PEDRO I. (Dom PEDRO D'ALCANTARA), Empeior of Brazil, was the second sou of John VI., king of Portugal, and was born at Lisbon, Oct. 12, 1798. On the death of his elder brothel. in 1801, he became prince of Beja, and heir to the throne; and after his father's accession to the throne of Portugal and Brazil in 1816, he received the title of prince of Brazil. He was carried along with the rest of the royal family of Portugal in their flight to Brazil in 1807, and from that time remained in that country. His edu cation, owing to political disturbances, was not carried on systematically, and after his arrival in Brazil, he was left to instruct himself very much according to his own inclina tion. In 1817 he married the archduchess Leopoldine of Austria, and on his father's return to Lisbon in 1821, was named regent of Brazil. At this time a great political crisis was impending; the Brazilians had been utterly disgusted at the preferment of Portuguese to the highest 'offices of state and the chief clerical dignities, and their discon tent was heightened by the refusal of the Portuguese cortes to accord to Brazil a liberal constitution similar to that which had been granted to the mother-countrv, and by its arbitrary command, that Pedro, who was at the head of the liberal party, should at once return to Portugal to complete his education. Pedro, however, east in his lot with the Brazilians, despite threats of exclusion from the throne of Portugal, and was chosen, Oct. 12, 1822, emperor of Brazil. His government was very vigorous, but a war which broke out between his supporters and the advocates of republicanism, distracted the country for a time, and prevented the liberal measures of the government from taking full effect. In 1825 his title was recognized by the Portuguese cortes; and the death of
his father, in the following year, opened for him the succession to the throne of Portugal. This revived the national spirit of the Brazilian chambers, who feared that they were about to be again reduced to a dependent state, and Pedro's hasty and passionate temper led him to measures which whetted the general discontent.. „ But he merely retained the dignity of king of Portugal long enough to show his right to it, and, alter granting a more liberal constitution, immediately resigned in favor of his daughter, Maria II. The disturbances in Brazil still increased, the finances fell into disorder, the emperor's second marriage with the princess Amelia of Leuchtenburg displeased his subjects; and after making various ineffectual attempts to restore tranquillity, he was compelled, by the revolution of July, 1831, to resign the throne in favor of his son, Pedro II., a boy of 51 years old. Pedro then sailed for Portugal, where his brother Miguel had usurped the drone; and with the aid of an army which was swelled by French and English volun teers, after is three years' campaign, he drove away the usurper, and restored his daughter to the throne in 1834. But the ceaseless excitement by which he bad been surrounded. and the excessive demands on his energies, had produced total exhaustion, and be died Sept. 24, 1834. See BRAZIL; MIGUEL, Dow; and PORTUGAL.