A CHARACTER SKETCH.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 6, 8 February 1908, Page 25

A CHARACTER SKETCH.

WELL-MEANING KING. BESET BY DIFFICULT PROBLEMS. Dom Luis L, the late King of Portugal, had just breathed his last, when his Queen, Maria Pia, took her eldest sou 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 is now Dom Carlos 1., against whom the machinations reported in our telegrams have been directed. His mother, a remarkable woman, daughter of the late King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel, still lives, the popular Queen-Dowager of Portugal. The King Carlos I. was born on Sept. 28, 1863, so that he was nearing the completion of his forty-fourth year. By a rare coincidence his Queen, Amelie, was boru 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 day. The King was educated at Oporto by Portuguese professors, and after his education was ended he made a tour of Europe. He possessed what is rather the happy forte 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 he was a Shakespearean scholar; Dom Luis translated “The Merchant of Venice,” “Othello,” and “Hamlet,” into Portuguese; and in this reproduction, it is said, the present Sovereign took part. He was then Duke of Braganza, and was known throughout the kingdom as a keen sportsman and the finest shot in the country. Even in later years, when his Majesty had grown very stout, it is said there was scarce a marksman in Lusitania who would back himself against King Carlos. He rode hard, and could drive a pair of horses through the steep and narrow streets of Lisbon with the skill of a perfect whip. These were his delights in those free and careless days before he ascended the throne. Besides these qualities, his Majesty was a fair tennis player, a clever sculptor and artist in whater-colours, and an accomplished musician. A THRILLING BULL-FIGHT. One other qualification must not be omitted. Before he became King the Duke of Braganza was well known for his patronage of the bull-ring. Now in Portugal bull-fights are divested of much of the cruelty which disgraces the Spanish fights. In Portugal neither bulls nor horses are killed, and to prevent the possibility of a bull goring the horse the horns are covered with padded guards. A Court beauty once rallied the Heir to the Throne on this practice, and hinted that the Inill-fighters would not dare to face the bull in the open. The Prince, now King Carlos, took up the implied challenge, and the story runs that at the next fight orders were given that the animal was to be admitted to the arena untrammelled. Dom Carlos took his stand before the swinging doors, and waited, with the frilled darts ready in his hand, for the bull to charge. There was a bellow and a scurry, and then a tornado ol quiver-

for the place where the present King of Portugal was standing. But a bull rarely charges home at the first attempt, and this one did as others do. It stopped, snorted angrily, and threw up the sand with its front hoofs. The King waved his arms, made a feint to lure it on, and then, as it charged again, sprang to one side to avoid it, but in the very act of his spring, slipped on a wet place left by the watering hose • — and fell! The whole audience rose with a simultaneous cry of horror for though Dom Carlos, of course, fought incognito, everyone knew who the too bold banderillero was. Another fighter waved his red capa in the bull’s face; the animal’s attention was diverted for a second. and the Prinee rose. The bull saw the movement, and, taking no further notice of the enticingly-waved capa, made once more for his first adversary. It was run Prince, run bull, to the barriers; and, fortunately for his country, the Prince won—by inches. As his Majesty’s heels cleared the timbers of the barricade, the bull’s horns knocked splinters out of the woodwork a few inches below. “Yes,” said Dom Carlos with a smile, “I fancy I did those twenty-live yards also in very good time.” And then with a downward glance of self-criticism, he added: “I don’t think I should stand much of a chance if I had to do the same thir.g now.” KING CARLOS MARRIES. It was on May 22, 1886, that King Carlos married Princesse Marie Amelie, daughter of Philippe Duke of Orleans, Comte de Paris—-one of the most beautiful and gifted of . Europe’s queens. That marriage, otherwise a happy one, was saddened at the commencement by the fact that the French Republican Government, 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 Cointesse de 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 Prinee had declared nothing should ever induce him to marry any but a fairy-like Princess—one that' was pretty, rich and good. None of the ladies of reigning families within his acquaintance seemed to fulfil the conditions. One day the Comtesse de. la Ferroriaye an astute Frenchwoman, obtained a large photograph of Princess Amelie d’Orleans, and placed it in her drawing-room. There the 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 Amelie’s reception in Lisbon recalled the ancient glories of Portugal. Magnificent processions and gorgeous pageants filled the streets, and of their Queen the Portuguese have reason to be proud. Only three years after his marriage in October, 1880, Dom Carlos was called •to the throne, having already, owing to his father’s illness, been called upon to act as Regent. The early years of his reign were troubled with an unfortunate dispute with England, which the King happily tided over. Hs is reported to have sail: FRIENDSHIP FOR ENGLAND. The English are the best friends of Portugal, and therefore of Portugal’s King, but, unhappily, while I recognise that fact, my subjects cannot. They are fine fellows, these subjects of mine; but they are excitable, and their sturdy patriotism makes them perhaps a little bit too sensitive, and too ready to fancy themselves injured and the national honour insulted by the little rubs which are inseparable from international diplomacy. A great and masterful country like, your England must unavoidably tread on the toes of its weaker neighbours now and then. You do not mean to be rude perhaps; but our corns are tender, and John Bull’s foot is heavy. It is a pity, because wc remember the little slights, ami forget the greater benefits. Portugal suffers from two chronic troubles — the finances and Republicanism. To remedy the first evil the King did his best, submitting magnanimously to large reductions of the Royal revenue. But the Republican anil anti-dynastic politicians were more difficult to deal with in the southern monarchies of Europe than even au empty exchequer, ing brown limbs and glancing horns mads

