ENGLAND AND PORTUGAL.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11551, 6 April 1903, Page 4

ENGLAND AND PORTUGAL.

British int-rest in Portugal will be quickened by the. hearty reception accorded to King Edward and "by hia remarks in 'Lisbon. In tha course of his replies to addresses of welcome, hia "Majesty dipped into history and referred to an ancient alliance which he said had recently ■been renewed and confirmed. Whether this indicates that England has taken in a partner in Western Europe, as she lately took in one in connection with Far Eastern affairs, has yet to be learned, but if this is the case it may afford an example of the influence •wielded by the King in England* foreign relations, 6inco strong friendship is said to exist between hint ;ind King Carlos. The alliance alluded to by his Majesty as dating back for many centuries is probably that made J»y Don Ferdinand, King of Portugal, ■witEdward 111., in 1373, a treaty which was ! engineered by the Portuguese- monarch, with the help of John of Gaunt, King Edward's third son, to extricate him out of certain difficulties into which Ferdinand's fickleness had landed him with Henry 11., King of Castile. In a list of treaties of i guarantee supposed to be still in force, which was presented to the House of Commons in 1559, this particular arrangement stood first. Thirteen yearß later, however, in 1386, a much more important treaty was arrived at between England and Portugal. King John of -, Portugal had received powerful aid from John of Gaunt in his war with Caetile for the independence of Portugal, and perceiving, as wo are told, the advantage of friendship and alliance with England, signed what is known as the treaty of Windsor, by which I the two countries were to stand by each other in every transaction. This alliance I was confirmed again and again by the successive occupants of the two thrones. But nearly a hundred years 'previously the two countries had come to a good understanding on commercial affairs. ! King Diniz of Portugal added to the benefits he conferred upon his country during his long reign by making a, commercial treaty with Edward I. in 1294. The relations between the grandsons of these two monarch* may bo judged from tlie proclamation issued by Edward 111., in which ho ordered his subjects never <to do any harm to the Portuguese, wihile at tlie same time tho merchants of the maritime cities of Portugal and the merchants of (London agreed, under treaty, "to keep mutual good " faith in all matters of trade and com- " merce." The goodwill thus expressed has, of coius*"-, been broken in the course of the intervening centuries, but it will be seen that any renewal of a firm friendship •between England and Portugal finds warrant in history. Of lato years the most serious difference of opinion arose in connection with Portugal's administration of affairs in East Africa between 1889 and 1891. In response to a peremptory demand by Great Britain, followed by the despatch of a fleet to Portuguese waters, all Portuguese forces who hod trespassed in British territory on tho Shire river, were withdrawn. An Anglo-Portuguese treaty, designed to settle the troublesome frontier questions, was received with such disfavour in Lisbon that the Parliament refused to ratify it, and one or two collisions between armed forces took place in East Africa. The crisis wa-s, however, safely weathered, the treaty was signed the following year, and two or three years later King Carlos visited! England, and received tho Garter which he had declined while tho friction had exifded. The cordiality displayed towards King Edward by the "Portuguese will no doubt revive the rumours—many times repeated, and as often contradicted —that Portugal is willing to sell Bay to Great Britain. _vat actual sale is contemplated is most doubtful —the temper of the Portuguese people is not favourable to the diEposal of any of the Portuguese colonies. But in view of the preference shown by the South African Railways Conference for Lorenzo Marques, as the port for the Transvaal, it. is not improbable that some scheme may bo .afoot giving England more facilities than she at present enjoys in Portuguese East Africa-. The matier is a most important one from the Transvaal's point of view, and as such is Kure to receive sympathetic consideration from the British Government, while Portugal can only benefit by the extension of her relations with British South Africa.