“I have voluntarily abdicated in favour of my dearly beloved and esteemed son, Dom Pedro de Alcantara. I shall retire to Europe and leave a country that I have always loved and still love.” These were the Emperor’s words, written on the morning of the 8th of April, 1831. He immediately left Europe, where he died three years later, his life having been greatly shortened by the many excesses to which he had yielded all his life. [Illustration: A GENERAL VIEW OF BAHIA.] The expulsion of Dom Pedro I left the country in an unsettled condition. Revolutionary talk was in the air and no one knew what a day might bring forth. Because of the extreme youth of the new Emperor, Congress met and selected a provisional regency consisting of three members. Trouble soon arose in Bahia, Pernambuco and Pará, and Rio seemed ready for civil war. The regency had no real ascendency and petty jealousies soon arose. In this crisis a patriot priest, Padre Diago Antonio Feijó, who had been a leader of democratic opinion, was given absolute power. He was a man of firm will and prompt execution. By his decisiveness all disorders in the capital were soon quelled. Only isolated disorders arose which were prompted by ambitious local politicians. In the provinces _pronunciamentos_ were issued in high sounding language, and the populace were greatly aroused. These local disaffections sometimes gained considerable headway because of the slowness of communication. As one writer puts it, “the words ‘liberty’ and ‘local rights,’ ‘constitutionalism’ and ‘union’ were overworked in speeches and proclamations.” In Pará, for instance, two hundred people were killed in one night’s fighting. Ceará was in anarchy for several months and Maranhão kept up a civil war for a whole winter. Padre Feijó was an orator and a man of unswerving integrity, and soon made his influence felt, for he was respected as well. When the regency was made elective he was chosen by the electors. His one weakness was an unyielding disposition which could not harmonize the discordant elements, and he finally resigned. His successors did not do as well as the priest, who had, at least, left a record of integrity, if he had been somewhat high handed in his methods of overcoming opposition. The ten years of the regency had been about the stormiest period in the history of Brazil. Although the Emperor would not be of legal age until 1843, at the age of eighteen, a strong demand went forth for him to take charge at once. Though this was unconstitutional, no one seriously objected, and he agreed to accept the responsibility. Hence it was, in 1840, at the age of fifteen years, Dom Pedro II ascended the throne of Brazil, and administered the country for almost half a century.