The special correspondent of the Times in Portugal sends a
long despatch to Monday's issue on the prosecution of Senhor Franco, the ex-Dictator, before the Supreme Court of Lisbon. The trial resulted in his acquittal, on the ground that his acts as Dictator are covered by the general amnesty of May, 1908; but Senhor Franco still remains in exile. The correspondent, recalling what was written of the Dictator in 1907, attributes the collapse of his experiment to his magnanimity, and notes that his prosecution was demanded by Viscount Ribeiro Brava, who had been denounced by Monarchist papers as " the quintessence of monarchical corruption," and had been arrested, along with Dr. Affonso Costa, the present Minister of Justice, on a charge of high treason in 1908. Yet Dr. Costa telegraphed to the Times in October last that it was "the intention of the Government to secure the complete independence of the judiciary," though four out of the five judges of the Court of Appeal who acquitted Senhor Franco were promptly transferred to Goa by Dr. Costa's orders. In these circumstances the Times correspondent finds it impos- sible to acquit the Government of overriding the judiciary or Dr. Costa of vindictiveness towards Senhor Franco.
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