The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-09
REPUBLICANS SAY
 MONARCHY IS DOOMED
Rigorous Censorship Has Deprived the World of Knowledge of the Real
 Condition of Affairs In the Disturbed Kingdom.


 February S.-The republican leaders In Portugal are today in extremely high spirits. They assert confidently that republic is now a matter of months. not of years. The Associated Press today secured an opinion on the situation and an outline of the republican plan of campaign from perhaps the most com petent spokesman of the party. This man said: The end of our monarchy Is near It will come as unexpectedly as did the murder of the King and the Crown Prince, and the world will wake up one morning to find a republic in Portugal. We are convinced that the revolution will be a peaceful one
 Tt is a mistake for foreigners to imagine that the people of Portugal are not awake.
 There is a republic officer in every town and doctors and lawyers and even village priests are sendin. ,tices of their adherence by the score, nd there are avowed republican office in the army. NSN
 King Manuel is well informed boy He starts his regime with fair words
  1t is probable that he would fall into the hands of the manipulators of two parties, whose bankruptcy was proclaimed by King Carlos and Premier Franco. The men about the throne know that the end is near and when the time comes that they realize that they cannot fight, they will surrender as did Dom Pedro, in Brazil. I do not quite think a shot will be fired. King Carlos knew he was making his last fight. He had transferred every dollar he had to Eng land.
 We will make A cha ye of regime and open Issue in the comsag campaign We will demand that the monarchy. which has dragged down Portugal into the mfre of political and of financial bankruptcy. abdicate to the people. They dare not try repression again; they can only surrender"
 Almost an Armed Camp.
 While the troops since last, Tuesday remain in their barracks during the day time, Lisbon at night still resembles an armed camp. Cavalry is massed in the public squares, pickets patrol the streets and heavily armed soldiers guard the state bank night and day.
 The financial situation is viewed with great alarm. The country Is staggering un- der its foreign debt and commerce is almost paralyzed by the Qualifications of the gold premium.
 Conservative bankers consider the fin- ancial situation to be more critical than the political. The outside world, in spite of the studied censorship which defeats it's own object, could not imagine that the censorship of Portugal Is tottering toward revolution and that republic is imminent The general situation is grave rather than alarming. Political condi- tions, already choatic before the murder of the King and Crown Prince. became 4l0 a11afr ion of these crimes.
 The consternation and panic that pre- vailed among the police and at court and the relase of Francois strong hand from the helm left the ship of state adrift. But with the new cabinet pledged to constitutional methods and the abolition of the dictatorship and existing measures of repression the situation improved. King Manuel openly acknowledged the irregularity of the money advances 10 the royal family under his fathers reign which were the original cause of the po- litical turmoil. and he publicly ordered the discontinuance of this practice
 Gloomy Future.
 It is hard to forecase the future. If things drift back to the old rule of gov ernmental corruption, whence King Car los and Premier Franco rescued the mon- archy, a republic might come. The re- publicans return national inheritors of the mistakes of the monarchy, but the masses are grooming under their personal burdens. They are either ignorant of, or indifferent to the political turmoil. Something is necessary to galvanze into action and this is exactly what the small but evidently desperate organization Of militant revolutionsts in Lisbon and Oporto are trying to do. They want to drive the people to revolt. The immediate danger in the situation comes of the tl.a fln .n1i nr "a ad md h a government unable to ascertain the ex- tent of the qualifications of conspiracies which have been signalized during the last fortnight by the discovery at vari ous places of bombs and arms and am- munition. It was known that Premier Franco was marked for assassination. That is why he deemed it wise to flee. But the assassination of the King was not expected and 1t created almost reign of terror in high places. There Is not the slightest question that the plot was only half successful. The murder of the entire royal family and the extinction of the dynasty was the aim of the con- spirators. It is certain that other men had been stationed at various points of the route of the royal carriage that fatal Saturday afternoon and that if the mur- der had not been committed on the Praco Do Commercial it would have been attempted elsewhere. That same night an attempt was made to bring about mu- tiny on the part of the infantry and ar tillery regiments in Lisbon but the oni- eers locked the doors of the barracks and the conspirators were unable to gain access to the men. There have been many reports of dissatisfaction in the army and navy, but careful investigation does not confirm them and it may be assumed that the military is still loyal
 Fears Growing.
 The latter part of this week the fear grew that an attempt would be made the day the funerals were held, Saturoay' to complete the bloody work that was left unfinished a week ago. To prevent anything of this kind extraordinary pre- cautions were taken. It was decided that neither the King nor the Queen should follow the funeral cortege. At first the King insisted upon following on foot be-