CANOVAS IN POWER.
Canovas was at once recognized as the representative of the absent King, and the country was ready to obey his directions. Armed with this power, he set to workto put the country in order. He exiled Zorilla, the chief of the demagogues, he banished the revolutionaries and expelled the teachers of disorder, who had the impudence to call themselves "the Intellectuals." As the Constitution was but the legalization of tyranny, he drew up another, in which Catholic principles were respected.
The moment had come for inaugurating an era of peace. His ministry again declared that "the Catholic religion is the religion of the State," though it professed a tolerance for dissident sects. The monastic orders were received back into the land; churches were restored, the clergy received as much of the ecclesiastical property as had not been absolutely alienated. The Carlists were pacified, and the whole country once more brought within the bonds of patriotic union.
It was unfortunate that this great statesman, who had placed Alphonso XII. upon the throne, and watched over the first years of the present King Alphonso XIII., was assassinated by an anarchist, August 8, 1897.
SPAIN IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
During the regency of Maria Christina, and the reign of her son, Alphonso XIII., the Church was not at first openly attacked, although various legislative measures have been proposed to cripple the religious orders and deprive the clergy of all authority in matters of education.
ALFONSO XII., KING OF SPAIN.ALFONSO XII., KING OF SPAIN.
There were difficulties in recent years, but while the Conservatives ruled under Senor Maura, or even the Liberals under Sagasta, the danger of any serious conflict was not imminent. But when the Liberals in 1905 were led by Moret, the rights of the Church began to feel the first signs of disrespect. The difficulties arousedby the new government concerned chiefly civil marriages, cemeteries, the toleration of non-Catholics, and the religious orders. Previously civil marriages were recognized as valid only between such persons as would make a declaration that they were not Catholics. Count Romanones, the Minister of Justice, caused the suppression of such declaration, thus introducing civil marriages even between careless Catholics. The Bishops protested, but in vain; and the Bishop of Tuy was even cited to court for the openness of his language.
CANALEJAS.
After the fall of Moret, his successor, Canalejas, hastened to urge oppressive measures against the Church. Senor Canalejas was well known ever since 1887 for his anti-clerical tendencies, and had more than one conflict with the Vatican apropos of the dispersion of the religious orders. When he succeeded to the post of Premier, it began to be evident that he would forthwith proceed to laicise Spain according to his old vow.
It had always been the policy of Canalejas to settle old scores with the Holy See, and in doing so he descended to many of the brutalities that characterized Bonaparte in his dealings with Pius VII. King Alphonso proved a docile tool, and offered no resistance when ordered to sign any decree, however adverse to Catholic interests.
The first object of the Canalejas ministry was to be the revision of the Concordat. The Ambassador to the Vatican, Senor Ojeda of Perpinan, was charged to place before His Eminence Cardinal Merry del Val, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, the desire of the Spanish Government to treat the question. The Holy See replied that it was ready to enter on the matter, as ithad done with preceding Cabinets. Hence, to make a practical beginning, it offered on its own initiative, the four concessions agreed to in 1904, but which were not ratified by the Spanish Cortes, owing to the fall of the Maura Ministry.
CANALEJAS.CANALEJAS.
These concessions were as follows: The suppression of all religious houses in which the community did not number twelve, with the exception of a few agreed upon with the Government; the authorization of the Government was to be obtained before a new religious house could be founded; strangers wishing to establish religious institutions in the country should first become naturalized as Spanish citizens; finally, the religious should be subject to the impost duties in accordance with the fiscal laws, like all other citizens.
The Spanish Government was not satisfied with these concessions, and expressed a desire for still others. TheHoly See yielded even then, and set to work to examine the situation and to study all possible concessions.
While matters thus stood in abeyance, the Spanish Government suddenly, without warning or intimation, proceeded to settle the questions without the concurrence of the Holy See. A Royal Decree was issued with the intention of enforcing the Royal Order of 1902, whereby religious communities would be obliged to fulfil certain formalities before they could obtain legal existence and recognition. This Royal Order had never been enforced because it had not been agreed upon by both parties.
The Holy See protested in an official note to the Government of Madrid, and requested that the matter be suspended pending the negotiations already going on between the Vatican and Spain. The answer of the Government, only a few days later, was the passing of a new decree giving free practice to alien religions. As this was also one of the subjects under discussion, the Holy See again protested. The Government, however, was not yet satisfied, and accordingly in the following Speech from the Throne, uttered many anti-clerical notes, especially its determination to put forward the projected law against the religious orders. The Holy See, in the face of these violations of diplomatic procedure, declared that if the Government continued to carry on its unilateral measures, it would be useless and impossible to proceed with the negotiations. But the Spanish Government only replied that it could not recall the measures it had already passed.
