(Inclosure 5.)—Mr. Marshall to Vice-Consul Ross, July 8, 1890. (Inclosure 6.)-Note of Protest to the Governor of Quilimane. (Translation.) THERE having to-day presented themselves in this Consulate five subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, who informed me that they were sent here as prisoners by order of the Military Governor of the Shiré, and I having seen the writ of apprehension, which does not give any reason whatever for this despotic proceeding, I protest against the imprisonment of these men and their people, and I warn and beg you to consider well what may be the result of so harsh and apparently inexplicable an act. In the case of your having received information in regard to this affair, I request you to supply me with it. God guard your Excellency, &c. A. CARNEGIE ROSS. No. 4.-Acting Consul Buchanan to the Marquess of Salisbury.(Received September 22.) (Extract.) Chilomo, Ruo, July 23, 1890. I HAVE the honour to inform you that the African Lakes Company's steamer James Stevenson, with all her crew, both English and native, while proceeding on her way to the Zambezi from Chilomo on the 10th instant, was arrested at the confluence of the Ruo with the Shiré River, by order of Lieutenant Coutinho, Military Governor of the Shiré. I arrived here, at Chilomo, yesterday, with the purpose of endeavouring to arrange for the release of the James Stevenson. Commander Coutinho has, I find, left the camp here for Mlolo's country, about two days' journey inland, so that a personal interview with him is almost impossible. I have, however, dispatched a letter to him, a copy of which I inclose, pointing out that this extraordinary proceeding can only cause trouble and loss to the Portuguese; that the agents of the African Lakes Company had infringed no Portuguese law; that they were perfectly justified in refusing to submit to having the steamer searched and their cargo overhauled above the Ruo, and requesting that the steamer be released and returned to the Shiré River, and that an order be sent for the immediate release of her crew, both English and Makololo. Should my request be complied with, it is my intention to endeavour to send the James Stevenson, with all possible speed, to the Zambezi, so as to render service at the Chinde mouth, where, I am informed, two gun-boats for the rivers and a large quantity of goods are even now expected. With regard to the arrest of the James Stevenson, I cannot help thinking that Commander Coutinho has altogether exceeded his instructions. The James Stevenson, on arriving opposite the Portuguese camp, gave them due warning, but, finding no Portuguese official present to search the steamer or request a visa of the passengers' passports, the captain kept going ahead, and anchored at the public landingplace at Chilomo, within the British Protectorate. I would call your Lordship's special attention to the fact that for several trips previously no search was made on board the steamer, or any request made for passports by Portuguese officials at the Ruo, and the same day on which the steamer passed no notice whatever was taken of boats and canoes belonging to other parties. I have further the honour to bring to your Lordship's notice the fact that the arrest of the James Stevenson at the present juncture is a serious blow to British prestige here. The Makololo have seen a British steamer arrested and her crew made prisoners and carried away on board the Portuguese gun-boat, while we are powerless to do anything. I am informed that communication with the Lower Zambezi will only be allowed after having taken a passport from the Portuguese, which they doubtless mean to put forward as evidence of Portuguese sovereignty in the Lower Shiré and Zambezi Rivers. In order to get mails to the coast, I may have to advise a member of the Universities Mission to comply with Portuguese demand and take a passport, but this I shall do under protest. The Portuguese gun-boat Shiré lies at anchor at the confluence of the Ruo with the Shiré. The Portuguese camp is on the south bank of the Ruo; several cannon are in position on that river. The James Stevenson is anchored mid-stream in the Ruo, having a machine-gun on her upper deck, and a guard of soldiers. The Marquess of Salisbury. JOHN BUCHANAN. SIR, (Inclosure.)-Acting Consul Buchanan to Lieutenant Coutinho. Chilomo, July 22, 1890. I HAVE the honour to address your Excellency in connection with the arrest of the James Stevenson and her crew, which act took place by your orders on the 10th instant on an international highway, the Shiré River. I would request your Excellency to inform me as to the grounds upon which you have thought it necessary to take this most extraordinary proceeding, a proceeding which, I feel bound to say, can only cause trouble and loss to the best interests of the Portuguese. So far as I am aware, the agents of the African Lakes Company, in acting as they did, infringed no Portuguese law. While on their upward journey on the 6th instant they duly warned you of their approach, and I maintain they were perfectly justified in refusing to comply with the demands of his Excellency Senhor Menezes, that they should allow their cargo to be searched while anchored at the public landing-place at Chilomo, above the confluence of the Ruo, or to fall astern to a point below the confluence of the Ruo for that purpose. Apart from the fact that Her Majesty's Government have never acknowledged the right of the Portuguese to search British steamers on this international highway, I would point out to your Excellency the serious loss your action entails upon British subjects in Nyasaland, by being thus deprived of their principal means of transport at the present time. Her Majesty's Government, I feel certain, cannot look upon this action of yours as other than insulting