PORTUGAL-AND ITS KING.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 28, 3 February 1908, Page 6

PORTUGAL-AND ITS KING.

It. ' would be difficult, and it is not necessary, to dilate upon the dastardly cr jne which has horrified the civilised and must disquiet the »monarchs <jfl Europe. It is easy enough to dwell tipon the domestic concerns of Portugal or to enquire into tho private Teputation or public actions of tho King whose roign of over eighteen years haa been ended by the assassin's bullet — but for any? facts that have come to liglit such enrjuiry might h.aj-e no bearing whatever i-n the cafe. If, as is quits possible, the crime was organised by one or other of the anarchist groups that infest th 9 Iberian Peninsula, it i." the outcome of an abnormal type of mmd that refuses to be gdverned by rational considerations. It is in the same category as the attempted murder of the King and Queen of Spain on their wedding-day. In. tho present case, however, if the details aie correctly stated, it was not the act of an individual degenerate, but the outcome of a concerted plot/ as three participators in tho crime are mentioned. Fanatics | of this type are a perpetual menace to every man of eminent position, whose more possession of exceptional authority or wealth' is held to bo in iteolf a crime worthy of death, irrespective) of his character) the nature of his authority, or the manner of its exerciee. Some times there is a personal grudge or imaginary wrong, but this is exceptional; and the constitutional head of n republic incurs practically the same risk as ths selfappointed dictator or the absolute monarch. Apart from those considerations, however, the condition of Portugal has for Gome time been so serious as to attract much attention and comment. The Goeminent was corrupt and the land seething with misery, discontent, and sedition. Tho monarch had excellent qualities, but his personnl extravagance was notorious, and naturally gained him the ill-will of that considerable section of hi 3 subjecte who lived in a chronic state of hunger. In such conditions lies tho opportunity of the inevitable protender to the throne, and t extensive disaffection was believed to exist in the army nnd navy. It is such a position as this that puts a ruler to the test and calls for the exercise of tact and wisdom, and Carlos the First was found' wanting. And in the judgment of King and people, from their respective pointsof view, tb& constitution itself was found wanting. At such a juncture, suggested the Spectator, the ideal remedy would be for Crown and people to take counsel and form a new and efficient constitution. But mutual suspicion made this difficult, if not imEossible. "Dom Carlos thinks that if © releases his hold on the executive the people may dismiss him ; while the people think that if .they adopt any scheme short of a republic they may find themselves .subjected to a regal tyranny." And this was tha alternative actually taken. In August last, with, the aid of Senhor Franco, the King suspended the constitution and set up a dictatorship. Certain reforms were carried out, but the t interim (Joveynment, afraift of revolution, hacf recourse to expedients of tyranny — "the suppression of the press, a censorship upon telegrams and foreign correspondence, numerous very oppressive arrests, and something very hko bribery of the army." There is nothing so far to suggest that the natural discontent was connected with the crime, which it would be unfair to charge ' upon "the people;" but it -has much to do with tho outjook.. 'With a working, constitution, however faulty, the machine -would have gone on with a minimum of disturbance ; biit with tKo hand of the autocrat suddenly removed, who shall guide? The Crown Prince, who was m his twentieth year, was believed to have popular sympathies, and even to have quarrelled with his father on that account — but he has- fallen also. And now Portugal is to realise the old woe of the land "whose king is a child."" Tho new King, Manuel— whose royal estate none need envy — was eight years old last November, the Quesn mother is to be regent — and there is a pretender in the country to whoso claims the Emperor of Germany, it has been suggested, is favourably inclined. The prospect for the nation seems to be a gloomy one.