By this trick Canalejas hoped to extend the rule of the civil power over a matter which pertains to mixed questions, and this in open contempt of the Concordat and the most elementary laws of diplomacy. It hoped to create the impression that the Holy See yields nothing,and in that way place it in the unfavorable light of being blindly obstinate. Moreover, it strove to place the Holy See in a position so humiliating that it would be obliged to reject its own overtures and accept whatever the opposition might grant. He hoped to discourage the protests of Catholic Spain by rendering the attitude of the Vatican ridiculous.
Canalejas prided himself upon being the champion of freedom of conscience. It was a play to the gallery in the hope of gaining popular encouragement from abroad. It was an effort to stir up antipathy to the Holy See and embittering public opinion against it.
The game of the Premier was detected, and he at once began to complain of the intransigent attitude of the Holy See, and accused the Holy Father of an intention to threaten. He spoke of "justice" and the "defence of the rights of Spain." He deprecated any idea of violating the Concordat or of wishing to break with the Vatican. His whole policy in fact was but a miserable attempt to hoodwink the Spanish people.
The Vatican, in the meantime, demanded a withdrawal of the obnoxious laws until the negotiations already begun should be terminated. The Government in answer played the role of offended innocence, spoke of the tyranny of Rome, and lauded the "heroes" who were fighting for a liberal and independent regime. Hence the interviews with paid newspaper correspondents who could place the position of the Ministry in a favorable light before the world.
The Spanish nation, however, could not be brought to see any truth in the statements of Canalejas, or any sincerity in his intentions, as was evident from the universal demonstrations.
In the meantime the Holy Father's demand that the obnoxious laws be suspended until the consultation inregard to the Concordat should be ended, was received as an ultimatum at Madrid. In answer thereto, Canalejas determined to recall the Ambassador accredited to the Holy See. In consequence he directed a telegram to that effect to Senor Ojeda, who at once set out from the Eternal City without fixing any day for his return, leaving the First Secretary of the Embassy as his representative. The Papal Secretary of State was informed that "The Ambassador had been recalled to Madrid to receive directions."
This event, however, did not cause any great surprise in Catholic circles. It was well known that the mere recall of an ambassador does not in itself always signify a definite rupture, although in this case it constituted at least a very serious step.
FERRER AND THE BARCELONA RIOTS.
For a long time Spain, like Portugal, had been made the camping ground of so-called "progressives," men and women who set out with the theory that the world was wrong and they, the prophets appointed by "destiny" to set it right. Among these self-constituted prophets of a new order was a certain Francisco Ferrer of Guardia, the son of a Catalonian farmer, who had acquired some wealth and influence by means that were shown to be disreputable. Fired with an unholy hatred of country and Church, his whole history is one of conspiracy and revolution. He had been actively connected with every effort to overturn established government since 1883. On every occasion he was known to be in active correspondence with the leaders of those revolutions, and was connected with everything they did. 1885, 1892, 1895, 1898 were years that stand out clearlymarked in his career of disorder, down to the time when the anarchist Morral attempted to assassinate King Alphonsus XIII.
After the movement of 1885 he fled to Paris where he chose for his friends men like the Jew, Nacquet, who has the unsavory honor of introducing divorce into the French code. An enemy to the sacred institution of marriage, he soon abandoned his wife and three children, and shortly after sealed his desertion by a divorce. To support himself he devoted his time to the teaching of Spanish, in which occupation he made the acquaintance of a middle-aged spinster named Meunier. Out of this friendship Ferrer gained some pecuniary profit, for this woman on her deathbed left him a fortune amounting to $150,000.
With this fortune, after he had become affiliated with the Grand Orient of Paris, Ferrer returned to Barcelona. It was here, in 1901, that he inaugurated his notorious scheme of "the Modern School," while at the same time he increased his fortune by gambling, and lived in a scandalous companionship with a woman of ill fame.
