THE KING'S CAREER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 111, 3 February 1908, Page 7

THE KING'S CAREER.

HIS MANY PARTS. j CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION, OF ; POLITICIANS. • TRIES TO RULE WITHOUT THEM. . AND MAKES MANY EOES, The dictatorship stands for a much-needed reform in administrative and financial methods hither io _ impossible of attainment under Parliamentary government, whilo .the Opposition stands for, tile ' tional form's.—"Tho Times, aov- . ember 21. Tho career of tho late- King Carlos of Portugal entered upon a distlno V y .,"° , Q^ S s 0 since tho dismissal last year <J ° and tho decision ot tho King, the ail of his Prime Minister, Senhor J' 3 ". l ' l !"™' rule for a' tiuio at least, as a nictat ? r * is this latter pha.so' which will appeal most bf all to'tho present-day.'beholder and probably to tho future historian; and . student of constitutionalism, • -n-.*, On tlio questions of ■ whether Portu = ueso remesentativo government really desenwl-to break down—wlietlior, as. somo ; writers havo. •iverrcd. all representative goveinilicnt is iosinp ('round through, bribery and corrup-"-posterity will, no doubt,' givo a cooler verdict ■ than tho conilictrng ■ coiitent.ons which are heard now. • But the sentenco from " Tho Times " quotedabovo shows that the Carlos-Franco dictatorship claimed to bo Z; benevolent despotism to savo .tho democracy from tho political .machine.. Is i?n hWirtst dictator -preferable f to corrupt dema--so"ues» Is any fijrm Mvgnod government thieh is unconstitutional a' sufficient substitute for government ; by • tho peoplo which bo illusory? . i, \-..

Biographical. '■ • ferine T Kin" of Portugal, the third Sovof Portugal of tlf lino of Brafc Coburg, was -tho. son of King Lim. 1 and Maria Pia, daughter, of King A lttona Lm and on the death of his father,- October 19, 18S9 succeeded to tho throno of -Portugal. In that veav tho British Government found it. necessary to make formal remonstrances against i'ortugucso encroachments in South Africa, and relations Isetwcen .tiio two .coun-. tries were greatly strained, for some time.Tho King's attitude during this critical period was one of conciliation,, and Ins tornrt'S 0 ' 1 !!™."' 'Bo! strengthen' party .of peace. In 1900-1 nl<;o hia friondly attitude towards Great was shown by cordial -toasts at-a banquet to the officers of. the British fleet at Lisbon. The King was' a- great pa -ron of scieuco and literature; in. March, 1894, ho took a verv ac'tivo part in tho co ebration of tho'sooth anniversary of tho: birth of Henry tho Navigator, ■ and a year later ho decorated tho Portuguese> poet, Joao do Deu3 with much honour at Lisbon. Ho took a groat personal interest in deep-sea soundings and marine exploration, and published an account of somo of his own investigations, tho results themselves being slioun an Meanographic : exhibition opened by him on April' 12, 1891. - ' ■