§ MR. BUCHANAN (Edinburgh, W.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is true that a Portuguese Military Expedition under Lieutenant Cardoso has reached Lake Nyassa, and has occupied the territory near Maponda, on the borders of that lake; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will inform the Portuguese Government that they refuse to recognize any assertion of territorial sovereignty by Portugal in the Nyassa region, and demand the withdrawal of the expedition?
§ * THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir J. FERGUSSON,) Manchester, N.E.We have received no fresh information regarding the expedition since, in the debate on the Address, I stated the views of Her Majesty's Government on the subject. We have no positive information that it has reached Lake Nyassa, but there is little doubt that it has. Her Majesty's Government are watching with 1661 some anxiety the progress of an armed expedition into the neighbourhood of British settlements, and they have warned the Portuguese Government of the existence of British interests on the lake which they cannot suffer to be disturbed or imperilled, but the object of the expedition has been stated by the Portuguese Government to be peaceful, and as it has not as yet touched any territory under British sovereignty or protectorate we have no right to demand its withdrawal.