PORTUGAL.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 May 1921, Page 3

PORTUGAL.

Portugal lias been a republic since 1910. The last King was .Manoel 11. of the bouse of Bragaiiza-Coburg, born November 15th, 1889, younger son of King Carlos, 1. and Queen .Mary Amelie, daughter of Philippe, Due d’Orleaus. Manoel 11. succeeded to the throne on the assassination of his fattier and elder brother, February Ist, 1908. On October stli, 1910, the Republic was proclaimed, after a short evolution and a provisional Government established. The Powers formally recognised the Republic on September lltli, 1911. Manoel 11. went to England, where lie has since lived. On August 2;)Lh, 1911, a new constitution was adapted, which provided for two Chambers. In the first, called the National Council, the members (164) are elected by direct suffrage for three years. The .second, or Upper Chamber (71 members) is elected by all the Municipal Councils ami is renewable, half at a time, every three years. The President- of the Republic is elected by both Chambers with a mandate for four years, but be cannot be re-elected. The present President is Dr Antonio Jose de Almeida, win; was elected on August Otli, 1919. The welter of political parties and the intrigues of the Royalists who-are by no means a negligible quantity, have not made for stability of government in Portugal, and Ministries, especially since the war, have been very shortlived. During the last two years there has been a change of Cabinet practically every five or’six months, the last being in March. •

Writing in March, the Lisbon correspondent of the “Morning Post” said : The new Government has the supixmt of l!he Popular Party, of the Democrat:-; the Dissident Democrats, and the Reconstituent Democrats. It- in lacl stands for the old Radical Democrat Party, although the division of that party into groups, sundered less by political views than by personal ambitions, enables it to call itself Coalition. It is not likely to meet with any very strong opposition in Parliament, if merely for the reason that the recent political crisis lasted twenty days, and that there is nothing to take the present Government’s place. In the country <>l the blind the one-eyed man is king. At the same time many believe that it would be unwise to carry ‘oneparty government too far, since this led to a revolution of moderate Ifppublicans in 1914 and again in 1917. Conciliation should be the order of the day, but it is known that the new Premier is opposed to an amnesty (it was he who said last year that the political prisoners should be kept in the Penitenejaria for their own good, to cleanse their souls from guilt.)" The Royalists have been made wary by experience, and as the past ten years have shown that talk of an amnesty (advocated by the last two Governments) is invariably followed by a revolutionary movement, attributed to the Royalists, both the Manoelists and the Miguelists have issued disclaimers, declaring that they are entirely opposed to any such movement. They hope thus to avoid (he toils of Carbonado agents provocateurs, but it is n fact that the Royalists nre now more peaceably inclined, and