The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-03-30
PRESS COMMENT.
Great Britain Not Pleased With the
Award

Great Britain Not Pleased With the
Award.
LONDON. March SO-The Daily Mail,
commenting upon the award at Berne,
says:
The boUndless procrastination Of the
tribunal Is difficult to explain, for not the
smallest trace of quality can be discover
ed In the award of the beggarly G600, 900
awarded as compensation for concession
valued at e6,00O,0OO. We fear the arbitra-
tors allowed themselves to be prejudiced
against British interests by the irrational
Anglophobia which has seized upon the
Swiss people. By their conduct the arbi-
traitors have struck a deadly blow at
arbitration"
The Daily Chronicle says:
THE award corresponds with the gen.
eral anticipations. Portugal is condemned
to pay, including interest, nearly a mil
lion sterling. Probably the ingenuity Of
Pretoria was fertile contributor to the
| inexplicable delay of the arbitration We
wonder whether the diplomatists at Lis
bon think they have had the value of
their money" %
The editorial then proceeds to reproach
the British government with doing moth
ing to stop President KFuger's open in
trigues in the Delag0a anair. and says
1--WE would not be surprised to find that
to enable Portugal to pay this indemnity
and so to provide against the contingency
he fOresaw so clearly in March, 1888. On
the other hand President Kruger has
had all the value he is likely to get out
of Delagoa bay, and he is not the man
to pay for fayors received If they can
be had for nothing. In this state of I'M
certainty we should be glad to have some
announcement from Lord Salisbury"
The Daily News says:
The sum awarded is as great a sur
prise as has been the unconscionabI BILE
time taken by the arbitrators in arriving
at a decision. 1t had been estimated
I that between two and three and a half
millions sterling would be the amount of
the award, and on the financial obliga-
lions thus to be laid upon Portugal a.
great deal of political speculation has
recently turned. This speculation will
possibly have to undergo a great deal of
modification"
The Daily Graphic says:
THE award is profoundly unsatisfac-
tory, for If there was ever hfgh-handed
and unjustifiable raid on private property
it was the confiscation of the Delagoa bay
railway"
The Times says:
1.-The company and its creditors will
doubtless consider the sum awarded far
from adequate but it is probably as much
as they can reasonably have expected to
recover. and as much as Portugal can
manage to raise without assistance"
After commenting upon the needless de-
lay in the proceedings the Times goes on
to say:
sit is believed Portugal some time ago
made provisions for meeting the greater
part of the sum awarded. There is moth
ing but sympathy for Portugal in this
country. She has done wrong to Brit
ish and Americans, but it is manifest she
did not do 1t of her own free will. She
was acting under a degree Of pressure
which verged upon -uress-pressure con-
sistently applied, it may be noted, for OBJ
JectS avowedly polite and avowedly hos
tile to British influence, not from the time
of the Jameson raid,z-but from the time
when Mr.. Kruger was negotiating the
London convention. Should Portugal in
these conditions unexpectedly experience
difficulty in making the necessary pay
ments, there can be no doubt that Brit
ish capital would come TO the assistance
of our old ally
siss.