e to read a justification of his conduct to
the crowd, but the paper was snatched from the magistrate's hands and
torn to pieces almost before he had finished reading it. In their turn
the people sent messengers to the palace, insisting on the reinstatement
of the Republican Ministers. The Emperor listened to the demand, and
answered: "I will do everything for the people, nothing by the people."

This answer exasperated the crowd still further, yet no excess was
committed. At two o'clock in the morning the last messenger of the
people was departing with the Emperor's refusal to yield to their
demands, when Pedro bade him stay, and, sitting down at his desk, wrote
his last message to the people of Brazil:

"Availing myself of the right which the Constitution concedes to me, I
declare that I have voluntarily abdicated in favour of my dearly beloved
and esteemed son, Dom Pedro de Alcantara."

Having handed this to the messenger, Pedro burst into tears and retired
to his private apartments.

Six days later he sailed from the harbour of Rio in an English
man-of-war, leaving Brazil and his child for good.

CHAPTER XX

FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

Dom Pedro II. was but five years old when his father abdicated in his
favour on April 7, 1831, and, during his minority, the government of the
country was entrusted to Regents. In 1840, when he was fifteen years
old, it was officially announced that he had attained his majority, and
he was crowned in 1841. In 1843 he married Theresa Christine, sister of
Ferdinand II. of the Two Sicilies. His sons died in their childhood, and
his daughter Isabella became heiress to the crown.

Pedro II. came to the throne at a perilous time. The people were in a
state of revolution, while the National Exchequer was practically empty,
and the National Bank was bankrupt. With the abdication of Pedro I. the
Ministry and official Service had disappeared.

Yet the crowd that had forced the abdication of Pedro I. drew the new
boy Sovereign in triumph through the streets of the city, and, placed in
a window of the palace, he watched the great multitude throng past,
acclaiming him with immense enthusiasm. It was soon seen that, in spite
of the national upheaval, the mass of the people were fully alive to the
necessity for preserving order and preventing licence. There were riots
and disturbances for a time, as was inevitable; but the patriotic,
although turbulent, family of the Andradas again ca