, they would require from his 
 Majesty's minister the fullest satisfaction upon that 
 essential article." In another stage of the debate, 
 he further added " that the most proper period for 
 treating with Portugal, would have been before the 
 conclusion of the Treaty with France, as it would 
 have manifested a fairness and a decency, on our 
 part to an old Ally, and convinced the world that 
 whilst we were seeking for new friends and new con- 
 nections, we had no intentions of forfeiting the old." 
 Mr. Fox in fact foretold the overthrow of the pro- 
 ject by the restless ambition of France ; but the 
 minister, anticipating the benefits likely to arise from 
 " an intimacy with our neighbour, which, he observ- 
 ed, would not only strongly operate upon every suc- 
 ceeding administration, in both countries ; but also 
 strengthen the resources of this country towards 
 carrying on a war, whenever it should become indis- 
 pensably necessary to engage in one," pressed and 
 triumphantly carried his point. Little did he, in 
 those moments of infatuation, dream that, only two 
 years afterwards, a revolution would break out in 
 France and lead to a war, calculated to call forth 
 all the energies of his own superior mind, the ter- 
 mination uf which he did not live to see. Little did
 
 153 
 
 he imagine what sacrifices Portugal would have to 
 make, for a long- series of years, in support of her 
 alliance with Great Britain; or the distinguished 
 part she was to take in the events which eventually 
 led to the general peace. On that memorable oc- 
 casion, your Lordship is reported to have reminded 
 the minister " of the wisdom of that established 
 system of policy, in which France had always been 
 regarded with the most suspicious jealousy, at least, 
 if not as our natural foe." With timeo Danaos et 
 dona ferentes, I believe your Lordship ended your 
 manly speech. 
 
 And, are times so much altered ? Is the era for a 
 French connection now more propitious, than it was 
 when Mr. Pitt determined upon his hapless and short- 
 lived experiment, which he survived long enough 
 to regret, in the bitterness of heart ? However 
 fashionable it might have been, in those days, on 
 one side of the House to court the French, these 
 predilections, at all events, were not accompanied 
 by insults towards Portugal, or menaces to punish 
 her government for its obstinacy and the violation 
 of treaties. 
 
 I must now leave your Lordship to judge for your- 
 self, whether our commercial relations with Portu- 
 gal ought to have been endangered; or whether, 
 under existing circumstances, it was advisable thus 
 to devote old and beneficial treaties to popular 
 odium. I have proved this to be one of the great 
 fountains from which the increase of our commerce 
 was derived ; and I shall ever contend, that nothing 
 but the utmost exigency could justify such a mea- 
 sure as the one resolved upon, highly censurable in 
 
 u
 
 154 
 
 other respects. It is not only as regards the imme- 
 diate effects of any precipitate step that his Majesty's 
 ministers were called upon to pause ; but, in my hum- 
 ble opinion, they had also 'to stand in awe of remote 
 consequences. It is not for me to enter on the 
 question of expediency; or to inquire how far we 
 should connect ourselves with foreign nations, in 
 any other'than the ordinary way ; but, if we are to 
 be the special Protectors and Guardians of Portugal ; 
 if a casus fccderis is to arise out of such events as 
 last led a British army to the Tagus; or if we are to 
 be favoured much beyond others, even to the sacri- 
 fice of the natives, in the name of common justice, 
 let the equivalents, if any are required, be properly 
 understood. 
 
 Were a dispassionate person to examine our last 
 Treaty and notice the manner in which we now seek 
 to interpret its most important clauses, he would be 
 led to think that we had all along considered the 
 Portuguese as mere instruments for the extension of 
 our commerce. He would thence conclude that it 
 was no sympathy; no interest in their welfare ; no 
 just desire to maintain the equilibrium of Europe, 
 that induced us to hold out a helping hand to the 
 successive sovereigns who have sat upon the throne 
 of Portugal, when pressed by external dangers. In 
 reviewing our treaties, he would discover inconsider- 
 ate concessions, on the one hand, and strong exer- 
 tions of influence, on the other. He would see that 
 we had wrung from the Portuguese every thing that 
 it rtftu |H i Me for one nation to obtain from another, 
 and that we cannot now ask more, without onr na-
 
 155 
 
 tional justice being questioned; or incurring charges, 
 calculated to prejudice us in the eyes of Europe. 
 
