Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-13
PORTUGAL.
Causes Of the Revolution.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

Causes Of the overthrow Of the mon
archy in Portugal are traced by stu
dents Of Its decline beyond the golden
age OF discovery to the time when Bur
gundian princes, who ruled the country.
were unable to fuse it's mongrel stock and
racial divisions into homogeneous ma
ton, and when African slaves, Arabs.
Berbers. Celtberians. Hispane-Romans,
Cloths and Vandals had contributed to the
mixture called Portuguese.
The same spirit that animated the up
per classes in the glorious days of the
famous explorers and conquistadores ami
mated modern Portuguese aristocrats
This was the sentiment that there was
nothing in common between a gentleman
and newer Of wood and drawer of
water. The common people have been
regarded as drudges, At for service as
soldiers, sailors. laborers or servants but
little considered by royalty, the nobility
and the politicians who have contrived TO
live at their expense.
Stagnated, unenlightened. impoverish-
ed. socially outcast. the common people
have been allowed to make their way as
best they could. The gentry have con-
tinued to hold unswervingly to the opin-
ion that landlordism, military Office OF
UlllckS III lue civil service constitute the
only means of livelihood suitable for a
gentleman to consider, and that all vulger
employment savoring Of actual work Is
At only for "canaille''
When. in the nineteenth century. the
Napoleonic invasion threatened Portugal
with extinction,
Prey to Grating the people were
and Civil Strife. Ignorant, to aas and poor ''o
known even today. The country was
| sucking its sustenance from South
America. At the end Of the British mill
tary occupation the country had become a
prey to political grating and civil strife.
A nation that had amply proved its
stamina and patriotism in the field had
become spiritless and uninterested in
its own affairs under a grinding bureau
| cratic government dominated by I'M
scrupulous cliques. Long and profltless
wars for the benefit of ambitious soldiers
Of fortune, crookedness at the capital. cor
rupton among the upper classes. apathy
among the people, made Portugal unique.
The French revolution fired a small num-
Der OF, the Portuguese with the hope of a
| revolution in their country and the fer
ment that started at that time continued
until the recent upheaval.
In recent times the constant communi-
cation with Brazil served to keep alive
in the minds Of the Portuguese a desire
to try q new kind of government. Agi-
tation against monarchy in Spain also
aided in keeping the fires Of revolution
alight in Portugal. The modern history
Of France and the history Of the United
States have been much read by enlight-
ened Portuguese for fifty years. The
prevailing idea that the revolution was q
spur of-the-moment affair is entirely err
roneous.
Senior Franco, when acting as dictator
| under Dom Carlos, realized that a change
was probable. Some republican leaders
| had been bold as to proclaim re-
public as a certainty Of the future as
early as 1907. 1t was, Of course. in Lis
bon chiefly that the propaganda Of revolu-
ton flourished. The ruralists, little given
to reading. and for the most part unable
to read, took small interest in affairs.
Those in the northern part Of the country,
following agricultural pursuits. are even
| now claimed by the monarchists as con-
shutting a fair-sized contingent without
enthusiasm for the Lisbon republic. "
The fact that the provisional, ministry
delayed the election of the permanent as
sembly to prosecute a campaign in this
! part Of the country upholds the theory
| that militant republicanism Is not uni
versal there. 1t does not prove, however
that there is any active monarchial SEN
| timent.