Ogden Daily Standard | 1916-03-01 | Page 1 | German Ultimatum Sent to Portugal

GERMAN ULTIMATUM 1 SENT TO PORTUGAL I London, Maroh 1, 4.45 p. in. Ger-I Ger-I many has sent an ultimatum to Portugal Portu-gal demanding the restoration within 48 hours of the German ships recently seized by that country, acording to a dispatch from Madrid to Router's Telegram company The first seizure of German merchant mer-chant vessels by Portugal occurred February 23 at Lisbon when the naval nav-al authorities took possession of thirty thir-ty alx German and Austrian ships In the Tagus on February 25 the seizure of eight German steamships by the Portuguese authorities at St. Viucent, Cape Verdi islands was announced and it was unofficially declared that the requisitioning of German and Austrian Aus-trian vessels had been extended to all those lying in the ports of Portugal and her colonies. A Lisbon dispatch on February 20 quoted Premier Costa of Portugal as declaring In the chamber of deputies that the government's action in requisitioning requi-sitioning vessels had been prompted by tho necessity of .the nation's economic eco-nomic situation. The premier (urther declared that he considered It to the best interest of Portugal that the existing ex-isting treaty with Germany be allowed to lapse and that the Portuguese government gov-ernment was prepared for all eventualities eventu-alities that might arise. Thero havo been frequent rumors since the outbreak of hostilities that Portugal wbb about to declare a state of war with tho central powers because be-cause of her treaty relatlous with Great Britain. ' oo