lony of Brazil, in
whose vast forest area he might find a safe refuge. The terrible French
were close at hand. He must be a captive or a fugitive. In all haste he
and his court had their treasures carried on a man-of-war in the Lisbon
harbor and prepared for flight. Most of the nobility of the country
followed him on shipboard, the total hegira embracing fifteen thousand
persons, who took with them valuables worth fifty millions of dollars. On
November 29, 1807, the fleet set sail, leaving the harbor just as the
advance guard of the French came near enough to gaze on its swelling
sails. It was a remarkable spectacle, one rarely seen in the history of
the world, that of a monarch fleeing from his country with his nobility
and treasures, to transfer his government to a distant colony of the
realm.

Seven weeks later the fugitives landed in Brazil, where they were received
with an enthusiastic show of loyalty and devotion. John well repaid the
loyal colonists by lifting their country into the condition of a separate
nation. Its ports, hitherto reserved for Portuguese ships, were opened to
the world's commerce; its system of seclusion and monopoly was brought to
a sudden end; manufactures were set free from their fetters; a national
bank was established; Brazil was thrown open freely to foreigners; schools
and a medical college were opened, and every colonial restriction was
swept away at a blow. Brazil was raised from a dependency to a kingdom at
a word. John, while bearing the title of prince, was practically king, for
his mother, the queen of Portugal, was hopelessly insane, and he ruled in
her stead.

He became actual king, as John VI., on the death of his mother in 1816,
and as such he soon found trouble growing up around him. The Brazilians
had been given so much that they wanted more. The opening of their country
to commerce and travel had let in new ideas, and the people began to
discover that they were the slaves of an absolute government. This feeling
of unrest passed out of sight for a time, and first broke out in rebellion
at Pernambuco in 1817. This was put down, but a wider revolt came on in
1820, and spread early in the next year to Rio de Janeiro, the capital,
whose people demanded of their ruler a liberal constitution.

A great crowd assembled in the streets, the frightened monarch taking
refuge in his palace in the suburbs, where he lay trembling with fear.
Fortunately, his son, Prince Pedro, was a man o