Manuel de Arriaga

Vítor Hugo de Azevedo Coutinho Joaquim Pimenta de Castro Constitutional Junta José de Castro
Preceded by	Provisional Government
Succeeded by	Teófilo Braga
Attorney General of the Republic
In office 17 November 1910 – 24 August 1911
Appointed by	Provisional Government
Preceded by	António Cândido
Succeeded by	José Azevedo e Silva
Personal details
Born	(1840-07-08)8 July 1840 Horta, Azores, Portugal
Died	5 March 1917(1917-03-05) (aged 76) Lisbon, Portugal
Political party	Portuguese Republican (later Democratic)
Spouse	Lucrécia Furtado de Melo
Children	Maria Máxima Manuel Maria Amélia Maria Cristina Roque Manuel Maria Adelaide
Alma mater	University of Coimbra
Occupation	Professor of Law Lecturer of English Lawyer
Signature

Manuel José de Arriaga Brum da Silveira e Peyrelongue

The Arriaga family included six children, of these the following siblings: Maria Cristina, the oldest (a poet, referred by Vitorino Nemésio in his obra-prima Mau Tempo no Canal); José de Arriaga, a historian (known for História da Revolução Portuguesa de 1820, published in 1889 and Os Últimos 60 anos da Monarquia, published in 1911); Sebastião Arriaga Brum da Silveira Júnior, agricultural engineer (after studying abroad, he worked on land recuperation projects in the Alentejo); and Manuel, the fourth in line of succession (who decided early on to concentrate on politics).^{[citation needed]}

Education

Arriaga had his primary education in his native city of

After finishing his studies in 1865, Manuel worked as a lawyer in Lisbon, but, desiring to be a teacher, he competed for the 10th chair at the Escola Politécnica (Polytechnical school) in 1866, as well as the chair in History in the department of Letters. Unsuccessful, in 1875 he ended up working in Lisbon both as an English teacher at the local secondary school, and as a lawyer.^[3]

Later, he established a legal practice, and quickly developed a clientele, which permitted him the financial security to assist his brother in completing his studies. Between many of the causes he defended while a lawyer, in 1890, he was the advocate for António José de Almeida, after he wrote "Bragança, o último" a treasties against King D. Carlos in the academic journal O Ultimatum.^{[citation needed]}

Ten years later, on 26 August 1876, he joined the Comissão para a Reforma da Instrução Secundária ("Commission on the Reform on Secondary School Instruction").^{[citation needed]}

Politics

A member of the

Following the establishment of the Republic (5 October 1910), young Republican students in Coimbra entered the installations of the Senate, and vandalized the Hall and furniture used in Doctoral ceremonies and damaged paintings of the last Portuguese kings. In order "to impede other depravities Dr. António José de Almeida (Republican from the first hour) invited Dr. Manuel de Arriaga to be rector of the old University and gave him leave on 17 October of 1910 in a ceremony without academic ceremonies, which was enough to curb student enthusiasm".[6]

During the period of the Provisional Government, he became the Attorney-General of the Republic premièring in that way a paladin of Republican propaganda and as one of the more caustic Portuguese.^[7]

As one of the older figures of the Republican regime (he was 71), he was elected President on 24 August 1911; he did not campaign for the position, and noted that it was a heavy burden, which he believed he was personally incapable of fulfilling its duties, but accepted it "for the good of the Republic".^[8] The other candidate was Dr. Bernardino Machado (who would also become President later), but it was António José de Almeida who had suggested Manuel Arriaga at the end of Teófilo Braga's Provisional Government. As Almeida had believed Arriaga "was one of the few if not the only man in the Party who worked well with everyone and whom the Lord Christ didn't speak ill".^[9]

The Presidency was itself not an enviable or prestigious position; although the elected person, for a time, occupied a large home in Horta Seca, they were required to furnish the home at their own cost, pay rent and had no transport budget, nor personal secretary (Arriaga would ask his own son to help him in this role). Later, the first President lived in the Palace of Belém, but not in the main building, but rather an annex off of the Pátio das Damas. This occurred in a period when personal divisions between different factions had splintered the Republican cause;

Arriaga deplored the circumstances, going so far as to announcing his intent to resign unless a coalition or non-party government could be installed that resolved the outstanding issues of amnesty and separation of church and state.[11] But, subsequent governments would not resolve the issue immediately; on 22 February 1914 an amnesty was conceded for those not accused of violent actions, and eleven leaders of subversive groups were released, but the Law of Separation remained unrevised.^[12]

Revolt to resignation

Continuing political intrigues inevitably forced the first Republic down the path towards dictatorship. At the onset of the First World War, there was also pressure from the Portuguese colonies in Africa, principally Angola and Mozambique and the National Assembly had decided, while remaining initially neutral in the conflict, to send troops to those colonies which fronted German possessions.

