Luis I. was succeeded on the throne by his elder son, Dom Carlos, or Charles I., a young man of twenty-six, who married in 1886, the Princess Marie Amélie de Bourbon, the eldest daughter of the Comte de Paris. His accession was immediately followed by the revolution of the 15th of November, 1889, in Brazil, by which his great uncle, Pedro II., Emperor of Brazil, was dethroned and a republican government established in that country. This news created a profound impression in Portugal; the republican party, which has for some years been growing in strength in the cities of Lisbon and Oporto hailed it with delight, and the democratic journals urged that the example of Brazil should be followed. The young king’s difficulties have been further increased by the disputes which have arisen with regard to Africa, and there is no concealing the fact that Charles I. will have to show the greatest political wisdom, if he is to weather the storms now besetting the position of Portugal, and to save the Portuguese monarchy. Many allusions have been made to the possessions of Portugal in Africa. It has been seen that certain places both on the east and west coasts of Africa, such as Angola and Mozambique, were originally occupied and fortified as resting-places for the Portuguese fleets on the way to and from India, and that when they were re-taken after the Revolution of 1640, they were occupied only because they had formerly belonged to Portugal and not because of their intrinsic value. Of recent years, however, the value of these settlements has increased owing to the opening up of Africa to commerce. This is thoroughly understood by the more intelligent of modern Portuguese statesmen, and courageous Portuguese travellers, such as Serpa Pinto, Roberto Ivens, and Brito Capello, have taken their part in obtaining a more correct knowledge of the geography of Africa. But the opening up of Africa has attracted settlers and explorers of other nations to the “Dark Continent,” who, if they have not denied the rights of Portugal, have certainly infringed them. The original Portuguese settlements were merely ports at which ships might rest and refit; and the points at issue now concern the amount of the territory adjoining those settlements or of the “hinterland” behind them towards the interior, which rightly belongs to Portugal. This question of boundaries is in the nature of things a difficult one to settle, and it is much to be regretted that the disputes which have arisen have chiefly been with England, the ancient ally of Portugal. The high spirit of the Portuguese people has been wounded by the tone of part of the English press, and their knowledge of their own present weakness and of their past greatness has made them the more sensitive. Some of their agents in Africa have possibly acted in an arbitrary and high-handed manner, and Englishmen have not been slow to resent such treatment. Yet it is to be sincerely hoped that these