 No one can look upon the nature and duration of 
 that friendly intercourse that has so long subsisted 
 between Great Britain and Portugal, without being 
 astonished at the state of our political and commer- 
 cial relations, at the commencement of 1831. It 
 began as early as the year 1294, by an interchange 
 of friendly acts between Edward I. and Deniz, King 
 of Portugal, and in that way continued till the year 
 1353, when a Treaty of Commerce was negotiated, 
 with our Edward III. for 50 years. In 1373, another 
 Commercial Treaty was made and afterwards one of 
 Friendship and Alliance, both of which were con- 
 firmed in 1387. A Treaty of Peace was again con- 
 cluded between Richard II. and John I.] of Por- 
 tugal, in 1385, and renewed by our Henry in 1387- 
 We entered into a Commercial Treaty in 1403, and 
 again in 1431 and 1442. In the year 1441, a fresh 
 Treaty of Peace was concluded between Richard III. 
 and Alonzo V. ; renewed during the following year 
 by Edward IV. when all previous compacts were con- 
 firmed. In 1484, all former Treaties were confirmed 
 and renewed, and again in 1489. In this manner 
 was our intercourse kept up and cherished till the 
 year 1642, by various friendly acts, exchanges of 
 civilities, special grants and favours, as well as public 
 instruments ; amounting in all, from the year 1294 
 to the period last mentioned, to 115, including the 
 Goa Convention, in 1635. The whole are recorded 
 in Rymer's Fcedera and Dumont. I have a specifi- 
 cation of the entire series before me, and nothing
 
 156 
 
 but the apprehension of being too minute, prevented 
 me from inserting it. 
 
 In 1642, a Treaty of Peace and Commerce was 
 concluded between Charles I. and John IV. ; in 
 1643, a law passed in Portugal respecting the 
 trial of suits, pending between British subjects ; in 
 1645, King Emanuel granted special privileges to 
 foreign merchants ; in 1647, on their behalf, certain 
 articles were exempted from the payment of duties ; 
 in 1654, a Treaty was made with Cromwell ; in 1656, 
 British subjects were exempted from war-taxes and 
 allowed a Judge Conservator ; in 1657, their vessels 
 were placed on a level with Portuguese, as regards 
 port-charges ; in 1660, a treaty was made with Eng- 
 land by Alonzo VI. confirming those of 1652 and 
 1654, and for a large armament to be supplied to 
 Portugal ; in 1661, a law was passed exempting 
 British subjects from the payment of brokerage and 
 the King's marriage with Catherine of Portugal 
 solemnized; in 1665, Alonzo VI. issued a royal 
 order respecting the payment of dues to the Judge 
 Conservator; in 1667, British subjects were privileged 
 from arrest, unless by order of their Judge Conser- 
 vator; in 1698, a decree was issued respecting the 
 preference in privileges granted to the British 
 over the natives; in 1699, a royal order was passed 
 not to collect the duty of 4j per cent, on the pro- 
 pert y of English, French and Dutch, not naturalized ; 
 in !"03, a Treaty of Defensive Alliance was made 
 between England, Portugal and Holland, containing 
 20 articles; in the same year, an offensive and dc- 
 irn-ivc League was entered into between the Queen 
 of England, the Emperor Leopold, Peter II. of Por-
 
 157 
 
 tugal and the States General, to support the rights 
 of the House of Austria to the throne of Spain, and 
 in this year also the Methuen Treaty was negotiated. 
 In 1/04, the royal order for the use of British Wool- 
 lens, previously alluded to, was published. In this 
 year, Great Britain also guaranteed the Treaty be- 
 tween Portugal and France, and 1715, the one 
 between Portugal and Spain. 
 
 In 1716, a Convention was made at Bombay ; in 
 1721, the British entered into an offensive and de- 
 fensive Alliance in Asia ; in the same year, an Act of 
 Parliament was passed regulating the dues payable 
 by British subjects to their Consul in Portugal ; in 
 1763, His Most Faithful Majesty acceded to the 
 Treaty of Peace between England and France ; in 
 1793, a Treaty of Alliance was concluded between 
 Great Britain and Portugal; 1808, a suspension 
 qf hostilities agreed upon between Sir Arthur 
 Wellesley and General Keller; in the same year a 
 Convention was entered into between Admiral Cotton 
 and the Russian Admiral ; 1809, a Convention made 
 with the Prince Regent of Portugal, for the Loan 
 of 600,000; and finally in 1810, Treaties of 
 Commerce and Alliance were signed at Rio de 
 Janeiro; and in 1815, an arrangement took place 
 for the abolition of the Slave Trade. 
 
