The Governments of Europe

by Frederic Austin Ogg

698. Party Rivalries: the Rotativos.—In the constitutional history of the kingdom the reign of Pedro V. (1853-1861) possesses slight importance. There was less civil strife than during the preceding generation, but ministries took office in rapid succession and little improvement was realized in practical political conditions. The period covered by the more extended reign of Luiz I. (1861-1889) was of the same character, save that its later years were given some distinction by certain developments in the party situation. The death of the old Chartist leader Saldanha in 1876 was followed, indeed, by the appearance of a political alignment that was essentially new. Already the Regeneradores, representing the Chartist-Septembrist coalition of 1852, had disintegrated, and in 1877 the more radical elements of the defunct party, known at first as the Historic Left, were reorganized under the name of the Progressistas, or Progressives. The new conservative elements, on the other hand, carried on the traditions and preserved the name of the original Regeneradores. In the Cortes the Progressistas assumed the position of a Constitutional Left and the surviving Regeneradores that of a Conservative Right. Both were monarchical and both were attached to the existing constitution, differing only in respect to the amendments which they would have preferred to introduce in that instrument. Of remaining parties two were of importance, i.e., the Miguelists, representing still the interests of absolutism, and the Republicans, who first acquired definite party organization in 1881.

Between 1877 and 1910 the Regeneradores and the Progressistas shared in rotation the spoils of office with such regularity that the two acquired popularly the nickname of the rotativos. Both were dominated by professional politicians whose skill in manipulating popular elections was equalled only by their greed for the spoils of victory. Successful operation of a parliamentary system presupposes at least a fairly healthy public opinion. But in Portugal, upwards of four-fifths of whose inhabitants are illiterate,[873] there has been no such favoring condition, and the opportunity for the demagogue and the cacique has been correspondingly tempting. Parties have been regularly mere cliques and party politics only factional strife. Throughout the period corruption was abundant and such public feeling as existed was stifled systematically. Elections were supervised in every detail by the provincial governors; agents of the Government were employed to instruct the people in their choice of representatives; and the voters did habitually precisely what they were told to do. No one ever expected an election to show results adverse to the Government. Especially unscrupulous was the manner in which the preponderating parties obstructed systematically the election of Republican and Independent deputies. As late as 1906 but one Republican was returned to the Cortes, although it was a matter of common knowledge that in many constituencies the party commanded a clear majority.

699. The Dictatorship of Franco, 1906-1908.—From June, 1900, to October, 1904, the Regeneradores were in power, with Ribeiro as premier. During this period two national elections, in 1900 and in 1904, yielded the controlling party substantial majorities. From October, 1904, the Progressive ministry of Luciano de Castro occupied the field, but in the spring of 1906 there took place a series of ministerial crises in the course of which Ribeiro returned for a brief interval to power. The election of April 26, 1906, gave the Regeneradores 113 seats, the Progressistas 30, and the Republicans 1. The ministerial changes by which this election was accompanied prepared the way for the establishment of the régime known in recent Portuguese history as the dictadura, or dictatorship. The new premier, João Franco, was one of the abler and more conscientious men in public life. Originally a Regenerator, as early as 1901 he had led a secession from the party, and in 1903 he had organized definitely a third party, the Liberal Regenerators, whose avowed end was the establishment in Portugal of true parliamentarism. In 1906 a "Liberal Concentration" was effected between Franco's followers and the Progressistas, led by Castro, and the outcome was the calling, May 19, 1906, of Franco to the premiership. That office he assumed with the determination to introduce and to carry through an elaborate programme of sorely needed fiscal and administrative reforms. If possible, his methods were to be entirely constitutional; if not, as nearly so as might prove practicable. The Cortes elected April 26 met June 6 and, being found unpromising, was dissolved. During the campaign which followed the Regenerador party, to which Franco nominally belonged, split, the Franquistas, or supporters of the premier, taking the name of New Regenerators. The returns yielded by the election of August 12 were: New Regenerators, 73 seats; Progressives, 43; Old Regenerators, 23; Republicans, 4; with scattering seats distributed among other groups.

The sitting of the Cortes which began September 29, 1906, was one of the stormiest on record. In May, 1907, when the Government seemed on the point of collapse and it was supposed that Franco would resign, the indomitable premier effected a coup d'état whereby the ministry was reconstituted, the Cortes was dissolved, and several important bills which were pending were proclaimed to have acquired the force of law. During the ensuing twelvemonth the government was that of a benevolent but uncompromising dictatorship. Supported by the king, the army, and a considerable body of partisans, Franco succeeded in carrying through the major portion of his reform programme. But he was opposed by the Republicans, by the professional politicians of the older parties, and by the entire hierarchy of administrative and judicial officials who shrank from impending investigation. His task was enhanced tremendously by the growing unpopularity of King Carlos, and in defense of the sovereign it was found necessary to deprive the House of Peers of its judicial functions, to replace the district and municipal councils by commissions named by the crown, and, in short, to suspend virtually all remaining vestiges of popular government, as well as the various guarantees of individual liberty.

