Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1910 — PORTUGAL FACING CRISIS IS RUMOR [ARTICLE]

PORTUGAL FACING CRISIS IS RUMOR

British Minister at Lisbon Asks Government for Warship. REPUBLIC SAID TOBETOTTERINS Insubordination In Army and Navy Said to Be Rampant—Leaders in Society to Restore Monarchy Reported Under Arrest. ■ , .. ; London, Dec. 30. —Has the republic and administration of Portugal broken down after hardly three months’ existence? Statements of considerable definiteness have reached Paris suggesting that the question can be answered affirmatively. It is asserted, among other things, that the Briti?h minister at Lisbon has telegraphed to his government asking that a warship be sent there at once, that the provisional government is no longer able to rely on the army and navy and that three cruisers have consequently been sent from Lisbon. The news of the anti-monarchial outbreak at the beginning of .October first reached the world by way of Paris and the fact that the reports are given currency by the sober Temps adds weight to them. The Temps’ news, in addition to stating that there Is disaffection in the army and navy, mentions the restlessness of the working classes, who are bitter against the government and are making demands that it is impossible for the latter to satisfy. It is also reported that the administration had discovered that a secret society is plotting to restore the monarchy, and the ringleaders have been arrested. On the other hand it is noteworthy that these disquieting stories come, from Madrid, whose news centers are in no wise necessarily mirrors of trutli, and especially where Portugal is conceri ed. Nevertheless, mailed reports from Lisbon which have reached England at intervals in the course of the last few weeks have been such as to prepare one to expect a crisis. Numerous strikes jn Lisbon and elsewhere have been one feature of these reports.. The working classes thing the government has not sufficiently recognized the share they took in establishing the republic. Insubordination in the army and navy is said to be rampant. Discipline has been entirely lost. Many officers of both services have resigned, finding it impossible to continue in their commands. The cruiser Braga, formerly the Don Carlos, was recently ordered to proceed to Madeira to assist in enforcing the anti-cholera measures. The crew flatly refused to go and when the ship was consequently ordered on a disciplinary cruise the men threatened repris als* It is said that the re-percussion of the mutiny at Rio de Janeiro is felt throughout the Portuguese navy, which is likely to fail the republic in the hour of need as it failed the monarchy. The abandonment of the prosecution of Ex-Premier Franco and his fellow ministers is another cause of discontent. The judges who ruled that Franco and his colleagues came under the amnesty proclamation and ordered their release have been bitterly attacked by the Republican press. Trade, too, Is suffering. Money Is not circulating freely, and the commercial classes, which are mainly Republican, are badly hit. The government has been forced to issue more paper money than the gold reserve warrants.