 No two nations can present so proud a monument 
 of friendly intercourse, as the one established by the 
 transactions just enumerated. To destroy it wantonly, 
 would be to violate our first duties towards Portu- 
 gal ; to cut off one of the remaining sources of her 
 prosperity, at the same time that the experiment 
 must end in a serious injury to ourselves. It would
 
 158 
 
 be a policy, adverse to all the principles of good 
 government a policy that knows no rule but the 
 supposed convenience of the moment. We say that 
 Portugal has not done enough for us we demand 
 more. Can we look upon the preceding outline ; 
 can we reflect on the present condition of that 
 country, and not feel satisfied ? Do not our enemies 
 among the Portuguese already loudly reproach us 
 for our selfishness ; do they not openly declare that 
 we curtailed their trade ; drained their country of 
 its wealth ; destroyed their agriculture and manu- 
 factures; involved them in wars, foreign to their 
 interests ; separated Brazil, and eventually reduced 
 them to a state of dependency upon us ? My Lord, 
 these sentiments were long ago re-echoed, from one 
 extreme of the Portuguese monarchy to the other, 
 and heard from the mouths of no party so frequently 
 as the very one it will now be concluded we seek to 
 befriend. What ! have we not warped the consti- 
 tution of the realm to our own will, and yet ask 
 more? 
 
 After this fresh proof of direct hostility, can Por- 
 tugal, may I ask, with any thing like confidence, 
 rely cither on the forbearance, or the friendship of 
 Great Britain ? After the declarations, heard from 
 the mouths of ministers themselves, can the Portu- 
 guese any longer look for sincerity among us ? They 
 hear that the Oporto Company is suddenly made 
 the great topic of complaint ; but, will they not judge 
 that this is rather the pretext, than the motive of a 
 measure, in which, they arc warranted to conclude, 
 state expediency has no share ? Will they not con- 
 sider this new demonstration, on our part, as the
 
 159 
 
 result of a political bias as symptomatic of the tem- 
 per of those men who were lately called to power ? 
 When they compare these threats with the senti- 
 ments, uttered in the last speech from the throne, 
 will they not say that measures are about to be 
 taken, decisive of the fate and fortunes of Portugal ; 
 measures, already openly assumed and for reasons 
 unambiguously avowed? Will they not consider 
 this as a foretaste of what they may expect here- 
 after ? 
 
 My Lord, if we had wished openly to quarrel with 
 Portugal ; if it had been our aim to drive her into 
 further concessions, would it not have been better at 
 once to have passed a Non-Importation Law, as the 
 United States, a few years ago, attempted towards 
 us, rather than resort to so unjust and revolting an 
 expedient ? Is it not besides seeking to remove a 
 disorder, by means of a mistaken remedy ? Can 
 Great Britain so far forget her dignity and abandon 
 her interests ? We are in alliance with Portugal, 
 and we cannot disguise to ourselves, or the world, 
 the principles on which that alliance rests ; or the 
 obligations it imposes upon us. Our treaties are 
 still subsisting; on all sides, they are pronounced 
 favourable, and we continue to enjoin their observ- 
 ance. The peace and prosperity of such an ally, as 
 Portugal, one would think, ought to be as dear, as 
 they are advantageous to Great Britain, and, after 
 the experience of the past, we ought to value her 
 friendship more than her tribute. 
 
 But, we now accuse Portugal of breaking her 
 treaties with us could she not with more justice lay 
 that charge at our door ? In Art. 1 of Cromwell's
 
 160 
 
 Treaty, it was mutually stipulated " that no rebels, 
 or fugitives, should be received into the dominions 
 of the other; obtain succour, &c. to the injury of 
 the other party." The incident which led to this 
 provision has been already explained, and, in the 
 19th Article of the same Treaty, it was also cove- 
 nanted, " that the property and vessels belonging 
 to one party, and captured by rebels and carried into 
 ports of the other, should be forthwith restored." 
 Of both these articles did we avail ourselves at the 
 time the North American provinces asserted their 
 independence, and actually obtained from the Por- 
 tuguese Government a Declaration, dated July 4, 
 17/6, to the following effect ; " It appearing that 
 British America has withdrawn herself from the do- 
 minion of the Crown of Great Britain, and is enact- 
 ing laws under her own particular authority, with a 
 view to resistance, &c. ; It is hereby ordained, that 
 in no port of the Portuguese Monarchy shall any 
 messe! be allowed to enter, or receive cargo, coming 
 from any port of the said British North America ; 
 but, on the contrary, that all such vessels shall be 
 driven therefrom, in the very act of arriving, and no 
 aid, or assistance, afforded to them," &c. This edict 
 was penned by the Marquess de Pombal, and it was 
 therein further ordained, " that the operation of this 
 royal order should not cease, until the independence 
 of the said provinces had been acknowledged by 
 Great Britain." In doing this, it ought further to 
 be borne in mind that Portugal not only exposed 
 tin-self to retaliation ; but also deprived herself of 
 her usual supplies of flour, for which she had almost 
 become dependent on our Colonies.
 
