PORTUGUESE REVOLUTION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 907, 20 October 1910, Page 4

PORTUGUESE REVOLUTION.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE. CATHOLICS ACCUSE FREEMASONS. Cardinal Moran, addressing his congregation at Sydney on Sunday last, said the new Portuguese Government was in the hands of Sectaries and Freemasons, who lett nothing undone to stir up irreligion in the country and to thwart the religious tendencies of the faithful. The Rev Dean Regnault, S.M., speaking at St. Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington, last Sunday, in reference to the revolution in Portugal and the unrest in Spain, said the leaders in both countries were proceeding with the same tactics that were adopted in France in 1901, and it wasevidenl that the whole movement was conducted by the same organisation, and their purpose was the same. It was Freemasonry attempting to drive. Christianity from the country. Continuing, the Dean said it was singular that so far only one side ot the question had been cabled out to the daily newspapeis of the Dominion. It was apparent that the cable association that sent out the news was closely allied with Freemasonry, and was promoting its work in cabling misleading reports, detrimental to the Church. On the occasion of the recent Eucharistic Congress at Montreal—the most magnificent ever organised —not one word had been sent about the proceedings of this great demonstration. The only lad that had been recorded was the fact that the Papal representative, after shaking hands with 1500 people, lelt very tired. Speaking particularly ol the Portuguese trouble, Dean Regnault said that if the cables had given both sides of the story it would have been seen that the movement was anti-religious. The people of Portugal, through becoming careless iu their religious duties, had allowed themselves to get in the grip of a handful ot men who would bring the country to the same state as France was in to-day.

an oppositk vrnw. Mr Frank Piper, who, after teaching in Portugal lor fourteen years, left that country in June last on a visit to New Zealand, is now in Timaru. He conducted a private boarding and day school in the capital city, Lisbon, and, his pupils being drawn from the upper classes, he was able to furnish a Timaru Herald reporter with an excellent description of the political situation and the causes leading up to the present revolution. Mr Piper said that he had no difficulty in pointing his finger at the prime cause of the great disturbance. Towards the King himself the people had a feeling of sympathy on account of his youth and inexperience, but against Queen Amelia, widow of the assassinated King, there was deep hatred, engendered b}' the dislike of her association with the Jesuits. The people in all parts strongly objected to the influence which the Queen had over her son, and, indeed, she was widely recognised as the power behind the throne. Manuel had always taken a more or less subordinate position in the Royal household, the elder brother who had been assassinated, receiving every distinction on account of his position as heir to the throne. The story of King Manuel’s infatuation with a French actress may or may not be. true, but Mr Piper considers that such a liarson, so common in Portugal, would cause no ill-feeling. It is to the Jesuit influence over the Queen-mother, and the influence of the Queen-mother in turn over her son, that Mr Piper looks for the reason of the revolution. The Portuguese, be said, are for the most part Catholics, but they have a deep-rooted aversion to the Jesuits. Indeed, some 150 years ago the Jesuits were expelled from Portugal by the then Prime Minister, the Marquez de Potnbal. If the boy King had been left to the care ol his uncle, Uom Alfonso, Duk<s of Oporto, there would have been no trouble, but as things turned out, with the unbalanced state of the country, an upheaval was inevitable. Various things, small in themselves, but together of considerable gravity, have led up to the revolution. For a trifling offence an officer on board a warship was visited with a severe penalty. His brother officers protested, and carried their protest to such a stage that they vveie all arrested for insubordination. Being committed to dungeons and even transported, the fate of these officers became a matter of national concern, and had evidently led the way to an attack on the throne. That no doubt accounted for the navy being found in the forces of the revolutionists, for previous to this trouble it had always been loyal, even at the time of the assassination of the late King. The country, said Mr Piper, was seething with corruption, the people were overburdened with taxation, and dishonest officials drew enormous salaries without doing the slightest thing towards earning them. To the shopkeepers and small landowners in Southern Portugal the position had long become unbearable, and it was in this part of the country that the disaffection took strongest root. Men favoured by influence in high circles held two or three posts, and often their methods amounted to nothing more not less than extortion. The wife of one officer held a position as searcher in the Customs, received a big sum yearly as salary, and employed some one to do the work for her-

The late Dictator Franco had repeatedly repulsed all efforts to secuie positions of this nature, and hence the hatred evinced against him in certain quarters. But now the tide of public feeling had undergone such a change that even mauy in offices of authority, while professing loyalty, were at heart Republicans. Two cartoons that Mr Piper had seen in a shop window prior to his departure from Lisbon gave a true idea of the situation. One illustrated the Republican leaders standing on a platform, surrounded by thousands of people, and the other represented the Queen standing in front of the throne, with the Boy King on her light and Jesuits all about her. Lisbon, October 17. Decrees will be issued to-day abolishing the House of Peers, Council of .State, and all titles of nobility, banishing members of the Royal House of Braganza (to which King Manuel belonged), and secularising charitable institutions. The funeral of Admiral Reis and Dr. Boatbardo on Sunday was a unique demonstration. King Manuel and his mother, who sailed in the Victoria Albert for England, flew the Portuguese Royal Standard, and the fortress and warships fired salutes on their anival at Portsmouth, The Dowager-Queen Maria Ria sailed in an Italian warship for Rome.