and stating this was the last time it would be given. The captain explained that, thinking force would be used, he complied.

On the following day I arrived on board the Countess, with Messrs. Doyle, Stevens, and Moodie. Within five minutes an order came to the captain ordering him not to leave his anchorage, and requiring his signature of consent. This he refused to give. The next evening the captain was ordered to send all his crew and passengers on board the gun-boat. This was complied with, with the exception of myself and Mr. Doyle, the latter being too ill to be removed.

Fourteen armed sailors and soldiers were then placed on board the Countess, and next morning the two vessels proceeded down the river, Captain Buckingham not being permitted to have anything to do with the navigation.

Three days were occupied in the journey to Delagoa Bay, a journey of eighty miles, the passengers of the Countess on board the gun-boat being very harshly treated: on the first night placed in the hold, with all the filthy Portuguese and niggers, and, afterwards, objecting to this, having to remain on deck through very stormy weather, resulting in a very bad attack of ague and fever to Mr. Moodie.

On arrival at Delagoa Bay passengers and crew were declared free, but the vessel was detained for dues and fine under a charge of alleged smuggling.

His Excellency will note that this charge cannot hold water, the Portuguese authorities on land having already accepted a guarantee in lieu of dues if such could be justified.

I would inform your Excellency that, on leaving Gungunhana's kraal, my arrangement with Dr. Schultz was, that after conveying me and my companions to Durban the Countess should at once return to Limpopo, the King being anxious that Dr. A. Schultz, with his three principal councillors forming the Mission to the Queen, should proceed at once with the signed documents to Her Majesty in England.

SIR,

No. 155.-The Marquess of Salisbury to Sir G. Petre.

Foreign Office, April 20, 1891. I TRANSMIT to you a copy of a telegram from Her Majesty's High Commissioner for South Africa relating to the seizure of the vessels Agnes and Shark by the Portuguese authorities at Beira.

Sir G. Petre.

I am, &c.,

SALISBURY.

(Inclosure.)-Governor Sir H. Loch to Lord Knutsford.

(Telegraphic.)

April 19, 1891.

CONSUL, Lourenço Marques, telegraphs :"Steamer Norseman returned from Beira with party. Notice was given to Sir John Willoughby at Beira that river was not open. Martial law declared since 18th March. Nobody allowed up river, and if attempt were made boat would be fired upon. British flag hauled down and Portuguese put in place. Imperial mail to Mashona stopped. Governor at Beira says he will not be answerable for British lives, as soldiers are so excited; 600 soldiers marching against Massi-Kessi."

Willoughby telegraphs from Lourenço Marques

"Agnes and Shark and lighters with cargo fired on at Beira and seized 15th April. River closed to all. Self and party, including natives, came on here. Agnes and lighters in possession of armed soldiers. European crew close prisoners. Shark flag hauled down, replaced by Portuguese flag. British lives Beira unsafe."

The above-mentioned party left Capetown before official notification of river being closed had been received. Willoughby's instructions were to offer in writing payment of customs if passage up river was refused. To ask Governor whether boats would be prevented by force ascending river. To say if no answer received in twenty-four hours, consent of authorities would be assumed. Willoughby says, fulfilled fully instructions. It appears, therefore, they were fired on without notice.

No. 159.-The Marquess of Salisbury to Sir G. Petre. (Telegraphic.) Foreign Office, April 21, 1891. INFORMATION has reached Her Majesty's Government that the Agnes and Shark, two British vessels, and lighter laden with cargo, were fired upon and seized on 15th instant at Beira. It is said that the European crew were detained as close prisoners.

The British flag flown by the Shark was hauled down, and the Portuguese flag hoisted in its place.

The vessels were endeavouring, in accordance with the modus vivendi, to open peaceable communications with the British sphere.

You should demand of Portuguese Government that the vessels and their crews be immediately released.

SIR,

No. 169.-The Marquess of Salisbury to Sir G. Petre.

Foreign Office, April 23, 1891. HER Majesty's Government have had under their consideration the note from Senhor du Bocage, inclosed in your despatch of the 2nd instant, in which his Excellency replies to the representations which you were directed to make in regard to the interference of the Portuguese authorities on the Zambezi with the British steamer James Stevenson.

His Excellency endeavours to justify their proceedings on the ground that they took place before the news of the signature of the modus vivendi and of the issue of the Decree of the 18th November had reached Vicenti, and that it was therefore the duty of the authorities to prevent the navigation of the river by vessels under any flag except that of Portugal.

The right thus claimed is not, as you are aware, admitted by Iler Majesty's Government, who maintain that the Zambezi is an international waterway, the navigation of which is absolutely free to the ships of all nations.

The incidents, which were briefly stated in my despatch of the 9th February, have now been fully reported upon by the British naval officer in command of Her Majesty's gun-boats on the Shiré, and are of so grave a nature that I must again instruct you to call the serious attention of the Portuguese Government to them.

On the 22nd November last the African Lakes Company's steamer James Stevenson, on arriving at Vicenti, was boarded by an officer of the Portuguese gun-boat Cuama, who ordered Mr. Chalmers, the captain, to haul down the British merchant ensign then flying on board his vessel. Captain Chalmers refused to do so, stating that the Zambezi and Shiré were free rivers, and that he had orders to fly the merchant ensign.

