§ THE EARL OF HARROWBY,in rising to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether a settlement has now been arrived at with Portugal as to affairs in East Africa; and, if so, whether he can lay Papers upon the Table showing the boundaries of the territories which will be hereafter within the respective spheres of influence of Great Britain and Portugal, said: My Lords, before I ask the Prime Minister the question which I have put down on the Notice Paper, perhaps your Lordships will allow me to make a few 1095 remarks upon this very important subject of our relations with Portugal in East-Central Africa, and I do so because I desire it to be known elsewhere that great anxiety prevails in cultivated English society that a settlement should be arrived at. This question has aroused immense interest, as, upon the settlement of it, which we hope may be effected, may rest the future destiny of East-Central Africa. As far as Portugal is concerned, regarding the events of last winter, I imagine that every Englishman felt great regret that there should have been even a passing disagreement with an old and tried ally, and that our desire was to keep on the best relations with a country with which we have had historical relations in the past; but I think no one can help being struck with the unanimity of opinion among all parties in the country upon the course which was taken by the Prime Minister with regard to Portugal upon the question of her procedure in East Africa. I seldom remember any such unanimous expression of opinion; and I go further, and say that there has seldom been an instance in which the general opinion of all the great countries in Europe has been more decidedly in favour of the policy adopted by Her Majesty's Government. That, I think, is one of the most gratifying circumstances that has occurred for a long period. But, above all, the great issue at stake in this matter is the future of the vast tracts lying along the great waterways of East Central Africa. I trust nobody outside will mistake the feeling of England in this matter. I suppose no feeling has ever grown up more rapidly than that with regard to the position of affairs in this part of Africa, within the last few years. I do not exaggerate when I say that the importance of our interest there has been canvassed in every cultivated centre throughout the United Kingdom. It is a very great interest that is at stake now—whether British trade and commerce, as well as British influences, are to have free course and access from the South to the North of Africa. There are other nations, too, who are interested in this matter, looking with the greatest anxiety to see how the negotiations with Germany are to end in reference to this large subject. We have a right to be deeply interested 1096 in this question of the future of this vast tract of Africa, for it was discovered and explored by our devoted fellow-countrymen, who first reached those great lakes, Victoria-Nyanza, Nyassa, and Tanganyika, that great chain of communication which must, at some future date, be the highway of Central Africa. Beyond that, when we think of the noble lives which have been lost in those tropical regions, the Christian devotion to duty which has been shown by our fellow-countrymen, Englishmen and Scotchmen—and especially Scotchmen—we have every reason to feel the deepest interest in the future of that country. If discovery and the introduction of commerce and trade into a country can give any such right, then England has that right. My Lords, it is impossible for us to shut our eyes to the fact that other nations have been trying in various ways to sever our communications between British South Africa and the great countries bordering on the Mediterranean. Your Lordships may remember that there were treaties made by Prance and Germany with Portugal; and we went out of our way, as it seems to me, to say that Portugal was free to send her traders from ocean to ocean, from Angola to Mozambique. I have always thought that it was rather dubious policy to show friendliness by putting a statement of that kind into a diplomatic document, when it was evident that British interests had a prior claim. I think it was a very big venture for a little country to make, first claiming those enormous powers, and then asking us to give a sort of consent to those claims. My Lords, you will hardly imagine that I overlook the fact that that was done in order to allow Portugal to, as it was called, "extend her civilising influence" over a territory 2,000 miles in extent, from Angola to Mozambique. That, I think, was a very large bid for Portugal to make. With regard to the great district from east to west which, up to within a few years ago, I will call "no man's land," if there were any real rights of Portugal which would prevent our claiming advantage there, everybody would feel, however disagreeable it might be, that we must give way; but in the very interesting Blue Book presented to the House on this matter, my noble Friend the Prime Minister has defined 1097 very clearly what the rights of Portugal in this district are. He says, with regard to this claim to an extent of country 2,000 miles across, there is no claim whatever on the part of Portugal; that there is no claim whatever on the part of Portugal in all that district, except as to the sea coast and portions of the Zambesi river. Then, with regard to Lake Nyassa and Shire, he says that no part of either was ever occupied by Portugal, nor any place beyond the confluence of the Zambesi and Shire. As to the Upper Zambesi, there was a recognition of the occupation of