 161 
 
 During the short interval of peace which followed 
 the first act of the French Revolution, Napoleon de- 
 termined to punish Portugal for her condescensions 
 towards England. He accordingly compelled Spain 
 to join him, and a French army, under General 
 Leclerc advanced towards Beira ; whilst a Spanish 
 division under the Prince of Peace entered on the 
 side of Alemtejo. This attack ended in a Treaty, 
 signed at Bajadoz, on the 6th January, 1801, by 
 which Portugal lost Olivenfa and, by a subsequent 
 transaction, a large portion of territory in Guiana 
 was also sacrificed. A few years afterwards, another 
 still more alarming crisis threatened our Ally. 
 Napoleon, having triumphed in the North, turned 
 all his views to the South, seemingly resolved to 
 exclude the British from even the remotest corner 
 of the Continent. The partition of Portugal, in a 
 word, had been decreed, and the resolve was soon 
 afterwards consigned to a solemn Treaty. The French 
 ultimatum was presented to the Court of Lisbon, on 
 the 12th August, 1807, by M. Rayneval, and required 
 1st, that Portugal should instantly shut her ports 
 against the British ; 2nd, that she should declare 
 war against England on the 1st September, at 
 furthest, and join her land and sea forces to those of 
 France and Spain ; 3rd, that all British subjects 
 should be arrested and their property sequestrated, 
 in order to furnish an indemnity for any losses which 
 might arise to the commerce of Portugal; and, in case 
 of refusal, her ports were to be occupied by French 
 troops. 
 
 And, My Lord, did the Prince Regent of Portugal 
 comply with these demands, notwithstanding the
 
 162 
 
 army, prepared to enforce them, had already as- 
 sembled at Bayonne ? Did not large convoys of 
 British property subsequently go forth from Lisbon 
 and Oporto, notwithstanding the endeavours of Na - 
 poleon's agents ? Was a single Englishman molested? 
 Finally, was not Portugal instantly invaded, and the 
 Royal Family obliged to seek an asylum on the 
 other side of the Atlantic ? 
 
 As an Englishman, I blush, My Lord, to have to 
 call to mind these facts, on an occasion, like the 
 present. Anxious as I am that our country, even 
 in the most trifling transactions, should take a firm 
 and decided stand on principles of the highest order, 
 and that its honour, ever dearer to me than the 
 blood that flows around my heart, may never be im- 
 plicated in any thing of a doubtful complexion, I am 
 nevertheless unequal to the task of presenting the 
 contrast. I cannot trace our conduct in reference to 
 Brazil; nor would I dwell upon the Oporto and 
 Terceira armaments, carried on at noon day in our 
 ports. I could make every allowance for changes in 
 times and circumstances, if any such are pleaded ; I 
 should be the foremost to acknowledge that those 
 sweeping clauses which, without proper and season- 
 able modifications, confirm treaties, made centuries 
 ago, are so many cobwebs, intended to catch the 
 unwary ; nay, that they are the prolific sources of 
 cavil and among equals might lead to quarrels ; but, 
 My Lord, of all have we had the full advantage. 
 
 The 14th Article of the Treaty of 1810, however, 
 and certainly the date is sufficiently recent, ex- 
 pressly stipulates thus ; " It is agreed and cove- 
 nanted that persons, guilty of High Treason, forgery,
 
 163 
 
 or other offences of a heinous nature, within the 
 dominions of either of the contracting parties, shall 
 not be harboured, nor receive protection," &c. This 
 clause may sound harsh to our ears, in these liberal 
 times, yet it was inserted by Mr. Canning himself 
 and, I have every reason to believe, not until he had 
 submitted the very wording to the Crown Lawyers. 
 And has this stipulation been complied with ? 
 
