CARLOS THE KILLED.

NZ Truth, Issue 139, 15 February 1908, Page 1

CARLOS THE KILLED.

•'."-. Tyranny, Terror* and—the Truth. Tfree or four wenches where I stood cried, "Alas,, good sduV!" and forgave' him with all their hearts; if Gaesar had'stabbed their mo.thers they would have done no less; . , . —Casca m "Julius Caesar."-

The world has, according " to . the daily newspapers, just -been "thrilled with horror!" This is because of the billing of the King of Portugal and the Crowa 1 Prince of that country., Singularly, enough, the world, according to the 'back writers of capitalism, is only "thrilled with horror" when somebody ( is killed who belongs to the foi'tuhate 'sections of society. If some poor toiler is, through the greed of HiSvfaiiployer who neglects to provide proper safeguards against accident, -hurled to his death, there, is no "thrill of horror"- ;. and the indolent is hardly considered to be worthy of the space that would be given toy a ; amafll paragraph in' the ne^papers that record /'thrills of horror 1 ; but let a King or some other person, who, during .his life, has been clothed m purple, and fine linpn, and -has 'fared sumptuously every day, be suddenly . deprived of his life, and, tire 4ap of "horror" is at once turned on fully; whole the plodding pcj#nen of plutocracy shed showers of fyky tearß. Yet the laborer dashed tty, death m the midst* of his. daily toil mla^have left a loved wife, and equally loved children, quite unprbvfcM for, and compelled to endure, owing to. the loss of the breadwinner, .great-,-, and t«f tibia priya-; tions. > •••'', * " ' • There is, too, this difference between the death of the King of Portugal and that of the laborer who falls -from > a scaffold on which insufficient precautions have been taken to safeguard human life .' That the laborer is -quite innocent of any offanee. This does not appear to have been the case with the King of Portugal, for the - latter committed foul treason against the people of Portugal By sweeping away the .Parliament of the representatives .of the' Portuguese .people. In all. civilised countries, the punishment .for: High Treason on the part of a subject is death, safely inflicted by a paid hireling who runs no personal, risk m hillinc the persons declared' by the authorities to be guilty of High Treason. In the' case of treason on the part Of a King against -the pciople, there is often no tribunal other than a secret revolutionary^ committee to decree the death of ' the crimi-. NaT, and. the sentence has tp be carried out: at' the' risk of the .life of the executioner. In the case of the- recent killing 'ot'the King of Portugal and t^o Crown Prince of that country, two 'of the >, Killers were immedi^ ately shot. and ;the third, -probably believing that if 'caught he .tfould betortured, at once killed himself . Who was this. King.' Carlos *•'"? He was the descendant of aiucky' bastard named Affdnso. who, as lie happened to be the "love^cbild,'^ not of a laborer; -but .of a King, was, j'somie hundreds of years_ago, made Duke of Braganza. This would not .have resulted m a Braganza being made Kine; of Portugal had- it not beeji fbr tihe fact that on the death of the last of the old, Portuguese Kings, a Spaniard, Fbjitt4p.lt. of Spain r :,--was made King of Porjbugal. The people of Portugal .endured fepanisK arrogance for many, yearp, but, after years of it they, declared . that, Spanish rule must. .end. They ; ." thei»f ort; revolted, and the nearest Portuguese heir, who happened to betße ■dege'efldant of the .bastard, Affohso, was made by tbem King of Portugal. His descendants have remained ion the throae of Portftgal ever since. -In 1826, however, the Portuguese wrested a Parliament from their Kin*, and t v «■ existence of ,this -Parliament was mrch' dislUce^d by the lately , dam King, Carlos I. One of the reasons why the Parliament' was -hot lfted by the Kirif was that he hiwl ny power of wto over its deciskms if a law were 'fraa^ 1 * twice by both Houses of the Porttifr-.ese Parlia-, ment. Moreover, the Hbusies met and Separated Witliobt ''the - intervwtivevn of tfte Ki*g. These rights the PortliT fu€se reorle.had tnem selves wrested fi-om t<heft Kftnftd. ,> ■ The Kix^j of Portugal had, however, ra<*etitJ? witnessed the practical fevocattbn of aAconatitution by a tyfraTtnical despot m another : country, Russia. This was such an alteratioij 6f t^e electoral law as, would desitOit tho reDresentfttiv* ©JiarftCtcr Q\