two places, Tete and Zumbo, but of no other place or district on the river. So that we may consider that the whole of that district, except those points, is entirely open to Great Britain. As far as Tete goes, that is the case; but, except there, I do not think we need trouble ourselves very much about any preceding right. There are on the one side Sofala and Mozambique, on the other Angola and those places on the Upper Zambesi. I think that anyone rising from the study of that Blue Book must feel that the Prime Minister has been most long-suffering, indulgent, and patient in all his dealings with Portugal in this matter. He gave her ample time to escape from a difficult position, and I think it is a most remarkable case of the avoidance of any tone calculated to produce irritation, and of endeavours being made in every possible way to avoid hurting, in the slightest degree, the amour propre of an old ally. I should like to substantiate that statement for a few moments, if I am not detaining your Lordships too long at this hour of the night; but my excuse is that this is an important subject, and one of great interest to many. In the first place, I would remind the House of what Portugal was about during those three years after the Treaty with Prance and Germany was made as to this great tract of 2,000 miles. The moment the maps were published and the Portuguese Government claimed this territory the Prime Minister entered a protest at once, and declared that England would recognise in no way whatever such a vast and shadowy claim. That protest was the beginning of what may be called this special transaction. Then how did Portugal act? Knowing that Great Britain declined to accept her claims in any way to these vast territories, the 1098 first thing that happened almost immediately afterwards was that Portugal virtually closed the Zambesi (the navigation of which had been free for the last 10 years) owing to the imposition of very high duties. One of our steamers which had plied there for years was seized, and it was intimated that thereafter all vessels on the Zambesi would have to sail under the Portuguese flag. At that time England had announced a protectorate over Matabeleland. Portugal immediately put in a claim there without, as was proved to her beyond all doubt, a shadow of legal right. The officers of the British South African Company and the missionaries on the Nyassa were in a terrible position. The struggle going on there with the Arab slave traders was a fearful one, and gave rise to one of the most heroic defences recorded in our annals—three men defending themselves against a horde of the fiercest Arab traders. Portugal at once took the opportunity to stop the supply of ammunition to beleagured English subjects until she was pressed by the English Government. The Portuguese haggled for six weeks, and it was with infinite difficulty that at last those men were allowed to have the ammunition to save their lives. Later on the peril became greater, and though every sort of diplomatic communication took place, it took something like three months to get ammunition and guns passed up to those men beleaguered by the Arabs. Then, just at the time when the question of the settlement of the boundaries between the two countries was about to be discussed amicably, it was rumoured that Portugal was going to send an armed expedition into the country which England had declared to be within the sphere of our influence and under our protection—to the Nyassa settlements. However, that seemed to wait for a time, and our Minister at Lisbon opened formal communications with the Minister there as to the adjustment with Portugal of our claims, and as to the intercolonial relations of the two countries. The communications were most conciliatory, and our Minister had long interviews with the Portuguese Foreign Secretary at Lisbon; but in the middle of these supposed friendly negotiations news came that 1,200 armed men had been sent off quite secretly from Quillimane to the 1099 very district in which the English missionary and. commercial settlements were, which the Prime Minister had stated he could not allow to be approached by Portugal. The Portuguese Minister declined to say where they were going, or what they were going to do, and our Minister refused to continue the negotiations for demarcation, as, he said, they had become a farce. Then in January of the next year, 1889, the position of our fellow-citizens on the lakes was still one of great peril, and a mitrailleuse was much needed, but the transport of weapons were again stopped for a time, and it was only after very serious remonstrances that means of defence were allowed to go on. Then again, notwithstanding the proclamation of British Sovereignty or Protectorate in Mashonaland, news came of inroads by the Portuguese into territory which had been formally declared to be under British protection, and cannon were supplied to the hostile Arab slavers in the disturbed district at a time when they were doing all they could to annihilate our heroic men. It might almost have been supposed that we were at war with Portugal from all those signs of ill-will. The next thing was the arrest and imprisonment of the English Vice Consul at Quillimane, I think, upon some excuse or other, but apparently simply because he asked leave to have arms passed up. It was alleged that he was distributing weapons to the danger of the Portuguese, whereas he was only trying to send up arms to our fellow-countrymen. Then a short time after-wards we find that 1,000 guns and 12,000 lb. of powder were passed up from Quillimane, contrary