CRITICAL POSITION IN PORTUGAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1105, 19 April 1911, Page 5

CRITICAL POSITION IN PORTUGAL.

GOVERNMENT'S MANIFESTO. APPEAL TO CITIZENS. By Teleerapb-Piiess Asaociation-Copyrieht Lisbon, April 17The G6vernment has issued a strong manifesto to the nation, describing monarchy as a regime of treachery and robbery. The Government beseeches the citizens to bury their private rivalries and unite in choosing for Parliament men distinguished for their honesty and competency, ■in order to restore normal conditions, and thus definitely consecrate tho Republic. GOVERNMENT'S ELECTION PROPAGANDA. A correspondent of the ''Morning Post," •writing' in February, states:— . "It is hardly credible but it is a fact that thero is a reign of terror at the present moment all over Northern Portugal. Serious disorders have taken place, yet the Republican censorship is so strict tliat the news agencies are without any information on the subject. All the trouble arises out of tho determination of the Provisional Government to Uonublicanise tho Roman Catholic and Monarchical North. In view of the coming elections for the Constituent Assembly nnd ot the coming separation of Church and Mate, the Republican leaders had found it absolutely necessary to make that attempt, and a few weeks ago Senhor Alfonso Usui, the Minister of Justice, determined to take the bull by the horns by going direct to Oporto. In view, however, ot tho intense hostility of the people Ins visu was not much of a success, though lie tried to conciliate the Roman Catholics bv paying a State visit to the Home for the Aged, which is conducted by the Little Sisters of the Poor, the only Order of Niins which he has allowed to remain in Portugal. Senhor Costa confined himself mainly to attending banquets and delivering speeches in Republican clubs. Even so, I was informed by a Royalist writing from Oporto that it was doubtful if tho Minister of Justice would leave the city alive. Had he visited Braga and some of the other old Monarchical centres ho would have run a still greater risk of losing his life. Happily he listened to the earnest representations of his friends and eliminated those places from his itinerary. "Unfortunately for Oporto, Senhor Costa and tho largo contingent of peripatetic agitators whom he brought with him stir,red up the small Republican clique in that city to a pitch of delirium. The result was a series of disgraceful attacks un private property, culminating in tho partial destruction of tho editorial offices of tho 'Palavra,' the last Catholic and Royalist newspaper existing in Portugal. In other parts of the north similar scenes are now taking place: Catholic clubs are being wrecked, Catholic meetings of an exclusively scholastic or religious character—are being broken up; and Roman Catholic newspapers, college chronicles, and parish magazines are being stopped. "A determined attempt was made to crush Clericalism and Monorchism in Guards. Guarda has always been a Clericalist stronghold, and at the present moment it is a source of particular apprehension to the Republicans owing to the personality of its archbishop-bishop, a man who will make no truce -with the anti-Christian propagandists who invade his little mountain diocese under the Republican banner. .The Ircal Civil Governor and the local Republican clique are making things as unpleasant as possible for the archbishop." . ■ The following official statement was recently communicated by the Portuguese Legation in London: — "The rumours spread about the unrest in Portugal are absolutely false. TII9 Portuguese Legation has received from its Government a telegram stating that trnnquility and order are perfect,all,over the country. The members of the CabiiiPt on their .tour, through-the provinces have been warmly acclaimed."

A WIDENING BREACH.. ' "Tho Times" correspondent, writing on March 2, states: . The breach between Conservative Repnblicans, headed by Senhor Almeida, Minister for the Interior, and the Radicals, represented hy Senhor Affonso Costa, the Minister for Justice, becomes daily wider. The respective organs of these two groups clearly indicate the divergent policies, while both sides endeavour to enlist the sympathies and support of the public. The Minister for the Interior, however, states that the members of the Provisional Government aro resolved to work harmoniously together and to appear before the.National Assembly to defend their work as one responsible body. Only after their conduct has baeu debated, and approved or condemned, willeach group go its own way. The Provisional .Government is now devoting most nf its timo to tho drafting of the new Electoral Law, which is anxiously awaited by the Portueuese, it being the general opinion that the elections constitute the only means whereby the country can return to complete tranquillity. They are now announced for April 30, and" the National Assembly is to ,be convoked on May 20.