history without seeing the measureless importance of her English
connexion. Every genuine source of her power and opulence has either
originated with, or been sustained by, her great ally. Among the
first of these has been the wine trade. In the year 1756--the year
following that tremendous calamity which had sunk Lisbon into
ruins--the wine-growers in the three provinces of Beira, Minho, and
Tras-os-Montes, represented that they were on the verge of ruin. The
adulteration of the Portuguese wines by the low traders had destroyed
their character in Europe, and the object of the representation was
to reinstate that character. Pombal immediately took up their cause;
and, in the course of the same year, was formed the celebrated Oporto
Wine Company, with a capital of L120,000. The declared principles of
the establishment were, to preserve the quality of the wines, to
secure the growers by fixing a regular price, and to protect them
from the combinations of dealers. The company had the privilege of
purchasing all the wines grown within a particular district at a
fixed price, for a certain period after the vintage. When that period
had expired, the growers were at liberty to sell the wines which
remained unpurchased in whatever market they pleased. Monopolies, in
the advanced and prosperous career of commercial countries, generally
sink into abuse; but they are, in most instances, absolutely
necessary to the infant growth of national traffic. All the commerce
of Europe has commenced by companies. In the early state of European
trade, individuals were too poor for those large enterprises which
require a large outlay, and whose prospects, however promising, are
distant. What one cannot do, must be done by a combination of many,
if it is to be done at all. Though when individual capital, by the
very action of that monopoly, becomes powerful enough for those
enterprises, then the time is at hand when the combination may be
dissolved with impunity. The Oporto Wine Company had no sooner come
into existence, than its benefits were felt in every branch of
Portuguese revenue. It restored and extended the cultivation of the
vine, which is the staple of Portugal. It has been abolished in the
revolutionary changes of late years. But the question, whether the
country is yet fit to bear the abolition, is settled by the fact,
that the wine-growers are complaining of ruin, and that the necessity
of the case is now urging the formation of the