In his "Modern School" Ferrer advocated every doctrine of disorder and insurrection. He chose for his teachers men well known for their anarchistic ideas. His object was to eliminate from the minds of the children every idea of religion, patriotism, and morality. It was not Catholicity alone that he assailed, but everything that society stands for: the flag, country, marriage, property, family, and State. His school-books contained such teachings as these: "The flag is nothing but three yards of cloth stitched upon a pole;" or "The family is one of the principal obstacles to the enlightenment of men." Other doctrines contained in his teaching are too indecent for reproduction. His principal of thegirls' school was Madame Jacquinet, an anarchist who had been driven out of Egypt, and who described herself as "an atheist, a scientific materialist, an anti-militarist, and an anarchist." Another of his professors was that Mateo Morral who attempted to kill the King on his wedding day. Another was Leon Fabre, one of the leaders in the Barcelona riots.
The schools of Ferrer increased in various districts of Catalonia, until about 1906, nearly 2000 children were receiving his instructions. In the spring of 1909, he went to London, where he lived in company with the ex-school mistress. It was while in England that the first signs of discontent in Catalonia began to manifest themselves. The war in Morocco demanded soldiers for its prosecution, and on hearing that the Government was about to make a requisition in Catalonia, Ferrer, on June 11, suddenly left England and hurried back to Barcelona. There he again entered upon his campaign of revolutionary teaching, inflaming the minds of the people against the Government which had the hardihood to ask soldiers for a foreign war.
His teaching had its effect. On July 26, Barcelona broke out into open revolt. There were only 1600 soldiers in the town to meet the assaults of the rioters. The general strike ordered by the workingmen's associations crippled all means of trade and commerce. The mobs first assailed the banks and stores, but finding them too strongly guarded turned their attention elsewhere. The city was placed under martial law, and the small detachment of troops were divided where the danger seemed most imminent. There was no thought of the churches, convents, and religious houses.
Mr. Andrew Shipman, in hisexposéof the case for McClure's Magazine, describes the horrors of the few days that followed. "The day of July 27 was a ghastlyone, filled with smoke, murder, and terror. The kerosene can was used after looting had secured every valuable article, and before midnight the mob had attacked and burned some twenty-two institutions in the newer and outer part of Barcelona. The police pursued them as best they could; but the revolutionists were divided by their leaders into sections, attacking churches, schools, and houses simultaneously at remote distances from one another. During the night the King and ministry, who were communicated with by cable—for all telegraph lines were cut—suspended the constitutional guarantees, leaving the city and province in an actual state of war.
"All day on the 28th the burning, looting, and destruction of churches, convents and schools went on; but by nightfall the troops had broken some of the barricades, and began to subdue some sections of the rioters. On Thursday, the 29th, they had the rioting under control, and the revolt was crushed. On Friday the roving bands of anarchists, rioters, and idlers were entirely stopped, and the next day street traffic began again.
"It is sickening to tell of the savagery of the mob. Even the dead nuns were dragged from their coffins and paraded with revolting and obscene orgies, and then thrown into the gutters. Clerical teachers in the schools were stripped, tortured and shot. Even little children were not spared. Churches that had stood as monuments from the days of the Crusades were destroyed; while everything valuable was plundered from them, and from the schools and religious houses. They even stole the clothes and petty jewelry of the girls in the boarding schools."
Immediately after the cessation of hostilities the arrest and punishment of the ring leaders were begun.Among those arrested was Francisco Ferrer, who was tried by a court-martial, found guilty of rebellion and treason, and, on October 13, 1909, was executed.
Although the trial was fair, and has been officially declared such by Canalejas, a man who holds no friendship for the causes of Catholicity and Spanish right, nevertheless the news of Ferrer's execution raised a commotion throughout the world. Strangely enough the odium of the act was saddled directly upon the Catholic Church, against which the secular press delivered itself of diatribes full of bitterness. The fact seemed to be forgotten, or concealed, that the Church had no more to do with the execution than an infant just born. In fact the Holy Father himself had written in terms of clemency; but his advices were disregarded. The matter was purely a political one, the case of a convicted revolutionist, found guilty by one of the fairest courts in the world, and upon the most disinterested testimony. Happily the better instincts of civilization soon awoke to the real character of the whole proceeding, and the Church was exonerated among good men from any complicity, however just, in the death of the traitor.
Portugal has never yet recovered from the disasters which crushed it at the end of the sixteenth century. At the end of the eighteenth it was already in a state of decadence, which followed principally on the ruin of the marvelous empire of the Indies, won by Vasco de Gama, Albuquerque, and Juan de Castro, the subjection of Portugal to England by the Treaty of Methuen, and finally in a moral abasement such as the times were then producing in France and all countries affected by the French Revolution. This decadence was easily favorable to the reign of the sophists, the encyclopaedists and other open or secret enemies of religion.
