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191 2 Lisbon was placed under martial law owing to the dangerous character of the 

 labour disturbances. Attempts have been made to organise a general strike of all 

 workers, and " sabotage " has been common. Poverty, the financial embarrassments 

 bequeathed by the Monarchy, and the exaggerated hopes aroused by the establishment 

 of the Republic, contributed to the industrial unrest. Great discontent was also 

 manifested by the agricultural classes, especially in the North, where the Royalist inva- 

 sions caused considerable distress. The disappearance of the large land-owners, and 

 the exodus of capital, were felt in all parts of the country. 



Meanwhile a new governing class came to the fore, its members being for the most 

 part lawyers, journalists or professional men; the Church, the aristocracy and the land- 

 owners ceased to exercise political influence. On all sides the visitor to Portugal who 

 knew the country under the Monarchy saw the evidence of a great social transformation; 

 everything was changed, even the names of the streets and the public buildings. 



The Constitution. The Provisional Government, with Dr. Theophilo Braga as its 

 President, remained in power until August 24, 1911. Its three principal achievements 

 were the maintenance of the Republic, the Disestablishment of the Church and the 

 organisation of means to create a new Constitution. The new Electoral Law, under 

 which the Constituent Assembly was elected, was finally decreed on March 18, 

 1911. It gave the vote to all male Portuguese over twenty-one years old who could 

 read or write, or who supported their parents or other relatives. It included priests and 

 officers of the army and navy; the only exceptions being soldiers on the active list, 

 naturalised Portuguese and persons proscribed for political reasons. This last excep- 

 tion made it impossible to organise a Monarchist party. No soldier, sailor, priest, 

 magistrate, Government contractor or director of a company subsidised by the state 

 was permitted to stand for election, and certain civil [servants were also excluded. 

 Lisbon and Oporto each formed two constituencies, returning ten deputies apiece. 

 The other districts were limited to four 1 deputies apiece, and the colonies to one. 

 Payment was-fixed at 173 for each sitting of the Assembly. 



On the 28th of May the elections were held. Polling took place in halls, theatres, 

 schools and private houses, instead of in the churches, as had been the previous custom. 

 There was no serious opposition to the candidates put forward by the Government 

 Committees, and the only deputy supposed to be a Monarchist was Senhor Charula, 

 representing the minority at Braganza. 



On June igth, at n A. M., the Constituent Assembly was formally opened. The 

 President of the Assembly, Senhor Santos Bandeira, read a decree declaring the Mon- 

 archy abolished, and the Royal House of Braganza banished for ever from Portugal. 

 This was unanimously approved. It was arranged that the Provisional Government 

 should remain in office pending the enactment of a new Constitution and the election of 

 a President under it. The Constitution was voted on the 2oth of August. It provides 

 for two chambers the first, or National Council, consisting of 164 members elected by 

 direct suffrage for three years; the second, or Upper Chamber, of 71 members elected by 

 all the Municipal Councils for six years. Half the members of the Upper Chamber are 

 elected every three years. The President is elected by both Chambers for four years 

 and cannot be re-elected, nor may he be present during the debates in either chamber. 

 His salary is 2,600 and he receives an allowance of 1,300 for expenses. The President 

 and the Ministers are responsible to the nation, and may be brought before the High 

 Court, consisting of the Supreme Court of Justice and a jury of 21 persons elected from 

 both chambers of Congress. The President's house, for official purposes, is the old Royal 

 Palace at Belem. The Constitution may be revised every ten years. 



On August 24th Dr. Manoel Arriaga was elected first President under the new 

 Constitution. A native of Horta in the Azores, he was a man 70 years old a doctor of 

 laws of Coimbra University and a brilliant orator and journalist. He was proposed for 

 election by a coalition of all the Conservative Republicans, who were opposed by the 

 Radicals under the leadership of Dr. Affonso Costa, the Provisional Minister of Justice. 

 The Conservatives had at the last moment substituted Dr. Arriaga for their original 



