This speech gives a brief statement of the present condition of the kingdom,
and recommends certain legislation for the better development of trade. The
construction of an artificial harbor near Oporto, where the Douro is
becoming unnavigable for large vessels owing to an accumulation of sand on
the entrance bar, and of more roads in the interior of the country, are the
chief measures submitted for the consideration of the Cortes. The necessity
for prompt action in regard to Oporto is acknowledged on all hands, and
unless something be soon done, either to restore the navigation of the Lower
Douro or create an artificial harbor near Oporto, the trade of that place
will sink into comparative insignificance.
The financial situation of the country is not encouraging; the total
obligations including the floating debt of £6,000,000, is nearly
£90,000,000. [Page 740] The amount set aside
far the payment of interest is £2,700,000, or about 45 per cent, of the
present revenue of £5,600,000; and the government expenditure averages
£3,100,000 per annum.
[Inclosure 1 in No.
178.—Translation.]
The King’s speech, January 2, 1878.
Honored peers of the realm arid
gentlemen deputies of the Portuguese nation:
In discharge of one of the most pleasing duties of a constitutional King,
I am about to inaugurate to-day the labors of the ensuing annual session
of the legislature.
I have the greatest satisfaction in announcing to you that our friendly
relations with foreign powers remain unchanged.
The conflict existing between two great nations, which please God may not
be far from its conclusion, fortunately does not threaten to compromise
our interests, nor to disturb that lengthened peace we have enjoyed.
In the year just ended I have received a visit from His Majesty the
Emperor of the Brazils, my beloved uncle. This event, while very
agreeable tome and all the royal family, has once again been made an
occasion of emphatic demonstrations of respect of the Portuguese people
toward the illustrious monarch who presides over the destinies of a
great nation, to which close bonds of blood unite us, and from which a
great number of our compatriots receive fraternal hospitality.
In the interior of the kingdom and in the ultramarine provinces
tranquility has continued to be maintained, and under its salutary
influence the action of the political system has been undisturbed, and
the development of all the national interests, progressive.
In November last the election of the municipal chambers which have to
regulate the districts for the two ensuing years, were held in the
kingdom and adjacent islands. These passed off with regularity, and,
excepting some excitement at places where the dispute was warmer, it can
be affirmed the people exercised their electoral rights freely and
without molestation.
The state of the public revenue has continued to require the most serious
attention of my government, which has employed every means to improve
the condition of the treasury, the state of which you will be able to
duly estimate by the explanations which will be laid before you by the
finance department, together with the estimate of the receipts and
expenses of the state for the coming financial year.
Employing the means voted in the last legislative session for the
extinction of the floating debt, the government realized a large part of
the loan destined to that end; the portion not yet realized will be
issued when circumstances permit of so doing to the advantage of the
treasury.
The financial situation of the country, somewhat disturbed by the bank
crisis of 1876, is in the way of recovering from that convulsion, and
allows us to hope it will soon resume its normal activity.
There is a continued impulse felt in the improvements begun in the
ultramarine provinces. The development of the great wealth which our
vast dominions in those regions offer cannot fail at this expoch to form
an important chapter in the programme of all administrations, and the
eminent men of this country who form scientific associations intended
chiefly for the study of colonial matters, are affording by such designs
patriotic co-operation with the public authorities.
The transition from slave to free labor has taken place, owing to the
vigilance of the public authorities, without those lamentable conflicts
and disorders which in other countries have signalized this great
conquest of Christianity and philosophy.
There are now in those regions four scientific expenditures of public
works, organized in the kingdom and destined for Mozambique, Angola,
Cape Verde, and St. Thomas. You will have, on a fitting occasion,
information of these works so as to enable you to make due provision for
their continuance, to the great importance of those provinces.
An account will be given you, by the minister of marine and the colonies,
of measures taken of a legislative character which have been adopted
during the legislative recess for the regulation of those
possessions.
The particular attention of my government has also been directed to
improvements undertaken by the department of public works, especially
those which have for object the development of ordinary and more rapid
locomotion.
A circumstantial report will be presented to you, by the ministry of
public works, of the works executed since the formation of that
department up to the 30th June last. From this report you will see that
the sums received into the treasury resulting from [Page 741] loans contracted within the last
twenty-five years have all been employed in improvements which augment
the wealth and develop the prosperity of the country.
