Government of Portugal

“ A Liberal and a Conservative Government succeeding one another at long intervals, and really making some effort to interest the people and base their authority in the will of the people, must be the aim of Portuguese politics for the present. Then in a century or two, when education has become general and communications have improved, it will be discovered that Portugal is an excellent country for government by referendum. ”

“ Nay, in a country where the great parties in our own time perpetually accuse each other of gross and unscrupulous misgovernment, disparagements of the politics of countries which only recently attained self-government are obviously open to discount. Suffice it that Portugal, albeit by a via dolorosa of violence trodden by other peoples before her, has reaffirmed her part in the movement of civilisation towards a larger and a better life, thus giving the hundredth disproof to the formulas which deny the potentiality of advance to States which have known decadence. ”

“ In the peace of 1795, and in the subsequent treaty of 1796, which transformed the family compact of the French and Spanish Bourbons into a national alliance between France and Spain, there was no question about Portugal. In 1797, indeed, our Government condescended to receive a Portuguese plenipotentiary, but merely for the purpose of plundering his country of some millions of money, and to insult it by shutting up its representative as a State prisoner in the Temple. Of this violation of the laws of civilized nations, Spain never complained, nor had Portugal any means to avenge it. ”

“ The unsound administration in Portugal itself became more so in remote Madeira and most so in the distant colonies, where more recently the Governors have been fettered by the strict centralisation of power in Lisbon and driven to despair by the constant changes of Government, which seem to make any continuous policy impossible. ”

“ When it is remembered that Portugal has had some twenty governments during the life of a single government in England, it will be readily understood what disastrous confusion, what expense and waste, result, not to speak of personal ambitions kept continually at fever heat, on the watch and intriguing for some official post, and the large army of ex-officials disinclined or [171] unable to find other employment. ”

“ It is perfectly true that Portugal has often been in jeopardy; and equally true that England has never failed to fly to her assistance. But much misconception has been exhibited during the last two nights, with respect to the real nature of the engagements between Portugal and this country: a misconception which has undoubtedly been, in part, created by the publication of some detached portions of diplomatic correspondence at Lisbon. The truth is, that some time ago an application was made to this Government by Portugal to 'guarantee the new political institutions' of that kingdom. ”

“ The great affection felt by the Portugueze for this monarch, will not appear extraordinary, if we trace back the whole of his conduct from the commencement of his administration as regent, and the situation of Portugal at the moment he took into his own hands the reins of government. Having settled every thing relative to the abdication of the king, with the states-general, his next care was to convince the people, that his true and only motive for taking upon himself the sovereign authority, was the good of the public. ”

“ Let us suppose for an instant that the Protestant religion is that of the people of Portugal—the Catholic, that of the government—that the house of Braganza has not reigned, but that Portugal is still governed by the viceroy of a foreign nation, from whom no kindness, no favor, has ever flowed, and from whom justice has rarely been obtained, and upon those unfrequent occasions, not conceded generously, but extorted by force, or wrung from distress by terror and apprehension, in a stinted measure and ungracious manner ”

“ Not that a Restoration need be considered of any very great importance: if the moderate Republicans can provide a stable Government sensible Royalists would no doubt cease from all opposition to the Republic. But, of course, a Monarchy is in accordance with the old traditions of Portugal, and has value with regard to the colonial empire, in which unrest has increased, and very naturally, since the Revolution: the natives more readily yield obeisance to a king than to an abstraction. ”

“ Education is backward. The Government is a limited monarchy, there being two houses of Parliament—Peers and Deputies. The Azores and Madeira are part of the kingdom; there are colonies in Africa and Asia, in which slavery was abolished only in 1878. The 14th and 15th centuries saw the zenith of Portugal's fortunes. At that time, in strict alliance with England, she raised herself by her enterprise to the foremost maritime and commercial power of Europe; her navigators founded Brazil, and colonised India. ”

“ We will not uphold by force or against [547] the will of the country the constitution which Portugal has given herself, but neither will we permit others to overthrow it by force and against the will of the country.” His words were meant to alarm and warn the Spanish government; but they also alarmed all those who had long been forcibly intermeddling with the internal politics of other states in behalf of principles opposed to liberty and friendly to absolutism. ”

“ Fox, then prime minister, were to lay before the ministry of Lisbon, the imminent danger which threatened the country, and to offer assistance in men, money, and stores from England, to put Portugal in a state of defence, in case the government should decide on a vigorous and effective resistance. If, on the other hand, Portugal should think itself too weak to contend with France, the idea that had once occurred to King Don Alfonso of emigrating to Brazil, and there establishing the capital of the empire, was to be revived, and promises made of assistance and protection for that purpose. ”

“ In the West the Portuguese settlement in Brazil was a genuine colony, or branch of the Portuguese nation, because here there existed no earlier civilised people to be dominated. But both in East and West the activities of the Portuguese were from the first subjected to an over-rigid control by the home government. Eager to make the most of a great opportunity for the national advantage, the rulers of Portugal allowed no freedom to the enterprise of individuals. ”

“ It was not allowed to develop naturally after the first third of that great century. Even to-day there are said to be certain politicians who would dress it up in a suit of ready-made clothes which has caught their fancy in some shop window when they were on a visit to Paris. The Portuguese people deserves better than that, and if it can be given a national government, and a national policy and ideals, it may yet surprise Europe. ”

