The Daily News TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4. THE LISBON HORROR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 38, 4 February 1908, Page 2

The Daily News TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4. THE LISBON HORROR.

The horror ui tiie murder ut, Lisbon oi the liinjj mid (Jrown Prince of Portugal illustrates afretsh the terrible shadow of danger Lliat cvcryw'here attends lho business of governing mankind. Ui exceptional \wil-pu\ver, surely, mibl he the living ruler who is not aiuiust overwhelmed by the dread of murder; and Icaiiess, iudecd. must be the ruler in a country in a state oi" disall'eelion suvh as has ol late existed in Portugal, who openly exposed himself to the everthreatening assaosin's blow. Whether or not the policy oi hue pursued by Dom l'arlu.> \vn ? a ui»r one in hi* own in- ; tercsls and tlio.-e ut his unfm'tiinati' i country, l>ritir>h sense of justice sickens at lhe eontcmphition of murder as a political force. One of the greatest problems confronting Kurope would seem \ to be that of ell'eclively dealing with its growing rank* of lunatics rebels against the social organisation, lire npedive <»i political considerations, they seem to band together tor no other purpose than that of slaying particular monarch?, tof whatever causes might have contributed to this latest fearsome tragedy, no parallel reasons could have been urged for that recent attempt 011 the life of the most harmless and least oppressiv e of nil the rulers of the world, the President of the French Republic, or

the diabolical outrage on the occasion of the marriage of the youthful King of Spain. While this morning's cables would seem to indicate that the resolute attack on the reigning dynasty was hatched aud completed by Portuguese—the tools, mayhap, of a political partyone cannot refrain from inward feelings of satisfaction at the prompt retribution that overtook the murderous cranks, whose only provocation could have been a "mission' created in the morbidities of their associations.

The troubles which led to the present tragedy began in the political manipulation o*f the lobacco Monopoly. This monopoly afforded such an extreme example of corruption that the Press aud the country {.which is never in any real -ense represented in the Cortes) revolted. It was the Ribciro Ministry which was forced to resign. But really the same thing might have happened whichever parly had been in power. The two i-liict parties had practised exactly the same political arts for years, and had taken turns at wielding the power very much at their own convenience, and, as it were, by arrangement. In Portugal the Ministry can invariably ensure the return of its own nominees at what passes for a general election. To hold dine., is to navo t' lo r is''t- sttlistantially uuiniptigned by the Opposition, for a certain period to appropriate and distribute the spoils. In 1001 Senhor Franco, the present Dictator, broke away from the liegoncrndores. or Conservatives, and formed a party of Liberal-Rcgeneradorcs, which drew up a programme of economic reform and elneicnt Parliamentary control. The liberals, or Progressistas, came into office after the fall of Senhor Riheiro, but they did not make the grant • of the Tobacco Monopoly look honest ' enough to please the malcontents. There I were '-scenes" in Doth Chambers early ! in 1000. to the accompaniment of such cries ns '-Down with the Tobacco GoIvernmcnir On March 17th. 1000, "the King dismissed the Progressist, or LibI cral Government, against, their wishes, The Regeneradores came into power again, and, being thoroughly alarmed by this time, they did at last settle the lobacco question. But the anger of the people had started many political forces which havp been operating up to now although the circumstances which evoked them no longer existed. Ominous reports came from Portugal in the sprinn of 1000. There was a mutiny in a part of the Fleet, and riots followed shortly afterwards in Lisbon, where the police attacked ajjrent crowd which was welcoming a Republican candidate just re turned at an election. For the moment it looked as though an anti-dynastir I movement had really begun.