Captain Howell, the Commander of the Cuama, with another officer, then appeared on the river bank, and ordered Captain Chalmers to haul down his flag, but he again refused.

Mr. Hillier, Traffic Manager to the African Lakes Company, who was on board the James Stevenson, thereupon went on shore and handed to Captain Howell a letter from Lieutenant-Commander Keane, of Her Majesty's ship Herald, authorizing Captain Chalmers to fly the merchant ensign. Captain Howell refused to read the letter, and insisted that the flag should be hauled down. On being asked why he had not made this demand when the James Stevenson came up the river with the British gun-boats, Captain Howell became very violent, threatened to throw Mr. Hillier into the river,

and said that, if the flag was not hauled down at once, he would bring up his gun-boat and fire into the James Stevenson.

Having no power to resist, Mr. Hillier then hauled down the flag under protest. After this had been done, Captain Howell sent a native soldier on board the James Stevenson, who arrested Captain Chalmers, and he was marched off to Mopea, a distance of about four miles, and put in prison. He remained in custody until 1 P.M. on the following day, when he was released by order of the Governor of Quilimane.

On the same afternoon (the 23rd) Captain Howell informed Mr. Hillier that he had received a telegram from the Governor of Quilimane ordering him to prevent the James Stevenson from landing or shipping cargo, and that the vessel was to leave Vicenti.

Mr. Hillier was not permitted to ship any provisions for the ship's crew, and the traders and natives on the river banks were threatened with punishment if they supplied provisions or goods of any kind. Captain Howell also informed him that if the James Stevenson again entered Portuguese waters she would be fired on.

The insult thus offered by an officer in command of a Portuguese gun-boat to the British flag, and the arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of the captain of the vessel, cannot be overlooked by Her Majesty's Government. It will be observed that Captain Howell, the officer in question, ignored the fact that the flag was hoisted on the James Stevenson with the sanction of the Commander of Her Majesty's gun-boat Herald, acting under the authority of the British Government; that he threatened to use personal violence towards Mr. Hillier, and to fire on the English steamer; and that he went so far as to arrest Captain Chalmers on board his own vessel, and to convey him to Mopea, four miles distant, where he was imprisoned until the afternoon of the next day.

The manner in which this outrage was committed shows a deliberate intention to stop by violence the lawful navigation of the Zambezi and Shiré by British vessels, and to inflict serious loss and injury on the British community in Nyasaland, which was dependent on the James Stevenson for its supplies of the necessaries of life.

It is impossible not to see in these incidents an illustration of the policy which, unfortunately for herself and for the relations between the two countries, Portugal has systematically pursued towards British subjects during the last two or three years. It has not been difficult for Her Majesty's Government to obtain the most complete assurances from the authorities at Lisbon with respect to the treatment of British subjects and the observance of their rights; but the conduct of Portuguese officers in the Eastern Colonies of Africa has in no degree corresponded with the language

held at Lisbon by the Government of His Most Faithful Majesty. Whether it has been Major Serpa Pinto, or Lieutenant Coutinho, or Captain Howell, or any other officers, the representatives of Portuguese authority in these distant countries appear to have been animated by a desire of inflicting indignity and outrage upon the subjects of Her Majesty to the utmost extent which the most strained and unreasonable construction of their orders would permit. They seem either to have been wholly indifferent to the judgment that was formed of their conduct upon these matters by their superiors in Lisbon, or else to have been convinced that they could Lot commend themselves in any more effective manner than by oppressive and insulting action towards the Englishmen or allies of England who came within their reach.

In the present instance the Minister for Foreign Affairs excuses the conduct of Captain Howell by saying that on the 22nd November he could not have been aware in the Zambezi of the modus vivendi which had only been signed upon the 14th. If the signature of that instrument had been the result of some sudden and unexpected development of policy, the excuse would possibly have been valid; though even in that case the knowledge that the proceedings of the James Stevenson were authorized by the Commander of Her Majesty's gun-boats, and that it had ascended the Zambezi in their company, should have caused him to hesitate before proceeding to the extreme measures which he took. But in this case there was no excuse for the pretence that the provisions of the modus vivendi were a surprise. The freedom of the Zambezi was one of the stipulations of the Treaty of the 20th August. That Treaty had been signed by Portugal. Captain Howell had no ground for believing that its ratification had been or would be refused. It was only indefinitely postponed. At the time when Captain Howell was inflicting these outrages upon a British vessel and its commander, the Treaty, according to the contention of Portugal, was still awaiting its ratification, and, for all he knew, might have been at that moment ratified. It therefore required the most pronounced ill-will and the most perverse construction of his duty under the circumstances to enable Captain Howell to imagine that his conduct towards the James Stevenson was justified by his instructions.

The particulars of the occurrence at Beira have been fully reported by Mr. Copeland, a native of Durban, who holds a prospecting licence from the South Africa Company, and who was one of a party of ten persons who started from that place, accompanied by five Kaffirs, with the intention of proceeding up the Pungwe, in accordance with the provisions of Article III of the modus vivendi.

The steam-ship Maclean, in which they made the journey, being unable to approach nearer than fourteen miles from Beira, they landed