rowing old and
feeble and there was a general feeling that he ought to be left to end his
reign undisturbed, and the republic be founded on his grave. Unfortunately
for him, many began to believe that a plot was in the air to make him give
up the throne to his daughter, Isabel. She was unpopular, and her husband,
the Count d'Eu, was hated, and when the ministry began to send the
military away from the capital, as if to carry out such a plot, an
outbreak came.

Its leaders were Benjamin Constant, formerly a professor in the military
school, and Marshal Deodoro de Fonsaca, one of the leading officers of the
army. There was one brigade they could count on,--the second,--and all the
forces in Rio were republican in sentiment.

On the 14th of November, 1889, a rumor spread about that Constant and
Deodoro were to be arrested and the disaffected soldiers to be sent away.
It was time to strike. Early the next morning Constant rode out to the
quarters of the Second Brigade, called it out, and led it to the great
square in front of the War Department building. Deodoro took command and
sent an officer into the building to demand the surrender of the ministry.
They yielded, and telegraphed their resignation to the emperor, who was at
Petropolis, twenty-five miles away in the mountains.

The revolution was phenomenally successful. When the other troops in the
city heard of the revolt, they marched, cheering, through the streets to
join the Second Brigade, while the people, who did not dream of what was
afoot, looked on in astonishment. No one thought of resisting, and when
Dom Pedro reached the city at three o'clock in the afternoon, it was to
find that he was no longer emperor. A provisional government had been
organized, the chiefs of the revolution had named themselves ministers,
and they had taken possession of the public buildings. A decree was issued
that Brazil had ceased to be an empire and had become a federal republic.

So great a change has rarely been accomplished so easily. A few friends
visited the emperor, but there was no one to strike a blow for him. And
the feeble old man cared too little for power to wish to be kept on the
throne by the shedding of blood. That night word was sent him that he had
been deposed and would be compelled to leave the country with his family.
During the next night the royal victims of the revolution were sent on
shipboard and their voyage to Lisbon began. Thus was the third emperor
sen