THE ASSASSINATION OF THE KING AND CROWN PRINCE OF PORTUGAL.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 6, 8 February 1908, Page 10

THE ASSASSINATION OF THE KING AND CROWN PRINCE OF PORTUGAL.

HIE CAI SES WHICH LED IP TO THE Ml RDEIL The following illuminative article, which appeared in the •’Star” gives a very clear idea of the causes which led up to the murder, and is of great interest at the present juncture: The satisfactory outcome of King Ed ward’s ('on! inent a I lour and tin* general knowledge that Portugal and its King art* numbered among the warmest friends of England, have perhaps tended to obscure the nioiiK'iitoiis nature of the desperate struggle that has for some time past been progressing between Dorn Car-

los and his subjects. The King of Portugal is in many ways an enlightened and liberal minded ruler. An artist, a sculptor, a poet, and a scientist, in all his varied pursuits Doni Carlos has shown far more than the moderate degree of ability frequently eulogised in Royal amateurs. Queen Amelia, a remarkably welleducated woman, and the only doctor of medicine among the Royalties of Europe, has certainly encouraged her husband’s natural tendencies toward progressive principles of thought and methods of government. But Dom Carlos is at heart a true child of the old autocratic regime which still maintains

itself in Europe; and he is convinced that in the last resort the Royal will must prevail over the will of the people. It is through the King’s determination to override* the wishes and the convictions of his subjects that, in spite of his earnest labours for their welfare*, he has stirred up against the Throne a furious opposition, which has already threatened at more than one critical juncture to cost him his crown and his life. THEORETICALLY PORTUGAL IS A CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY, and it has long enjoyed the question-

able blessings of party government. The Regenera tors," or Conservatives hold by the traditions that before the French Revolution formed the common faith of the titled and privileged claims throughout the* world. The “Progressists" are nominally Liberals, but their views of popular rights would hardly suit colonial democrats. In the actual work of govern ment there does not seem to have been much difference between the two parties > and the administration of both was marked by extravagance, incompetence, and corruption. After trying several

changes of Ministry, Dorn Carlos ultimately decided that to reform the abuses from which the country was suffering it was necessary to take more decisive steps. He CALLED TO HIS AID SENHOR JOAO FRANCO, a young politician who had already made his mark as a resolute party leader and a brilliant orator. Senhor Franco was originally a Conservative, but he formed a small party on what might be termed National Liberal lines, and promptly set about his task of reorganising the finances and purifying the administration of the country. But both of the older political parties were violently opposed to the new policy. The unscrupulous “professional” politicians who had preyed upon the country resented the loss of their booty. The nobles and the churchmen objected to Senhor P’ranco as a “new man.” who was striving to curry favour with the King by limiting their privileges. To secure the ends that they had in view Dom Carlos and his minister were therefore compelled to govern without the help and support of Parliament, and the Premier was then formally appointed Dictator of the country. It must be understood that this “dictatorship,” odious as the term sounds in democratic ears, is a recognised feature of the Portuguese constitution. Nearly all governments that have held power at Lisbon during the last century have employed this expedient temporarily and as a last resort in case of a constitutional deadlock Dom Carlos was quite justified in having recourse to it. But the natural effect of this step was to array against the Government not oniy the Regenerators anl the Progressists, but the mass of the people who, though politically unimportant, are already imbued with democratic principles and who have been roused by anarchists, socialists, and republicans to demand the abolition of all autocratic methods of government. So far as the PRACTICAL RESULTS OF SENHOR FRANCO’S WORK are concerned, it seems that he has been eminently successful. Even his enemies admit that he has restored order, improved the state of the public finances, and punished dishonesty and misuse of the public funds with impartial severity. But he has been governing without Parliamentary support, and therefore with the full consent and approval of the King, he has been practically driven to employ repressive and coercive measures to enforce his will. A rigid censorship of the press has been established, the universities, which, on the Continent, are Vie natural homes of Liberalism, have been closed, and prominent leaders of the Opposition and advocates of republican and socialist views have been arrested or deported at night without any legal formality. When the Representative Chamber nrotested to the Premier and the King against the unconstitutional methods that Senliof Franco has employed, it was simply dissolved; and the Premier went on without a Parliament. As an inevitable consequence, popular discontent, being denied its natural and legitimate remedy, has taken a more violent form; and the climax of the movement was reached in a plot to assassinate the King, and to destroy the autocracy or to place a more liberal monarch on the throne. THE QUESTIONS AT ISSUE BETWEEN DOM CARLOS AND HIS PEOPLE are to some extent complicated by the fact that there is another claimant to the throne of Portugal. Dom Miguel de Braganza, a son of the ex-King Miguel, who was forced to abdicate over seventy years ago, is now resident in Austria. He is a colonel in the Austrian army, and is chiefly known as au enthusiastic golfer and an entertainer of nobility and royalty at his splendid family seat. Evon the Legitimists admit the weakness of his claim to the throne. But to the Opposition he is a most useful tool; and the enemies of Senhor Franco have not hesitated to lend Dom Miguel their support in the hope of compelling Dom

Carlos to dismiss the obnoxious Premier. As to the assassination plot which, of course, impelled Dom Carlos and his Dictator to adopt an even more rigorously repressive policy than before, it was the work of a small extreme section of anarchists and republicans. But it served to aggravate the bitter feeling that now separates the King from his people; while the bloodshed occasioned by the recent riots and the coercive measures that followed, have made reconciliation difficult, if not impossible. It can hardly be denied that, however good Senhor Franco’s intentions may be—and even his enemies do not seem to question the honesty of his motives —his measures have been entirely inconsistent with the British conception of constitutional government; and it is likely that in any case Dom Carlos will be forced to dispense with his services. But it is a more serious question whether the breach between the King and his people can ever be bridged again, or whether Dom Carlos is not destined to prove, lilfe so many other autocrats of his race, that the throne is helpless against a unanimous popular demand for Liberty.