The new Republic was now increasingly unmanageable, and further, there were divergences developing between the government and the army. At one point, a military contingent in Oporto attempted a coup d'état in Lisbon, which was suppressed. The government suggested disbanding the regiments involved, but their leaders appealed to General

What had started as an attempt to eliminate an inevitable conflict between the armed forces and the political class, eventually resulted in a bloody conflict. The parliamentarians, meeting secretly on 4 May 1915 in the Palácio da Mitra, declared Arriaga and Pimenta de Castro outside the law, their acts undemocratic and essentially void. Then, on 14 May, in a revolt instigated by members of the Democratic Party, elements of civil reactionary groups and supported by elements of the Navy began what was essentially a civil war; there were many deaths and injuries on both sides. The well-intentioned and pacifist Arriaga had only one option; twelve days following the start of the uprising, he resigned from the Presidency. In his resignation letter, he stated that the deaths during the revolt were needless, that Pimenta de Castro's regime was less a dictatorship then earlier governments and that 1914–15 laws had given future governments unusual war powers.^[15]

He paid heavily for his political naivety; as the author Raul Brandão noted the man, "although profoundly altruistic and magnanimous, good-natured and honorable", had rapidly turned into a political criminal and accused of duplicity with the dictatorial and violent Pimenta de Castro. In his resignation (to his ministers and Party) he defended himself against these unjust accusations and declared his well-intentioned loyalty to the Republican cause, which he had supported throughout his life (but which had abandoned him disillusioned). The parliamentarian, writer and journalist, Augusto de Castro later recounted a conversation with the former President, shortly before his death (in 1917):

"The man, an admirable magistrate, with an aristocratic comportment and a romantic look, who once was one of the most handsome boys of his time, had transformed himself, in half-a-dozen months, into an old, curved and pathetic man...Arriaga recounted to me one of his unique pleasures during his exile...his flowers, garden and poetry...in that afternoon, seated in his garden, seated in the warmth of the sun's rays, I told the old man my predictions. That politics was not made for idealists nor poets, like him...Arriaga listened silently, forcing a smile respectively. Eventually, tears covered his eyes...And while making small patterns in the carpet with his cane, he told me, with an irony...'I am a political criminal, my friend'...I wanted to comfort him, and remembered his sense of pride in popular sentiment and justice, that yet remained in his soul...the people that you had esteemed, continue to respect and love you. That much is true. There are few in the theater, in public, who caricature you..."^[16]

But August de Castro ended his story by noting that upon leaving the ex-President's home he purchased a newspaper that referred to Arriaga as a renegade and traitor, and thought, "never, like that afternoon, did politics seem so cruel and a sinister thing".^[17]

Manuel de Arriaga was replaced as President by Professor

Later life

In 1874, Arriaga had married

Following his resignation, Manuel de Arriaga died in Lisbon two years later on 5 March 1917.[3] His home, near Rua da Janelas Verdes, overlooked the boats in the Tejo, and in the room where he died there were photographs of the two men he most admired, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Herculano, while above his bed, an image of Christ. In the end, former-President Arriaga's image was rehabilitated by the Portuguese media for his "intelligence, patriotism, benevolence and his honor for the manner in which he exercised his functions". This was further enhanced by his public papers and documents, as well as the work of several intellectuals.^{[citation needed]}

Arriaga was buried in the Prazeres Cemetery the day after his death.^[3] In 2004, by decision of the Assembly of the Republic, his body was moved to the National Pantheon.^[3]

Published works

Although a distinguished lawyer and orator, most of Arraiga's works were presented to the public, but also included published:

• O Partido Republicano e o Congresso (The Republican Party and the Congress), presented at the Clube Henriques Nogueira (11 December 1887);
• A Questão da Lunda (A Question of Lunda), represented in the Chamber of Deputies (1891);
• Descaracterização da Nacionalidade Portuguesa no regime monárquico (The De-characterization of Portuguese Nationality in the Monarchical Regime) presented in the Chamber of Deputies (1897);
• Começo de liquidação final (Beginning the Final Liquidation)
• Sobre a Unidade da Família Humana debaixo do Ponto de Vista Económico (About the Unity of the Human Family under the Economic View)
• A irresponsabilidade do poder executivo no regime monárquico liberal (The Irresponsibility of Executive Power in the Liberal Monarchical Regime)
• Contos Sagrados (Sacred Stories)
• Irradiações (Diffusion)
• Harmonia Social (Social Harmony)

Notes