te or to the
imperial household free from that time. The same law provided an
emancipation fund, to be annually applied to the ransom of a certain
number of slaves owned by private individuals.

Character of Pedro II.'s reign.

Under the long reign of Dom Pedro II. progress and material prosperity
made steady advancement in Brazil. Occasional political outbreaks
occurred, but none of very serious nature except in Rio Grande do Sul,
where a long guerrilla warfare was carried on against the imperial
authority. The emperor occupied himself to a far greater extent with the
economic development of his people and country than with active
political life. Unostentatious in his habits, Dom Pedro always had at
heart the true interests of the Brazilians. Himself a highly-educated
man, he sincerely desired to further the cause of education, and devoted
a large portion of his time to the study of this question. His extreme
liberalism prevented his opposing the spread of Socialist doctrines
preached far and wide by Benjamin Constant. Begun about 1880, this
propaganda took deep root in the educated classes, creating a desire for
change and culminating in the military conspiracy of November 1889, by
which monarchy was replaced by a republican form of government.

At first the revolutionary propaganda produced no personal animosity
against the emperor, who continued to be treated by his people with
every mark of respect and affection, but this state of things gradually
changed. In 1864 the princess Isabella, the eldest daughter of the
emperor and empress, had married the Comte d'Eu, a member of the Orleans
family. The marriage was never popular in the country, owing partly to
the fact that the Comte d'Eu was a reserved man who made few intimate
friends and never attempted to become a favourite. Princess Isabella was
charitable in many ways, always ready to take her full share of the
duties falling upon her as the future empress, and thoroughly realizing
the responsibilities of her position; but she was greatly influenced by
the clerical party and the priesthood, and she thereby incurred the
hostility of the Progressives. When Dom Pedro left Brazil for the
purpose of making a tour through Europe and the United States he
appointed Princess Isabella to act as regent, and she showed herself so
swayed in political questions by Church influence that Liberal feeling
became more and more anti-dynastic. Another incident which gave strength