Bernardino Machado takes office as president

On 5 October 1915 Bernardino Machado was sworn in as President of Portugal. The day was not chosen by chance: it was the fifth anniversary of the revolution that had overthrown the monarchy and proclaimed the republic. Congress, that is the two chambers of parliament sitting together, had elected Machado on 6 August to a full four-year term. On this day Teófilo Braga, who in May had been meant only to complete the term of the outgoing Manuel de Arriaga, ceased to hold office. The British chronology of the war records the new president as “Machado Guimarães”. This is not a mistake but his full surname: Bernardino Luís Machado Guimarães.

The ceremony at São Bento

The ceremonial session of Congress was held in the chamber of the Chamber of Deputies in the São Bento Palace in Lisbon. It was presided over by General António Xavier Correia Barreto, the very man Machado had defeated in the August ballot. According to the minutes published in the Diário do Congresso, the new president read and signed the form of oath laid down in the constitution of 1911. He swore “on his honour” to observe the constitution and the laws, to promote the good of the nation and to defend the integrity and independence of the fatherland.

He then made a short speech. He began by greeting his predecessor, whom he called a man of “great world renown”. He said that the young republic had been growing stronger despite the difficulties it had inherited when “the present terrible war” broke out, in which friendly nations were fighting, among them “our inseparable ally”. This meant Great Britain, to which Portugal was bound by a centuries-old alliance. He called on his compatriots to put the defence of the country above all political quarrels. He presented his election as a sign of “political pacification” after a turbulent year in which the country had lived through the dictatorship of General Pimenta de Castro and the bloody May uprising. Finally he mentioned those most in need of the state’s care: “the people, the woman and the child”. He ended with the cry: “Long live the Portuguese Republic!”

A president without great power

The constitution of 1911 gave the president little power. He was elected by Congress, which could also remove him by a two-thirds majority. The president could neither dissolve parliament nor veto a law, and he had to sign the laws passed. He did appoint the ministers, but the government was responsible solely to the chambers. Even so, it depended on the head of state whom he entrusted with forming a cabinet, and in wartime his voice in foreign affairs carried weight. From the beginning of the conflict Machado had been a supporter of close cooperation with Great Britain, even if it meant sending troops to France.

For the time being the government of José de Castro, formed in June by politicians close to the Democratic Party, remained in office. Portugal was formally still neutral, although since 1914 its soldiers had been fighting the Germans on the border of Angola and guarding the borders of Mozambique. After handing over the office Braga withdrew from politics.

The new president soon changed the government. On 29 November 1915 José de Castro’s cabinet left office, and Machado entrusted the formation of a government to Afonso Costa, the leader of the Democrats. During his government, in March 1916, Germany declared war on Portugal. Machado did not complete his term: in December 1917 he was overthrown by the coup d’état of Sidónio Pais.