It was in Portugal that the notorious Pombal exercised his power by a brutal expulsion of the Jesuits, who had brought so much glory to their fatherland by their missionary successes in Brazil, Paraguay and India. Pombal had misused the resources of Portugal, leaving that little nation a prey to a profound demoralization, which betrayed itself especially in the higher classes of society.
When the French Revolution broke out, Portugal was weakened by its economic dependence on England, a country which took away the wines and olives, and flooded the land with its own industrial products. Inthis way the triumphal progress of the French armies placed Portugal in a very delicate position. It became a question of following England, and inviting the wrath of the French, or of yielding to Napoleon with the consequent certainty of invasion and ruin.
MANUEL II.MANUEL II.
The Prince Regent of Portugal at the time was John VI. of Braganza, who was enjoined by Napoleon to close his ports to the English, and to expel all English persons residing in the country. Upon the refusal ofthe Regent, Napoleon sent General Junot with an army against Portugal, and John VI. in his terror embarked with his Court for Brazil.
The fortunes of the Portuguese throne were diversified from that time until the present. After the flight of the Regent, John VI., the country was governed some years by the brother of Napoleon, King Joseph Bonaparte. When the French were driven out by Wellington and Moore, the throne reverted to the house of Braganza, but remained under the control of the English Lord Beresford, governing in the name of the absent Regent, then exiled in Brazil. In 1816, the Regent, upon the death of his imbecile mother, Maria I., succeeded to the throne. In 1820 the Cortes adopted a Constitution, and the King, John VI., returning from Brazil in 1821, swore to observe it, accepting it for Portugal and Brazil.
In 1826 John VI. died, and the Portuguese crown should descend in the regular line to his eldest son, Dom Pedro, then reigning in Brazil. As Emperor of the latter country, he could not at the same time be king of Portugal. Hence, in 1826, he renounced his claim to the Portuguese throne in favor of his daughter, Maria da Gloria, a child of seven years. The regency for the child was conferred upon the brother of Dom Pedro, the exiled Dom Miguel, who returned upon invitation for that purpose. The latter, however, recalling the laws which prohibited succession to the throne to the female children, while a brother of the preceding monarch or a son remained, contrived to place himself upon the throne. Dom Pedro, in anger at the event, returned to Portugal in 1831, after abdicating the Brazilian Empire in favor of his son, Dom Pedro II., and began a war with his brother, in favor of the deposed Maria da Gloria. In 1834, Dom Miguel was defeated and forcedto leave Portugal. Thenceforth, the Portuguese crown descended by succession to Dom Pedro V., who succeeded his mother, Maria da Gloria in 1853 and reigned until 1861; Louis I., from 1861 to 1889; Carlos I., from 1889 to 1908, when he was assassinated. He was then succeeded by Manuel II., the present unhappy victim of the Revolution of 1910.
TEOFILE BRAGA, Provisional President of the Portuguese Republic.TEOFILE BRAGA,Provisional President of the Portuguese Republic.
The Revolution of 1833 was especially marked for its violence. Bishops and priests were imprisoned, andmen of very questionable virtue were put in their places. Ecclesiastical property was confiscated, for which indemnity was promised, but never accorded. Convents were suppressed and the religious persecuted. The sacred rites in the administration of the sacraments were regulated by the civil procedure. Only the death of the tyrant, Maria da Gloria, brought some relief to the Church.
The history of Portugal for many years has been a story of gradual decadence. The secret societies aided by English encouragement have honeycombed the country until the terror of the lodges invaded every institution and home in the land. A dynasty represented by a king like Carlos I., who showed himself utterly incapable of manly feelings or kingly instincts, gave color to the evil machinations of the hypocritical crew who love to feast upon the decay of ancient glory.
ASSASSINATION OF CARLOS I.
On the first day of February, 1908, a terrible event horrified the world. In the afternoon of that day Carlos I., the King of Portugal, and his son Luis, the heir apparent, were assassinated, as they were returning with their family to the royal palace at Lisbon. The conspirators had shot their victims. Queen Amelia courageously shielded her loved ones with her own body, but in vain. If she herself was spared it was not through any pity on the part of the regicides, who would have stricken her as fiercely, if they had not believed they had extinguished the royal line in the blood of the King and his children. For the time being, however, the hopes of the revolutionists were not realized, and the monarchy yet lived in the person of the younger son.
The blood of the victims, in fact, seemed to have infused new virtue into the Portuguese people, who in the horror of the royal tragedy, and the pity aroused for the remainder of the family, tried to forget the past with its faults, and sustained the crown.
