THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2812, 5 February 1908, Page 51

THE WEEK.

" Snnqusm allad nature, altad nplMtia dlrlL"— Jovwaw "Good aattm and good seas* mdn nn joiu. lr — T or*. When Shakespeare penned the now familiar lines, "Uneasy lies ■The Tragedy the bead that wears a at Lisbon, crown," he probably wrote Wiser than he knew, for, however troublous the lot of the reigning monarch in the days of the bard of Avon, he usually had .the privilege, of fighting a foe above ground and of dying covered with glory upon the field of battle. But nowadays, thanks largely to the ramifications of a complex civilisation', the campaign against royalty is carried on in subterranean channels, and the ruling monarch' lives in continual dread of the dynamite bomb, the knife, or the revolver, suddenly directed against his person by the cowardly assassin who does the behest of one of the many Anarchist associations with which Europe in particular is honeycombed, the motive which directs the deadly deed being either the powerful one of greed of gold or the equally powerful one of ignorant fanaticism. And yet, despite the serious disadvantages which attend the life of the king upon his throne, the observation is as true to-day as when Sterne made it that " What has surprised me most in history is to read of so few kings who have abdicated their thrones — not aboTe a dozen or two at the most." The moral of this may be read in two ways: either that the majority of the royal line are ao conscious of their responsibility to their subjects as to be willing to defy the fates and . accept the consequences of being elected to rule a nation, or else that the love of power — so strong an impulse in every human heart — grows" faster than the fear which lies latent in most royal breasts. Thus the comparative security which immunity from danger implants in the minds of royal personages has received a rude shock in the tragedy just enacted in the streets of Lisbon, where at the hands of a trio of assassins Dom Carlos — the name by which Charles I of Portugal was popularly known, — together with the Crown Prince, his eldest son, received their death wounds. It is safe to say that this dastardly outrage has profoundly moved the occupants of every European throne,, besides exciting feelings of indignation a~nd horror in the breasts of every right-minded person throughout the civilised world.

From the cable intelligence at present available it is difficult to Anarchist or dißCjern whether this regiBeTolattenary. cidal outrage is the work of Which! anarchy <in general or whether it has its origin in the known political disturbances which for the past twelve "months or more have agitated the kingdom of Portugal. At first blush it would seem that, the sad fate of the King <}f Portugal and his son is QM of. the fruits of the campaign of

anarchy which is ceaselessly waged againfci the rulers of every nation, irrespective of their personal qualities or the nature of their rule. On the other hand, ther>& are not wanting indications which pom& to a connection — more or less remote — be,« tween the fatal deed and the machination^ of the revolutionary party in Portugal who seek to place upon the throne Princes Miguel of Braganza, the legitimist claimant. Whether his connection wJjj over be sufficiently established to enable the punishment of the crime to be sheeted home to the guilty parties time alone wiH tell. To properly understand the presentsituation it is necessary to go back & little into the history of Portugal. Ift 1826 John VI died in Brazil, leaving tha regency of Portugal to his daughter, Isabel Maria, to the disgust , of Dom Migueli who had fully expected that Portugal would in some manner be bequeathed to him. The following 26 years were the saddest in' the whole history of Portugal. During that time many attempts were made to establish some system of parliamentary government, but owing to the intrigues of the different statesmen and generals all such attempts proved largely abortive. At length; after a prolonged period 'of internal hostilities, Dom Miguel, defeated and compelled to surrender at Evora Monte, agreed to abandon his claim ft> the throne of Portugal, and in consideration of a^ pension of £15,000 per annum promised never again to set foot in the kingdom. The Cortes — or Portuguese ' Parliament — subsequently declared Dom /Miguel and his heirs for ever ineligible to. succeed to »the throne, and forbade them to return to Portugal, under pain of death." Queen Maria *da Gloria, who was only 15 when she ascended the throne in 1834r— her father, Dom Pedro, having acted as regent until his death, — died in 1853, and her husband, the King Gonsort Ferdinand 11, assumed the regency until his eldest son, Pedro, should ! come of age. Pedro V came of age and assumed the government of Portugal in 1855, and in 1857 married the Princess Stephanie of flohenzollern. In 1861 the whole of Portugal, and especially the city of Lisbon, was, on account of the neglect of all sanitary precautions, ravaged by cholera and yellow fever. ,It was in the midst of one of these outbreaks, on November 11, 1861, that Pedro, who had refused to leave his pestilence-stricken capital, died of cholera, and was followed to the grave by two of his younger brothers, Dom Ferdinand and Dom John. At the time of Pedro's death, his next brothei and heir, Dom Luis, was travelling on the continent, and his fathei', Ferdinand, 1J; who long survived Queen Maria) da Gloria, and morganatically married 1 Elise Hensler, a dancer, assumed the regency until Dom Luis' s return. The; reign of King Luis, "who married Maria Pia, younger daughter of Victor Emmanuel, King of "Italy* was prosperous and peaceful, and the news of, his death" in .October, 1889, was received with general regret. Luis I was succeeded by the unfortunate - Dom Carlos, or Charles 1 I, at that time a young man of 26, who married in 1886 the Princess Marie Amelie de Bpurbon, the eldest daughter of the Comte de Paris. His accession was immediately followed by the revolution of November 15, 1889, in Brazil, by which" the King's great-uncle, Pedro 11, Emperor oi Brazu, was dethroned, and a Republican Government established in that country. This news created a profound impression in Portugal, the Republican party, which had for some years been 'growing in strength in the cities of Lisbon and Oporto, hailed it with delight, and the more Democratic journals urged that the example of Brazil should be followed. The young King's difficulties were further increased by the disputes which arose in regard to Africa, and it was generallyconceded at that time' that Dom Carlos would need to display the greatest political wisdom if he was to weather thj storms besetting the position of Portugal and to save the Portuguese monarchy.

