unlimited authority of his fathers. But neither was he bigottedly obstinate in adhering to old prejudices, when opposed to plain views of what was practicable and proper. By submitting to be rationally advised, and recognizing with a good grace and in good time, the independence of Brazil, he preserved that empire his family: while Ferdinand of Spain, blinded by bigotry and prejudice, and guided by a faction as thinking as himself, not only lost his dominions in the new world, but lost them amid loud bravadoes and empty threats, which rendered his weakness as contemptible as his obstinacy had been ridiculous.

A vessel was immediately despatched to Rio Janeiro with the intelligence of the king's decease, and, in the mean time, the government was administered by a regency, appointed by the late king on the 6th of March, a few days before his death, at the head of which was the sister of the new monarch, the princess Isabella Maria. There was only one circumstance which could make the death of John VI. an occasion for political intrigue. If Don Pedro accepted the throne of Portugal, it was imperative upon him to lay down the crown of Brazil; for the constitution of Brazil, to guard against the misgovernment which had afflicted it when a colony, had provided, in securing its independence, that the two crowns should never be united on the same head. It remained, therefore, to be seen, whether Don Pedro would choose to be emperor of Brazil, or king of Portugal. But at home there was a strong party which had opposed to the last the recognition of Brazilian independence by the late

king, who were willing to hazard every risk to effect its recal, and even venture upon the impossible task of bringing Brazil back by force to a due obedience to the mother country. They were supported by the influence of the queen dowager, and the emperor's younger brother Don Miguel, both of whom had shewn, in the preceding year, how little they regarded the affection and the respect due to a husband and a father, when it stood in the way of their own wild and ambitious designs. This party itself, again, was in a great measure merely the creature of some foreign courts which held the same general creed of political obedience, and more especially of the court of Madrid, which was wedded to such principles of policy by a community of interest. It was the wish of this party to induce Don Pedro to temporize as long as possible before making his choice between the crowns, and to prevent all representations to him which might hasten that choice, in the hope that, by evading and procrastinating, expedients might be found to restore the supremacy of Portugal, and enable him to wield both sceptres. The regency had the good faith, and the good sense to follow better advice; and when they informed Don Pedro of the death of his father, they pressed upon him earnestly the necessity and expediency of a speedy determination. Delay would have been dangerous to his authority in both countries, for in both his authority would have been uncertain; and in fact, every act of government exercised by the regency of Portugal in the name of Don Pedro, after he should have learned his title to the crown, would have

been, on his part, a violation of the constitution of Brazil.

In the event of Don Pedro resolving to sacrifice the crown of Portugal, and transferring it to one of his children, it was doubtful how far Don Miguel and his adherents would patiently submit to such an arrangement. They were declared enemies to the separation of the two countries; there was reason to apprehend, that, when Pedro relinquished the throne himself, they would dispute his right to fill it with another; and, at all events, Miguel's elevation to the vacant seat, would be the triumph of their own. principles. On his father's death, however, Don Miguel appeared to be most submissive and respectful. When that event happened, he was still resident at Vienna, whither he had been sent as into a kind of honourable relegation, after his attempt against the authority of his father; and, however little the Austrian cabinet might be inclined to give countenance to political changes, by encouraging princes who acknowledged the independence of revolted colonies, they had nothing to gain for her by exciting internal discontent in Portugal, or raising up a competitor to its lawful monarch. Accordingly the answer which Don Miguel returned to his sister, on receiving officially the notification of his brother's accession, while it plainly showed what apprehensions were entertained of his own inclinations, or of the purposes for which a party might employ his name, was frank and satisfactory. "Though the fidelity," said he, "which the Portuguese nation has always observed towards its sovereigns be unalterable, it is, however, possible that evil-minded persons, ac

tuated by sinister and reprehensible views, may seek to excite in the kingdom criminal commotions, perhaps making use of my name to cover their perfidious views.

"Under these circumstances, and considering the distance which separates me from Portugal, I have thought that it was not only suitable, but absolutely necessary, to express, by the only means in my power, that, far from authorizing, directly or indirectly, any seditious machinations, tending to disturb the tranquillity of our country, I positively declare that nobody respects more than I do the last will of our august father and master; and that I shall always disapprove every thing that shall not be conformable to the dispositions of the decree of the 6th March of the present year, by which his majesty the emperor and king so wisely provided for the public administration, by creating a junta of government for these kingdoms, till his legitimate heir and successor, who is our dear brother and master, the emperor of Brazil, shall have provided for it, as he, in his wisdom, shall see fit.

"I beg you, therefore, my tender sister, in the improbable case that any one should dare rashly to abuse my name, to serve as a cover to projects subversive of good order, and of the legal existence of the government established by him who had the incontestible right to do so, to take care to cause to be published and declared, when, how, and where you shall please, by virtue of the present letter, the just sentiments which it contains, which spontaneously emanate from my heart, and are inspired by the fidelity and respect due to the memory of the last will of our dear father and sovereign."

