36 BRIGHTER PROSPECTS FOR BRAZIL. 
it was now found that the country abounded. 
For a long time, this beautiful land, rich in all 
the gifts of nature, languished under the rule of 
Portuguese Viceroys, with a thinly-scattered 
population, poor, oppressed, and destitute of 
all mental culture. At length, the year 1807 
opened to it a brighter prospect. Napoleon’s 
ambitious views extending even to Portugal, 
forced the Royal Family to take refuge in the 
colonies. They were followed by fourteen thou- 
sand soldiers, and about twelve thousand other 
adherents. The presence of a court and govern- 
ment in the capital, Rio Janeiro, had the most 
beneficial influence on all the interests of the 
country. The ports were opened to all Eu- 
ropean ships, and commerce, wealth, and civili- 
zation advanced rapidly. 
Napoleon’s victories having found a final 
termination, in his banishment to St. Helena, 
the King of Portugal returned, in 1821, to his 
Kuropean dominions, leaving the Regency of 
Brazil to his son, the Crown Prince, Pedro, 
already married to an Austrian princess. 
But the example of the newly-established 
republics of America had a powerful effect on 