 I am not, My Lord, one of those who would coun- 
 sel a stretch of power, in this, or any other country j 
 nor would I always put too rigid a construction on 
 Treaties, when individuals may be implicated. I 
 shudder at persecution, in every shape, and would 
 be the last to exasperate national animosities. During 
 the prevalence of civil dissensions, I should be sorry 
 to excite a rancorous feeling in the breast of one 
 party; or strengthen the aversion and hostility of 
 the other. I revere that hospitality, as much as 
 any man, which led our ancestors to open their doors 
 to foreign sufferers, seeking an asylum among them, 
 and I sincerely hope our country will ever be the 
 home of the exile the refuge of the oppressed ; but, 
 My Lord, shall we allow it to be made a theatre for 
 the plots and conspiracies against foreign sovereigns, 
 which a faction of avowed revolutionists may be dis- 
 posed to hatch under the safeguard of our neutrality ? 
 Shall men, flying from the penalties of their own 
 offended laws, assemble here to whet their insatiate 
 daggers, and, from among us, publicly denounce 
 their menaces of vengeance and extermination ? Are 
 our presses never to cease groaning under the weight 
 of their revolting libels ? Are the subjects of foreign 
 Princes to be unceasingly called upon to throw off
 
 164 
 
 their allegiance, by papers, printed among us, point- 
 ing out resistance as a duty and submission as a 
 crime ? Is it here that the elements of rebellion are 
 to be collected, until they are ready to be hurled 
 against other kingdoms, in peace and amity with us? 
 Is it within our territory that foreign renegades are 
 to arm and fit out their vessels, and thence proceed 
 to execute their subversive and murderous designs ? 
 Shall men, distinguished only by their incapacity, 
 disunion and thirst of power; men, without plan, 
 concert, or even a leader, be permitted thus to in- 
 volve the honour and interests of Great Britain, in 
 their schemes of anarchy and folly ? 
 
 The situation of Portugal is truly alarming and 
 daily rendered more precarious to our countrymen, 
 residing there, by the toleration of these acts. En- 
 mities are also engendered against us, and the 
 country is besides weakened and kept in continual 
 alarm. Hitherto it was considered our bestf pre- 
 ventive policy to maintain Portugal in a state of 
 relative sufficiency to have her bound to us by 
 interest and good will. Such is the spirit which all 
 our treaties breathe. In our last one of Friendship 
 and Alliance, signed at Rio de Janeiro, in 1810, it i- 
 set forth that the High Contracting Parties, " being 
 impressed with a due sense of the advantages which 
 the two Crowns have derived from the perfect Har- 
 mony and Friendship which have subsisted between 
 them, for four centuries, &c. ; have determined, tor 
 the mutual benefit of their rc>|t-ii\c States and 
 Subjects, &c.j that there shall be a perpetual, firm 
 and unalterable Friendship, inviolable Union, &r.; 
 and that they shall constantly employ, as well their
 
 utmost attention, as all those means which Almighty 
 Providence has put in their power, for preserving 
 the public Tranquillity and Security, and maintain- 
 ing their Common Interests, &c/' 
 
 And, are we at this moment performing any part 
 of these engagements towards our Ally; or are these 
 professions no other than empty sounds ? At first, 
 we might have been deceived we might have been 
 taken by surprise, when we beheld the anomalous 
 state in which Portugal was left through the death 
 of the late sovereign. We might have been thrown 
 off our guard, being unaware of the manoeuvres 
 going on. We were perhaps imperfectly acquainted 
 with the Legislation of the country, or deluded by a 
 continued misrepresentation of facts. New and dis- 
 tinct light has however since been thrown upon the 
 subject; all shadow of doubt removed, and the juggle 
 and the jugglers are already fast sinking under the 
 folly of their undertaking. Three years in fact have 
 elapsed since the difficulty first occurred, and every 
 year has brought some change in the plot some new 
 feature in the succession of incidents. When, then, 
 shall this question cease to agitate the public mind ? 
 
 My Lord, do we dispute with the Portuguese their 
 Sovereignty and Independence ? Do we refuse to 
 them the administration of their own Laws ? One 
 of our brightest ornaments of the Bench,* in olden 
 times, reminded us that " our Ancestors were fam- 
 ous in their generations for wisdom, piety and 
 courage, in forming and preserving a Body of Laws, 
 
 Lord Chancellor Soraers ; " The Security of Englishmen's Lives." 
 1681.
 
 166 
 
 to secure themselves and their posterities from 
 slavery and oppression, and to maintain their native 
 freedoms ;" adding, " that this Body of Laws our 
 Ancestors always esteemed the best inheritance they 
 could leave to their posterities, well knowing that 
 these were the sacred fence of their lives, liberties 
 and estates." 
 