From the estimate which you will make of this document, and from the
suggestions of your enlightened experience, you will assuredly conclude
that little now remains to be done before that the improvements realized
shall produce such a financial and economical result as the nation has a
right to expect as the just reward of its sacrifices.
The increased development of ordinary internal communication can no
longer be delayed, especially in the provinces, to which the railroad
has brought elements of prosperity which will fail in fruitfulness
unless fed by the cheap conveyance of produce which accumulates and
deteriorates at the places of its growth.
On the 4th of November last the bridge over the Douro was inaugurated and
with it the fifth section of the north and east railway. This ceremony,
over which I had the pleasure to preside, was greeted by the country
with the most lively enthusiasm, both on account of the high artistic
merit of the enterprise as for the advantages resulting therefrom in
facilitating and cheapening communication.
With the purpose of placing the postal service in harmony with the
requirements of commerce, the government has decreed important reforms
in this department, acting therein in conformity with the law of
February 10, 1876, an account of which will be given you in a separate
report.
Improvements, the object of which you will appreciate, have been
initiated at the district farm at Centra by the introduction of steam
cultivation, which will give that industrial establishment practically
and theoretically the means of advantageously contributing toward
transforming the national system of cultivation.
A scarcity of food in the Azores compelled the government, during the
year just ended, not only to furnish cereals to feed the necessities of
the people, but also to decree extraordinary measures for the free entry
of such provisions.
On the last day of the last year, a general census of the population was
undertaken, and from this work, which it is hoped will present a
favorable report in comparison with the preceding one, the result will
be laid before you, so soon as the scrutiny is completed.
In the last legislative session there awaited your deliberation several
projects of laws on matters of high importance. It is expected, from
your enlightenment, that you will persevere in your examination of them,
and my government will so co-operate with you that all the advantage the
good of the state requires may result from the measures proposed. Among
them must deserve your particular attention that which, aims at reforms
in elementary instruction, a subject which is incessantly recommended to
the care of those who have in charge the promotion of the moral and
intellectual development of the nation.
Other proposals of laws will be laid before you by my government, all of
which tend to satisfy the pressing necessities of the public service.
Among those deserves special mention that which aims at perfecting our
election laws by the better arrangement of districts, by enlarging the
electoral franchise, extending to a great number of citizens the right
of voting, to whom, in the face of the fundamental laws of the state, it
cannot be refused.
Among the remaining propositions, and on a par with the general estimate
of receipts and expenditures, those unquestionably take precedence which
aim at perfecting the laws of taxation by rendering the sources of
receipt as productive as possible, so that the indispensable equilibrium
between the two may be obtained.
Those measures are not without importance which aim at completing the
links of the railway south of the Tagus, not only to utilize the capital
at present spent unprofitably between Faro and Cazevel, but also to
unite at the most fitting point the Alembejo and Algarve with the
railways of the rest of Europe, and the south directly with the north of
the kingdom, also to enable the government to push on to a conclusion
the railways of the Minho and the Douro, and, on their being completed,
to construct the Heir a Alta railway, a work of the greatest importance
for the development of the wealth of that fertile region.
Measures will also be laid before you for the improvement of the
telegraphic service, which doubtless will receive a favorable reception,
considering how much there is needed for the perfection of that branch
of the service so as to place it on a level with the requirements of the
times.
Lastly, I call your attention to a proposal which aims at meeting the
urgent necessities of the population of the north of the kingdom, viz,
for an artificial port giving free access and safe shelter to ships of
whatever tonnage. This improvement, long needed, will assuredly receive
an important impulse from your devotion to national interests. And, time
permitting, my government reckons on being able to present also to you
in this legislative session a proposal for the organization of secondary
instruction, in which those difficult and varied problems included in
this important branch of public administration will have their
solution.
Worthy peers of the realm and deputies of the Portuguese nation, once
more I desire to express the conviction which I feel that Divine
Providence will continue to inspire [Page 742] you, so that in the examination of all matters
brought under your deliberations you may give fresh proofs of your worth
and your patriotism, and that you may use every effort to draw the
greatest profit from the valuable resources of the country, so that by
placing the finances of the state on a firm footing those improvements
will follow at which we are yet aiming and the realization of which must
place us on a level with the most advanced of nations.
The session is opened.
