The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published Every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning. Tuesday, December 31, 1889.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 397, 31 December 1889, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published Every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning.

Tuesday, December 31, 1889.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country's, Thy God's, and truth's.

PORTUGAL AND ENGLAND. It is a remarkable thing that Great Britain is always concerned in some little trouble, even while the Great Powers are quite pacific in their relations towards each other. There are few people who believe that anything really serious will be the outcome of the friction with Portugal—a little common sense on either side ought to be sufficient to ensure an amicable arrangement —but the trouble, however slight it may be in one sense, has a significance which makes the subject well worthy of attention. In the fifteenth century Portugal occupied a high position as a maritime power. Her representatives discovered the Azores, Madeira, and Cape de Verde, and Bartholomeo Dias succeeded in doubling the Cape of Good Hope, and by that route Vasco di Gama found his way to India. Brazil was also discovered and occupied, Portugal, early in the sixteenth century, having enormous colonial possessions in India, Africa, and America. But, through bad government, Portugal did not retain all these territories she had acquired. The African and Asiatic colonial possessions which she still claims, are said to be, with the exception of the Cape Verde islands—in a state of decay, and it was only the other day that we heard of Brazil (which in the early part of the present century secured in. dependence from Portuguese rule) having had a revolution which resulted in the overthrow of monarchy and the formation of a republic. The Portuguese Mozambique possessions on the East African coast have given rise to the present trouble, The statements regarding Major Pinto's actions are so vague that it would not be wise to come to any definite conclusion oh the subject. It is a very unlikely thing that any Portuguese officer would attempt to capture British flags, and thus needlessly give affront to a nation so powerful. The explanation probably is that Major Pinto felt he had reason to attack some of the native tribes, and that in their possession there were discovered some of the British flags that had been given to the natives with the view of getting them to accept British protection. If the flags had been f.kmai’ 1 .- hoisted it would have been a very diffc.cat mat',. Bai there was tonsiderablo friction Vv-

f jro the Pinto incident occurred. The Times gives a very good explanation in an article in November. It says - “For cento ies the Portuguese have not troubled themselves about a region lying at the door of their oldest colonies; and now that enterprising Englishmen have discovered that it is an El Dorado and a Land of Goshen combined, and have in the space of a year or two taken important steps towards its organisation and exploitation. Portugal develops a sudden zeal for its ‘ exploration.’ Fortunately in the active assertion of its claims to the territory covered by the charter the Company will receive the warm support of the Foreign Office. Mr Rhodes, who is now on the spot, has sent out three expeditions, north, north-east, and east, to make arrangements with the native chiefs, to plant the flag of the Company, and otherwise carry out the purposes of the charter. In doing this he will certainly extend the chartered area as far east as it is desirable, and leave the Foreign Office to settle with the shadowy claims of Portugal. What form that settlement is likely to take may be seen from the operations which Consul Johnston is conducting to the north of the Zambesi, in the region of the Shire and Lake Nyassa, where British missionaries and traders have been working for a quarter of a century, and which, it is satisfactory to learn, Lord Salisbury is determined not to give up. The conclusion come to by our Foreign Office apparently is that when we believe we have a just claim to any region in Africa over which Portugal has pretensions, we should simply step in and wave the British flag over it. That appears to be the instruction which has been given to Mr Johnston, so we may hope before long to see that under the new charter the Company will extend its operations to the north of the Zambesi, and there co-operate with the African Lakes Company.” A later article in the same journal gives a still better idea of the territory in dispute. " Portugal,” it says, “ has lost no time in trying to checkmate our

latest move on the intricate chessboard of Africa. The telegrams tell of sweeping annexations (on paper, at least), which include some of the rich.est of the regions inc'uded in the charter of the British South Africa Company. It is known that for some months past so-called exploring expeditions from Mozambique have been in the country to the south of the Lower Zambesi, including much of the territory which eighteen months ago was proclaimed as within the British sphere of influence, and for which the other day her Majesty granted a charter to the British South Africa Company. So far as this company is concerned, the important point in the proclamation issued by the Portuguese Government is the annexation of the whole territory between the Zambesi on the north, the rivers Sanvati and Umfuli on the west and southwest, and the Mazoe River on the east. This has been erected into the southern section of a new Portuguese province, which has its centre at Zumbo, on the Zambesi, and stretches far to the north. By this high-handed proceeding the Portuguese Government is attempting to cut off from British Zambesia nearly the whole of the magnificent plateau of Mashonaland, with its rich network of streams, its beautiful climate, so suited to European colonisation, and its wealth of alluvial gold. To the east of this lies the district of Manica, Portugal’s claim to which no one contests, and this district, together with othirs to the south, has been placed under a new administration, and re-divided into new districts, extending south as far as Delagoa Bay. But here also the territory known as Utfizila’s, to the west of Manica, has been included, ' whereas the present Umzila absolutely refused to see the Portuguese leader the other day when the expedition entered his territory; and he declines to have anything to do with white people. The of the expedition which has been catryin out these annexations, Lieutenant Cordon, states that he saw remains of old Portuguese forts along the river valleys, and former mining excavations. And yet, although these territories are claimed by Portugal as old possessions, her

representative deemed it necessary to make fresh treaties with the native chiefs, and that in a region which 18 months ago was formerly proclaimed to be British. The country thus claimed by Portugal is watered by a multitude of streams, all rising within a narrow area to the west of Manica, and flowing north to the Zambesi.” From the evidence before us it appears clear that Portugal’s claim is untenable, but if the affair is dealt with in a rational spirit it will be easy enough to lay down lines which will Settle the difficulty, and still give plenty of scope for the independent exercise of colonising powers by Portugal itself as well as the sturdy representatives of Great Britain. It is no satisfaction to English people that a great stir should be created, and gunboats sent cruising round threatening a great outburst of hostilities. We want peace, but without dishonor.