The younger son, Dom Manuel, a young man of eighteen, was proclaimed king, in the gloomy afternoon of that sad day, with the title of Manuel II. His proclamation to the people made mention of the "abominable crime," declared his adhesion to the Constitution, and promised his every effort for the welfare of his country and the affection of his people.
Manuel was not educated for the throne, and now under the horror of the awful murder, and with the heavy burden of an unexpected royalty, he made every sacrifice to bring about a thorough pacification.
In the two years of his reign Manuel appeared to be, but was not, the ruler. Seven ministries succeeded one to another in the government, all of them under the influence of one determination: to hush up as far as possible the assassination of the former king. It would not do to divulge the mysterious connection between the revolutionary regicides and the secret societies.
The first ministry was conservative, but it was quickly driven out of power, to be succeeded by the party of the Left. The door was thus opened to the Republicans. Already in secret they had manifested their power; they had organized plots against individuals, conspiracies against the monarchy, and violent measures against the Church and religion.
Manuel II., as yet too young to give a strong impress to his regime, made close relations with England and France. At home, unhappily, he fell under the secret and malign influence of the very men who had assassinated his father. In the Speech from the Throne, deliveredon September 23, 1910, at the opening of the Cortes, he betrayed his subjection to the sectaries who surrounded his throne. The Minister Teixeira de Sousa deceived the King in the anti-clerical struggle against the religious orders. His promises were only a sop thrown to the revolutionaries to calm their anger, but they signified that the last blow was being prepared to destroy the monarchy, since the Catholic people showed themselves friendly to it inasmuch as it held out the only guarantee of peace and security.
REVOLUTION ALWAYS ACTIVE.
In the meantime the Republicans were active, building up their forces, and gaining over the army and navy by their promises and insinuations.
Portugal had forgotten the old traditions which inspired Camoens, the greatest of her poets, to sing the memory of those kings who made the name of Portugal glorious in far-off lands. The modern muse of Portuguese song is represented by a renegade, Guerra Junqueiro, who reviled the ancient glories of his country, and now a demoralized sense sees only the glory of the regicide and the license of anarchy.
The proclamation of the new Republic in Portugal followed a military pronunciamento of the type that obtained formerly in uncivilized countries, a manifesto of the army and navy rather than of the people.
The new political institution with a poet for its President is the fruit of the revolt of insubordinate officials armed for the assassination of their superiors, and of all who would dare to remain faithful to their oath and to their flag. The horde of pretorians, janizaries, and other instruments of tyranny, meant only the momentary preponderance of military power, the followers ofa few agitators, the illuminati who relied more on the sharpness of the bayonets than on the justice of any reasons they might adduce.
The European and often the American press viewed the whole disgraceful affair with favor. The daily reviews of the situation spoke in glowing terms of the "pacific and honest" event at Lisbon, while breaking into tirades against the wickedness of the religious.
COSTA.COSTA.
Certain it is that on the night of October 4, 1910, while the King was at Lisbon for the purpose of receiving with due honor the new President of Brazil, Marshal Hermes de Fonseca, then visiting Portugal, the Republican conspirators decided to anticipate the stroke of revolt by imprisoning the King and preventing him from flying to the Northern provinces. The Vice-Admiral, Candido Reis, awaited with his squadron in the Bay of Lisbon, and gave the signal to turn the fireof the cannon upon the Royal Palace. On land the Sixteenth Regiment of infantry killed the royal officials, joined with the revolutionary mob, took possession of the Arsenal in order to arm the rebels, and launched the war against their sovereign and the throne.
Manuel, taken unawares, found himself practically alone. While his uncle, the Duke of Porto, attempted a desperate defence by placing himself at the head of the mountain artillery, and was constrained to retreat, the young King, abandoned by his councillors and his courtiers, the friends of his brief day of power, determined to shed no unnecessary blood and took refuge in exile.
SOLDIERS ARRESTING RELIGIOUS.SOLDIERS ARRESTING RELIGIOUS.
There was indeed a moment when the tide of revolution seemed forced back towards failure, and in that moment Candido Reis, the principal instigator of the revolution, committed suicide. The news only aroused the mob to increased fury, and sent them burning withanti-clerical hatred against the helpless religious. The horrors and the excesses of that oppression have been demonstrated by the numberless murders and by the horrible cruelties practised upon the defenceless victims of "Liberty."
