Canto XXVII, lines 10-13, p. 129 in my handy paperback New Directions
_Cantos_.
 
Refers to England's reversal of attitude toward Portugal at the outbreak
of the Great War; they had made agreements with Germany, apparently, to
divvy up Portugese colonies with Germany, but changed their tune to Hun
boche-ing and Porta-greasing.
 
As I recall from Terrell (_Guide to the Cantos_).
 
> ----------
> From:         Timothy P Redman
> Reply To:     Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine
> Sent:         Wednesday, July 1, 1998 2:15 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      portagoose
>
> Pound said it, my recollection of where he said it is unclear, but I
> suspect that it occurred during or after the League of Nations
> sanctions against Italy in the mid '30s since it is obviously
> directed sarcastically against the English and Pound's vituperation
> of them heats up considerable at that time.
>
>                                                 Tim Redman
>
> On Sat, 9 May 1998 10:23:27 -0800 Mark <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Does anybody know who said
> > "referred to no longer as the goddam portagoose
> > but as England's oldest ally"
> > and under what circumstances?
> >
> > mark the wans
> >
> > [log in to unmask]
> > "Peace comes of communication."-- Ezra Pound
> > "Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech
> > or of the press..." -- Anon
> > "To live well is to live with adequate information"-- Norbert Weiner
>
> Tim Redman
> School of Arts and Humanities, JO 31
> University of Texas at Dallas
> P.O. Box 830688
> Richardson, TX  75083-0688
>
> (972) 883-2775 (o)
> (972) 883-2989 (fax)
>