 And, My Lord, have the Portuguese no Body of 
 Laws of this kind, to which they equally cling and 
 venerate with the same jealous ardour as ourselves ? 
 Have they no institutions, associated with the proud 
 remembrance of ancient greatness ? We are, I think, 
 too familiar with their history, to deny the fact. In 
 what they have done for their own welfare, have they 
 then passed the limits of those laws : deviated from 
 the spirit of their fundamental institutions; or broken 
 faith with any nation ? If the matter is inquired 
 into, the very reverse will appear. It will rather be 
 seen that these national laws and institutions were 
 their guides and luminaries in all they did regarding 
 the late settlement of the Crown. For what are they 
 then to be reproached ; or why has not Portugal the 
 same rights as those accorded to other nations ? 
 
 But the other day, it was agreed that if the Bel- 
 gians chose even to place a Beauharnois at their 
 head, no one had a right to prevent them. It was 
 universally allowed that all the Allied Powers could 
 wish, was, the Independence of Belgium and that a 
 barrier should be placed against any union with 
 France. These principles were avowed in the Pro- 
 tocols, ushered to the world upon the subject. 
 
 Why then are similar rights to be withheld from 
 Portugal ? Why is a different policy to be observed
 
 167 
 
 towards her ? Is she not equally within the pale of 
 nations ? Why is not deference to be paid to the 
 general will, when clearly and distinctly expressed 
 among the Portuguese ? Why is the present occu- 
 pant of their throne unacknowledged ? The people 
 tendered to him their homage, as their legitimate 
 sovereign, although their declarations were mingled 
 with alarm at the formidable opposition that awaited 
 them. The government at the time was in the hands 
 of his enemies, and the object of the nation's choice 
 a prisoner in a foreign land. Those who were op- 
 posed to the anarchy of 1820 ; revered their laws, or 
 were determined to resist a foreign yoke, neverthe- 
 less persevered, and eventually by the presence of 
 the lawful heir the country acquired new elements of 
 union, strength and tranquillity. Soon the greatest 
 part of the population joined the national standard, 
 and the new sovereign, legally proclaimed, saw him- 
 self in a situation to sustain those rights which his 
 birth and the laws of the realm awarded to him. 
 
 In this there was no infraction of international 
 laws no deviation from Treaties, made for the re- 
 pose of Europe. The impulse then felt among the 
 Portuguese, was the effect of no external excite- 
 ment no party spirit mixed up with their resolve 
 it was rather the natural offspring of their own 
 hearts. They nobly dared, and in applying their 
 laws to a great public emergency, they reconciled 
 their best wishes and natural interests with the 
 peace and safety of their neighbour, and in so doing 
 could not give offence to any nation. 
 
 The King of France now openly boasts of having 
 been the great instrument with the other Powers to
 
 It* 
 
 obtain the acknowledgment of Belgium, which cn- 
 ahlcd that country to make choice of a sovereign, 
 -even in the face of the pretensions of the King of 
 Holland, supported by treaties. The King of lYanee 
 has further pledged to preserve Belgium from ex- 
 ternal attack, as well as foreign intervention. lie 
 instantly established the relations of friendship and 
 good neighbourhood, and even pledged to shield the 
 Belgians from the scourge of internal agitation. 
 
 And, My Lord, is Belgium more intimately bound 
 to France, than we are to Portugal; or doe- con- 
 tiguity make so essential a difference ? This dis- 
 tinction is by no means conformable to the liberal 
 and enlightened principles on which the public in- 
 terests of Great Britain have usually been conducted. 
 As regards origin, the United States may be more 
 closely connected with us than Portugal ; but not 
 by interest, or treaties, and should we treat their 
 government thus ? The Portuguese are not mem- 
 bers of the same community, or governed by the 
 same laws, as ourselves j but, on that account, they 
 are not the less entitled to our goodwill and pro- 
 tection, directed always with an impartial hand, 
 conformably to the intent and meaning of the en 
 -uiri -incuts subsisting between us. Their- i- con- 
 sequently an appeal which reason and justice nnrc 
 upon our earnest attention, and, in the honourable 
 discharge of our duty, we cannot disregard it. Only 
 a few years ago, our armies witnessed the desolation 
 of their country and their sufferings cannot so soon 
 be forgotten. In the hour of England's danger, 
 among them we found cordial aid and elVcctive co- 
 operation. The steady conduct of the Portugue-c.
 
 in moments of peril, cannot then be obliterated from 
 our memories. Having brought Portugal to the 
 state in which she stands, I therefore contend that 
 we are under the moral obligation of consulting her 
 peace, honour and prosperity, as much as any por- 
 tion of our own empire. 
 
