The Portuguese journal _Reforma_ in its issue of August 19th, 1911, exposes in convincing language the condition and real objects of this so-called repatriation:— “The greater part of these ‘serviçaes’ were put on board without being told what their destination was, and without any money. “The first batches that came here had some money—one of them had 150,030 _reis_ (£30)—but the last lots arrived without any; thus some were expatriated instead of being repatriated. “These people did not bring a single penny, and it was through charity alone that they received food and shelter. Almost every one of these unfortunate people, who have done twenty years of hard labour, arrived in ruined health, and some of them died shortly after their arrival. “It is probable that this form of repatriation is a stratagem which will, on account of the protests that will be raised against it in this province, enable the planters to argue that repatriation is unproductive of any good results, and that the truth is, as they have said all along, that people who have once gone to those islands never want to leave them again, well knowing that they could not find a better spot in this world.” [Sidenote: THE “ARRIÈRE PENSÉE”] The Brussels Conference of 1890 foresaw this danger and made provision for it in Articles 52 and 63. The latter stipulated that:— “Slaves liberated under the provisions of the preceding Article shall, if circumstances permit, be sent back to the country from whence they came. In all cases they shall receive letters of freedom from the competent authorities and shall be entitled to their protection and assistance for the purpose of obtaining means of subsistence.” Portugal was signatory with other European Powers to the Brussels Act. Further evidence of the inhuman manner in which the slaves are repatriated appeared in the Portuguese journal, _A Capital_, of June last. The writer, Hermano Neves, reported that an officer on a Portuguese ship informed him that in one trip there were 269 liberated serviçaes, that of these unfortunate beings landed at Benguella only one was given any money; the remainder, unable to obtain employment and without money to buy food, were left to starve. “A few days later, there lay in the outskirts of Benguella, out in the open, no less than fifty corpses; those who did not or cared not to resort to theft in order to live had simply died of starvation.”