The Ultimatum
The Ultimatum caused violent anti-British sentiments in Portugal and demonstrations leading to riots. The Portuguese Republicans used it as an excuse to attack the government, and riots eventually led to a Republican coup d'état in Oporto in January 1891, when the first attempt at a treaty to resolve the dispute was published. Although much attention has been paid to the Portuguese reaction to the Ultimatum, less has been given to the attitude of the British government in using tactics that could have led to war, and it has been plausibly argued that Lord Salisbury, whose government was diplomatically isolated, feared being humiliated by a Portuguese success. The British government had also granted a Royal Charter to Rhodes’ British South Africa Company in October 1889, before it received news of Serpa Pinto's skirmish with the Makololo. This allowed the company to claim Mashonaland and also Manicaland and the Zambezi valley above Zumbo. Only Portugal had any claim to effective occupation of any part of the latter two areas.