THE TROUBLE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 93, 23 April 1891, Page 4

THE TROUBLE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

However much we may admire the pluck of the Portuguese in bearding the British lion in South Africa, we doubt whether the success of their cause will be advanced by offensive acts fchat disturb the course of diplomacy. The opening of fire upon two British steamers whilo they were entering the Pungwe. River, with provisions for Fort Salisbury, the headquarters of the British South Africa Company in Manicaland, and insults offered to the British Hag. are acts which must be punished, whatever solution may ultimately be found for the question of Portuguese territorial claims south of the Zambesi.

To explain fully the nature of the dispute ■which has now- brought England and Portugal to the verge of war would involve a very long story. The broad facts may, however, bo set out in a few sentences. Portugal has for centuries been in undisputed possession of the African coastline abutting on the Indian Ocean, from the Zambesi southward to Delagoa Bay. Its rule has been synonymous with stagnation. Along the shore, nothing has been done to develop the trade, while the interior remains a terra incognita, which was first broken into by Dr. Livingstone. The influx of British enterpriser to the African diamond fields and goldfields brought a new element into play, and the forces which concentrated at those centres found in Mr Cecil Rhodes an organiser and leader of rare energy and ability. Stopped in the march northward on the eastern side by the interposition of the Transvaal Republic, he conceived and executed the bold design of carrying the Union Jack right through the centre of Africa, leaving the Transvaal boundary to the eastward. Treaty after treaty has been concluded with native chiefs, until the advance guard of tin's invading army is now firmly established in Mashonaland, which extends almoeC to the upper waters of the Zambesi. It will thus be seen that, without disturbing the coastal possessions of Portugal, they have been completely outflanked, and 1 the question in dispute now is really how far 1 into the interior ought the as yet undefined western limit of Portuguese influence be diawn. The facts bearing upon this j iseue are concisely stated in the following article, which we cull from the " Pall Mall Budget" of the 26th of February :— The Plain- Stokt of Manica. History was making in the north" Slosepers were being laid right along to the hither frontier of Lobengula, spades and ritlas were reported on the farther one. Soon the first pick was struck in the heart of Matihonaland, and Lobengula himself sent warriors to peg out claims. Next scouring their golden plateau eastward, the little band of explorers found themselves led by it into Manica. Here still was gold— everywhere gold—but no Portuguese as yet. Clearly the "thin green strip" of Portuguese authority was thinner, and further to the east than they had thought. Lord Salisbury, sniffing a " Portuguese difficulty " aud a " Manica incident," proposed a boundary convention over their heads (August 20ch). The Cortes, with a Lisbon mob shouting mixed sedition and patriotism at its doors, happily flung back trie convention in his face (October 15th). But meanwhile the Rhodians had taken time by the forelock. Swarming over the ambiguous strip of upland, they had struck a bargain for it with Umtasa (September 14th), so that, when two months later (November 14th), Lord Salisbury gob fixed up a provisional modus vivendi on the basis of the status qv.o, the status quo was better for the Rhodians by some sixty miles to eastward than when Lord Salisbury made his first offer in August. Almost at the very moment when this was being fixed in London, or, according to a Rhodian version, just a week before (Nov. 8), but, by common agreement, lone before either side could have heara of Jt, two things happened in Manica. The Portuguese, fuming at Umtasa, walked threateningly into his kraal, and struck, or would have struck, a bargain with him superseding the Rhodian one, not yet confirmed by the Secretary of State. And the Rhodiaris, popping up in the nick of time, quietly interrupted the proceedings as of prior right, arrested the Portuguese officers, and packed them and their poeee of natives off in various directions. Failing Umtasa, the Portuguese with greab address turned to Gungunhana, of Gazaland, further south. Gungunhana, Lobengula's brother-in-law, and a milder but no less mighty Lobengula himself, is in some sort over-lord to Umtasa. I " You may have the vassal in your pocket," • said the Portuguese ; " we have the suzerain." " We'll see about that," said the Rhodian agents, and called on Gungunhana. Aiid now it turns out, liret, that the boasted Portuguese treaty with Gungunhana is an old due made at Lisbon, pot with him at all, bub with certain indunas of his, who may Tery likely be spitcheocked in consequence ; and,'secondly, that simultaneously with the arrival here of Mr Rhodes and Sir Henry Loch comes word from Gungunhana himself that, having admitted nobody's ■" protection " heretofore, he wishes now to send an embassy to the Great White Queen. A*. Talk at the Foreign Office : Mb Rhodes's Platform. Sachisihe situation which the Premier

of the Cape talked over with the Premier of Great Britain ab the Foreign Office the other day. And what had he to say of it? Something of this eorfc : — The natural boundary in Manicaland 13 between the plateau and the plain—the grassy and gold-bearing plateau which belongs to the Mashonaland uplands, and the low-lying plain which runo eastward to the coast. The plain is only occupied by the Porbugueeo at the coast edge. The plateau is effectively occupied by the men of the Chartered Company. As to the dispute, if we have put ourselves out of court in matters of diplomatic punctilio, so have the Portuguese. Our coup at Umtasa's kraal simply met force with force, and checkmated an attempted coup of theirs. Per contra, they have ahoD at our man Thomson peacefully exploring, twice eeized our eteamer, the Stephenson, and sent Serpa Pinto with Gatlings to make a, battue of the Mskololo, British proteges.

On our side is everything , de jure because we have the treaties, and everything de facfo because we are in possession and at work.

On their side are thr&e thing.s : the Portuguese myth, which goes right; across the continent; the fact that they were before us trading at Massi Kegae (but only on sufferance of Umnasa, nojt our man); and, last bub nob least, your lordship's proposal. Your lordship, to avoid Massi Kesse, proposed as boundary the Sabi river, roughly the 32nd parallel. Wo propose th» 9dge of the plateau—rQr;ghly the 33rd parallel. Had they accepter?, it would have been awkward. Luckily, tney declined. _ The question now is simply this • VTill a Portuguese Government be too afraid of the Lisbon mob to accept now worse terms than those <;hey declined in October? And, if not, will yooir lordship be so afraid of upsettiug the Braganza dynasty as to allow thfim to regain the advantage they have lost, and present them with the old terms ?

If so, what will happen is simply this. The Chartered Company, as in duty bound, will observe the boundary. The diggers will nob. In the long run. the Portuguese will not bo pble to cope with the Englishmen and English colonists who \vill flock there, and their paper rights will only enable them to make trouble by bringing in a French element. Somehow, the country will be developed ; bu.tits development will be hampered, and we shall be shut out by a policy of impost. In fine, if you mu.sfc make a Tjonndary, draw ib at the 33rd parallel, vrhieh gives England the plateau. If they kick at that, let things slide. " But there will be a collision ?"—Not a bit of ib. If there were, I would not ask you for a single redooat. Leave our police to deal with ifc. But there will be none. To satisfy the Liebon mob, a handful of soldiers have been shipped to Delagoa Bay, and there they stick. Between them and our men lies a belt of tseose-fly wiach they will never pass but on foot.