“ While the unfortunate Minister of Finance is gazing at an empty exchequer, they imagine him plunging both hands in a rich store for himself and his friends. And in a sense they are right. It is expected of ministers in office to help their friends, in their business affairs, and to find places for their political followers somewhere in that huge bureaucracy which has been the bane of Portugal since the sixteenth century. And, of course, each new government appoints new civil governors and new mayors and usually many other officials in the provinces. ”

“ For some time past there has been talk in Portugal of the so-called ‘Spanish danger,’ and the Press of that country of various political shades frequently declares that intervention in Portugal meets with widespread favour in Spain.... In Spain no thought has ever been given to the political form of the Portuguese Government further than the wish for order and tranquillity in the neighbouring nation, since these constitute the sure basis of prosperity. ”

“ At the close almost of a century and a half of this system, the following is given in a work of high reputation, as a correct picture of the state of the country and the strength of the government:—
"The finances of Portugal are in the most deplorable condition, the treasury is dry, and all branches of the public service suffer. A carelessness and a mutual apathy reign not only throughout the government, but also throughout the nation. While improvement is sought everywhere else throughout Europe, Portugal remains stationary. ”

“ But in Portugal itself, after the advent of the anti-clerical Marquis of Pombal, there went on as striking a regeneration of government (1750-77) as occurred in Spain under Charles III; and though the storms of the French Revolution, and the tyrannous reactions which followed it, fell as heavily on Portugal as on the rest of the peninsula, its lot is to-day hopeful enough. In common with those of Spain and Italy, its literature shows plenty of fresh intellectual life ”

“ Nearly a century ago, that is at about the time of the introduction into Portugal of constitutional government, a Portuguese writer proposed that the vanity of his countrymen should be turned to account by bestowing such titles as Viscount and Baron on rich persons according as they built a large or small number of houses, a large or small village in the more deserted parts of the country. ”

“ In the welter of South American politics Brazil has suffered those frequent changes of government which have been the fate of every republic existing in the sub-continent to-day. The first European country to contest the claim of Portugal to this vast territory was France. But although an island in the Bay of Rio was occupied by some French troops in 1515, the danger of permanent French rule was never a strong probability, and it was not long before the invaders were dislodged. ”

“ But indeed if the moderate Republicans realise that by every feigned indifference, every timid acquiescence in the excesses of the minority, they are driving a nail into the coffin of Portugal, or at least into the coffin of the Republic, they will have the courage to unite in restraining the actions of this [251] minority, not only for a few months, but for ever, and they will find that the country is on their side. So far the Portuguese might paraphrase the words of Thiers, and say that “the Republic is the form of government which divides us most.” ”

“ This municipality has the very essential privilege of complaining to the king himself against the conduct of the chief of the colony, the governor, and the four magistrates appointed to manage the finances in each government. The accounts are given in every year to the royal treasury at Lisbon, where they undergo a very strict examination.
The army is on the same footing in Brazil as in Portugal. The mulattoes and negroes are distinguished by particular standards; but the native Indians serve in battle with the whites. ”

“ The prospect of so great an enterprise excited the natural courage of her character, and awakened every aspiring sentiment in her bosom. She asked Braganza [15] in what manner he would act, in case his refusal of the crown should end in Portugal’s becoming a republic, and how he would conduct himself between that new form of government and the king of Spain? to which the duke replied, that he should ever remain inviolably attached to the interests of his country. ”

“ Busy as the present year has been, and abounding in events of exciting interest nearer home, the English public has yet found time to deplore the anarchy to which Portugal is a prey, and to marvel once more, as it many times before has marvelled, at the tardy realisation of those brilliant promises of order, prosperity, and good government, so long held out to the two Peninsular nations by the promoters of the Quadruple Alliance. ”

“ In 1799 he assumed the title of regent, which he retained until his mother’s death in 1816. (For the political history of his regency, see Portugal.) In 1816 he was recognized as king of Portugal but he continued to reside in Brazil; the consequent spread of dissatisfaction resulted in the peaceful revolution of 1820, and the proclamation of a constitutional government, to which he swore fidelity on his return to Portugal in 1822. ”

“ Such divisions amongst the first families of the nation, were calculated to ensure the safety and quiet of the minister, who had good reason to believe, that whilst the heads of those families were employed in planning schemes of private revenge, they would never be tempted to undertake any thing inimical to the government. The duke of Braganza alone, throughout the whole of Portugal, was in a situation to cause the Spaniards the smallest uneasiness. ”

“ In England the climate affords an abundant topic, in Portugal the days are often monotonously beautiful, sometimes monotonously rainy, so that whereas people in England discuss a late fall of snow or an early frost, in Portugal they pass the time over the fall of the Government or a partial ministerial crisis. A wonderful amount of excellent wit and intelligence is expended over the subject, and it is extraordinary how every shopkeeper even, every newspaper-boy almost, has his political views, his favourite politician. ”

“ A modern, tolerant, progressive Government would unite all but the merest handful of extremists in the common cause of Portugal. Only it is necessary to emphasise the fact that the Government must not be tolerant of crimes and indiscipline, since this appears to have been constantly overlooked by Republican Governments. The punishment of one crime will save many. ”

“ Citizens of Portuguese-speaking countries may, by international convention and provided that there is reciprocity, be granted rights not otherwise conferred on aliens, except the right to become members of the organs with supreme authority or of self-government of the autonomous regions, to service in the armed forces or to appointment to the diplomatic service.
4. Provided that there is reciprocity, the law may confer upon aliens who reside in the national territory the right to vote for, and to stand for election as, members of the organs of local authorities. ”