A REIGN OF TERROR.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 72, 20 March 1912, Page 8

A REIGN OF TERROR.

IN PORTUGAL. “Liberty, Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!” When the Portuguese monarchy was lirst overthrown, enthusiastic democrats in the Old Country declared their belief that the change of regime would mean the opening of an era of happiness and prosperity for the Portuguese people. The .Republican leaders in their proclamation told us that there was to be “an epoch of austere morality and immaculate justice,” and urged their followers to let one interest alone—the interest of the Fatherland—animate them, and to let “generosity to the conquered be the basis of their moral programme.” But the creation of the Republic has not produced the expected miracles, and, indeed, the news that is now filtering through to England as to the treatment meted out to unfortunates suspected of loyalist leanings suggests that the Republican party in Portugal have modelled their conduct on that of the men who established tho Reign of Terror in France. Some weeks ago a committee of prominent British residents in Portugal was privately formed to investigate the condition of the thousands of political prisoners awaiting trial in Lisbon and tho provinces. Up to the present only two gaols—including the largest and best-equipped in Lisbon—have been visited; but tho grave abuses revealed were held to justify the issue of a provisional report. This has just reached London via Tangier, as documents posted within Republican territory often miscarry when they happen to contain any criticism of Republican methods. The names of the authors are withheld, for fairly obvious reasons, hut we are assured that tho report is an accurate and impartial record of the .work of competent observers. Its contents are sufficient to make one’s blood boil, and it 'is difficult indeed to find words to characterise the treatment meted out to people suspected of- entertaining anti-Ro-publican views. They are herded in cells and dungeons not fit for human habitation, and are subjected to sufferings far more cruel than those inflicted upon vicious criminals. Most of these ivictims of Republican tyranny have not even been tried or condemned. They have been arrested simply on suspicion, and suspicion of what ? Not of acts of violence nor of incitement to rebellion. They are made to suffer because they belong to “reactionary” families, or because they are believed to entertain Clerical sympathies, and oven the first Prime Minister under the hew Constitution lias declared that probably one-third of the political “conspirators” are innocent. 1: “Generosity to the Conquered.” I T:li0 ; of the report of the Conditions under which the unfortunate victims of Republican tylanny exist in the two prisons investigated—tho Limoeiro and the Alto do Duque Fort—is absolutely nauseating. _ At the former prison the inmates number about 1000. Here the punishment cells are places of horror, without air or light; they liaye , stone floors; and are kept in a filthy condition, overrun with rats,' and full of vermin. In the larger punishment cells many' prisoners are herded together. These cells contain a' kind of slop sink, which serves sundry purposes for the prisoners, and which is often choked, making tho air of the cell foul and poisonous. In the smaller cells these conditions are aggravated by want of space, which obliges trie prisoner to sleep with his head against tho sink. In the punishment cells* there are no washing appliances, and for drinking, as well as for washing purposes, the prisoners use a tap placed near the sink. All prisoners who cannot afford to pay for accommodation in the already over-crowded cells, are sent to the dungeons, many of which are situated underground, and are compelled to clean out the cells of their more fortunate comrades every day, unless they can purchase exemption. One of the practices condemned by the report is the custom of obliging all prisoners to submit to a douche, administered to them on Sundays, in common, and iby means of ’a hose. This practice is said to give rise to unspeakable abuses, owing to the promiscuous manner in which political offenders and suspects are brought into contact with habitual criminals of the worst type. Notwithstanding tho douche, the most loathsome forms of skin disease are prevalent, and neglected. “There is,” the report says, “no permanent medical attendance, but a daily visit. The doctors give very little attention to the prisoners, and do not make careful examinations of those reported ill. The infirmary is composed of a single room in a dirty and insanitary condition, where patients suffering from every kind of disease, infectious or otherwise, are placed together; often cotton wool and dressings are used a second time on a different patient, this having Jed in many cases to blood poisoning.” A similar condition of affairs-exists at the Alto do Duque Fort; All the inmates of tho latter are persons of recognised social standing—priests, military officers, barristers, or landowners—who have been arrested on suspicion. None of them have yet been convicted of any offence whatever. Yet they arc incarcerated in damp, subterranean dungeons, often as* much as 15 metres below the level of the ground. Some of those cells are flooded in heavy rain; none is ever reached by any ray of sunlight. The cells are stated to bo infested with (lies, mosquitoes, and vermin. Tho water supply is insufficient, and frequently polluted with “filth and insects.” Tho air is infected from flic lack of sanitary precautions—which arc described in detail by the report.

The doctor “comes some days after he lias been sent for, nearly always when the sufferer no longer needs him, or lias been transferred to hospital.” Tho food “is abominably cooked, and eonssts •of rations of rod beans and other common commoditic s, and a very scanty amount of these. Tho bread is sometimes quite mouldy, with green spots, and is always so stale that it is only extreme hunger which forces the prisoners to eat it at all. They have two meals a day, and a species of coffee is served cat to them.” Apart from the sickening details of tho atrocious treatment of untried political prisoneis, the report indicates clearly that a veritable reign of terror exists in Portugal, and that the revolutionary party have been guilty of excesses in other directions, beside which tie abuses of the old regime appear mild and tolerable. But undoubtedly Ito worst feature of tho existing regime is the vindictive oppression! of Ido supposed political opponents, and if that affords any true indication of t.ic general spirit animating the leaders of the new Government, Heaven licip Portugal!