REVOLUTION WHILE YOU WAIT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12059, 14 July 1917, Page 7

REVOLUTION WHILE YOU WAIT.

ROYAL HOUSES THAT HAVE BEEN EXTINGUISHED. Revolutions are quickly over nowadays. Dynasties that have outlasted centuries aro overthrown in the course of a few hours. , It was not always so. The oldfashioned revolution was a comparatively leisurely affair. When, for instance, our Charles I. tried to over-ride tho will of tho people and Parliament, the revolution he brought about lasted for seven years. Tho recent Russian revolution was over 'n forty-eight hours. The Romanoff dynasty, of which Nicolas was tho head, had lasted for just, over threo hundred years. It took two days to overthrow it. Tlio French revolution, the first and greatest of all uprisings of tho kind, began with the storming of tho Bastille on July 14, 1789, and ended with the arrest and execution of Robes"pierro on July 28, 1794, a period of about five years. SOON OVER. The revolution in Portugal in 1910, on the other hand, larted for thirty-one hours only. First tho army, then the navy, sjided with tho revolutionists, the royal palaco was bombarded, there was some slight street fighting, and in a day and a night all was over. King Manoel was a fugitive. From a kingdom Portugal was transformed into a republic, and the royal house of Braganza, came to an end after a reign of two hundred and seventy years. . On February J2, 1912, the Manchu dynasty, which had ruled over China for two hundred and sixty-seven years, ended with the. compulsory "abdication" of the five-year-old Emperor, Hsuan Tung, followed by a proclamation of the now Chinese Republic, with a constitution and laws based on Western linos.

Tho revolution which brought about this surprising change in a nation of four hundred millions of peoplo was begun on October 11, 1911, by a few hundred foreign-drilled soldiers in Wuchang, and spread like fire until practically the entire army had become involved. Then, of course, it was all over " bar the shouting." KILLED THE EMPRESS.

Not only are modern revolutions more quickly over, they are also, by comparison, far less terrible than of yore. The first French revolution delugcrl France in blood. The last., which broke out in 1870, after the disaster at Sedan, wag a]most entirely bloodless. Tt was, too, the shortest on record. At 3.10 p.m. on September 4 the Senate adjourned. France was then an empire." At 4.15 p.m. tho Senate met again and proclaimed the republic. In the spaco of one hour and live minutes the Bonaparte dynasty had been, snuffed out like tho flamo of a candle, and with hardly moro fuss or trouble. Almost as uneventful was tho revolution which, in November, 1889, transformed Brazil from a.n empire into a republic. Although it was begun and carried through by the army, there was practically no lighting. The aged Emperor," Dom Pedro, was ariested and packed off to Europe on a warship, together with his family. There was dignity, as well as tragedy, in his departure. _ Tho Empress was prostrate' and died on ilhe voyage to Europo of a- broken heart. The Emperor Indignantly refused the offer of an allowance of £500,000 a year voted him by the new Provisional Government. Herein, at least, he commanded respect. THE SERBIAN TRAGEDY. Far more tragic wag the fate of the unhappy Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico' and brother of the late Austrian Emperor. When the Mexican people declared for a ropublic in 1865 Maximilian decided to put up a fight for his fhrone. * Moreover, with the true Hapsburg cruelty and reckless disregard of consequences, ho shot many of his prisoners, counting them as rebels, and thereforo worthy of death. Small wonder, therefore, that when tho republics eventually captured Maximilian they executed him. Only one other instance exists in modern times where tho head of a reigning dynasty has been deliberately slain ns the outcome of a successful 7'evolution. This was in in June, 1903, when King Alexander was murdered in his bedchamber, and his body hurled from a window into tho courtyard below. With him there perished also his consort, the ill-fated Queen I>raga. This double assassination ended the dynasty of the Obrenov itches.