 But, My Lord, if we are deaf to these considera- 
 tions, at least, let us look to the welfare of our 
 countrymen, residing in Portugal, or engaged in 
 commercial pursuits to that country. After the de- 
 clarations heard in the House of Lords, coupled with 
 our general conduct towards the Portuguese go- 
 vernment, will not British residents and merchants 
 stand in dread of retaliation ? Hitherto, the sacri- 
 fices made by the Portuguese principally affected 
 their commercial interests; but the question now 
 turns on national honour national sovereignty, and 
 deference and concessions, which the peculiarity of 
 their situation may have rendered endurable, will 
 necessarily end. Roused by the emergency of dan- 
 ger, or wounded in their nation's pride, they may 
 awake and find that they have not only surrendered 
 up the interests of their people ; but also the attri- 
 butes of power. They may in the result discover 
 that our professions have deluded them to their ruin, 
 and that we now leave them a prey to their ene- 
 mies the victims of their own credulity. 
 
 What, My Lord, shall we enforce our commercial 
 treaties with an independent nation, and at the same 
 time disregard our reiterated pledges and political 
 obligations ? Shall we send forth the produce of our 
 manufactures j compel payment, and yet seek to 
 forestal the resources from which that payment is to 
 
 y
 
 170 
 
 be derived ? Do we pretend to administer the con- 
 cerns of other nations, as we would a Colonial mo- 
 nopoly of our own in mere subserviency to our 
 own advantage ? My Lord, the idea is monstrous. 
 
 After the measure now resolved upon, what alter- 
 native is then left to the Portuguese ? We have 
 broken the Methuen Treaty ; but it expressly stipu- 
 lates " that if the deduction, or abatement of cus- 
 toms, as aforesaid, shall in any manner be attempted 
 and prejudiced, it shall be just and lawful for his 
 sacred Royal Majesty of Portugal again to prohibit 
 the Woollen cloths and the rest of the British Wool- 
 len manufactures." The deduction and abatement 
 have been decreed and consequently this treaty no 
 longer exists. Our determination was even accom- 
 panied by contumely and reproaches. Our woollens 
 thus cease to have a preference in Portugal they 
 will inevitably be placed on a level with those of 
 other nations. 
 
 By the 33rd Article of the Treaty of 1810, " the 
 High Contracting Parties reserve to themselves the 
 right of jointly examining and revising the several 
 Articles at the expiration of 15 years, and then pro- 
 posing, discussing and making such amendments, or 
 additions, as the real interests of their respective 
 subjects may seem to require ; it being understood 
 that any stipulation which at the period of the re- 
 vision of the Treaty shall be objected to, by either of 
 the Contracting Parties, shall be considered as sus- 
 pended in its operation, until the discussion concern- 
 ing that stipulation shall be terminated ; due notice 
 ng previously given to the other contracting party
 
 171 
 
 of the intended suspension of such stipulation, for 
 the purpose of avoiding mutual inconvenience/' 
 
 The term herein specified has expired, and the 
 amendments and additions required by the interests 
 of Portugal must be obvious. It cannot be expedi- 
 ent for her to receive British merchandize, at 15, 
 when other nations pay 30 per cent. It may there- 
 fore be expected that the suspension of Article 15 
 will be forthwith demanded. Let the Portuguese 
 next encourage their abundant fisheries at home ; let 
 them impose protecting duties, and they will stand 
 in no further need of Newfoundland supplies j nay, 
 if their Wines are to be made an endless subject of 
 insult and invective, let them turn their attention to 
 something else. Years ago, and on an occasion 
 equally as memorable as the present one,* speaking 
 of Portugal, Mr. Baring observed " that, as to her 
 Wines, many people in that country were of opinion 
 that she would profit more by rooting up her vine- 
 yards and growing wheat, of which she is obliged to 
 import a considerable quantity," and the idea is far 
 from speculative. But the other day, Spain success- 
 fully made the experiment and she is now supplying 
 her own Colonies, as well as our markets. As re- 
 gards privileges and exemptions, the government 
 has only to declare the laws of the land to be in 
 force ; to revive the acts of the Cortes of Evora, &c. 
 and all preferences are at an end. We cannot com- 
 plain. The Portuguese will point to the Act 51 Geo. 
 III. C. 47, S. 9 and say that they proceed on the 
 principle of reciprocity. 
 
