BOMBS AND TYRANNY IN PORTUGAL

New Zealand Tablet, 25 July 1912, Page 53

BOMBS AND TYRANNY IN PORTUGAL

Towards the end of May the trial of the so-called conspirators took place at Oporto, with the result that they were all acquitted result not to be wondered at when one remembers' that the chief documents of the accusation are various printed manifestoes found in their possession, and the chief ' proofs ' against them the hearsay of their enemies. It is true that poor Ribas had still less in his dossier the assertion of his accuser, who was at the same time (illegally) the only witness against him, that he had tried after ten minutes' conversation with a perfect stranger to enlist him for the counter-revoiution. ' This same witness was contradicted by the telegraphist present at the meeting, and was afterwards convicted of perjury. But all these facts duly set forth by the advocate, Dr. Osorio, in his appeal to the president to exercise his prerogative by giving a free pardon to the unfortunate victim of such unheard-of prison treatment, joined to the fact that the penitentiary for political ' crime ' has been hitherto unknown in Portugal, and that the poor man has probably only a few weeks to live, are powerless (says the special correspondent of the Catholic Times) when weighed, against one circumstance, i.e., that Ribas was the policeman who in the simple performance of his duty arrested Affonso Costa and his friends when about to carry out the Republican plot, which included the blowing up of the barracks of the Municipal Guard, on January 28, a few days before the murder of Dom Carlos.

The acquittals are not looked upon with a favorable eye by those puissant citizens whose will is law in Portugal, nor by their rag-tag and bobtail followers. The Government, always anxious to please the latter, proposed to introduce a Bill by the provisions of which the Ministers could at will dismiss all functionaries, military or civil, the only appeal for these latter being to Parliament, in which the Ministers have a majority. It so happens that to make this Bill law no less than three articles of the Constitution would have to be repealed, so that for a little longer the magistrates may continue to call,their souls their own, and even when their consciences so direct them to act, as they did lately in the.case of the Bishop of Algarve, whom they refused to find guilty on more than two of the various charges made against him. It is piquant to see the papers which could not find words "enough to denounce the Monarchy for daring to punish an officer with six months' transference because" he set himself up as a republican candidate, now deeming quite natural this new view of ' democratic ' government, and declaring that the Republic (once, in their own words, 'the whole nation') must defend itself ' with teeth and nails.' It appears to prefer bombs. Hardly a day passes that one or more is not thrown in some public place. On the night of May 26, in Oporto, citizens who carry them about attended the trials of some 'conspirators,' including a priest. Foreseeing an acquittal, for the proofs were so shaky that the prosecutor had to remind the jury that there existed a brand-new law with ' retrospective action,' that might be brought to bear on the case which had occurred before it existed, these noble friends of liberty made such a tumult that the advocates withdrew and the proceedings at once came to a close. . On the way home, counsel and witnesses were assaulted. One bomb was thrown but did not explode. Another was about to be thrown, whereupon an officer drew his revolver. He was arrested for having threatened the people with his revolver.

Priests Persecuted.

Meanwhile the Ministry proceeds on its triumphant career. Financial or other plans for the future are conspicuous by their absence. But the decrees wiling parish priests (there are no more Bishops left to exile) continue. One priest has been banished"from his parish simply because charges had been made against him three times, though on each occasion he was acquitted Another had to go because he had answered an adversary m a pamphlet; a third, because apparently

the Grand Vizier felt so inclined. At any rate, this individual no ' longer invokes any paragraph rf the 'Law of Separation' or of any other enactment to justify his act. The scandals with regard to i üblic moneys have not ceased, and the deficit is found to be larger by, some millions of pounds than it was at first announced to be, now reaching the respectable total.of thirteen million pounds. But the Government on demanding a vote of confidence got it. They obtained it by one vote. The brilliancy of this victory is enhanced by the fact that five of the Ministers, including the Minister of Justice who was criticised, voted for themselves. The other day the cream of the democracy, with their beloved chief, Costa, held a sort of private congress m Braga, the Portuguese Rome of other days. They chose for their sittings the Archiepiscopal Palace, let to them by the Commission for four dollars a da,y. Human nature does not change. .The old proverb about putting a beggar on horseback'still aolds good, and surely the worst beggars of all are those \ horn Tame calls the 'despicable crowd of despotic demisavants.' But it would seem as if the day of reckoning were not far off. " °