Another arbitration has gone against the British. The Portu- guese
claim Delagoa Bay, the natural outlet of the Dutch Republics north of Natal, by right of discovery and occupancy ; but it seems certain that they admitted a Dutch claim to settle there, and all Dutch rights have passed to the British by treaty. They persisted, however, in their claim, and as Portugal is weak, the dispute was referred by Mr. Gladstone's Govern- ment to the arbitration of the French President, then M. niers. Marshal MacMah on has now awarded the sove- reignty of the bay to the Portuguese, and we have lost a most important make-weight in any arrangement with the Boers, who will now hire the bay from Portugal. The decision will cer- tainly deepen the public prejudice against arbitration, which would appear, as at present managed, to be a cleverly devised scheme for surrendering British rights without dishonour. If the question had been left to diplomatists, we could have offered Portugal serious advantages in India for her problematical rights in Delagoa Bay. Some day or other, Norway will offer the re- demption-money for the Orkneys, and an arbitrator studying nothing but the documents, indifferent to politics, and contemp- tuous of the general welfare of the world, will order us to take it.