 * Debate on Mr. Pitt's Commercial Treaty with France, Feb. 12, 1787.
 
 172 
 
 And is this, My Lord, to be the termination of our 
 alliance and commercial connection with Portugal ? 
 In a country where the just gains of commerce have 
 presented themselves to our merchants, for centuries, 
 shall we thus throw down the barriers which have 
 hitherto promoted their industry ? The impolicy of 
 such a measure cannot be palliated even by inex- 
 perience. In 1801, Portugal was compelled to 
 equalize the duties payable on French commodities, 
 and what was the result ? Even in those times, when 
 we enjoyed many advantages through our naval 
 ascendancy, our commerce, up to 1809, diminished 
 one [half, as may be seen from the entries and 
 clearances of vessels, page 82 and the exports page 
 83. During the whole of that period, French trade 
 flourished, as I have already demonstrated. In 1804, 
 the French trading to Portugal, had a balance in their 
 favour of 9,947,000 cruzadosj in 1806, of 10,271,000; 
 in 1807, of 7,176,000 and in 1808, of 8,966,000. This 
 trade was suspended only by the war. 
 
 The falling off in our Portugal trade, during the 
 two last years, may have filled those who administer 
 the revenue with alarm ; indeed, I have every reason 
 to believe that this is really the case. If the safety 
 of the public revenue required such a sacrifice, I 
 should be the first to say let it be made, when no 
 other expedient could be devised and our pre-exist- 
 ing relations with another state were not endangered ; 
 but, My Lord, for this very falling otf in our trade 
 with Portugal we our>clvc> arc t<> blame. In periods 
 of alarm, men rannot associate lor commercial pur- 
 poses. The Capitalist withdraws from public view, 
 apprehensive of impending danger, and awaits the
 
 173 
 
 favourable moment when a painful state of suspense 
 shall terminate. 
 
 This is precisely the case in Portugal. In a com- 
 munity, so situated, we cannot therefore look for 
 confidence we cannot expect health and vigour. 
 The government established there evidently is strong 
 enough to withstand all the threats and plots of its 
 enemies ; but the people are nevertheless involved 
 in doubts and perplexities. They may, at a future 
 period, dread the preponderance of force ; or stand 
 in awe of a policy that wears the aspect of coercion. 
 Under such circumstances, a source of trading enter- 
 prise and profit naturally dries up. In times, like 
 these, we must necessarily experience the fluctua- 
 tions of demand j but, were any reaction to ensue, 
 the consequences would be fearful indeed. Notwith- 
 standing all the efforts of external agitators, the in- 
 ternal peace of the country has not been disturbed. 
 Like a verdant spot on the parched and dreary waste 
 appears more grateful, when contrasted with the 
 surrounding desolation, so does Portugal nay the 
 whole Peninsula, present itself to our eyes, as we 
 contemplate the convulsions by which other Conti- 
 nental nations are now agitated ; but, if that tran- 
 quillity is once broken, I venture to predict, our 
 countrymen will be the greatest sufferers. 
 
 I shall now close my Letter, extended far beyond 
 my original intentions. I have entered into pro- 
 tracted details which I did not anticipate when I 
 took up my pen ; but the importance of the subject 
 increasing as I advanced, and anxious to see an 
 object accomplished, of such moment to the real 
 interests and friendly connection of both nations,
 
 174 
 
 I did not shrink from the task before me. By 
 the link of mutual advantage ; by the bond of reci- 
 procal good will, I wish our country to be reunited 
 with an old Ally ; but this cannot be done if our 
 pretensions are extravagant, or repugnant to the 
 Laws of Nations. Our political and commercial 
 relations with that Ally, I urgently contend, require 
 an early revision; but, in order to effect our purpose, 
 with any thing like security and cordiality, imagin- 
 ary fears and groundless prejudices must be dis- 
 pelled; Portugal must be restored to that rank 
 which she has always held in the scale of nations, 
 and, above all, we must refrain from seeking an as- 
 cendancy by an undue interference with those local 
 advantages which the natives possess. 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 Your Lordship's obedient servant, 
 
 WILLIAM WALTON. 
 London, March 1, 1831. 
 
 BadfertMd RoWM, PrtaHn, 91 ft 96, London Rood.
 
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