New-York tribune., 1908-02-04
THE PORTUGUESE CRISIS.

A governmental crisis is added to regicide In
Portugal. The Kings first expressed desire
that Mr.. Franco and his colleagues should re-
main in office has either voluntarily or invoun-
tariIy been annulled. The old Cabinet has re-
tired or has been dismissed and an entirely new
one has taken its place. The new Cabinet is de-
scribed as a coalition body, composed of repre-
sentatives Of all the leading parties save only
Mr. Francois That may be, but what is most
TO the present point is that it is at least led and
dominated by, if not wholly composed Of. Mr..
Frances opponents and the opponents Of his
policy. That obviously means radical change
of policy. and, it must be feared, reversion
to the system which prevailed before the ac-
cession of Mr.. Franco to power.
A change of that character is scarcely to be
contemplated without disquieting apprehensions,
for it would mean reverson to practices of cor
ruption and oppression not often paralleled IN
the modern history of civilized states. The mis-
government of Portugal, particularly in matters
of public finance was long notorious before Mr.
Franco came to power and was recognized to be
So gross as to be strong provocative Of anti
dynaStic and aDti-monarchical movements. Nor
was anything gained by turning out one party
and putting the other into place and power
There was no choice between them Ihere
seemed. indeed to be an understanding between
them for their alternate plundering OF the people
1t has of course been charged by some that
Mr.. Franco and his colleagues have been as bad
as their predecessors. and that if they have
turned one set of rascals out they have put an
other in--their own set. But the concrete
fact remains that Mr.. Franco lowered taxes
and at the same time reduced we'll toward the
vanishing point the yearly deficit In the budget
Various explanations of the change Of ministry
are offered. One is that King Manuel could not
help asSociating Mr.. Franco closely with the
murder of his father and holding him respon-
sbe for it, and therefore could not bear to have
further intercourse with him. Another, scarcely
less improbable. is that Mr.. Franco himself took
the initiative in resigning either through per-
sonal fear or because he thought his continu-
ance in office would provoke further revolution
airy activity The most plausible explanation IS
that the young King himself was persuaded that
the retirement of Mr.. Franco would facilitate
the pacfcation of the country, if, indeed, it was
not essential Possibly that judgment was
wise though there will be many doubters
We must recognize. of course, that Mr.. Franco
was practically a dictator. and particularly
arbitrary one. who did things which in some
other lands or in other circumstances would be
accounted intolerable tyranny The only Just1-
fication of his course lay in It's necessity for the
fulfment of the states first law, of selfpres-
ervation From all trustworthy information
that justification. The misgovernment of the
kingdom had become monstrous as actually
to menace its integrity and its very life As
for the protests which have been made against
the unconsttutiOnality Of the Franco admin
istration and the culpability OF the late King
in countenancing it. their answer is to be found
In the fact that these very critics, who have
been denouncing King Carlos for violating the
constitution only couple of years before
rallied at him just as bitterly as an 'incompe-
tent fool because of his scrupulous regard for
the constitution and his refusal to do anything
which savored of even Straining that instru-
ment It was truly a case of You'll be damned
if you do, you'll be damned if you don't" and
we muse esteem 1t to the honor of King Carlos
that when the policy Of not doing proved fail
ure or led to intolerabe conditions he bravely
adopted the contrary policy of doing, even
though thus he courted enmity and death. 1t
may be we'll to end the dictatorship. But we
must look with apprehension TO restoration Of
the conditions which seemed 10 make the die
tatorship necessary.