Memoirs of the Marquis of Pombal Volume 1; With Extracts from His Writings, and from Despatches in the State Paper Office, Never Before Published (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1843 Excerpt: ... THE OPORTO WINE COMPANY. 147 sonable price, in the augmentation of their cultivation, and in the independence of the farmers and proprietors. On the other hand, it was seen that no length of time sufficed to overcome the strong opposition of the English; the fraudulent tricks which even those interested in the reputation of the wines invented for their own advantage; and the malversations of the provedors, deputies, and other officers of the Company. "The English, seeing that this most important branch of commerce was snatched from their hands, and finding themselves in the Alto Douro dependent on those very wine-growers whom they had hitherto treated as slaves, and whose possessions had been entirely in their hands, left no pretext or argument which they could invent unemployed to ruin the company, directly or indirectly; in which attempt they were seconded by the captious and exigent notes of Mr. Edward Hay, of Lord Kinnoul, and of Mr. W. H. Lyttelton, at various periods British ministers at Lisbon, and of the present envoy, Mr. Robert Walpole. See Appendix, Note 2., at the end of this chapter. "Despatches, which are to be found amongst the masses of papers from these four ministers, together with my replies, sufficiently show the innumerable and never-ending troubles which they compelled the cabinet to undergo, in order to find unanswerable arguments for the preservation of an establishment of such public utility to this kingdom. "The husbandmen, interested in the reputation of the wines, constantly helped to injure it by their ignorance, in sacrificing their future interests for a temporary and private gain; at one time introducing, during the darkness of night, the sour wines of the lands adjacent to those which produced wines of a quality for exporta...