The two main disturbing factors which have troubled Portugal Dom Carlos during the reign of tho and liU ■> murdered monarch Dom Difficulties. Carlos have their origin in - . economic disorder and the ignorance of the bulk of the nation. When" Dom Carlos ascended the throne the financial situation 'was unsatisfactory in the highest degree ; while, notwithstanding the introduction of compulsory education and the establishment oi' a complete sysfcenp. of primary- -ancL secoxicUury echools, some 80 per cent, of the population remain illiterate. The chief cause of the unsatisfactory financial situation has been the wasteful and unscrupulous manipulation of the national resources by the various party leaders, which in its turn has been rendered possible by the absence ' of effective parliamentary control. For }he absence of education on the part of the, great bulk of tha population has practically negatived all and every effort to establish representative government. Thug it has come about that the various political parties which from time to time have held the reins of government have been nothing more or less than organised bands of office-seekers, in search of political plunder, who lived on the Treasury. And, m response to the ever increasing demand's of these aspirants, the Prime Ministers for the time being have been compelled to quiet the clamour of their supporters by, the - distribution oi sinecures, the creation of new political posts, the concession of lucrative contracts and monopolies, and innumerable other favours. The drain on the finances' involved In the pursuit of so pernicious a system has necessitated fresh burdens of taxation which fell mainly upon the lower -class, and especially upon the peasantry. This vicious system of administration, carried, on alternately and with equal equanimity 1 by both parties — • the Conservatives, or " Regeneradores," and the Liberals, or V Progressistas "— came to a crisis recently owing to. the outcry which followed the renewal of the concession for the tobacco This I conflict over the tobacco monopoly boos

ffatew all other questions into the shade, fjia made opportunity for the coming to th*. front oi Senor Joao Franco, the present Dictator of Portugal.

It .was in 1901 that Senor Franco, breaking

away from the Ribiero AdTke Kan of the ministration, founded a Moneat. party of Liberal-JEtegenera-dor»ss, which adopted the watchwords of social and economic reform and effective parliamentary control. Upon the downfall of the Ribiero Ministry, Senor Franco was .summoned to power. He was not without experience, having been Minister of the Interior under his former chief, Senor Ribiero. As a member of the Cabinet he displayed an inflexible uprightness and honesty of character which won him general respect. GHted with remarkable intelfige^ce, industry, and eloquence, and bearing an unblemished character, be waa regarded as the statesmen best qualified to undertake the herculean task of purifying the Administration and initiating a new era of honesty, efficiency, aad economy- But soon after Senor Franco had: formed his Ministry, he found it knpossible to carry out his programme, owing to the frequent obstructions of the Republicans and other sections in the Cortes. The critical moment arrived when Senor Franco, with the full concurrence of the King, determined to dispense with the services of a body which took so little account of its duties and its dignity as to degenerate into little better than a noisy debating society. In Portugal there is nothing "very terrible or even unusual in' this dictatorship; indeed, it has been assumed and exercised for a time by almost every Ministry of recent date. T&e decree stated that tine Cortes, or Parliament, was closed in the interests of pabßc order, and that administrative interests prevented its opening. Thus for the wnole of 1907 a political dictatorship existed in Portugal under the Premiership of Dona Joao Franco, who backed by Dom Carlos governed the country without s Parliament. The Premier proceeded to govern by decrees, and while he did not infringe the liberty of the people be seriously endeavoured to effect economies in th& public service, to abolish sinecures, and to ensure the efficiency of all branches of ie Administration. This policy drew down upon him the hostility of all the politicians, who bad made a living out of - the business, and there was often serious organised rioting — sometimes with bloodshed — both, in Oporto and in Lisbon. Moreover, the Republicans used Use opportunity of fishing in troubled water, and showed unusal activity. For instance, the rumour was sedulously circulated that Prince Miguel of Braganza, whose father, the late ex-King Miguel, was forced to abdicate 73 years ago, would be -.willing to respond to any appeal made to him. There is thus the possibility that had the .assassins succeeded in their object and secured the death of Prince Manuel, in addition to murdering the King and the' Crown Prince, Prince Miguel might have put in an appearance and laid claim to the throne. This, of "course, lends colour to the idea that political machination lay at the root of the shocking crime. For the moment the Revolutionary party has been put out of court, by the proclamation of Prince Manuel as King of Portugal, bat the" trend of events in that kingdom will bear close watching for some time to come.