[This portion is translated from the Muenchener Neueste
Nachrichten.]
In the year 1898 a secret treaty had been signed by Count Hatzfeldt
[then German Ambassador in London] and Mr. Balfour, which divided the
Portuguese colonies in Africa into economic-political spheres of
interest between us and England. As the Portuguese Government possessed
neither the power nor the means to open up or adequately to administer
its extensive possessions, the Portuguese Government had already at an
earlier date thought of selling these possessions and thereby putting
their finances in order.
Between us and England an agreement had been reached which defined the
interests of the two parties and which was of all the greater value
because Portugal, as is well known, is completely dependent upon
England. This treaty was no doubt to secure outwardly the integrity and
independence of the Portuguese Empire, and it only expressed the
intention of giving financial and economic assistance to the Portuguese.
Consequently it did not, according to the text, conflict with the old
Anglo-Portuguese alliance, dating from the fifteenth century, which was
last renewed under Charles II. and which guaranteed the territories of
the two parties. Nevertheless, at the instance of the Marquis Soveral,
who presumably was not ignorant of the Anglo-German agreement, a new
treaty--the so-called Windsor treaty--which confirmed the old
agreements, was concluded in 1899 between England and Portugal.