Evening star., 1898-09-03
SPANS Hapless Sister is in Dire
Straits Just Now.
ADVERTISING NATIONAL DBCADEECE
Both Land and People Are in.
Need Of TiIIing
GOVERNMENT is ROTTEN
Prom the Pan Mali Gazette.

IMAM HANDBOOK BIDS YOU
But tarry awhile in either of her pr,neIpal
cities, read her newspapers, watch the
shrugs which the men at the casas de cam
bio change your sovereigns into res at an
ever-increasing agio, listen to the gossip
at her clubs and cafes, and mark the ex-
traordinary number of special vasco da
Cana postage stamps in the Lisbon shop
windows. Then you must realize that
though the average Portuguese has no love
for the average Spaniard. Portugal may
be excused for feeling a sort Of pitiabie
and Intimate sympathy for her step-sister
Spain In this poor mantilla-clad lady's
present humiliations and difficulties
To begin with. the Vasco da CANA busi-
ness seems to some of us an incredibly
foolish sort of advertisement OF national
decadence. Portugal somehow has missed
that melancholy joke. The rest of Europe
sent deputations to congratulate her on
goodness knows what. and TO enjoy the
banquets and other festivities provided.
And Portugal herself is now struggling
villa might and main to defray these ex-
penses by the sale Of pretty commemora-
tive postage stamps.
In Honor of vasco da Cana.
There is rather a neat little free fair In
Lisbon. also in honor of the centenary.
modelled distantIy on our Earrs Court ex-
hibitions. The cardboard fifteenth century
castle and Indian elephants of colossal size
are successful enough, and it does one
good to see the trim warehouses OF Portu-
guese manufacturers here On view, to
prove how prosperous the country ought
to be. But enthusiasm Is absent at this
show, to see which you pay nothing. Tie
exquisite blankets and rugs, the Pottery
and the seductive biscuits sugared aud
plain, appear to interest no one. There are
peepshows, waxworks, Edison's inventions,
Nautch girls, cheap theatrical perform
ances of the 'gaff" kind, and dozens of re-
fined-looking drinking tents. Portugal.
however, pays little heed to any OF them.
Such money ii has to spend II plunges
on the humble tee-to-tums. II is profound
ly instructive TO see the peopie-old men
and maidens, young men and even children
-crowding for these penny and twopenny
CANDLES. also in honor of the wilite-beard-
ed Vasco da Cana. Public cock fights are
added feature of this free fair Lisbon
was not at first at all sure about the pro-
priety of these entertainments, but the
press has convinced IL. They have great
moral and material advantages" one
scribe Informed the public. As a spectacle
they stimulate TO courage and also distract
the mind from rejecting upon the misery
Of life. The writer was serious, too. Yet
we all know that Portugal can breed brave
men without the aid of lighting bantams,
and no country in Europe is more beauu-
full in landscape and more balmy in its
climate.
Rotten Government.
The other evening, while 1 was admiring
the gas-outlined caravel of Da Cana on the
front of Oporto's town hall / heard fur
tive whisper of Beef! Beef II came
from a youth in high collar, who prom
enaded arm-in-arm with his chums on tho
waving pavement of the praca. 1t was
meant to be an insult. But there was moth
ing more of it than that, and the lad look
ed elsewhere when he caught my eye. L
am told that the occurrence is not new. 1t
is not that Portugal has any particular res-
son for hating US, but she cannot help haV-
ing quick fits of jealousy when she realizes
how rich we are and how poor she is, and
how We become twice as rich even as We
are when we bring our pounds sterling into
Portugal and receive more than 900 reis
apiece for them. instead of the par value OF
4.500 res.
The government ls of course rotten 1t
has been almost from time fmmemorial
To northerner il is mysterious how four
million people who are not towards Un
spite OF the cock-hght lovers innuendO) can
submit eternally to be robbed and harassed
But the southern temperament has to be
considered. Further, more than two-thirds
of the Portuguese are fliterate. The bulk
or the population are agricultursts who
have no time to spare for sedition; they
must be in the fields from sunrise to sum
set every working day IL they are TO pay
their taxes and live. And, chief thing ot
all, and a fact much lamented openly in
Oporto. where they air their thoughts With
extreme freedom, there is not a man In
Portugal willing, and therefore able, 10
mead a revolution. Otherwise
The People in Power.
And yet no one has a bad word for tho
king, or aught but a good one for the
queen. As a constitutional monarch, Dom
Pedro has fair excuse for not interfering
with his precious cabinet who are supposed
to represent the nation. The ydo not repL
resent 1t, but they have made a fine study
OF the art OF retaining the power they have
SO long misused. 1t has been said recenflv
tnat only cynical and immoral country
would continue n such a state of torpid
ity. But the churches fill In Portugal nor
Is cynicism usually the offspring of Hitter
acy; Ana to the stranger 1t seems that
PORTUGAL treats him with an honesty reach
Ing to the verge Of simplicity
AT Bussaco there is q famous convent I'm
tne WOODS. Wellington made IL his head
quarters when he had his eye on Massena7
pefore the battle. Until short time ago
IL was state property, and for its superb
architecture IL deserves always to be under
state protection. But for want Of money
the state allowed it to pass into the hands
OF some hotel proprietors At the present'
moment the stone masons are dressing its
majestic exterior and Its interior is being
CUT up into bed rooms with views from the
windows Of extraordinary beauty II IS I'd
be a grand hotel" OF course-the notice
boards say so. Yet no one believes il will
ever come TO maturity and be haunted NV
sWaiiow-tsIled polyglot walters. The hotel
promoters. like the government find them
selves short of money.
-Four Pence q Day.
In the local factories we>aeu work ALI
day for four pence of Portuguese currency
which you or could buy for trifie more
than two pence. and the Briton at large in
the land need pay no more than two shIIli
lngs ana SIX pence a day to be lodged and
well fed at high-class hotels. II is cniv.
In Lisbon and Oporto that the shoplxeepers1
seSm able to cope with this problem of
the gio, ard even here few of them have
dared to raise their prices except on in-,
ported goods. At different shops they
charge differently for the Taucnnltz VOL
umes. But, with very few exceptions. the
hotels throughout the land keep their oid
tarins on the bed room walls and their
as ever.
A statistician has just published a book
to prove that it is all due to the amount Of
land In the country. Every
ore seems surprised to learn that 30 per
cs4at Of Portugars area is left to itself as
compared with Belgium's per cent and
Sersnanys per cent. But one doesn't feel
quite sure about Senior Anseluno de An