The King and Queen of Portugal arrived in England on
Tuesday, and were received with even more than the honour usually paid to Sovereigns, a mighty fleet having been assembled at Spithead to give them a characteristic welcome, the warships all flying the Portuguese flag at the main. The people, too, seem gratified by the visit, though they hardly remember that King Carlos and King Edward are both Coburgs, and the papers have been unanimous in recalling the friendship, "centuries old," which has existed between Portugal and Great Britain. The visit is ostensibly one of courtesy only; but the King is accompanied by his Foreign Secretary, and it is possible that matters of political moment may be discussed, besides the Arbitration Treaty already announced, though they were not mentioned in the rather colourless Royal speeches which on Wednesday followed a magnificent banquet in Windsor Castle. There are several points at which the Portuguese colonial dominion, of which her people are very proud, touches our own, and at one of these at least our Colonial Office would not be sorry to increase the closeness of the connection. The great difficulty in the way, say, of a lease of Lourenco Marquez is that it must be so arranged as not to wound the sensitive and just pride of the Portuguese people, who never forget that they were the earliest founders of European settlements, both in India and South Africa. Nations do not like to sell their monuments.
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