It is probable that the complete story of the persecution inflicted upon the religious of Portugal will never be known. Some of the victims have disappeared as completely as if the earth had swallowed them. But the history of the survivors is full enough in its appalling details to give an idea of the utter barbarity of the oppressors and the ignorance which impelled them to action.
Against the Jesuits the Portuguese secret societies have entertained an abiding hatred ever since the days of the infamous Pombal. Long before the late Revolution the writer visited the ancient church of the Jesuits in Ponte Delgado in the Azores Islands, and there beheld the evidences of vandalism perpetrated years before upon altars and shrines that have not their equal in the world. Naturally the fury of the mob, in the recent upheaval, sought out these Fathers as a worthy object of brutality, and inflicted upon them indignities with a savagery worthy of the inhabitants of the Fiji Islands.
Three of the great Jesuit institutions met with especial attention, those of Quelhas, Barro and Campolide. When the revolutionists stormed the first of these establishments, they reported a story that the priests had fired bombs upon the soldiers, and then retreated into underground passages to hide. The facts of the case, as it later developed, showed that the house at Quelhas had actually been shut by the Government and deserted by the Jesuits. Nevertheless the story of the bombs and the underground passages went the round of thepress of the world. These underground passages, by the way, were shown to be little sewer conduits about eight or ten inches in diameter, so that it would be extremely difficult for even the most ascetic Jesuit Father to enter, much less to live in them.
The College at Barro was one of the finest in Portugal, and it is a noteworthy fact in connection with it, that on the very last day of his reign the young King had signed a decree closing that Novitiate. In the house on the day of its attack there were eighty-six priests, brothers, novices and students, all members or intending to be members of the Society of Jesus. It is well known that the lower class of the Portuguese who fell under secret society influence were superstitious to an incredible degree. Hence, when it became noised abroad that there were strange apparatus in the college, such things as microscopes, X-rays, radium, and electrical appliances, the excited mob held up its hands in holy horror. The Jesuits who had such things, and talked in such learned language could surely be nothing less than hobgoblins, unnatural sprites and wicked spirits. The sentiment was fostered and encouraged in them by the unscrupulous spirits of discontent, who knew that anarchy could never prosper while learning and virtue remained unabused.
On October 5, the college was sacked, and its inmates marched out. After a humiliating journey on the railroad, they were finally imprisoned in the fortress of Caxeas. Father Torrent, a learned scientist of the band, was in a few days liberated as a French citizen.
The college at Campolide, the glory of Portuguese educational institutions, shared the same fate. Its Fathers were arrested and led away to swell the number of prisoners at Caxeas. The collection of laboratory apparatus, one of the finest in Europe, was delivered upto the fury of a mob, who could no more appreciate their worth than the savages of Africa. The magnificent library of 25,000 volumes contained rare works that can never be duplicated.
The wave of indignation and contempt that followed in the whole world when the true nature and character of the revolutionists began to be known, has urged the Portuguese controllers to excuse and palliate their acts. When the nuns were driven from their convents they were led to the vile quarters of the arsenal where their humiliations were continued. It was said that this was done to protect them from the mob; yet it is now known that the mob had no intention of sacking the convents; this work was done almost altogether by the soldiers and sailors. In fact when a few soldiers guarded the Irish convent at Belim, the Dominican convent at Benfrica, and the Irish Dominican monastery at Corpo Santo, the mob had nothing to do, and these convents remained untouched.
When the nuns were taken from their convents they were piled like criminals into any handy vehicle, and then driven in the midst of a shouting, hooting mob along the streets. The soldiers who marched with them, as is shown in the many photographs taken of the event, laughed with idiotic bravado, and assumed as much importance as if their delicate, helpless charges were so many fierce warrior captives taken on the field of battle. In the Arsenal several hundreds of them were huddled together in one large room. Here they were visited by Senhor Affonso Costa, the Minister of Justice, who swaggered about among the gentle-minded ladies, roared at them, and glared with his magnetic eye. For three hours he questioned and insulted them, while a score of attendant press agents took down his magnificent bravadoes to be embellished for the press of the day. Exceptfor the misery of the poor Sisters, the whole scene was worthy of one of Sullivan's comic operas, calling for laughter where it did not inspire contempt.
This is the Portuguese Republic, the government to which the people of Portugal have been consigned. Its direction is plainly indicated from the fact that one of its first proposed laws is that which permits of free divorce. The Republic of Portugal has one rival on earth, that of the West Indies, to which people, laughing, give the name of Hayti.
