The troubles with Portugal never end. No sooner had her
Majesty's Government granted the charter to the South African Company which is to administer Zambesia, than the King of Portugal issued a decree announcing that Mashonaland and a vast belt of territory north of the Zambesi were Portuguese, and directing the immediate establishment of an administration there. On receipt of the decree, which is almost equivalent to an invasion of British territory, Lord Salisbury directed Mr. Petrie, Minister at Lisbon, to protest against it, and to declare that, while Mashonaland was British by treaty with its chiefs, the claim to the regions north of the Zambesi could not be recognised except as regards two old Portuguese settlements, Tete and Zumbo. The protest is unequivocal, but the Portuguese say they will disregard it, and the despatch must be followed up by much stronger steps than a mere publica- tion in the Gazette. The Portuguese are probably relying on their allies of the Transvaal, whose defensive power is absurdly exaggerated by Continental opinion.
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