to the blockade; and then came the more serious advance of Serpa Pinto into the country of the Makololo, over which a British Protectorate had been announced, with something like 6,000 men, a number of guns, and two steamers. Then we find Serpa Pinto doing everything he can to excite a hostile feeling among our faithful allies, the Makololo; he provokes a struggle with them, loss of life ensues, and notwithstanding the most serious warning he remains with his armed band in the country which is under British protection. Next a demand is made that all British subjects must obtain pass-ports, creating a fresh check to all communica 1100 tion between the English commercial and missionary settlements. Shortly after that two Englishmen, Messrs. Colquhoun and Wilkinson, were imprisoned at one of the Portuguese stations, and were only released after the earnest remonstrances of the Prime Minister. Then two British flags were taken from friendly natives and insulted, and an English steamer was stopped and compelled to haul down the British ensign. Then our allies, the Makololo, are attacked again, and at this moment a new Portuguese district is announced as having been formed at Zumbo, one of the places which I have mentioned on the Zambesi, and they have included in that a vast territory which the Prime Minister has declared to be under the sphere of British influence and not under that of Portugal. My Lords, surely you will agree that that is a terrible list of unfriendly acts for a State to commit against its ancient ally. Considering the constant endeavour on the part of Portugal to do what was unfriendly towards England and hostile to English interests, the patience and long-suffering the Prime Minister showed were marvellous, and I think that every? body will admit that my noble Friend could not have waited a day longer before taking action. I venture to press this matter rather strongly on the House, lest the Prime Minister may show an over-tenderness towards Portugal in the final settlement of the matter. There naturally is a chivalrous desire not to diminish the power of an old ally who is not exactly in the same position amongst nations as ourselves; but, after all, is Portugal so badly off for colonies? She already has enormous possessions. Look at her territory extending from the Zambesi, 1,200 miles from side to side. Is it to be supposed that she will become a more prosperous or powerful nation by the addition of these districts in the interior? It is very dubious even from her own point of view. After all, you must look a little at what the antecedents of Portugal has been in colonial matters. We are justified in considering this question, not merely from a British point of view. We have an enormous responsibility towards the native races, and recognising that responsibility we must have regard to the antecedents of Portugal. She has been in possession of these great colonies for several hundred 1101 years, and what has been her treatment of the natives? I do not wish to say anything that may seem unfriendly of her; but, in truth, a great deal of the misery of that country has been caused by the Portuguese Government flooding her colonies with convicts unreclaimed, and of the worst kind. They have been scattered broadcast all along that coast, and the result has been the creation of a half-caste population which is the scourge of those districts. Then as to her encouragement of slavery, you have the evidence of Livingstone only 30 years ago, that unfortunately every Governor he had met was engaged in the Slave Trade, up to the Governors General themselves. That was what he said at that time, and towards the end he became even more melancholy on the subject, and said that he had given up all hope of Portugal being of any use to the African races. I wish to give her all credit for wishing to throw off slavery; but when the whole Portuguese population has been imbued with the spirit of slave trading, it is unwise to expect that they will turn round and become civilising agents among the native races, or do them any good. Considering Portugal's antecedents, I doubt greatly whether we should hand over to her more territory than is her right. What progress has she made? Her colonies are the most backward of all the settlements, and I cannot see any sign of impending change. We see by this expedition of Serpa Pinto that when the Portuguese get among the native tribes they are received with eagerness, because the natives can get arms and drink from them free which the English judiciously refuse to let them have. I think that people who thus give arms and drink to the natives are not people to be trusted with enormous territories to which they have no claim. Only recently I find that a certain Ferreio, one of the most brutal of the race I have just now referred to, a man notorious for his cruelty and vices, has been sent to govern a district close to the Makololo territory. It seems as if there was a want of those civilising qualities which would fit them for the great task which they aspire to undertake. Now, my Lords, when we compare the course taken by the Portuguese in Africa with 1102 the instructions which Lord Clarendon gave to Livingstone when he sent him out there, telling him how he was to avoid anything like unkindness to the natives, how his whole strength was to be given to raising them in the scale, both from the religious and the social point of view, and to avoid exciting anything like contests or ill-will; when we compare the conduct of the Portuguese with the work of our Church Missions, University Missions, and Scotch Missions, our Buchanans