PORTUGAL'S GREAT PAST 369 



It is not for an Englishman to say aught 

 against modern Portugal ; every race has its day 

 of greatness Babylon and Byzantium, Crete 

 and Carthage, Greece and Rome. Portugal was 

 our leader then in adventure, in commerce, and 

 in letters. We are a great Empire to-day, great 

 especially in our daughter States, but who knows, 

 perhaps the writing is already on the wall, and 

 hundreds of years hence some other race may have 

 risen to equal greatness while our memory is but 

 history. Perhaps it is so ordained that one nation 

 shall rise after another, wave succeeding wave of 

 power and culture. 



Small Portugal has certainly done her share, 

 and our respect goes out to all her past, as our 

 sympathy and friendship should go with her 

 every effort for the future of this ancient people 

 and their colonies. 



There are many reasons why Angola, the 

 oldest of the African colonies, has not prospered ; 

 and some of these are good reasons. Portugal's 

 discovery of Angola was followed by those of 

 India and the New World, and neglect of her 

 African possessions was forced on Portugal by 

 the distribution of her exploring and colonizing 

 energy ; later, she had with waning power to 

 struggle with Holland, France, and Spain for her 

 oversea trade and possessions. I am glad that 

 England was never against her and often with 

 her, even to an alliance, the oldest in the world. 



Of late years, there have been many mistakes 

 made by Portugal in regard to Angola. One of 



these was her failure to colonize the country with 



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