Politics and Social Changes 



drama, no racing, no field-sports, no outdoor 

 games — scarcely one of the multifarious pur- 

 suits which go to make up life in England for 

 the busy and the leisured alike. Small wonder 

 that the game of politics, the game of pulling 

 wires of every kind, in every direction, the 

 game of poking political fingers into every 

 financial and every commercial pie, should 

 have an attraction for speculative and alert 

 natures denied almost every other exercise but 

 that which is afforded by religion. And if we 

 add the fact that the governing classes are for 

 the most part poor, that the hunger for office 

 under the State as the only possible career 

 exists to an extent which we can with difficulty 

 understand, we may be able to picture faintly 

 to ourselves the passion for "political" intrigue 

 which has helped to bring the country to such 

 a pass. 



With all their alertness, their tact, their 

 power of rapid decision (well illustrated by 

 their skill at card games), the Portuguese do 

 not seem to be good men of business. Until 

 quite recently almost all the important business 

 of this town — wine, sugar, shipping, coal — was 

 in the hands of foreigners, chiefly English. 



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