The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-21

the Portuguese for the charitable and
chivalrous point Of view have counted for
much In the decision of the country to
fight on the side of England and France.
The fact that Portugal is republic with
a professional President is not alone
enough to explain its hostility to German
mllltarism; but Portugal is at war against
Germany because the instinct both of ma
tional self-preservation and of national
progress indicated that war on our side
was the policy required by the national in
terest and the national ideal"
There have been less potent influences,
Of course, all leading in the same direction.
A restoration of the Anglo-P Portuguese
Alliance was necessary for the protection
of the country and its possessions. Por-
tuguese finances needed aid which could
only be obtained through the agency of a
foreign loan. The group of intellect
uals" who constitute the Republican Gov
eminent of Portugal naturally turn to
France for inspiration and sympathy
rather than to Germany, where the royalist
opposition finds friends and favor. Final
ly, "the proclamation of the Allies of a
crusade for the lesser nations appealed
to the public opinion of this minor Power,
whereas the mode Of warfare of their op-
ponents profoundly shocked the public
sentiment of humane people" The Prus-
sian military ideals appealed only to a
very small class of the conservative,
clerical and capitalistic elements in Portu-
guese society; while the claim of the
Entente Allies to be fighting for the lib
critics of Europe, including those of the
minor nations, was hailed with euthusi-
asm by large majority of the popula-
ton.
In order to render the Portugal of the
present day comprehensive to the reader,
it is necessary that he should have some
knowledge of Portugal in the past; and
accordingly the author has devoted con-
siderable portion of his essay to a COM
parison between old Portugal and new
Portugal. 1t is only to the historical stu
dent who has explored the remoter parts
of the country himself that its immense
antiquity is known; as when, In some of
the "fearsome" districts of the great
mountain barrier between Portugal and
Spain, he encounters beehive hut dwellers
dressed in skins and thus finds himself
back in "the dim gray dawn of the world"
Roman Cart, Roman Plough.
In northern Portugal there are unmis-
taxable traces Of the domestic civilization
Of the Celt- Iberian race which was par
tally obGterated during the Roman domi-
nation Of the country; and all the out
ward and more material features of Ro-
man life are still visible. 1--WE are here
among a people whose civilization is still
Roman. An OK cart comes creaking past
carrying a rough wooden plough, just a
forked piece of timber shod with an iron
coulter on it, and both are Roman. The
cart is little oblong box on two solid
wooden disks whose wooden ungreased
axle as it turns bodily, keeps up an ear
piercing shrek. This not only serves to
clear the narrow lane worn by centuries
of use into deep ditch, but also to keep
away evil spirits who VIGOROUSLY hate
cart wheels almost as much as church
bells" In motoring up the country from
the railway terminus at Braga Mr..
Young says that every jolt Of the car
takes the traveller back at least fifty
years!
Old Portugal became a full fedged ma
ton in the reign Of Affonzo Henriquez
(1110-11S5), whose name stands first in
the list of Portuguese kings. He estab-
lished the independence of the country
by his crusades against the Moors, and
thus freed himself from subsection to the
Spanish crown. "The long reign of AZ
fonzo Henriquez," says Mr.. Young, "dur-
ing which Portugal became a European
State, shows very clearly all the eleMents
already existing that afterward enter
into the development of the nation. Some