to the British, and exceedingly arbitrary, and in my mind there exists no doubt as to how the matter will end. Considering, however, that negotiations regarding the free navigation of the Zambezi and Shiré and the disputes as to territorial claims between the Portuguese and British in East Central Africa are being amicably settled, I have the honour to request your Excellency to reconsider the step you have taken, and issue orders that the James Stevenson be taken from the Ruo River and anchored at the public landing-place at Chilomo, on the Shiré, and also an order for the immediate release of the crew of the James Stevenson, both English and Makololo subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, who, I maintain, have been illegally arrested. I think it well to warn your Excellency that, should this request not be complied with, the consequence may be such as to cause your Excellency seriously to regret the step you have taken. Lieutenant Coutinho. I have, &c., JOHN BUCHANAN. No. 5.-Acting Consul Buchanan to the Marquess of Salisbury.(Received September 22.) (Extract.) Chilomo, July 31, 1890. WITH reference to my despatch to your Lordship of the 23rd instant, I have the honour to inclose a copy of a letter which I have this day received from Commander Coutinho in reply to my letter to him of the 22nd instant. The arrest of the James Stevenson most seriously affects every one in Nyasaland. The Marquess of Salisbury. JOHN BUCHANAN. (Inclosure.)-Lieutenant Coutinho to Acting Consul Buchanan. (Translation.) SIR, Chindina, July 30, 1890. I HAVE received your communication of the 22nd instant, to which I will reply, in the first place, that it contains no argument of a nature to show that the seizure of the James Stevenson was unjustifiable, for you start from a false and inadmissible basis, and endeavour to convert the Shiré into a free highway, under I cannot tell what unknown Laws or Conventions. This cannot be attributed to ignorance, for Messrs. Thomson, Grant, and Frere obtained passports at Quilimane, and I have in my possession a request for a passport for returning to the Vicenti, and one for Mr. Chalmers of a date subsequent to the notice given to him on the 6th July to produce the papers and passports of nineteen passengers, subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, coming from Quilimane, of whom four had obtained passports and fifteen had not; which persons, besides the fact of breaking the laws of Portugal, might have been criminals or fugitives. I do not know whether the Government of Her Britannic Majesty does or does not acknowledge any right of serving in the waters of the Shire the notices and carrying out the searches which are provided for by international law; all the more in territories the possession of which has never been in discussion between us. I know nothing about it. I need only tell you that the laws of Portugal have so ordained, and that I will defend those laws with all the means in my power and with all my energies, and that I am now willing to believe that it was, perhaps, ignorance that led you to treat those laws with disrespect. When you complain that Her Gracious Majesty's subjects are deprived of the principal means of communicating with Nyasaland, you are hardly justified in blaming the commander and crew of the steamer for want of energy and willingness in obeying the laws of Portugal. As to the allegation that Her Britannic Majesty's Government holds the action of the Portuguese authorities to be an insult to English subjects (although your action is much more an insult), I do not hesitate to assure you that not only the Government of Portugal, but other civilized Governments also, would hold your acts to be much more vexatious to us, if I did not endeavour to repress them by law. I would add that the matter has been placed in the hands of the judicial authorities at Quilimane, and that your advice that it should be reconsidered is so extraordinary that it surprises me. If I arrested the James Stevenson when navigating the Shiré for the south without having asked the Portuguese authorities for the necessary legal documents and without having shown them on her journey up the Ruo, I did so in the name of the law; and that being so, I could hardly liberate the captives and surrender the steamer without making myself an accomplice in the infraction of the law which they committed. I regret extremely that the expressions you have used in the name of your Government should be somewhat arrogant, but I need hardly tell you that such arrogance will not prevent us from doing our duty, and that we mean always to guard our legitimate rights. In conclusion, I regret that you have not a perfect knowledge of Portuguese, and I regret very much that I know but little English. I am, &c., JOÃO DE COUTINHO, J. Buchanan, Esq. Military Governor of the Shire. No. 6.-Sir G. Petre to the Marquess of Salisbury.-(Received (Extract.) September 29.) Lisbon, September 25, 1890. I HAVE the honour to inclose the copy of a note which I have this day addressed to the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs, informing him, as directed by your Lordship, respecting the seizure in July last of the African Lakes Company's steamer James Stevenson, and the arrest and conveyance to Quilimane of her officers and crew. The Marquess of Salisbury. GEORGE G. PETRE. (Inclosure.)-Sir G. Petre to Senhor Ribeiro. (Extract.) Lisbon, September 25, 1890. THE official Reports received by Her Majesty's Government respecting the arrest of the crew of the James Stevenson, and the seizure and detention of the vessel by the order of Lieutenant Coutinho on the 10th July last, state that that vessel steamed up the Shiré towards the confluence of the Ruo on the 6th of the month, and that, not receiving any challenge from the Portuguese |