Untitled

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 2456, 8 May 1915, Page 9

"THE ROYAL HOUSE OF PORTUGAL,"

"Mr. Francis Gribble, the author of ''The Royal House of Portugal" (Loiv Son, Eveleigh Nash), was, when the war !brokc out, "interned" by the Germane in * Luxembourg. Fortunately, the manuscript of his latest work was already in-.the publisher's hands, but it is .doubtful whether the author may be able toread his own. work in print for isome time to come. Mr. Gribble has tepecialised in, the romance of European royal history, two previous work of his, "The Court of Queen Christina of Sweden" and "The Life of the Emperor Srancis Joseph," having been specially well ieceived by the reviewers. Li his latest work, Mr. Gribble deals with the Decline and Fall of the House of Braganza. Defending his system of reviewing history in the light, not only of public events, but also of the private Jives of kings and queens, the author points out that only too often the private affairs of monarchs and their wives, ''being the causes of their public misfortunes, are matters of public interest." The later Kings of Portugal belonged, not only io the "House of Braganza, but also to the House of Coburg, and the Coburgs, says Mr. Gribble, f 'were professional .Kings, who did their lest-." "What then, Europe demanded, except that double dose of sin in republican bosoms, could account for the assassination of one Coburg and the Summary eviction of another? This is .the problem which the author sets himself to solve, and if the inquiry involves on account of royal follies, extravagances, and vices, why, then, so much the worse for royalty. Mr. Gribble does'not, however, confino his attention to the later Coburg kings of Portugal. He gives us « very .picturesque glance back over Portuguese history, describing the Golden Ago of Portugal, when such gallant men as prince Henry the Kavigator, "Vasco di Gama, and others were figures for any country, even Elizabethan England, to ho proud or. There is a fine chapter, too, on Cnmoens, the empire-builder and paeb; oil the scurvy way in which an. Un-

grateful country treated him. Finally, we arrive at the revolution which raised John, Duke of Braganza, to tho throne, and to the beginning of Portuguese decadence. With the earlier stages of that decadonce aro associated the grotesque and sinister names of "Jain the i Mediocre," "Alfonso the 111-Condition-ed," and "Pedro the Glum." Next wo have a chapter on that Catherine of Braganza who married our own ultrallirtatious "Merry Monarch," and after a brief and tempestuous rebellion against the favour King, grew callous to her royal husband's all too numerous infidelities and accepted them as inevitable, but who returned to Portugal on the accession of William of Orange and became Queen Regent of her native country. , Tho reign of John the Dilettante, who "had a> passion for endowing mop stories, and, alas, elso for embracing nuns," is described, the great earthquake at Lisbon is recalled, and then looms up the French Revolution and the disgraceful flight of Dom John of Braganza to Brazil, where his son founded an Empire, but whence, one of -the ablest and most personally amicable and estimable of his descendants, the Emperor Dom Pedro tho Second, was to be expelled, Brazil then becoming a Republic. Mr. Gribble devotes many pages to the Emperor, and these are amongst the most interesting in his book. Next we come to the reign of Marinda Gloria, daughter of Dom John. This princess had for her second husband a Coburg prince ; Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, and it is interesting to read of Queen Victoria's plan—Victoria was a born match-maker —to marry the son of Maria and Ferdinand to the Princess Charlotte of Belgium, who, alas, was attracted by an Austrian, prince, the ill-fated Archduke Maxmilian, the same Maxmilian who became Emperor of Mexico, and wa6 shot by Juarez aftir the battle of Queretaro. Poor Princess Charlotte is still living, a hopeless maniac, in the Chateau de Bouchet, in Belgium. Finally we reach Dom Carlos, a wellmeaning, but extravagant monarch, who was assassinated /in broad daylight in. the streets of the capital, whilst his widow, but a. year or so later, had to flee the country with her son, the young King Manuel, whose chances of ever regaining the lost throne are today more than ever problematic. How it was that a reign_ which made, seemingly at least, so fair a commencement, should have ended so disastrously for the Braganza dynasty, Mr. Gribble explaints at some length and more or [ess convincingly. The Queen's olericalism was one factor in the Braganza debacle, the King's extravagance another. King Carlos could never make both ends meet. He overdrew his Civil List allowances by £154,000, and that, too, at a time when the external debt of the country was increasing by leaps and bounds. Joaa Franco, the Prime Minister, was appealed to, and it suited Franco's interests to have the King as his tool. So the estimable Franco calmly decreed, as a means of wiping out the King's indebtedness to the Treasury, that Carlos should sell the country some of its. own property at his own valuation. And then, to obviate the accumulation of further liabilities, a second decree (no consulting of Parliament!) increased the King's annual' allowance by £32,000. Finally, the crash came, and the K ; ng was assassi inated. But for the. Republic Portugal had still to wait some time. Queen Amelie rose to the occasion, and as Regent exhibited both courage and capacity. Then came the brief rule of young Manoel, who, after a time, went on his travels, to "complete his education and to enjoy himself." The story of his infatuation for a selfish and vulgar French music-hall artist, Gaby Deslys, of his bringing her to Lisbon and entertaining her in his palace, to say nothing of his squandering of huge sums of jewellery and other presents to this worthless creature, is told by Mr. Gribble with no unnecessary amplifications, but on the other hand without reserve where reserve would affect the real meaning of the discreditable episode. Undoubtedly the King's follies played right into the hands of the Republicans, but it seems equally certain that even had King Manoel been the most prudent and virtuous of princes, the Braganza dynasty was doomed to ruin in his person. Portugal never took King Manoel seriously, and according to Mr. Gribble never will. The concluding sentences of the book are worth quoting. Mr. Gribblo says:— "We have seen the House of Braganza declining because it was inadequate, and falling Lecause it had become ridiculous. Latin countries take the logical view that monarchial institutions, like other institutions, must either justify themselves or disappear. The House of Braganza has failed to justify it-self, and therefore it has_ once more 'ceased to reign.' The municipality of Richmond and the pillars _of suburban society in that interesting borough may, if they choose, accord Dom Manoel that title of Majesty which is no longer currently given to the claimants to the Kingdom of Portugal and the Empire of Brazil; but the probability of his actual recall to the throne of his ancestors is sufficiently remote to be negligible. The kineinatocraph, of which he is said to be so fond, may have to be kingdom large enough for him in the years to come." Mr. Gribble's book contains-some well produced portraits in photogravure, and must be accounted an historical study of no small importance and value.