ESTABLISHED 1868. The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 1916. OUR LATEST ALLY.

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 62, 14 March 1916, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1868. The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 1916. OUR LATEST ALLY.

It, lias long been recognised that a friendly understanding with regard to the war existed between Portugal and Great Britain, and it is probable that the action of the former in seizing a number ox German merchant steamers, which oil the outbreak of war took refuge in the Tagus, was taken at the suggestion of the British Government, which may not unreasonably have feared thao certain f>i: these vessels might . slip out into the 1 Atlantic and eventually be employed to destroy British merchant vessels. Be this as it may, Germany and Portugal are . now actually at. war, much to tho disgust of an, infiuemtial section of the Berlin press, which considers that German diplomacy has ladly blundered ,in not preventing what may indirectly prove a source of serious embarrassment to the lltMis. Ad first si{/Jic it might appear that, Portugal being so small, and in a military and naval sense so comparatively wea.k a State, her participation in tho great struggle between the Allies and the Centrsii European Powers could not materially affect the conduct of the war, or contribute substantially to the chances of final success for the ono side or1 the other. When, however,' the facts of the case arc examined, it will be seen that Portugal can, as she probably ' will, veiy useiilly assist the Allies. Her navy, it is true, is hardly worth speakiag of,; aiid her army, at full w.'ir strength, is estimated at under 15J,000. It is improbable that such warships as sbe possesses will play j any part in the war, m which.P.ort-u----i gal is involved, other than protecting \ the mouth of the Tagus from any .sudden dash by Mime German cruiser which might suobood in eluding the ; vigilance of r.lie British and French 1 jiatrols in the. English Channel and the Bay of Biscay. With regard, to Ler army, it niay bo found possible j for Portugal to spare a certain ■ force for duty in Morowo and Algeria, thus releasing French troops at present stationed in these countries for sei-vice at Salonika or on the now muchthroatened Western Front. '^.

It is, however, in <K)nnection with her oversea possessions that Portugal may render important and suhstaii.tialiy valnahlo aid to the cause of the Asiies of the Quadruple Entente. She owns the C'nipe Verde Islands, which He in the Atlantic and are in. iho direct track, between British and South ny/i West African ports. Up t<» the present .the.u«e of the islands as a ooaling depot: has been, denied to both British and German war vessels, but low that PoftUjjal has •••ayt in her lot1 with the Allies'it is probable that th« group will be used ;<s a now naval base for the British Atlantic squadi fia, and <ks such will I*e extremely rtsesful to the British and French naval oommandors; The Cape •Verd« Islands liave in the past provided the GermiHH with a port to which captured British merchantmen <vsiild be'takon, i,?nd frcn-. Avbich food supplies could be procured All this ■will now \N?as«. On tlie African.mainIs ml thf* Portngur-se possessions have hithorto served :\« a convonient refuge for tlipGorma-ns who have been driven out- of their African territories by British and French forces. The Portus^iese territory of Anjxoia-, which 1-as a coast lino of over 1000 miles, l'-orders on ihe south «»n German Sr.uth-West Africa, and when GeneralBotha invaded «uid conquered the latter roipon a large number of the orciny's officers and m^n took refuge ir tho Portuguese colonies. These men, previously inorely interned, will now he treated as prisoners of war, nml will bo much more strictly guarded so as to prevent what has, it is reported, boon going on, namely, their rscipo from internment, many of them having, it said, succeeded in making their way to German East Afi ica. There will now also be but small : pTobnMlity of Gorman cruisers, such as the Moowe, 1-eing secretly fitted ; out in Portgual's West African ports,' •

ns is s;\i;l to havo been the case in the earlier months of the war. In East nnd Central Africa the fact that Port usll' i* now allied to Great Britain. i\n3 France should prove of inestimable val'io. In tho past the Germans have been m tho habit oi: receiving sup-

plies of arms and ammunition through | Portuguese ports such as Lorenco Marques, Beira, Chinde, Quillimane, Mozambique, and Delagoa Bay. At all these ports, which before the war were visited regularly by the steamers of the German Bast African line, German merchants mainly conducted and controlled the export and import trade. IlVer since the war commenced it has :Jeen notorious that these traders have been giving valuable assistance to the enemy, and that they have done their best, through their j agents in the interior, to stir up i native disaffection in British East and \ Central Africa, and have done much mischief in other directions. Phis state of affairs, however, must now be speedily ended, for with Portugal no longer a neutral, but at war with Germany, the enemy will be placed at a soriou's disadvantage. Apart irom I the probability of native troops irom the Portuguese territories being sent to strengthen''the Anglo-French forces now operating in: Nyassaland and other legions where tlie Germans have been holding out against the attacks of Allied troops, a very severe blow wil! bo struck at Germany's trade right through East Africa. The Hun wilt be hit in"his tenderest place, his pocket, and the merchants of Hamburg and -Bremen, already in despair over tlie prospect of permanently losing the Australasian and Tndian markets, will now have new and substantial cause' to regret the war, for Portugal no doubt' will join with the Allies in the economic boycott with which the onemy is threatened after tho war, as an indirect means of preventing her recuperation as a military anrl naval Power, of the first rank. Delagoa Bay, hitherto closed to British warships, will now become an ad(Jiti;>rm] naval base for the British, who will thus possess new and important facilities for any action which may bo necessary should there be a repetition of the Moewe incident and Gorman cruisers succeed in slipping out into the Atlantic and so round the Cape into the Indian Ocean.

Stil! further away, Portugal has. in Goa, c-I'l the Malabar Coast of Inclia, in Macao, mi island situated at the month of the Ganton River in China, and yet again, in her territory in Timor one ,of, the largest islands in tho Malay Archipelago, possessions which may yet prove of great assistance, as naval bases, to her "British Ally. Goa provides ~a useful coaling station in the.Tndian Ocean ; Macao should prove valuable as a base for naval action'should at any time German intrigues threaten danger to the British settlerhexits at Canton and TTong Kong: whilst from Timor British gunboats should be able to prevent any secret fitting out of German merchantmen as armed cruisers wjiose object would be the destruction of British shipping in those seas. Altogether,1 as may be seen by the foregoing facts and ■■surmises, thr; cooperation of Portugal with "Great Britain and France might not improbably' prove of very conspicuous and valuable nssistn.nce to the Allies After the war is ended such co-opera-tion, if made 'permanent, could not fail to provide the Allies with yet another and a very powerful weapon wherewith to, strike a deadly blow at Germany's oversea'trade. \