TERRIBLE TRAGEDY IN PORTUGAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 6, 6 February 1908, Page 13

TERRIBLE TRAGEDY IN PORTUGAL.

KING AND CROWN PRINCE MURDERED

A cable message received on Sunday reported the assa^ssinat/ion of the King and Urown Prince of Portugal. Three of their murderers were killed. The K-.ng, Queen, Crown . Prince, and Prince Manuel \\ere driving in an open carriage at five o'clock in Lisbon. When they were leaving the Praco do Commercio a group of men opened." tire on them *with carbines. The King and Crown Prince were mortally wotunded/ and Princte Manuel was wounded slightly. The Queen had a miraculous escape- She rose to shield the Crown Prince, but was not hit. The police immediately fired on the tfe^ic.'d.s. The Kin? and his son were removed to the Na\al Arsenal, having, received three bullet wounds each, but they died shortly afterwards. Portugal has. been a separate Kingdom since 1640, i«» when the Spanish yoke was thrown off, and the Duke of Braganza was proclaimed King under the title of John iv The at tenants of Spain to regain its lost authority lasted until 1688, when it was terminated by a treaty' which recognised ijhe independence of Portugal For the next 120 years little of general importance occurred^ in Portutnal. One of the first steps taken by NapoleOn on his return (after the peace of Tilsit) was to* order the prmce-regent of Portugal that he must shut his ports d gainst English commerce, confiscate all English property, and banish all Ensrlish subjects. The prince and his m msterj dared not onenly resist the French emperor's but trie* to- steer a middle course, but M« L

peifoCt obeditnee was punished by Napoleon, who sent an army across the P> ranees into fc>i,ain, and from there was marched to the Poituguese fronder. 'lha Prince, seeing the uselessness of a contest, especially as France was assisted by Spain, iltd to Braz.il, which was then a colony of Portugal. 'lih.n followed the Peninsular war, which was brought to a close in" 18 14 by the expulsion of the Fr c nch from JSp'ain and Portugal. Ihe prince-re-gent lived and ruled in .brazil irom 1807- to 1820. Even at the close, "of the Peninsular "War he aid not return to the Mothrfr Country, so that for some years the ordinary conditions of other countries had been reversed, Portugal had "virtually become a dependency of her own colony. An absent" court was a severe trial to the pride of the Portuguese, and under the circumstances had few defend'eis. in 1820 the troops in various parts of the country threw off their allegiance and 1 appointed a- Junta to establish a go ernment. The conspiracy was successful. At this time John VI. was ruling in Brazil,, and when he heard of Ihe change of events he appointed his eld-.st son Dom Pedro regent of Brazil, and set out for his old) kingdom. The Portuguese dd not desire the: deposition of John, but otol ecied to his absence from the country, and consequently he 'was allowed once a-~ gain to oocupy the throne. In 1823 the Brazilians persur aded Dom Pedro to raise their country to the dignity of an Empire, and to declare himself its con&titution&rfu- ~ 1 r. At the close cf 1824"' the King returned to Brazil to spend his last days in pi ace. On reaching Rio de Janeiro, he reco^nis.d Dom Pediro as Emperor of Brazil and in 1826 John VI. died in the country of his choice. With the death cf John l:ec;an a quarter of a century of very sad. times for the country. The accession of. Dom Pedro to the throne was hailed with joy in Portugal, t-houih looked upon with suspicion in Brazil. He justified his reputation as a great and pio^rcssive ruler by drawing up a charter, containing the bases for a moderate parliamentary government of the English 1 h .?» to I ;leas e his Brazilian subjects, he abdicated the throne of Portugal in favor of his daughter, Donna Maria da Gloiij, a child of seven years of age' He appointed Dom Miguel, his brother, as regent during; the minority of the Queen. The regent was ambitious and no sooner was he vested with power than he sts t about paving the way for securing the crown He instituted a rei^n of terror, and ruled in defiance of all !j,^rt n reS p lt i beinK - ihat the co:jnxv y was hopelessly luined. Dom Pedro resigned Iha crown of Brazil in iB3l to his infant son, and leit that country to head a mo, - e- ?«& ?u Port "Sal for his daughter's cause. In July Wri o6o 6 *iUi an army of 7,500 men entered Oporto, where he ws enthusiastically received After several conflicts the followers of Dom Miguel were completely dJeatcd, Dom Pedro entering Lisbon dn,May, «?« ,i m •c , fo Jj° w * n S y e ar England and France recog- . woe M , an ™ da Glolla aS Queen of Portugal. The Queen Z h J + l ie " n years Of atre when she * ost «ie benefit of her father's wise coiins 1. The whole of her reieJ was disturbed by .iolbnt party slnugles. In 1852 the charter was revised to suit all parties, and the era of civil discord came to an end. She passed away in 1853, and was succeeded by her son, Pedro V. undrr th? regency of his father, the Kins-Consort. Pedro died rf Pans. He succeeded his father as Kinc of PortiiLi L time or ftisl death in his twenty-first year. Prince Manuel, who was wounded, is ' the sec6nd a-nd oSly surviving issue of the marriage. Queen Amelie is a S7S 7 wn^- an^ ChariteHe lad y> and was amongst the fiijt women m Europe to secure a medical diploma he .. de .votes a great deal of he* time to visitiii the. charitable institutions of Lisbon, and is always ready Sd U needy er me<lical[ s)ld11 for the I)eneflt of the pi OO r Portugal has an area of about 34,000 square males * being a little larger than Ireland, or about aS fourth ■ less than that of the North Island of New Zea--•m-^ 1 ?' Populaffion,- including that of the Azores' and Madeira, is 5,423,132. The country is ' governed by two legislative Chambers— the Peers and' the P DeDutiescollrctively called the Cortes. The Chamber of Peers consists of, 90 members nominated for life, m addition' to the princes of the blood royal and the twelve pre- - lates of the continental dioceses. The second Chamhfer is composed of " members, elected under a system of universal suffrage every four years, to the numbler of \ : •

120, of whom six are elected by the~ colonies. There has been considerable unrest in d'ortugal for the past few monitns, owing to the King having dispensed with Tne Uortes, "and governed witli the aad of the Executive. At tne ena or Movember the (situation was ex--tremely seiiOuS, the repressive measures, adopted by Senor Franco (President of Uouncil and Minister of. '.the Interior) na.ing produced general discontent. The Tiepublicans, W'jiose ranKs were being swelled by the accession ot many notable Monarchist politicians, continued to agitate "aganist tne authorities. - 'me cnier products oi the country are wheat, -oats, maize, baney, vax, nemp, rice, oranges, lemons, grapes, ngs, and otner fruits, it has important mineral products, sucn as iron, antimony, copper, lead, slate,, etc. bitty per cent, ot the value of the exports consists of wine, winch is tne cnief industrial product of the country. The estimateid re\enue for the financial year ending March, ibu- , is £15,174,000, and the expenditure, asid<,4U2s,uuu. but many years the expenditure has exceeaea vne revenue, tne aenciency being adaed to the. national aefo*, wiuon is now over £150,UUO,«00.