17 AUGUST 1912, Page 11

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE LUST OF CRUELTY.

[To SRI EDITOR Or SRI es/am-0,1.ml THE Portuguese Legation in London, referring to the letter under this title that your esteemed journal inserted on August 3rd, has the pleasure to notify to you that all the arguments presented by the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society at the meeting which took place at the Westminster Palace Hotel on June 25th were there, and afterwards in the British Press, victoriously and absolutely refuted by the representatives of the Centro Colonial in Lisbon, Senrs Alberto Machado, Dr. Jose d'Almada, First Secretary of the Colonial Office in Lisbon, and Lieut.-Col. J. A. Wyllie, 38 Hope Terrace, Edinburgh, who are ready to give any elucidation they may be asked for on the subject. It would be flagrant injustice not to recognize that Portugal, after the revolution of October 5th, 1910, did more in favour of the natives of its colonies than any other civilized

country in the last twenty-five years, and for the tranquillity of the philanthropic spirit of the well-intentioned British public the Portuguese Legation in London assures you that if the workers of the whole world, white or negroes, could only have one-half of the liberty, treatment, and care that the negro workers enjoy in the Portuguese Islands of San Thome and Principe, the whole of humanity would have attained a degree of happiness from which it unfortunately is still far away. The Portuguese Legation in London con- fesses its recognition to you in advance for the publication of this note in the same place where your notice on the sub- ject appeared.