Lord Salisbury must be almost at his wits' end to
protect the Portuguese. The Government of Lisbon is, it is under- stood, fairly satisfied with the revised treaty laid before it, and if left to itself would sign it, and begin organising in Africa ; but the Ministers are afraid to lay it before Parliament, lest the Republicans of Lisbon and Oporto should make it an excuse either for a, rising or an attack on the British residents. To use compulsion towards them would probably upset the Monarchy, and, as Madrid is not prepared to look on if that happens, would bring on European complications. At the same time, the Portuguese agents abroad, who are furious with baffled hopes, are so violent that they hardly leave the British Government an alternative. Holding that Manica, has been unfairly " rushed ': by the South African Company—which is probably true— they cannot bear to see emigrants going up to Manica by the Pungwe, though that is allowed by the mans vivendi, and have forcibly stopped two British steamers. The Government will, of course, demand reparation, which the Portuguese say they are ready to grant; and meanwhile Cape Colony is growing angry, and threatens to take the law into its own hands. In the old days this occurred repeatedly, the European States looking on while their agents fought, and it was not a bad way of securing the survival of the fittest ; but under present etiquettes it would hardly do. We fear it will be necessary to bring matters to a head by taking a material guarantee; but meanwhile Lord Salisbury's decision, announced on Thursday, to send an armed squadron to the mouth of the Pungwe, is moderate and may be effectual.