■ ■-■ ■ ■ "■•.- \ ■•■■'■ . ,i the Dunwi, -so .-.'.tljati it s-hould consist, mainly, of persons fa vqrable to the Tsar, .and. willing* to; support him m his career of crime against the people. The T&ar's plot ajgainst the Con* stitutiom that he revolutionary working men of Russia compelled him to grant m 1905 has the . -appearance of being successful. Perhaps this is the "reasipn iWhy the King of Portugal disregarded •„ tbe indignant outcries of his subjects; 1 and appeared determined to .govern without any Parliament- wliateyer.. There is, however, m. Portugal, a' teyolutipnary party that -most ; actively .•opposed- the dnterferehce , with the' 1 Constitution ; and this party, predicted that a -blow would be struck m January. The blow was struck— only one day later than January; It is alleged, that some of the men (now dead) who killed tbe King of , Portugal and his, son were, ."foreign anarchists." The y may -have b^en ; but., it is very muph more probablo/ that, if they .were Spamsh. N and French,, as alleged^ they were merely political adventurers m the pay of the opponents of the reigning dynasty, who we're willing to take big risks. They may have thought that they would have v been able to escape ; they may have ( been informed that their movements would be covered so as to enable them to escape ; they may have 'believed that the assassination' would cause such a tumult as , would enable them to slip away during; the confusion. Their crime is; hardly the crime of thQ Anarchist. The Anarchist is m favor, of the overtbrowin'g of •all authority, and the series of ass lassinations by Anarchists that took place a few years ago were intended to strifie terror into all persons itt> authority and thus lead to the over* throw and abolition of si 'government of man' bv man." These tactics of ; terror tailed; the ; prizes .held by the ruling, powers- of -the world are . too . great to be abandoned, even . . at tlwe risk r of that loss -of life, that may occur to any man j be. he prince or pauper. .••-.;• „,-- <j : > ■■..../ -„-.> ,•'-.• ;. "■--■■. <>-■■■- •--•:-'•-■; —•>:... .■-<? ! : M,;,. .:-■.: :T-he'- Portuguesei assassins mayihaye . reasoned to- themselves, "thus :-- ilAssrassination. cannot 'abolish ggvem-" mead, but it may put ;ont -of the.way' a ,: particularly,:. dangerous. tyrahV" If-" Napoleon .. had chad t . >a" bullet .put through Ms brajn, or a long, sharpf dagger into. . his : • heart, at :the 'psy?chological moment; ',, he ', would neter i have, njred l his famous - .'whiflt: ol grapeshot,',. and .the world ntigElhaye^ beensavejd Me torrents of blood that were shed' by rjhat great nianslayer" upon; a gigantic scale. Napoleon Bonaparte. yPhe fear of assassinatron i shoutehed ; the life of Oliver CromwißlU;; | and r prevented *.. him , ' from . aotiiall/ making •hims elf-; King-; If a country be governed by conscienceless, Tcleyet; covetous criminal., th'e 'killing, of thai' man, will not. abolish, rulership, .but itv/Wil:l^remove, a'dangerdus/ unscrupulous: tyrant,, who will probably; be guceeeded.i-by na^man •,- wlih less/courage ax«J^ capacity -for- evil.\- This 'man CarJos , has., .flared, to^tjp v^hat .-jha^ ; .tMit been i attempted since the Portuguese .peqple , won. repr,esentatiye -. iflstit • 'tions^.r-ThefcefpreiKa's^the assassin./ of iPorJuguese .. liberty, he must meet .w^th. tbe death deseryed by assassins. "/.fPhus the conspirators may have reasoned ; ; they slaked and lost, their own lives. It is " for . men "living m ..Aus-tr^asia'.''thaj^\.-m'.'.,''.tJi.iß countryrthere liyes no man ; whp woulct dare to attempt the tyranny " of aj ..Nioh'olas' of Russia, or a,' Carlos of Portugal, .'. ■ .- „,■!.- ;' .