Revolution in Portugal.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 152, 6 October 1910, Page 5

Revolution in Portugal.

Army and Navy Disloyal. Warships Bombarding the Palace. King Manuel a Prisoner. By Cable. —Press Association. —Copyright. Received October 5, 8.16 p.m. London, October 5. A wireless message has been received in Paris reporting a revolution at Lisbon. Warships were bombarding the Royal Palace at two o'clock. The Army and Navy are siding with the Revolutionaries, who captured the Palace and hold the King a prisoner.

Received 5, 11 p.m. London, October 5. The Portuguese Consulate in London has no official confirmation of the revolution, but private advices lead the Consulate to believe the reports are correct. 0 Reuter's Santander correspondent reports that the German steamer Illyria •has received a wireless message from the steamer Capblanco, anchored at Lisbon stating that a revolution had broken out and that warships were bom- i barding the palace. The revolutionaries hoisted a green and blue flag in place of the Royal Standard. Telegraphic communication is cut since a message reporting the shooting of Bombardo, the Liberal leader, was received. The Times publishes a letter .from a well-inforined Lisbon correspondent just received, w!ho states that King Manuel's lack of force in political affairs, accentuated by public suspicion of his private life, had been rapidly losing him the esteem of Catholics, - who were hitherto loyal. Private advices state that th? recent attitude of the Conservatives aroused a suspicion that they had entered into relations with the Republicans. Many landed proprietors are making provision to go abroad in case of trouble. Capitalists are transferring securities across the border. The Court party is displaying timidity, prompting the belief that they will not offer serious resistance to those concerned. The absence of Progressistas (Liberals) and' their allies when King Manuel opened the Cortes on September 23 focussed growing criticism on the Kini. , The grave turn of affairs in Portugal was not altogether unexpected, for revolution has been brewing since 1907. Until 1906 the two chief political parties were the Regeneradores (Conservatives) and the Progressistas (Liberals). These parties coalesced, and the history of coalitions is not encouraging. In May, Senhor Franco was appointed Prime Minister, but at the ensuing elections failed to obtain a majority, and four Republican members were returned. In ,May, 1907, the Chamber was dis solved and a dictatorship established. All parties allied themselves against the Government. t j In December, 1907, Senhor Vilhena was elected leader of the Conservatives, and he then declared that the dictatorship must end in crime or revolution. The making of bombs began, the Government suppressed many Lisbon papers antagonistic to Royalty or revolutionary in character. Later, plots against the Premier were commond, and his house lnd to be guarded by tioops. I On January 28, owing to serious disorders in the cap.tai ana outside it, the Government pui in train method oi suppressing them, but before the arrangements for suppression them were complete, the King and the Crown Prince, while driving to the Palace from the Villa Vicosa, were assassinated 1)} 1 bomb-throwers. The assassination happened on Febru 1 ary 21, and the Queen and Prince Manuel (now taken prisoner by the revolutionaries) were wounded. The police, shot three of the assassins. There was general grief and indignation not only ; 'n Portugal but all over Europe at the deeds of violence, and King Manuel, on; his accession, apparently had the soilu. support of all political parties. | The Premier Franco resigned, and ul-; timately left Portugal, and a coalition Government was formed, which apparently healed the wounds by various re-. 1 forms, notably that of giving freedom j once more to the press. j The general elections of April 5 re-, suited in an overwhelming victory for Monarchists, unquestionably the result of sympathy for the reigning monarch | and of the reforms made by the Gov-. ernment. j On April 29 the Cortes was opened in J person bv the King, and he there pub-1 licly used "the terrible martyrdom of/ the King and Crown Prince' as a reason . for the alliance of parties and for the) peace and prosperity of Portugal. Sen- j hor Conies became President of the. Chamber in May. and the Chamber's first act was to pass a resolution expressing its sorrow at the assassination of the King and Crown Prince. Lisbon is particularly conveniently situated for aggressors bv sea. for the i city extends along the shores of one of I the finest harbors in the world for five j mites, and climbs gently up easy hills, the whole panorama being one of extreme beauty. New Lisbon —that is the part. milt after the destruction by earth-j quake in 1755 —lias wide streets, splendid squares and imposing buildines. The summits of the hill? are co' ;reil with

gloomy buildings, which wer« formerly monasteries, and the town generally has many magnificent churches. A serie- of forts protect the approaches, but .how they are equipped is not known. T.i. Ie are two Royal palaces within easy gun range of boats in the harbor, but neither of these palaces is notable for anything but size, the most observed feature b n : the great square facing the harbor which contains the Government buildings. : great arsenals and the Customs offices. This square has been the gathering p.. for mobs of revolutionary tendon :i many times. A few weeks ago a number of the London papers circulated a statement to tin effect that a dynastic crisis was imminent in Portugal and that the Boy King Manu.l was aibout to abdicate in favor of his uncle, t'he Duke of Oporto. The storv implied that if Manuel did not voluntarily retire the people of Portugal would probably remove him, more regularly, perhaps, but quite as effectively as his father and brother were removed by the assassin. It was said that in order to make his position more secure Manuel had been making frantic efforts to secure an English princess for a wife, and that his efforts in this direction had failed because the fathers of eligible princesses considered that his throne was far too shaky a structure to make a safe resting place for their daughters. Whether the?e statements were true or false nobody at this end of the world is in a position to tell, but the Lisbon correspondent of the New York Tribune contradicts most of tliem very flatly, an'! says that he does so on the authority of friends of Kino: Manuel. According to this writer, King Manuel is winning the increased confidence and affection of his people, and his position will soon be as secure as that of any monarch in Europe. The story of King Manuel's attempt to form a-n* English "alliance, however, is admitted to have a basis of fact. Vie are tohl that King Manuel's mother, the Dowager Queen of Portugal, and the Duchess of Fife, who are life-long friends, tried to arrange a marriage between Manuel and Princess Alexandra of Fife, trusting to King Edward raising no objection to a union between a Catholic and a Protestant princess. Ivinc Edward's death, however, made the plan impossible, King George's convictions in regar 1 to matters of this sort being extremely deep-rooted. Moreover, the match would not have been popular in Portugal, owing to the unfortunate marriages of some of the Duke of Fife's sisters having introduced an element into the family circle that would not have been at all acceptable to a Royal House. King Manuel 11., who, the cable informs us, has been taken prisoner by the revolutionaries, is the son of the late KinoCarlos, and was born November 15, ISSfT His mother is Queen Marie Amelie, daughter of Philippe, Due d'Orleans. He' succeeded to the Portuguese throne on i'he assassination of his father and the Prince Luiz Philippe. His civil list was fixed last year -at £73,1100, and that of the Duke of Oporto, his uncle, at £3200.