Chapter 248: Chapter 228: Declaration of War

On July 31, 1907, the Kingdom of Portugal officially responded, deciding not to hand over any Portuguese fishermen and insisting that Portuguese fishermen had no responsibility in the conflict.

This decision by the Portuguese government also caused quite a stir among European citizens.

Europeans couldn’t believe that, under the circumstances where both human and material evidence were present, the Portuguese still stubbornly denied the responsibility of Portuguese fishermen in the conflict and even brazenly shielded the criminals.

Even Arthur didn’t expect the Portuguese to be so tough. Despite the clearly unfavorable European public opinion, they resolutely stuck to their position.

However, this is a good thing for Australasia. If the Portuguese government quickly compromised, then Australasia would have no excuse to intervene in Portuguese Timor.

Now that the Portuguese government is stubborn, it’s a good excuse for Australasia to get involved in Portuguese Timor, which could also become an opportunity for Australasia to expand again.

Arthur had originally thought that the opportunity for Australasian expansion would be in the Dutch East Indies, but he didn’t expect the Portuguese to be restless first.

On August 1, 1907, Arthur expressed his shock at the attitude of the Portuguese government in a public interview, and firmly declared that the Australasian army would seek justice for Australasian citizens and that no country or power could prevail over Australasians.

On August 3, 1907, the Australasian government issued a final ultimatum to the Kingdom of Portugal, demanding that the Kingdom of Portugal immediately accept Australasia’s compensation demands and apologize to the attacked Australasian fishermen.

The Australasian government also declared that if Portugal insisted that their fishermen did nothing wrong, they should produce the necessary evidence, rather than merely making unsubstantiated claims in newspapers.

Australasia’s demand once again won the approval of the European people.

Even after the initial rejection, Australasia still only demanded that the Portuguese government apologize to the attacked fishermen and compensate all affected fishermen.

In the eyes of most European people, these were very reasonable demands and conditions.

Comparing the starkly different attitudes of Australasia and the Kingdom of Portugal after this conflict, many European citizens even thought that such conditions would put Australasia at a disadvantage.

To the surprise of European citizens, the Portuguese government, or rather the autocratic monarch Carlos I, once again rejected Australasia’s request.

In fact, Carlos I quickly felt the immense prestige and respect that his strong protection of the people brought to the royal family and himself.

Although in the European public opinion, Portugal’s prestige and reputation were repeatedly lowered. However, within Portugal, Carlos I’s prestige actually increased. A number of media outlets and individuals spontaneously voiced their support for King Carlos I’s decision.

It should be noted that since Carlos I implemented high-pressure policies, many opposition parties and media have had no good reviews.

Being able to publicly support Carlos I this time shows just how significant the impact of Carlos I’s decision is within Portugal.

At this stage of the event, even if his purpose was simply to maintain his rule, Carlos I had no choice but to stick to his decision, which was to protect his citizens at all costs.

This conflict has also attracted the attention of many European countries, including Germany and Russia, which have close relations with Australasia.

Britain’s attitude was ambiguous. Although they expressed concern about the situation, they did not clearly support either side.

After the Kingdom of Portugal once again rejected the request of the Australasian government, William II also expressed his surprise and dissatisfaction with the attitude of the Kingdom of Portugal government and his support for Australasia.

The Russians acted even more decisively, not only criticizing the Kingdom of Portugal bluntly but also mocking Carlos I as a coward who dared not admit his mistakes.

The dissatisfaction and challenge from the two European powers also made Carlos I somewhat apprehensive.

Fortunately, the British Empire soon secretly contacted Carlos I, expressing concern about the matter and declaring that the British Empire would work with France to make efforts to resolve the conflict peacefully.

With this, Carlos I gradually became reassured. As long as there were guarantees from Britain and France, Australasia could not pose a significant threat to the Kingdom of Portugal.

On the contrary, he could use this conflict to accumulate a significant amount of prestige within Portugal.

When the time was ripe, he could simply present the fishermen at the time as scapegoats and portray himself as a deceived king with a heart full of love for the people. This would allow him to emerge unscathed from the incident and retain the vast prestige he had accumulated.

But is it really that simple? Or rather, Carlos I underestimated the ambition of the Australians and the ambition of Arthur.

