London, February 8th, 1913.
SIR,—In your issue of the 1st instant I read under the above heading a letter where the Portuguese " Centro Colonial " is accused of having altered the wording of a document published in the White Book relative to Portuguese West Africa.
The "Centro Colonial" can only be held responsible for the letter to Mr. Gobat, where you will find, page 3, the document in question exactly quoted as it is in the White Book.
I beg to hand over to you a copy of the said letter of the " Centro Colonial," and in hoping you will rectify the accusation, Remain, Sir, Your obedient servant,
1 Enclosure. Colonial Office, Lisbon.
[As we pointed out last week in our note on Colonel Wyllie's letter, though the "Centro Colonial" was not responsible for the alteration of the words in the version in Le Mouve- ment Paciftste, they are responsible for quoting the docu- ment in such a way as to give the impression that the opinion was a British opinion, and not, as in truth, a Portuguese opinion. They presented the document in such a way as to make the ordinary reader think be was reading a certificate of character for Portugal in regard to slavery framed by a responsible British official, whereas he was in reality only reading a quotation from a Portuguese speech in praise of ' Portugal's alleged attitude towards slavery.—En. Spectator.]
Previous page
