FOREIGN NEWS.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 47, 10 January 1843, Page 4

FOREIGN NEWS.

PORTUGAL. (From the Lisbon correspondent to the Morning Herald.) Lisbon, Aug. .15. —I send you the Diario do Governo of the 11th inst., containing the new commercial treaty between this country and Great Britain. The British residents here are greatly dissatisfied with it, as it surrenders all their remaining privileges, leaving them entirely at the mercy of the Portuguese courts of injustice, while on the other hand it does not stipulate for any advantages to their trade over that of other nations with Portugal. Though disappointed, they are, however, not in the least surprised at this, as it is a consummation they have long been prepared to expect. Instead of making any comment upon this new treaty, I will merely state in brief terms what were the advantages we enjoyed under that of 1810, and then say—- “ Look on that picture, and on this.” By virtue of the treaty of 1810, British goods paid 15 per cent ad valorem import duties, while those of all other nations paid 30 per cent., thereby we enjoyed a monopoly in the supply of Portugal with all sorts of manufactures. The

duty was in every case ad valorem, and as the : Custom-house authorities were obliged to receive the importer’s declaration of the value, or thereabouts, upon the value of the goods, we had the invaluable privilege of a couservatorial court of our own ; that is, of having a judge elected by ourselves, (the British residents in this city .and at Oporto,) and salaried by the English Government, who had the power of deciding in all dases in which we were either plaintiffs or defendants, prosecutors or prisoners, his decisions being revisable by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice only. Besides this, we were favoured with exemption from a variety of vexatious imposts, and enjoyed many other privileges and immunities, under the shelter of which we lived quietly and securely, unmolested by domiciliary visits and inquisitorial searchers, and selling our cottons and woollens, penknives, mousetraps, and crockery, without the least fear of competition from France, Belgium, or Germany. By the treaty of the 3d July, 1842, we give up our conservatorial court, and every one of our other privileges, “in contemplation of the improving system of law and justice in Portugal,” at a time when it is notorious to all that law and justice are in a state of far greater disorder and confusion than they ever were before. We are, it is true, to be admitted to the benefit of certain securities as regards trial by jury, admission to bail, &c.; but as it is the Portuguese authorities themselves who, when we shall have lost the protection of our own judge conservator, are to become the guardians of those securities for us, we certainly may be allowed to ask the very natural question, “ Quis custodiet ipsos custodes ?” As for commercial advantages, if we are to have any, it is not to the treaty we shall owe them. The mutual reduction of import duties is to be settled by a separate convention, to which the treaty merely alludes, but which it does not by any means oblige either party to enter into. The Duke de Palmella, the Portuguese negociator, has shown that he well deserves the reputation of a first-rate diplomatist, by the insertion of the clause in the 18th article, whereby in the event of political troubles, &c., we are to have all our old privileges back. This is a wise provision against the possible though not probable contingency of Don Miguel getting the upper hand again, in order that, in that event, the duke and his fellow liberals may again take shelter under those privileges of which they have stripped us, and use them once more as a lever to effect his overthrow, as they did before.

A letter from Copenhagen, in the Leipsic Gazette states that, in consequence of the excessive demands of the Russian government, it is probable that the intended new convention relative to the Sound, with Great Britain, Russia, and Austria, will be 'abandoned, and that a separate convention wip be entered into between Denmark and Prussia.

Constantinople, August 3. —There was a great Divan this week on the affairs of Persia. The general opinion was that there should be no yielding on the part of Turkey. Almost all the demands of the Schah were declared groundless, and the remainder exaggerated. It was determined that no money should be advanced in the way of indemnification. Izzet Mehemet Pasha and Sarim Bey distinguished themselves as the chief opponents of Persia. The Porte has not permitted the Persian merchants to remove their goods. At first, this measure was directed only against those who are indebted to the Turkish Custom-house to the amount of about 300,000 piasters. As, however, some Persian merchants left this without paying their part of the debt, the Porte has refused permission to any Persian merchants to remove their goods until the debts due by all persons of their nation be paid. The English Embassy has obtained information from Persia, according to which the Schah was in Teheran, where he was to pass the summer season with the whole of his court. There was no truth in the report that he had gone to Hamadan to join the army. Information had been received at Teheran that Kamram, the Schah of Herat, implicated in the affairs of Affghanistan, had died suddenly. Sir Stratford Canning has sent a courier with despatches to Teheran. It is said, that he urges the English residents to recommend peace and concession to the Schah.