Senhor Rilxiio applied to the King for dictatorial powers just as his Liberal opponent, .Senhor do Castro, had applied shortly before. I'lic King refused the one just as he had refused the other. The two great parties were the origin!itors_ of all the mischief, and th c King could hardly have been wrong in deciding that it would bo no improvement to have mischief promulgated by decree instead ot by Act of Parliament, liesides, as a writer in the Times points out, to choose a Dictator from the great parties would have been to favor one political party in an unbecoming way. It was then that the King split the difference by sagaciously summoning to power—not immediately to dictatorial powers—Sonhor Pranco, a young politician who was not suspected of being a creature of the King, as he had"" attacked the management of" the Court and advocated a compulsory reduction of its expenditure. The opinion of th 0 writer in the Times was very friendly to .Senlior Franco, who was said lo be a man of "'■inflexible uprightness and honesty. The influence of the new J'rime .Minister was such that the usual "pressure'' was not exerted at the subsequent elections, and he found himself unable to commaim working majority unless fTo formed a new coalition with (he Orthodox Progressistas and Senhor de Castro. This h 0 did. and the new coalition was known as the "Liberal Concentration." It looked strong enough to achieve much, and a remarkable programme was unfolded in the Speech from the Throne on October 29tn, 1900.

1 his was not desired, however, by the Republicans, who were loud, if uot numerically strong, i tt the Cortes. They interrupted and obstructed unceasingly'; Hiey organised riots in the country; they railed the King "a highwayman in mantle and crown," and remarked that Louis X\ I. had fallen for less than Dom Carlos had done. It seemed from all this noise, indeed, as though the antidynastic policy were moving apace, but alter all the small response from the country at large showed that the people dnl not generally share the conviction that the removal of the King would end the immemorial corruption. The Parliamentary situation, however, was bad enough; no progro,, was be-in" nnule ■mil mi May lltl, „f last year the King dissolved the Chamber. So mention of uture elections was made: Senhor franco was to govern without a ParliaI meut. The immediate pretext for the dissolution was u le l/niversitv question Ihe authuntuv of Coimbra University had relnsod to confer a degree on a can.lniat,. ow.„g. ,t is > ; , id. to ~„ne objection to hi- moral character. insubordination m tin- Uivcmity followed, and it wis report';.! t„ have been instigated by a K-,...1;1i.-„n dub. This is very likely, a, the niversities in all unconstitutional countries are („ e hatching-ground of cx {"■inc policies. Tjfc Republicans in the Ui os took up the matter and made *u.-i an uproar (hat the conduct or" publi- busmen became for tI K - time pli'slc fy "«l--ible. The l- u ivoi-ii ■■„,.,, .e'.-cd. Iran,,, rushed to the King and Muco-lully demanded the l'"»eis oi |j„. t ator. And since then he ha-governed by decree, taxed l.v decree ami iv>i-te<l opposition uy electee.

| -Hie Lljctatoi, during hih jWn j tned many expedients of tyraniiv i'l,. suppressed the Press, placed a censorship upon telegrams and foreign eorre- , spondcuco, made numerous arrests practically gaoling every troublesome malcou cut, of high or l o w „state-aud generally carried things on in true d j L .. atonal style. The late lung worked ;>'H in glove with the Mctatoi? Ik die Uiis d liis peop e, and naturally they distilled him. iroui time to tiin 0 reports have come from Portugal of an alarnuug ua ture. It was saidfandcJn piotc-ted to the King against the cou imnu.ee of the dictatorship of Senhor hi, , ,", • '"*, il -" ll "' s tiis l»le.i«iue with nii" and friendship lor the fJiclalor It "■as also said, and contradicted, that numerous bombs In,.' been diseov.-re 1 and that many Anarchists had boon arrested and shipped out to sea These are only a few of the statements that have been reported. There cannot be 't<-'»>e clouds ot smoke without fire, and Hat the bro had been burning with ore, ,s evident by the terrible fragedv enacted on .Saturday. Whilst it is impossible to justify crime of anv kind and particularly of such an atrocious nature as the Lisbon tragedy, one seized with a knowledge of (he way in which II'". eo.untry bad been treated cannot retrain 1n,,., the thought that Dom Carlos ■ in his ill-adviscl action, was playim.' iMth doubl..-edged fools and inviting dis! i >l<>r—disaster thai has conie about in i a most terrible form. ,