It would be well in speaking of these events to reproduce the letter written by the Rev. Provincial of the Portuguese Jesuits, and addressed to his fellow countrymen. The letter was suppressed in Portugal, but was published later in England. It is as follows:
To My Countrymen: The prolonged period of distress which elapsed while the Fathers and Brothers of the Society of Jesus were quitting Portugal to take the road of exile, being driven from their beloved native land on the charge of abominable crimes, whereas their life had been wholly spent in self-sacrifice on behalf of others, whilst I was moreover occupied with the care of my spiritual children, having to determine for each a new scene for the exercise of his zeal—all this, I say, occupied me to such an extent that hitherto I have been unable to find time to address this protest to my countrymen, which, however, is demanded of me as a relief for my own grief and by my duty as a Christian and a religious whose office lays upon him this responsibility.
In this, my protestation and complaint, I shall speak only of those religious who, as members of the Society of Jesus, were subject to my jurisdiction, since for them alone was I responsible. I must, however, begin by saluting the glorious children of all religious orders whom we cherish and reverence as ennobled by their sufferingsand their participation in the cross through insults, bondage, and even death itself, some of them having sealed a life of saintliness and self-devotedness with the testimony of their blood.
But in thus solemnly addressing my country, I must, as a father, speak of my own well-beloved sons, expressing my grief on beholding what they suffer, and protesting their innocence of the charges brought against them.
In this free country men who extol the spirit of liberty, and claim to be leaders of the principle of universal equality, have on the instant expelled from Portuguese territory more than three hundred of their fellow citizens, spread amongst some score of houses in the Motherland and colonies beyond the seas in Asia, Africa and Oceania.
This cruel act was executed without the victims being permitted to speak one word in their defence, no time being allowed them to carry away a stitch of clothing, their books or their papers, though these contained the fruit of active studies pursued for years.
SPOLIATION.
In the name of liberty they have taken from us all that we possess, have seized our property and our houses, built with what by dint of careful economy has been saved out of the pensions of our pupils, or has been assigned by individuals and legally invested for the purpose in their own names.
The College of Campolide was established in 1858 by three English subjects in order to assist Father Rademaker in the development of education and material progress in Portugal. The College of Campolide was accordingly for a long period English property andflew the British flag. Later, after the death of these persons, the trust was dissolved, and Campolide, with all its belongings, was acquired by other individuals, Portuguese or foreign. One of these, Father Bramley, now in India, has, of course, claimed his share. I do not know why the Portuguese partner cannot do the same, there being a fundamental law which absolutely prohibits the confiscation in all cases of property belonging to private citizens. Since 1834, when the possession of property in Portugal was forbidden to religious orders, it has been the rule, as in England, that individuals alone could buy, sell or own such properties as were assigned by their legal owners to the use of Jesuits or others.
Along with buildings and land was seized, likewise the furniture of our houses, comprising first-rate scientific collections in the museums, scientific institutes and laboratories of the colleges at Campolide and S. Fiel, where for more than half a century, by means of the monthly pensions of our boys, and the generosity of friends inspired by esteem and devotion, the intelligent and disinterested labors of our fathers and brothers had succeeded in accumulating valuable materials for study, which by every right were ours, and ours alone.
Our libraries disappeared in like manner during the same period, the store where our linen was kept, the private rooms themselves, in each of which could be found, besides a washstand and bed, only a writing table and a modest bookstand with a few books, the companions of our solitude—all were suddenly declared to be the property of the State.
We ourselves, thus summarily and arbitrarily despoiled of everything, and turned out of our own doors, were led to prison by a throng of armed soldiers andcivilians, amidst the insults and jeers of a mob long excited against us by the calumnies of a ribald press.
Those who, forewarned of these outrages, succeeded in making their escape, were hunted like wild beasts through fields and streets, some of them—as I know certainly in the case of six—were pursued with gun shots—in some instances their assailants spat in their faces.
A CONVENT AFTER BEING SACKED.A CONVENT AFTER BEING SACKED.
Yet these were men who had never made any appearance in politics, criminals of a novel species, who had renounced and sacrificed all that is attractive in human life to devote themselves, without thought of worldly recompense, to the education of youth in our schools, to preach the gospel to the heathen in our transmarine colonies, or to exercise every kind of priestly ministry, however hard and unattractive. Against these men a disreputable press, which in any other country would be sternly repressed, though spreading vague and blusteringcharges, could not in any single instance succeed in proving, I will not say a solitary crime, but even a misdemeanor.
