There should be no such society in Portugal. It is not needed and only serves to spread a feeling of distrust and discomfort in daily life, which can only be paralleled by the state of suspicion and disquiet under some of the Roman Emperors or in the heyday of the Spanish Inquisition. Or if it is needed to prop up the Republic, the Republic by that very fact stands condemned. But the Carbonarios should understand that their services are no longer required, and take a well-earned rest. If they do not and, encouraged by a certain section of the Republican Press, commit fresh outrages, they will signally help the Royalist cause and hasten the Restoration. Almost the worst feature of the last few years has been the encouragement given by the Democrat Press to attack the life and property of priests, Roman Catholics, and Royalists. Such a journalist as the editor of O Mundo was indirectly responsible for the death of Lieutenant Soares and other murders and should have been punished accordingly. The liberty of the Press cannot be held to include toleration of direct incitements to kill political opponents. The Mundo is all the more dangerous in that it is not read by the educated, but by ignorant persons, who have no means of knowing how false and insidious are many of its contents.
RUINED CASTLE, LEIRIA
CHAPTER XI
FROM MONARCHY TO REPUBLIC
Last Years of Dom Carlos’ Reign.
At the opening of the twentieth century, Dom Carlos was in the twelfth year of his reign, and Senhor Hintze Ribeiro (d. 1st August, 1907) was his Prime Minister. The Parliamentary system copied from England was in use, with the difference that whereas in England the political views of the Government depend on the result of the elections, in Portugal the result of the elections depended on the political views of the Government which “made” them, after the Government itself had been made for personal or party reasons at Lisbon. The two principal parties, were the Regenerador or Conservative, under the leadership of Senhor Hintze Ribeiro, and the Progressista or Liberal, under the leadership of Senhor José Luciano de Castro (d. 9th March, 1914). These continued to alternate in power by a system of connivance and compromise known as Rotativism. The Regenerador Ministry of Senhor Hintze Ribeiro lasted from 25th June, 1900, till 1904. In an earlier Regenerador Ministry under Senhor Hintze Ribeiro the Minister of the Interior had been Senhor João Franco, who in 1901 separated himself from the Regenerador party. In 1903 he formed a new party entitled Regenerador Liberal. With the resignation of Senhor Hintze Ribeiro in 1904, Senhor José Luciano de Castro came into office, and held the elections in the following year. In March, 1906, Senhor Hintze Ribeiro was again Premier, but only for a few weeks, during which he held another general election. The election as a Republican deputy of Senhor Bernardino Machado gave the populace of Lisbon an opportunity to show its Republican leanings, and the severe repression of the demonstration made on his arrival at Lisbon led indirectly to the fall of the Government. Both the great parties had now met with such resistance in Parliament or in public opinion that they found it impossible to govern.
João Franco.
On the 18th of May, King Carlos, breaking through the Rotativism which has been so frequently attacked, turned to the Regenerador Liberal party, and its leader, Senhor João Franco, became Premier. The King considered that he had found the “man of character” to put the political house in order, and he openly said so, thereby giving great offence to all the other politicians who amazingly fitted on the cap, and said: “He accuses us of political corruption.” Senhor Franco had come into office with the support of the Progressistas, under Senhor José Luciano de Castro, without which, indeed, it would have been impossible for him to control the Parliamentary situation. In the new Parliament, elected in August, four Republicans were elected, including Dr. Antonio José de Almeida and Dr. Affonso Costa; Senhor Hintze Ribeiro’s party (the Regenerador) was represented by thirty deputies, Senhor Castro’s by over forty, while the Government secured for itself only seventy. So long as the new Premier could count on the votes of the forty-three Progressista deputies, he was able to face the noisy scenes of the Chamber, but when that support was withdrawn a few months later it only remained for him to resign or to dissolve Parliament. Since the leaders of the Regeneradores and of the Progressistas had both within the last few months come to a similar dilemma, and there was no likelihood of finding a statesman of stronger character and greater ability than Senhor Franco, the King accepted the latter alternative and on 10th May, 1907, Parliament was dissolved.