The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-03-04
Portuguese and Chinese

O-t-
Portuguese and Chinese.
Much is said just now in the news
papers about threatened war between
Portugal and China concerning the in
terests of the former at Macao. 1t has
been stated that the Chinese port and
peninsula of Macao were granted by an
Emperor of China to the Portuguese in
consideration Of the expulsion of pirates
from the neighboring waters. s..
This is altogether misstatement of
the case. 1t is true that grant was
made to the Portuguese East India
Trading Company, some three hundred
years ago, when the flag of Portugal
was triumphant in the East Indian
Seas. 1t is also true that the Portu-i
guese Government assumed the civil and
military control OF Macao, and that they
still keep a local governor there. But
this grant to the Portuguese merchants
TO establish trading "factory" there,
and the permission granted to Portugal
OF governing the place under Portuguese
laws, were coupled with strict condi-.
tions for the payment Of an annual trib-
ute to China and the full recognition of
the Chinese territorial rights of sover-
eighty, subject only to the concession
for trade made in the grants. This trib-
ute was specific charge upon the col
ony itself; and this the colony, for sew
eral years past, has been unable and
unwilling to pay, and is consequently
largely in arrears to China.
Atone time, Macao was the great focus
OF oriental trade. Its bay is beautiful
and its site pleasant and healthful. But,
since the decline OF Portugal and the
opening of other and better ports on the
Chinese coast, Macao has gradually
declined to almost nothingness. The
greater part of It's revenues, indeed al
most all, is derived from licenses to
gambling houses, which compose the
whole of some of its best streets. 1t is
the Baden-Baden of China.
The place is Of but narrow compass,
being merely low-lying peninsula jut-
ting into the Lin Tin bay; and the isthmus
connecting it with the mainland is
scarcely more than sufficient fer a car
riage road in width, and is so low that
the full tides sometimes overflow it, and
for the time being, convert Macao into an
island. Beyond this isthmus, and al
most in semicircle, rocky bluffs rise
precipitously. overlooking Macao. On
these bluffs the Chinese government
have planted strong Notifications which
are kept well manned, with good artil.
lery to bear upon the narrow plains be.
low; and thus the whole peninsula is
dominated by these fortifcations, which
are unassailable from below.
Now the Portuguese talk, about driv-
| ing out the Chinese forces by an army oI
5000 men, is all bosh. A Portuguese
army Of $4,000 men hemmed in on thai
peninsula, could make no impression
upon the Chinese forts and forces over
looking them, because there ii
no way OF attacking except over
that narrow isthmus above mentioned
And from that position thus fortified
the Chinese would be found to possess
more soldierly qualities than the Portu
guese OF that country, who are Of a very
inferior and generally degraded class
Even the Chinese despise them, though
they frequently intermarry.
| The demands Of the Chinese for theil
land rent, or tribute, now In arrears, arr
perfectly just. And as the landlord, o
sovereign of the soil, China has a righ
to re-enter on condition broken. If sucl
be her purpose, the Portuguese, nnas
sisted, can not help themselves.