700. Restoration of Normal Conditions.—February 1, 1908, when the situation bordered on revolution, King Carlos and the crown prince Louis Philippe were assassinated and the dictatorship of Franco was brought abruptly to an end. The king's second son, who succeeded under the title of Manoel II., called together an extraordinary junta of ministers and party leaders, at whose instigation the imperious premier resigned and withdrew from the country; whereupon, under the premiership of Admiral Ferreira do Amaral, there was formed a coalition ministry, representative of all of the monarchist parties. The administrative commissions created by Franco were dissolved; the civil list, concerning which there had been grave controversy, was reduced; the House of Peers was reconstituted; the election of a new Cortes was ordered; and parliamentary institutions, suspended for a year, were revived. The various reforms, on the other hand, for which the dictator had been responsible were brought likewise to an end. The election of April 5, attended by grave disorders, yielded the Government a decisive majority and, April 29, the new sovereign formally opened the first Cortes of his reign and took oath to support the constitution. In the Chamber the old balance between the Regeneradores and the Progressistas reappeared. Of the former there were 61; of the latter, 59. The Republicans had 7 seats; a group of "Nationalists," 3; the Independents, 1; and the "Amaralists," detached supporters of the ministry, 17. Before the end of the year the Government lost its majority, and December 24 a new coalition cabinet was made up by Campos Henriques, a former minister of justice.[874]

II. The Government of the Kingdom

701. The Constitution.—Before speaking of the revolution of 1910, in consequence of which the monarchy was overthrown and the present republic was established, it is desirable that brief allusion be made to the governmental system of the earlier régime. The fundamental law in operation in 1910 was the Carta Constitucional of 1826, remodelled and liberalized by numerous amendments. The revision accomplished by the Additional Act of 1852 has been mentioned. An amendment of July 24, 1885, provided for the gradual extinction of the right of hereditary peers to sit in the upper house and for the representation, in the Deputies, of minorities; while three amendments of importance during the reign of Carlos I. (1889-1908) were: (1) that of March 28, 1895, whereby the number of deputies was reduced from 180 to 120 and the qualifications requisite for the exercise of the suffrage were overhauled; (2) that of September 25 of the same year whereby the elective portion of the House of Peers was abolished; and (3) that of August 8, 1901, by which the conditions of election to the House of Deputies were revised. In its final form the constitution was an instrument of unusual length, comprising eight "titles" and 145 articles, some of which were very comprehensive.[875]

702. The Crown and the Ministry.—Provision was made for the exercise of four distinct categories of powers, i.e., executive, moderative, legislative, and judicial. Of these the first two were lodged in the sovereign, the third in the sovereign and Cortes conjointly, and the fourth in tribunals established under provision of the constitution. The crown was vested permanently in the descendants of Dona Maria II., of the House of Braganza, and, in default thereof, in the nearest collateral line. The succession was regulated on the principle of primogeniture, with preference to the male line, and during a sovereign's minority the regency devolved upon the nearest relative, according to the order of succession, who had attained the age of twenty-five. Associated with the sovereign was a ministry and a council of state. The ministry consisted of a premier, usually without portfolio, and a variable number of heads of departments (in 1910, seven),[876] and it was a principle of the constitution that, the crown being legally irresponsible, no executive act might be adjudged valid unless signed by one or more of the members of the ministerial group. For all of their acts the ministers were responsible nominally to the Cortes, although in point of fact the turbulent state of politics rendered such responsibility nearly impossible to enforce. The council of state was a body composed of the crown prince (when of the age of eighteen) and of twelve men appointed by the king for life, usually from present or past ministers. It was required that the council be consulted in all affairs of weight and in general measures of public administration, especially those relating to the declaration of war, the conclusion of peace, and the conduct of diplomatic negotiations.[877]

Aside from participation in legislation, the powers of the crown (exercised at least nominally through the intermediary of the ministers and councillors) were, as has been said, of two categories, executive and moderative. The powers of an executive character were of the usual sort, i.e., the appointment of civil, military, and ecclesiastical officials; the conduct of foreign relations; the promulgation of the laws, and of decrees, instructions, and regulations requisite to the proper execution of the laws; the ordering, not less frequently than quadrennially, of an election of a new Cortes; and the supervision, in conformity with the constitution, of "all things which bear upon the internal and external security of the state."[878] Among modern constitutions those of Portugal and Brazil are unique in the distinction drawn between powers that are executive and powers that are "moderative." Under the head of moderative powers the Portuguese constitution vested in the crown the nomination of peers, the convening of the Cortes in extraordinary session, approval of the measures of the Cortes to the end that they might acquire the force of law, the proroguing and adjourning of the Cortes and the dissolving of the House of Deputies, the appointing and dismissing of ministers, the granting of amnesties, and the remitting or reducing of penalties imposed upon offenders by judicial sentence. The theory was that these were powers which the sovereign exercised in the capacity of mediator between the several organs of the governmental system, and by the constitution it was declared that this moderative power was the keystone of the entire political organization. The distinction, however, while from a certain point of view logical enough, does not appear to have possessed much practical importance.

703. The Cortes.—Powers of a legislative character were vested in the sovereign conjointly with a parliament of two chambers, the Camara dos Pares, or House of Peers, and the Camara dos Deputados, or House of Deputies. Collectively, the two houses were known as the Cortes Feraes, or, more briefly, the Cortes. Until 1885 the House of Peers consisted of members of two classes, those who sat by hereditary right and those who were nominated by the crown for life. By the constitutional amendment of July 24, 1885, hereditary peerages were put in the way of gradual abolition and it was stipulated that when they should have been extinguished the chamber should be composed of princes of the royal blood, the archbishops and bishops of Portugal proper, 100 members appointed by the king for life, and 50 members elected every new parliament by the lower chamber. By amendment of September 25, 1895, however, the 50 elective peerages were abolished and the number of royal appointees was reduced to 90. In 1910, therefore, the chamber was made up of (1) princes of the royal blood who had attained the age of twenty-five; (2) surviving peers whose hereditary right antedated 1885, together with their immediate successors; (3) the Patriarch of Lisbon and the archbishops and bishops of the continental territory of the kingdom; and (4) the 90 life peers nominated by the crown. In the nomination of peers the crown was restricted only by the requirement that members must have attained the age of forty and must be able to meet a considerable property qualification.