Such was the language of Don Miguel on the 6th of April. In the course of a few months a widespread rebellion was raging in the kingdom, to overturn the succession appointed by his "dear brother and master," and place himself upon the throne, without its drawing from him any speedy, or decisive, or public disavowal of the traitors who were levying war in his name against a government to which he had sworn allegiance. The intelligence of the death of king John reached Rio Janeiro on the 24th of April, the anniversary of the day on which he had embarked from it to return to Portugal. Don Pedro had now before him a choice which on every side was surrounded by difficulties. At first sight it would appear natural that he should prefer the ancient and settled throne of his European monarchy, to a new and unsteady dominion, whose population were not attached to him by habit, while their national and political prejudices were strongly directed against his native country, and whose territory came, on every side, into contact with states the very form of whose government made them his enemies, and were incessantly presenting seductive examples to the discontents and antipathies of his own heterogeneous provinces. In Europe there was prepared for him a crown venerated for its antiquity and respectable for its strength; a people accustomed to obedience and attached to his family; a state of society which had nothing in it to produce uneasiness, excepting the remaining traces of a momentary convulsion which half the liberality he squandered upon the constitution of Brazil, if joined with prudence, would speedily have re

moved; establishments military, naval, and commercial, which had existed for centuries; and allies both able and willing to support his authority, if he should be so inclined, against any popular encroachments. In Brazil, he was to give steadiness to a throne tottering amid the storms of surrounding revolutions; laws and institutions, a fleet, an army, and a treasury, were to be created; a war already begun, but neither popular nor successful, was to be prosecuted; his subjects were to be jealous colonists, and savage, or half-civilized aborigines; and he was to have for neighbours, not powerful allies, and monarchs who had the same interest with himself, but vigilant, and inimical republics. But it was natural for him to desire that, although he could not rule over both countries himself, they should both remain subject to the House of Braganza. The successor whom he might appoint to the throne of Portugal, was not likely to be attacked by any dangerous and extraneous competitor: the habits of legitimate succession were too deeply rooted in Europe, and it was too much the interest of all its monarchies to preserve them, to allow the tranquillity of the legal successor of a sovereign who had abdicated to be seriously disturbed. Brazil, however, was in a very different situation, and to relinquish it to reign in Portugal brought the imminent danger of losing it entirely. Of all the colonies which Spain and Portugal had planted in South America, Brazil alone had retained a monarchical government; and her continued adherence to monarchical forms

had been the result, in no small degree, of the presence of the king and the court during the

years of his exile from Europe. The Brazilians were as bitter in their enmity against the policy and institutions of the mother country, as the natives of any other South American states; they were equally determined against the interference of her influence with the conduct of their government; if opposition to their demands had been persisted in by Portugal as obstinately as it was by Spain to the demands of Colombia or Buenos Ayres, Brazil would have ranked among her sister republics; and even now dangerous symptoms were occa sionally shewing themselves in the northern provinces. The children of Don Pedro were all infants: a long minority, and regency, could not fail to be most dangerous to the supreme authority of the royal house of Portugal in a country which had just conquered its independence; which, in conquering its independence, had naturally been drawn towards forms of government by which that independence would be most strongly expressed, and was attracted by political affinities to the republican institutions that every where surrounded it. Hatred of European governments, and European princes, had been both a cause and an effect of the South American revolutions; and, although circumstances had hitherto saved monarchy in Brazil, monarchy itself was not an object of affection, and the family who enjoyed it was, from its very connection with the mother country, an object of jealousy.

Considerations like these may have had some weight with Don Pedro and his counsellors in making a choice which it can never be agreeable to a monarch to make which of two crowns he shall resign. At all events, he made

his decision in favour of Brazil, and that without either temporizing, or any undue delay. On the 2nd of May, he abdicated the throne of Portugal, and, in announcing this step to the Brazilian chambers, when he opened their session four days afterwards, he made it a new merit with his American subjects. "I considered the interest of Brazil; I reflected that it would be at disgrace not to make Portugal happy, but what was my affliction in seeking means to make Portugal happy without injuring Brazil, and separating them never again to be united. If there be any Brazilians still incredulous, they may now know that such is my consideration for the interests and independence of Brazil, that I have abdicated the crown of the Portuguese monarchy, which was mine by indisputable right, merely, lest in future, something might arise prejudicial to the interests of Brazil."

This act of abdication of the crown of Portugal was in favour of his eldest daughter Donna Maria da Gloria, who was then an infant of seven years of age. Until she should arrive at legal age, the powers of government were vested in her aunt, the present regent. At the same time, in order to remove as far as possible every occa sion of internal disturbance, and obviate any dangers which might be apprehended from the faction of the queen dowager, and Don Miguel, it was made a condition of the cession to the infant princess, that, on coming of age, she should marry her uncle Don Miguel. An amnesty was at the same time granted for all political offences where the punishment had not exceeded condemnation to the gallies for three years. A new constitution was formally promised to Portugal; and