and our African Companies, can we for one moment doubt on which side the happiness of the native races would rest? Every inquiry shows that they desire to become subject to England if to anyone. We sometimes confuse the Arab slave traders with the native populations, although they are quite different, and no doubt those Arabs are no friends of ours; but every testimony shows that the native races are decidedly in favour of being subject to England rather than to Portugal. I would ask your Lordships has this country any right before God or man, either from regard for old associations or for the susceptibilities of European nations, to make agreements by which these vast territories would be intrusted to a Power which, I venture to say, even though it has good intentions, is unfit, as compared with ourselves, to carry forward a great civilising and Christianising Mission in Africa? I thank your Lordships for listening to me so long, and I now beg to ask the question of which I have given notice.
§ *THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYMy noble Friend has made a most interesting speech on a subject with which he is well acquainted, and in regard to which long study and deep feeling singularly fit him to speak with authority to your Lordships' House. There is little or nothing in his speech to which I can take exception, and I wish it were in my power to imitate my noble Friend in the fulness of his treatment of the subject or the frankness of his expressions. More than, perhaps, on any previous occasion do I regret that the institutions of this country do not afford an opportunity to those who represent the foreign policy of Her Majesty's Govern- 1103 ment of speaking to the legislative power of the country without at the same time taking into their confidence all other persons in the world. I should be very glad if it were in my power to speak frankly to a Committee on Foreign Relations sitting in secret session, for I feel that I could make a very long speech if I had that opportunity. There is a great deal I should like to say, but your Lordships will sympathise with me if I observe only very modest proportions in the extent of my observations to you to-night. We are in the midst of negotiations—negotiations not only with Portugal, but with other countries—and, of course, any observations which I might make upon this question from almost any point of view could not be without their effect upon the progress of those negotiations. I think, therefore, that I shall best perform my duty and fulfil the wishes of my noble Friend—whilst expressing the deepest sympathy with the feelings to which he has given utterance—if I say that our discussions with Portugal are still going on; that we still decline to recognise as adequate foundation for territorial claim distant historical traditions; that, on the other hand, we have no wish to oppose any obstacle to the exercise on the part of Portugal of the right which we desire to exercise ourselves, namely, to find a fit opening for the energies of our population and the progress of our trade, and still less any obstacle to the development of those philanthropic feelings and the fulfilment of those high duties to which my noble Friend has so eloquently called attention. How soon the negotiations will come to a conclusion it is not in my power to say. I recognise the desirability of early progress; but I also recognise, as your Lordships will also do, the unwisdom of sacrificing any substantial end to mere rapidity of conclusion. There is only one point upon which I wish to speak with somewhat more openness than I have done with regard to this question. My noble Friend made allusion to the Zambesi and the Shire, and to the action of Portugal in stopping vessels upon that highway. That, I wish to say, is not a matter of negotiation; it is not a matter upon which we will negotiate at all. We consider these rivers to be International highways. We ask that 1104 they shall be open, not to ourselves only, but to everybody else; and if anybody hinders the freedom of traffic along those highways, the responsibility must rest with those who do so, and I wish to say that because it must not be supposed that is any part of the negotiations we are carrying on. As to the territorial question, it is one of exceeding difficulty. Feeling is running high in this country just at this moment in one particular direction. I am not sure whether that feeling is always restrained within the limits of wisdom and discretion. I am not sure that people always remember that dominion is not an unmitigated luxury, but that it carries with it duties, burdens, obligations, dangers. My noble Friend eloquently pointed out the want of wisdom of the rulers of Portugal when they wished to stretch their territory from the shore of the Atlantic to the shore of the Indian Ocean, and asked whether that was indeed a measure which would increase the strength 01 the happiness of Portugal. I would ask my noble Friend, when he is giving his support to what I may call the idea of Cairo to Cape Town, whether some such criticism might not be passed with respect to a Kingdom much more powerful than Portugal, but which yet has a limit to its power. "Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur" In conclusion, I have to say that I hope we shall exact that which is the right of this country, and that which is for its honour and its strength, but I hope we shall not be seduced into undertaking obligations which are beyond our strength to perform consistently with the other duties which we have both at home and in every quarter of the globe.