204 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DOM PEDKO II. 



tratiou of government, in interest for the education of youth, in sim- 

 plicity of manner and personal . activity, except Charlemagne, who, 

 while governing with his own eye the empire extending from the Ebre 

 to the Baltic, superintended the planting of the fruit-trees on his farms 

 and the number of eggs to be sold, while he devoted his evenings to 

 study. 



Finally, in modern times we can mention as his equal only Peter the 

 Great, who had also to recreate his kingdom under every species of 

 opposition. 



But these comparisons with sovereigns who reigned before the rights 

 of men were acknowledged, and who knew no other law than their own 

 will, with the head of a modern nation accustomed to govern itself and 

 recognizing no power greater than its own, are necessarily defective and 

 incomplete, although they serve to place in stronger light the personal 

 and social virtues of the monarch. We should rather seek among con- 

 stitutional rulers the equal of Dom Pedro in humanity and patriotism, 

 as well as in his comprehension and application of parliamentary 

 regime. On this ground there can be no hesitation in selecting the 

 sovereign who was the preceptor of the present Emperor of Brazil in 

 the difiScult art of governing a free people. We speak of Leopold I, of 

 Belgium, whom history has already surnamed the moflel constitutional 

 king. In our opinion the pupil has quite equalled the master; posterity 

 will be the judge. 