Yet such were the men who were clapped into gaols and dungeons as notorious criminals, exposed to barbarous sufferings, and for several days not even permitted any intercourse with one another. Let it not be said that all this is but exaggeration prompted by my grief. What has been endured by our exiles and captives went far beyond my simple sketch.
ARRESTING A PRIEST.ARRESTING A PRIEST.
In my own case—of which I may be allowed to speak—to say nothing of what the Society of Jesus has legitimately obtained through its work and administration, I had at least a right to what I duly inherited from myparents, with which I had acquired personal and landed estates, all registered in my name; yet I was forced to leave Portugal without anything but the clothes on my back, and even these I owed to a friend, for I possessed no secular dress in which to make my escape. I had, moreover, no money in my pocket, save what was sent me by a stranger who knew me only by name and sight, and to whom in my exile I desire to testify my gratitude.
TREATMENT IN PRISON.
As to the sufferings of my beloved brethren I will only say that in the artillery barrack, which was under the control not of the military, but of the dregs of the populace, not even a spoon was given to the prisoners wherewith to eat their mess of food, that they were allowed to withdraw privately but once in eight hours, and poor invalids to whom such tyranny might prove fatal, were told that they only sought a pretext for retirement.
At night the guards threatened to shoot anyone who attempted to get up. Finally, these warders had the brutality to bring in abandoned women, but these were compelled to retreat before the calm and dignified bearing of my worthy brethren.
As to their furniture, I will only say that afterwards when, being transferred to Caxeas, they were there provided with a mattress laid on the ground, a hard bolster, and a single blanket, they thought themselves in comfort, by comparison.
In a dungeon of the Town Hall, before their removal to the central prison of Limovro, some of the captives were still worse treated, being crammed together, to the number of twenty-three, where there was scarce room for three or four, and they had for five days to breathefoul air, not being suffered to leave the chamber, and there being no ventilation save through one small aperture.
I am well aware that many officers and soldiers, coming to know the captives, manifested towards them not only sympathy but respect. These kindly feelings, however, for which we all desire to record our heartfelt gratitude, did not hinder the sufferings endured during five whole weeks.
OUTLAWED AND EXILED.
Nor is this all. When after all these hardships and torments the Provisional Government set about executing the sentence of exile and outlawry against these Portuguese subjects in whose breasts there dwelt and still dwells the most ardent affection for their beloved country, these men who had bereft us of everything, who had taken possession of our goods and land, did not hesitate to require that they who, by a special decree, were to be driven from Portugal should pay for their own transport; and when one of our Fathers ventured to tell one of the officers who was more exigent in this exaction, that we had no means of doing so, he was answered: "Well, we shall see; when we squeeze you a bit, and you begin to fester, you'll find a way."
Money was soon forthcoming, for Portugal is not yet entirely in the hands of a crew whose passions are aroused against persecuted innocence. Many families contributed to supply funds for the journey, plentiful stores of provisions and clothing were furnished, and I was deeply moved to see many of my spiritual children reach foreign lands in the attire supplied by our well-loved scholars of Campolide during their frequent visits to their persecuted masters. In spirit I salute these benefactors,and I shall never forget these young men who, without a hint from us, came to the succor of these poor sons of the society. But ere they took the road of exile there was reserved for them yet one more cruel humiliation.
Venerable elders, distinguished men of science, held in repute at home and abroad, religious venerated for their virtue, youths still almost boys, with innocence stamped on their features—all had to go to an anthropometric station and to be treated like notorious criminals, being described, photographed and measured in every detail, down to the joints of their fingers. The photographs then appeared in the newspapers, with the number assigned to each as to a convict. I cannot refrain from special protest against a proceeding so incredibly vexatious.
One circumstance in the persecution yet remains to be exhibited. A decree with the force of law published by the Provisional Government on October 10 revokes all exceptional legislation, and in its first article, No. 2, it assigns as the motive of such revocation that "there are now no permanent penalties of unlimited duration in the Portuguese Republic." But, strange to say, the law fulminated against the Society of Jesus is in flat contradiction to this declaration. Against us has been issued an exceptional law, so odious that one is astounded to think that in the twentieth century it has been possible to institute in full vigor such draconian legislation, and to claim for it the attribute of most absolute despotism. As though it were not enough to show its palpable opposition to the liberal profession of the new republic, the sentence which condemns us to exile and deprives us of the rights of Portuguese subjects is a permanent one, solemnly promulgated with the ruthless formula "for ever."
Such is the slight sketch of the tyrannies of which we have been the victims in the name of liberty.