The Daily Missoulian., 1911-07-14
Portugal
III.-Problems for Solution.
BY Frederic J. Haskin

church preached all kinds of immoral
tiles and that members of religious or
ders actually killed and ate children.
this Is nevertheless true upon the au-
thority of perfectly sober minded per-
sons In Lisbon. among them many
foreign business men.
The situation thus suggested I'm
brief might be elucidated by great
deal Of detail. 1t existed when the
revolution burst. II was an easy mat
ter to incite the mob, composed part
~ of violent anarchists and largely of
violent ignoramuses, to attack the
homes OF religious orders on the fan
tastic ground that the helpless men
and women in them were throwing
bombs and shooting from their roofs.
After the revolution was over score
of terrified nuns in Quelha's, n prom
inent convent perched upon the side
of hill overlooking the crowded quar-
ter of Lisbon. were fired upon for
eight hours without the slightest
cause. They were then dislodged
from the building In which they had
for years prosecuted the worthiest la
bors. dragged into the street by a
bowling mob. insulted i'm every imag-
Unable manner and marched through
the city to the marine arsenal where
they We're thrown into prison to be
+, guarded by sailors till they were bun
died out of the country as II they had
been vermin. 1t is hardly necessary
to say to the most ignorant or most
violently prcjudiced that Roman Cath
olic nuns leading rlgldly secluded lives
and practicing charity could not be
/ "A 1.. Il. 4,
to be guilty of the crimes or misde-
meanors charged against these unfor-
tunates. but In the heat of action fol-
lowing the revolution little thought
| was taken.
fist" was raised In EUROPE against
! Theophile Braga and all of the rest
of the members of the provisional gov
ernment when they seemed to regard
with complaceney the grossest as
sanlts upon unoffending persons be-
cause they happened to be members
of the church that had been allied
with the state under the monarchy.
The Jesuits came In for the hatred
of the republicans In Portugal Just as
they do In Spain, where they are al
lied with the monafcny. Just as in
Spain. they maintained some educa-
tional institutions which. II not ideal
were better than those to be found
elsewhere In country poorly equip
ped In this particular. OF course the
ruling and well-to-do classes sent
their children to these institutions II
was but natural that the wrath of the
| republicans, long pent up, should flame
| forth against the Jesuit order when
the revolution burst as II will newt
| ably do In Spain when, or If, n revo-
luton takes place there. 1t took the
form of the imprisonment. and subse-
quent expulsion, OF members of the
order No trials or other formalities
were gone through with In the cases
of the Jesuits, They were banished
as automatically as II the republicans
had been exponents of absoluteism, |
The republican ideas OF reform were
as violent as the abuses of which they
complained
After the manner OF monarchs of
the middle ages the republicans con-
fiscated the property of the orders
they expelled There was, of course
no defense for such radical action, but
II needed none In the eyes of those
who had promoted the revolution and
We're preparing to reform the country
| The hue and cry having been raised
1t was simple matter to smite the
orders hip and thigh and In any man
ner whatever and win popular ap-
proval
While 1t is hardly questioned that
the coalition of church and state was
a great evil in Portugal. and while
there were doubtless grounds for pop
ular distrust of, and distaste for. the
religious orders, material injury to THE
! country, as well as material Injustice
to those attacked and expelled, was
done during the wild days that fol-
lowed the expulsion of the boy king.
The casting out of the orders left the
! secular clergy to take charge of a
great deal of educational and charita-
BILE work the orders mad hitherto per-
| formed. So far little or nothing has
been done In this direction.
While the new administrators re-
sorted to unwarrantable measures to
dispose of members Of the orders, the
provisional government set about very
early drafting sensible measure to
divorce church and state. While the
detail of the work of the SUCCESSORS
of the Braganzas as rulers OF Portu-
gal had been notably bad in many in
! stances, the aims of the provisional
government have seemed good. and