REVOLUTIONARY’ TROUBLES. For nearly three years, since October, 1604, Portugal has been passing through a succession of constitutional crises. They began with the question of the tobacco monopoly, which caused the downfall of the Riberio Ministry. To them sueceded the. De Castro, or “Progressista," Government; a couple of dissolutions followed, but all in vain. The Cortes had become an utterly unruly, unmanageable body. To the Progressistas followed another of the “Regeneradores,” under Senhor Hintz Riberio, who disposed of the to bacco question, but still there was no peace. Finally, each of the political leaders in turn asked the King t-o dissolve the Cortes and invest him with dictatorial power. His Majesty, while admitting that Parliamentary rule had become an impossibility, decided that this result was in a great measure the fault of the two political factions, who had been in power, and setting the Premiers, their representatives on one side: ho called to his assistance Senhor Joao Franco, a young and able politician and former Minister of the Interior. Him ho invested with arbitrary power, the Cortes being for the nonce adjourned sine die. The opposition groups, of course, declared that Senhor Franco had perpetrated a coup d’etat, which is more or less true, and that he was a dictator, which under the circumstances must be the case. There were Republican and Socialist and anti-dynastic riots; lives were lost; many arrests took place; political clubs were dissolved; newspapers fined and suspended, and their editors imprisoned; telegrams to and from the outer world severely censored or stopped—wi-th all the usual elements of arbitrary rule, when a Parliament lias been set aside. King Carlos necessarily shared in the unpopularity of these proceedings, and to this must be ascribed the reported plot. But there are two things to be said. First dictatorships are commonplaces in Portuguese government, and, secondly, the present “dictaturfc,” appears to have aimed honestly to introduce real reforms in tlie administration. The King of Portugal meant well (saw a recent writer well acquainted with actual conditions in Portugal). It is dimcult to see what other measures were open to him. He wished to reign constitutionally. It has been his misfortune, not his fault, if arbitrary rule has been made a necessity. THE SURVIVING QUEEN. Queen Amelia will rank among the most gifted women of her age. Queen Victoria recognised her talent and took deep interest in her marriage. She was for awhile best known in -.ne land of her adoption as a great sportswoman. She is a powerful swimmer, and was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Humane Society for saving two children from drowning in the Tagus. But the Queen possesses distinguished intellectual gifts. She studied medicine, passed her examination, and obtained a degree, and is thus the only Queen M.D. extant. Her Majesty has made a specialty of nursing, much to the advantage of her subjects. At her qwn expense she maintains a dispensary and hospital for the sick children of the poorer classes; and all over the country she is known for her interest in the work, as is shown bv her visits to hospitals and sisterhoods in various parts of the realm. Among the reforms which she preaches to her own sex is the discontinuance of tight-lacing. It is said that her Majesty was delighted when tho Rontjen rays wore discovered. She photographed by the aid of tile rays a. tightlaced lady, and thereby was able to prove how pernicious the habit is. and to show the deformity caused by undue pressure on the internal organs. It has been saiti that the Queen’s precept and example have diminished tight lacing in Portugal! Her Majesty’s sister. Princess Helene d’Orleans, married the Duke of Aosta, cousin of the reigning King of Italy. Their Portuguese Majesties have two sons, Prince Luis, who is twenty years of ago, and Prince Manuel, eighteen. Such is the pair that lias ruled Portugal through many troublous years. Over them seemed to hang the fatality that has pursued the bouse for the last two generations. Queen Stephanie’s death in 1860, three months after her marriage, was supposed to have been due to foul play. Dom Joa died by poison, as dia Prince Ferdinand. Dom Augustus and King Luis wore also poisoned, but escaped death, although hie latter never recovered from its ••fleets, and remained an invalid to the day oi his death.