His actions against the republican
movement in various parts of the Empire, necessary though they were,
had, nevertheless, forced him into connection with, and reliance on, the
Portuguese residents and militia, a class almost as distasteful to the
liberal Brazilians as the Portuguese whom they had driven out of the
country. Thoroughly liberal in his own tendencies, Pedro yet felt that
the Andradas might be expressing a general discontent with his rule.
The Andradas, at the head of the popular party, drove the Emperor to the
use of extreme measures by their insolence and turbulent intrigues. He
took the law into his own hands. The brothers had induced the Assembly
to declare itself permanent, but, not unlike Cromwell in a different
species of crisis, Pedro surrounded the Chamber with troops and guns,
dispersed the Deputies, and captured the three Andradas, together with
two of their principal friends. These five he deported to France without
the formality of a trial.
At this the popular party took alarm, but the Emperor pointed out that
he had no other course left; he had acted from no desire to impair the
freedom of the people, but from necessity. The proclamation which he
issued at this time stated that "though he had, from regard to the
tranquillity of the Empire, thought fit to dissolve the third Assembly,
he had in the same decree convoked another, in conformity with the
acknowledged constitutional rights of his people.
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