OCR Text |
Show TEUTONIC SHIPS SEIZED AT LISBON Lisbon, Feb. 23, via Paris, Feb. 24, 12:40 a. m. The commander of the naval division here at 4 o'clock this afternoon, apparently of his own initiative, initi-ative, took forcible possession of thirty-six German and Austrian vessels lying ly-ing in the Tagus river, hoisted the Portuguese colors on them and saluted salut-ed them with a twenty-one-gun salute from the Portuguese fleet. It is said the act of Captain Leotte Rego, in seizing the German and Austrian Aus-trian ships interned at Lisbon, was totally unexpected by the governing authorities, who were unaware of the step until it had been carried out. Captain Rego directed the operation from the destroyer Guadiana. Despite many rumors since the outbreak out-break of the war that Portugal was on the point of declaring a state of war with the central empires, on account of her treatly relations with Great Britain, no such declaration was ovor made. The Portuguese congress, by resolutions resolu-tions on August 8, 1014, and on November No-vember 23 of the same year, decided that Portugal would co-operate with the allies whenever that step seemed necessary; Tho Portuguese treaty with Great Britain requires tho latter be supplied with 10,000 Portuguese troops when she is at war. Early in the war it was announced that Portuguese forces were fighting the Germans in Angola, West Africa, Angola belongs to Portu gal and has been invaded by German troops. The Portuguese casualties at that time were reported as 800, while the Germans were said to have lost 200. It was later announced that the Germans had evacuated Angola. Tho latest official Portuguese reference re-ference to the attitude of the nation with regard to the hostilities was a statement made on January 3 last by the president of the republic, at a re- ception of the members of parliament, when he manifested a desire that "the sacred union of all parties be main tained during the war, so that the, allies may have reason to be satisfied with the services rendered by the Portuguese nation." |