Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-25
SPAIN and PORTUGAL In THE WAR

A Spanish journal, the Tribuna of
Madrid, Intimately attached to German
ophilism, recent
Germany's Ambition ly said; III Ger
many is not de-
seek, soon after the war. the formation
sula." That prediction. which may be
assumed to be inspired. is important as
showing the possible but not probable
relations of Spain and Portugal after
the war.
1t leads one afar to attempt to fix
the ethnographical conditions of the
vexed origin of the 'Iberians," useful
only. IL they could be fixed. in solving
or determining the possibility of
union between Spain and Portugal.
When Philip II of Spain annexed Por-
tuga1 it was a century too late for
Portugal to coalesce with Spain. 1t
Alfonso de Albuquerque, and its Ian
guage had been developed from
Romance dialect into literary Ian
guage by Camoens and Sa de Miranda.
Conscious of it's natural history. 1t
broke away again from Spain in 1910.
and under the close alliance of England
maintained its separate and national
existence during the eighteenth CEN
fury. A union with Spain might have
been possible. however. during the first
half of the present century, had not a
generation Of historians and poets
arisen. who, by recalling the great days
Of the Portuguese monarchy have made
it impossible for Portugal ever again to
lose the consciousness of her national
existence.
There Is a vast deal Of speculation in
this unknown field of 'Iberianisn.'
which is important here only as show
ing the obstacles to Iberian unity. Be-
sides there is an atmosphere, well
recognized as indisputable. OF persist
ent and reciprocal defiance between the
governments of Madrid and Lisbon,
notwithstanding the policy of rap
prochement which has existed as a IA
vorite topic Of the press Of both Spain
and Portugal. topic eschewed in fact
by Spaniard and Portuguese.
The Portuguese revolution of October
press with manifest
The portu9uese disquiet- The turbu-
lent fraction of the
nevoAutAyA' Spanish militar y
party did not hide it's sympathies for a
policy of Spanish intervention in Por-
tuguese affairs, and the Spanish army.
it is no secret, held itself in readiness
to re-establish order on SPANS western
neighbours territory in the winter Of
1910-1911.
M. vasconce1los. who had the advan-
Madrid during this period. was appoint
ed minister of foreign affairs October.
1910. and found in his functions the
means of allaying the friction produced
by the encroa chments of Portuguese
refugees on the northeastern frontier
of the republic. The cabinet Of Lisbon
demanded of the government of King
Alfonso XIII the expulsion of these
refugees or their exile to the Canaries.
There was some diplomatic tension
manifested in the exchange of notes be-
tween Lisbon and Madrid during 1912.
When the war of 1914 came the
nervousness of the two governments be-
came apparent when Portugal mani
take sides with the entente. A leading
article in a Madrid journal. entitled
Fire in the Neighbor's House." caused
great commotion on both sides.
In 1915 Germany adopted policy of
increasing the suspicious of the two
Spain developed the following:
THE policy of the Lisbon govern
ment marked the elimination of an era
of errors and mistakes. In the face OF
prepare for every eventuality. to ac-
cept the consequences. however deli
| cate. and assure thus the life of the
nation"
This policy meant. in explicit terms,
the recognition of the principle of in
| PREVENTION of Spain in Portugars af-
fairs. Portugal had never concealed
her sympathies for the entente powers
and these sympathies had become an
alliance in fact before it had been de-
| veloped formally by treaty.
1t is necessary to recognize the fact
that Madrid's official attitude was en-
tirely correct and that it employed all
| measures to palliate the Incorporate
language of the pro-German press
The minister of state denied in a note
to the press the hypothesis of inter-
ventien In the affairs of the republic
The royal government had never de-
parted from it's policy of abstention: it
had accepted the protection of Ger
manic interests in Portugal at the same
| time as Portuguese interests in Ger
many. not without this giving place to
some drawbacks. Finally a Spanish
military mission would be presented
as evidence of the perfect accord and
good feeling existing between the two
governments.
The Seculo undertook to inaugurate
a better understanding, and with this
in view provoked con-
Aspirations of troversy on Hispano-
Portuguese relations
AoeiiaAism. from an Iberian point
of overwhelmingly, which. tended to
reunite the two countries under a con-
stitutional form. a return to the annex
alton idea of Philip ii, taking for basis
all equality of states and not at all the
subsection Of the weaker to the Strong
err That unitarian aspiration was
popular in Spain since the NaIofsopic
wars down to the revolution of 1854.
The Portuguese themselves appeared to
be interested, and King Pedro V passed
as the first of "Iberists' in the opinion
of his subjects, who saw in his mar
riage to Isabella II. not the annexation
of Portugal to Spain. but a sort of pa
cific conquest of Spain by Portugal.
From 1854 on silence fell on the 1ber-
list theory, Notwithstanding the adhe-
sion of the Spanish party under such
chiefs as Canovas, CASTELAR,. Salmeron,
PI Margall, etc. The colonial disas
ter of 1898 was the death blow to the