BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DOM PEDRO II. 197 



The Pope, having probably beeu made to understand this, wrote a 

 letter to the bishop expressing disapproval of his conduct and ordering 

 him to withdraw the interdiction, but the prelate did not obey, under 

 the pretext that the Pope had been misinformed in regard to the matter. 

 The prosecution continued and the bishop was condemned to four years 

 of hard labor, but the Emperor hastened to commute this punishment to 

 four years of imprisonment. 



During the prosecution the bishop of Para, following the conduct of 

 his colleague of Pernambuco, was subjected to the like process. The 

 affair then assumed a violent character both in the press and in parlia. 

 mentj where, however, the majority supported the government. The 

 bishop from his prison — a jjalace situated on a beautiful fortified i^enin- 

 sula opposite Rio, in which he moved freely and was allowed to see any 

 one who wished to visit him, and was treated like a prince — succeeded, 

 by the intervention of ecclesiastical agents, in exciting the peasants of 

 his diocese to a rebellion, happily soon repressed. 



Notwithstanding the evident connivance of the bishop with these dis- 

 turbances, the government forbore any further prosecution of him, in 

 order to spare the Emperor the pain of seeing this high functionary con- 

 demned to more severe punishment. We can readily understand this 

 feeling in a monarch, raised in the Catholic religion, with Catholic sub- 

 jects, and who had taken the oath on ascending the throne to maintain 

 the Catholic religion, which is the religion of State. Furthermore, Dom 

 Pedro did not allow the term of imprisonment imi^osed by the high court 

 of justice for the bishops to expire, but pardoned them at the end of two 

 years. To this act of clemency the Pope responded by removing the in- 

 terdiction pronounced by the bishops against the fraternities, and re- 

 ligious peace was restored to the empire. 



XIV. 



During the legislative session of 1875, Dom Pedro, taking advantage 

 of the tranquillity of the country at home and fearing no trouble from 

 abroad, demanded and obtained from parliament a leave of eighteen 

 months. His purpose was to complete the tour commenced in 1871, 

 and to visit the universal exposition held that year in Philadelphia, 

 (United States of America.) Foreseeing this long absence, Dom Pedro 

 had, after the retirement of the minister Eio Branco, (June, 1875,) nomi- 

 nated as his successor the old Marshal Duke de Caxias, who had twice 

 beeu president of the cabinet, and who enjoyed a high reputation, well 

 merited by his victories in Paraguay and over the enemies of the 

 internal peace of the coijntry. The duke had as colleague in the min- 

 ister of foreign affairs the Baron Cotegipe, well known to possess an 

 amount of energy, quite uncommon among Brazilian statesmen, espe- 

 cially displayed during the hostilities with the neighboring republics. 



Having thus confided the government of his empire to a ministry of 

 tried men and to the regency of the princess, the successor to the throne, 



