180 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DOM PEDRO II. 



since the enemies of public peace would take advantage of this event 

 to disturb society to its fouudatiou, the Emperor was entreated to save 

 the country and the throne by taking into his own hands, from that 

 moment^ the exercise of the high attributes the constitution conferred 

 upon him. Instead of resisting with firmness this demand, the regent 

 left Doni Pedro to his own unadvised inspirations, and demanded of him, 

 in the presence of the delegates, whether he would accede to their desires. 

 The young prince, much agitated, answered, "Zei." What other re- 

 sponse could he make, face to face with anarchy and threatened revolu- 

 tion, especially after the weakness manifested by the government. 



This was on Wednesday. The regent immediately announced his in- 

 tention to convoke parliament for the following Sunday, in order that 

 the majority of the Emperor might be publicly declared according to 

 the constitution. A member of the deputation objected to any delay, 

 and proposed that this convocation should take place the next day. 

 On the following day, therefore, the 23d of July, Dom Pedro II was 

 declared of age by the president of the general assembly of the repre- 

 sentatives of the nation, and on the same day took the oath imposed by 

 the fundamental law of the empire. This political event excited great 

 enthusiasm throughout the entire nation 5 weary of the often bloody 

 struggles of the factions, there seemed hopes of a better future in the 

 political emancipation of the prince. In consequence of this emancipa- 

 ^tiou the liberal party were brought into power. The minister pro- 

 nounced the chamber of deputies dissolved, and decided that the Em- 

 peror should be crowned the following year. 



IV. 



Behold Dom Pedro then governing by himself his vast empire. The 

 burden he had assumed, or rather which had been placed uj^ou his 

 shoulders, afforded grounds for reflection for more than one sincere 

 friend of the monarchical form of government and of the reigning (\y- 

 nasty ; for from 1831, the period of the abdication of the first Emperor, 

 to 1840, the majority of his son and successor, none of the statesmen 

 who had held the reins of government had been able entirely to con- 

 trol anarchy and the ambitious spirits who aspired either to the central 

 government or to that of the provinces, which they saw in their auda- 

 cious dreams converted into independent republics. In fact the first 

 years of the government of Dom Pedro did not pass without danger to 

 the monarchy. First, the serious revolution of the jjrovince of the Eio 

 Grande had not been entirely quelled, and there seemed no near pros- 

 pect of its termination ; then the struggle between the liberal and the 

 conservative party, both through the press and in the tribune, assumed 

 a more and more violent character and ended by an actual contest at 

 arms. 



The conservative party, in return for the i^rompt action by which the 

 liberal minority had obtained the power and forced consent to the major- 



