PEDRO THE FIRST. 37 
the minds of the people; the King’s departure 
was a signal for the breaking out of revolu- 
tionary disturbances, which, though the Crown 
Prince could not appease, he was, nevertheless, 
by means of a strong party he had gained over, 
enabled to direct. In the year 1822, he de- 
clared Brazil independent of the mother-coun- 
try,—promised the people a Constitution,—and 
was at last proclaimed Emperor, by the title 
of Pedro the First. From the day when the 
nation tendered its allegiance, the Emperor and 
all patriots have worn on the left arm a green 
cockade inscribed with the words, ‘* Indepen- 
dence or Death.” At the coronation, the order 
of the Southern Cross was founded, and the 
new national flag hoisted: it is green, with a 
yellow square in the middle, on which is repre- 
sented the Harth, surrounded by thirteen stars 
(the number of the provinces), and leaves of cof- 
fee and tobacco, as the produce of the country. 
The government, at the time of our residence 
in Brazil, was nothing less than constitutional. 
This is sufficiently proved by the tumultuary 
arrest of the above-mentioned three Ministers, 
by the arbitrary dispersion of the Deputies 
