KING CARLOS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 28, 3 February 1908, Page 7

KING CARLOS.

A SKETCH OF HIS CAREER. PORTUGAL'S DIFFICULTIES. Dom Luis 1., the late King of Portugal, had just breathed his last, when his Queen, Maria Pia, took her eldest Eon to the bedside and said, "I desire that you shall be a King like your father, just and loyal, and I give you my blessing." That eldest son was Dom Carlos 1., whose death is reported in to-day's cable messages. His moUher, a remarkable woman, daughter of the late King of Italy, Victor Emanuel, still lives, the Queen-Dowager of Portugal. The King Carlos I. was born on 28th September, 1863, so that he was in his forty-fiftih year. By a raie coincidenco his Queen, Amo]ie, was born at Twickenham on the same day two years later ; and alone, we believe, among the occupants of European thrones they bid each other "Many happy returns" on the same da,y. The King was educated at Oporto by Portuguese professors, and after his education was ended he made a lour of Europe. He possessed what was ratihor the happy i'orte of kings — a remarkable knowledge of languages. He spoke seven, and five of them fluently. With "English he was quite at home. 'Like his father, ho was a Shakespearean scholar. Dom Luis translated "The Merchant of Venice," "Othello," and "Hamlet" into Portuguese; and in this reproduction, it is said, me late sovereign took part. Ho was then Duke of Braganza, and was known throughout the kingdom as a keen sportsman and the' finest' shot in the country. Besides these qualities, His Majesty was a fair tennis , player, a clever sculptor, an artist in water-colours and an accomplished musician. Alf INCIDENT. Before he became King the Duke of Braganza was well known for his patronage of the bull-rin<r. Now in Por-,, tugal bull-fights are divested of mud I; of the cruelty which disgraces the Spar h ish fights. In Portugal neither bul' fr , nor horses are killed, and to preve a t the possibility of a bull goring the hoi h ,c the horns are covered with padf' /< ; d guards. A Court beauty once ral fied tho Heir to tne Throne on this prac fcice, and hinted that the bull-fighters -v kmld not dare to face the bull in the ©pen. Tiho Prince took up tte implied , challenge, and the. story runs that it the next fight orders were given tr the animal was to be admitted to th p arena untrammelled. Tho statement as p b- Ulished at the time was : — "Dom Carlos took has stan J before tho swinging doors, and waif f Z^ > with the frilled darts ready in his hand, for the bull to charge. There \ g is a ' bellow and a scurry, and then v tornado of quivering brown limbs ar j-i glancing horns mado for the place 'where the present King of Portugal wr A . standing. Put a bull rarely charge?, t w , rac at the first attempt, and this one < (j d us others do. It itopped, snorted angrily, and threw up the sand with it } front hoofs. The king waved his arms, , i na de a feint to lure it on, and then, jjs it charged

