negligence and disorder reigned in all its
departments. Nor was the discontent less in Portugal on account of its
anomalous position. These causes and the fermentation of liberal
principles produced by the French Revolution originated a conspiracy in
Lisbon in 1817, which was, however, discovered in time to prevent its
success. A similar plot and rebellion took place in the province of
Pernambuco, where the inhabitants of the important commercial city of
Recife (Pernambuco) were jealous of Rio and the sacrifices they were
compelled to make for the support of the luxurious court there. Another
conspiracy to establish a republican government was promptly smothered
in Bahia, and the outbreak in Pernambuco was put down after a republic
had been formed there for ninety days. Still the progress of the
republican spirit in Brazil caused Dom Joao to send to Portugal for
bodies of picked troops, which were stationed throughout the provincial
capitals. In Portugal the popular discontent produced the revolution of
1820, when representative government was proclaimed--the Spanish
constitution of 1812 being provisionally adopted. In Rio, the Portuguese
troops with which the king had surrounded himself as the defence against
the liberal spirit of the Brazilians, took up arms on the 26th of
February 1821, to force him to accept the system proclaimed in
Portugal. The prince Dom Pedro, heir to the crown, who now for the first
time took part in public affairs, actively exerted himself as a
negotiator between the king and the troops, who were joined by bodies of
the people. After attempting a compromise the king finally submitted,
took the oath and named a new ministry. The idea of free government
filled the people with enthusiasm, and the principles of a
representative legislature were freely adopted, the first care being for
the election of deputies to the Cortes of Lisbon to take part in framing
the new constitution. As the king could not abandon Portugal to itself
he determined at first to send the prince thither as regent, but Dom
Pedro had acquired such popularity by his conduct in the revolution, and
had exhibited such a thirst for glory, that the king feared to trust his
adventurous spirit in Europe, and decided to go himself. The Brazilian
deputies on arriving in Lisbon expressed dissatisfaction with the Cortes
for having begun the framing of the constitution before their arrival,
for Brazil could not be treated as a secondary part