Albuquerque citizen., 1908-01-03
STIRRING
INTERNATIONAL
STRIFE
Say That Portugal Has Been
Cruel to Its PriS-
0neTS.

Washin gton, Jan. 3.-The POrtu-
guese legation have replied to the
statements recently made by Joubert
Pienaar. former officer in the Boer
army as to the existence of the slave
trade in Portuguese West Africa.
The legation statement follows in
part:
"Joubert Pienaar was a refugee in
Portugal during the closing stages of
the Boer war. When peace was made
NJ, with many other Beers, settled
in the Portuguese colony of Angola.
II soon became apparent that these
Boers, ousted from the Transvaal by
the British, had a plan on foot to
seize part of the Portuguese colony
in West Africa and to set up there a
new Independent Boer republic 1t
was ascertained that Pienaar was
the prime mover i'm this conspiracy.
For this reason, and for no other,
was he expelled from Portuguese
territory Pienaar's complaints as 10
the arbitrary confiscation of his
property and cattle are merely the
vaporings of his defeated ambitions
1t Is evidently unnecessary to no.
tice seriously such ludicrous stories
as the thrusting by Portuguese Off
Gals of red-hot irons through the
arms and limbs of the natives in or
=
creased amount of rubber. especially
when ii is attempted to foist them
upon the public from such preju-
diced source.
While it is just within the limits
of possibility that some isolated in
stances of wanton cruelty to the ne
grOeS may have occurred in the Wild
er parts of the interior, as it might
in any other country similarly Sit
uated, 1t is absolutely certain that no
such case has been credibly reported
to the government. Should any in
stance of the kind be reasonably sub.
stantiated, prompt punishment and
redress would follow as matter of
course. for in no country is public
opinion more sensitive to the miser-
les of human suffering than in Por-
tugal, which was the first among the
civilized nations of the world to abol-
ish slavery
incidentally it may be mentioned
that, according to the Lisbon papers.
the chief official OF the staff of the
minister of the colonies is leaving
imm ediately for Angola 10 investigate
personally whether there is even the
slightest foundation In fact for the
: ories which are being so industri-
oISly bruited abroad by interested
parties.
"No information has been received
tality among batch of 500 laborers
sent to the island of Principe, of
which only twelve survived at the
end of ten months, according to Pie
MARS story. Ii is possible that some
vessel taking natives to the island
may nave been wrecked on the coast
and that only twelve managed to get
ashore; or, it may be that one of
the epidemics which have sometimes
wiped out whole villages in equator
Ial Africa, broke out among the men. |
ITO that extent the story may be
true. But it is simply absurd on the |
face of it to say that any such loss
Of life could have occurred normally |
Or through preventable causes. Even |
setting aside all consideration of hu-
no one would incur the |
heavy expense entailed in transport |
ng laborers to the islands were they.
is rule, liable to become unfit for |
work as soon as they arrived
The mortality among the natives, |
through equatorial Africa, where the |
aborers CONG from, is very high; ,it
$ even appallingly so when COM |
pared to that of more temperate |
zones. But whether this arises from
he natural features of the country
Or from some peculiar disability of
he races by which ii Is inhabited. it
; evident that an Improvements in
he conditions can only gradually be
achieved, even supposng an inn
Drovement is possible.
The death rate among the native
aborers on the much-abused island
# st. Thomas is no higher than that
# the natives working in the mines
# the Transvaal, in a comparatively
;ood and temperate climate. Even
N the most unhealthy plantations of
ne island death does not exact so |
leavy a toll as It does on the Gem
raj African natives employed in
hose mines"