On August 5, 1907, after the end of the final 48-hour notice given by the Australasian government to the Kingdom of Portugal, the Australasian government held a public meeting. Prime Minister Walter regretfully announced: “In view of the extremely unreasonable performance of the Kingdom of Portugal government, showing no mercy to the injured Australasian fishermen, and even fabricating lies and stirring up controversy, attempting to discredit the injured fishermen and the Australasian government, the Australasian government has decided to cut off diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Portugal and declare Australasia to be on a war readiness status.”

Although Prime Minister Walter had not officially declared war on the Kingdom of Portugal, the fact that Australasia had entered a state of war readiness indicated that the Australasians were prepared for war.

After entering a state of war, there was national outrage within Australasia, and all temporary conscription offices were filled, with many Australasians looking for various ways to donate funds to the government.

With everyone united, at this moment, the enemy of all Australasians was only one: the Kingdom of Portugal, which had hurt the feelings of Australasia.

After diplomatic relations with the Australasian Government were severed, Carlos I became somewhat panicked.

However, Carlos I’s solution to the problem was not to compromise with Australasia, but to seek the support of the British Empire and France, which had previously promised assistance.

The British did indeed provide assistance; more precisely, they provided a method to resolve the conflict.

In fact, after Australasia made the decision, the British clearly expressed their attitude: they advised both parties to remain calm during the conflict and were willing to provide a professional team to investigate the truth of the incident for both sides.

This was quite normal considering the British’s character as troublemakers, so their decision was understandable.

More importantly, Arthur had good support and favorability in the United Kingdom, and the special relationship between Australasia and the United Kingdom made the British closer to Australasia.

Moreover, no matter how one looked at the conflict, the victimized party was Australasia. Whether to help on principle or to help on ties, it was obvious that support should be given to Australasia, right?

Under such attitudes of the British public, if the British government made a decision contrary to the people’s wishes, the resulting turmoil would be predictable.

Even Edward VII, who was extremely dissatisfied with Arthur, would not stand up to be the target at such a time, let alone British politicians who had no grudges against Arthur.

Expressing a neutral attitude already risked offending the British public; if it weren’t for Edward VII’s delicate position, the British politicians might have already declared their support for Australasia.

After all, their official careers depended on the support of MPs and the people. A government that offends the British people is destined not to last long.

The attitude of the French was not much different from the British; they only advised both parties to remain calm and restrained, and were willing to act as a neutral party in investigating the cause and process of the conflict and resolving the dispute peacefully.

If such words could solve regional crises, there would be far fewer wars in world history.

Unfortunately, such words were ultimately just for show; they could not prevent wars or save any losses.

On August 8, 1907, Prime Minister Walter once again made a public appearance and announced the final decision of the Australasian Government and Arthur’s order: The Australasian Government declared that it was immediately in a state of war with the Kingdom of Portugal and would dispatch troops to enforce its demands.

Prime Minister Walter smiled and said that the goal of the Australasian Government was only to achieve the previous demands: the Kingdom of Portugal must surrender the culprits behind the conflict, apologize to the injured fishermen, and compensate all affected Australasian fishermen.

Based on the time of the conflict and the number of affected fishermen, the Kingdom of Portugal should pay at least one million Australian dollars in compensation to the tens of thousands of Australasian fishermen and at least one million Australian dollars in compensation to the injured fishermen.

Although the total compensation was only two million Australian dollars, Carlos I knew that at this stage, Portuguese national sentiment had been fully mobilized.

If the government agreed to the compensation at this time, even if it was only 10,000 Australian dollars, the Portuguese people would be very disappointed in the government.

The person most affected, naturally, would be Carlos I, who had successfully established his image as a patriot who loved the people and did not fear the powerful during this conflict.

As a result, after Australasia declared war, the Portuguese government responded decisively: Portugal and Australasia were in a state of war.

The Kingdom of Portugal was thousands of miles away from Australasia, and the area most vulnerable to this war was Portugal’s Asian colony.

To express his attitude, Carlos I decisively announced that he would deploy 40,000 troops from mainland Europe to East Asia. These soldiers would arrive in batches in Portugal’s East Asian colonies within three months.

Meanwhile, in Australasia.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Australasia had been preparing for war.

Although the preparation time was insufficient, the number of Australasian troops was not large, so the time for assembly was still adequate.

On the day the government declared war, more than 10,000 troops had already assembled at the Sydney Harbour, ready to board transport ships and, under the protection of the fleet, head to Portuguese Timor to capture Portugal’s important stronghold in Asia.