again, sprang to onf, side to avoid it, but m tlho very act of his spring, slipped on a wot plaoe "left by the watering hose— and fell! 'The whole audience rose with a simuJiaineous cry of horror, tor, though Do nj. Carlos, of course, iought incognito,, everyone knew who tho too bold ba-aderillero was. Another fighter waved Iji-j r<? d capa in the bull's lace; the ammaVs attention was diverted for a second, and tho Prince rose. Iho bull saw tho movement, and. taking no further uotj cc of the enticingly-wav-ed capa>, mad?) once more for his first adversary /ft was run p r ; ncej run bull to the .'barriers; and, fortunately tor his conn. try, the Prince won— by ""*?!• , As «' His Majesty's heels cleared the timber.-,' . O f the barricade, the bull's hoins knorfcod splinters out of the woodwork a fr/w inches below. "Yes," said l-T 1 r mifJS with a smile, "I fancy I did tnor<e- twenty-five yards or so in very gcori time.' And then with a do .wnwf U vl gi^^ rf self-criticism, he added;.' --'I don't think I should stand much. «f. a chance if I had to do tihesame thing now.' " -' i HIS MARRIAGE. It was on 22nd May, 1886, that King Gark«, married Princess Marie Amelie" daughter bi Philippe Duke of Orleans, yonif,e de Paris— one" of the most beautitul/and gifted of Europe's queens. That m '<j r f iage ' otlierwi se a happy one, was si«ddened at the commencement by the t^ct that tho French Republican Govermnen,t, alarmed at the manifestations of monarchical loyalty which the union called forth in France and in Portugal passed an Expulsion Bill that made the Comte and Comtesse d© Paris and their children exiles from France. The marriage took place at Lisbon amid great rejoicings. A story is told of the engagement with the Orleanist Princess, which deserves to be true, and probably is. It is said that the Prince had declared nothing should ever induce him to marry any but a fairy-like Princessone that was pretty, rich, and good.None of the ladies of reigning familias within his acquaintance seem.cd to fulfil the conditions. one day the Comtesse de la Ferronaye, an astute Frenchwoman, obtained a lai-ge photograph of Princess Amelie d'Orleans, and placed it in her drawing-room. There ' Uh& young duke saw, and at once the die was cast. A flying visit to Paris followed, and the Franco-Portuguese marriage was the result. Princess Araelie's reception in Lisbon recalled tho ancient glories of Portugal. Magnificent processions and gorgeous pageants filled 'the streets, and of their Queen tho Portuguese have reason to be proud. Only three years after his marriage in October, 1889, Dom Carlos was cal led to the throne, having already, owing to his father's illness, been called upon to a:ct as Regent. The early years .'o£ his reign were troubled with an unfortu- . nate dispute with England, which /tb c King happily tided over. He is repo rt/ _»d to have said : >..- The English are the best frier : c is of Portugal, and therefore of IVjrtugal's King, but, unhappily, w fji© I recognise that fact, my subj< . o t s cannot. They are fine fellows, y. ie se subjects of mine ; but they ai ,v excitable, and their- sturdy patr if ,tism makes them perhaps a little li/ t too sensitive, and too ready to r fancy themselves injured and the nat ional honour insulted by the littW ru bs which are inseparable from i) iternational displomacy. A grea/ „ and masterful country like yoitf ,• En«land must unavoidably trea;J oh tho toes of its weaker neighbfjj . irs now and then. You do not mdm to be rude perhaps ; but our c orns arc tender, and John Bull's foot is heavy. It is a pity, bee 4a JS e we remember the little slights ,"and forget ,the greater benefits. / ' PORTUGAL'S TPv' kIBLES. Portugal has suffered •' / fom two chron ie troubles— the finances fc n d Republicanism. To remedy the fl- £ t evil the Rmjj submitted to large rec\ ;» iC tions of tho Royal revenue. But th * Republican and anti-dynastic politician # were more diffl. cult to deal with in L \ ie southern monarchies df Luropeth a/ ± e v e n' an empty exchequer. ; ,J« r nearly three y« irß| since October, 1904, Portugal liv ; been passing through -a, eucccssuW o f constitutional crises. They began,/ w ith tho question of the tobacco mootf , po ly, which caused the downfall of th/ . Ribeirp Ministry. To them succeedodi/ the De Castro, or "Progrcssista," Oaf ernrnent ; a couple of dissolutions folW but all in vain. The Cortes had tt, acome an utterly unruly, unmanageal:* j body. To the Progrossistas follow £ i another of the "Re. generadoros," ur J J er Senhor Hintzo Ri- ; bcjro, who dispo f 3 d of the tobacco question, but still *;]jc ro vas no pi>aco Finally, each o* £ the political leaders in turn asked tb £ King to dissolve the Cortes and m- /, jsthim with dictatorial P OWC1 ": , Hls Xajesty,- while admitting that Parliame q Lary rule had become an impossibility, ''decided that this result, was in a gre if , measure the fault of thfl two political , factions, who had been in power, and -t.etting the Premiers, their ropresentati Be s on one side; he called to hia assit JMnc^ Senhor Joao Franco, a young and / a b] 0 politician and former Minister < fl the Interior. Him he' invested wit j T arbitrary power, the Cortes being tor "f.ho nonee 1 adjourned sine die. The oppr * ition groups, of course, declared tl it Senhor Franco had perpetrated a / d'etat, which was more or less t r .ie, and that he was a dictator. There h 'pi been Republican Socialist and an /j -dynastic riot.-, ; lives had been lost ; *,any arrests had taken place; politic JT-. c l u )j S had beort dissolved; nbwsp Jk'oers fined and snsponded, and their fa, Altars imprisoned; telegrams to and horn the outer world severely consored ''or stopped— with all the usual clnmen |f, o f arbitrary rule, when a ParHan? fi nt has been sot aside. Kiag Carlos nee shared in the unpopularity of jf hese proceedings, and to this wa's asc jbed the plot to assassinate him on 22i^ 1 August.