The struggle
terminated with the death of Lopez at the Battle of Cerro Cora in 1870,
after exhausting the resources of Brazilian finance. Meanwhile, in 1867,
Dom Pedro opened the Amazon to the commerce of all nations, and in 1871
passed a law for the gradual abolition of slavery.
Had Pedro been gifted with a child of a character resembling his own, it
is reasonable to suppose that the Empire would have continued for far
longer than was the case. Unfortunately, however, neither his daughter,
the Princess Isabel, nor her husband, the Conde d'Eu, had succeeded in
winning the sympathies of the Brazilians. Princess Isabel was markedly
cold and restrained in manner, and these unfortunate traits appear to
have been fully shared by her husband. The latter was somewhat deaf,
which added to the apparent reserve of his manner; he was, moreover,
credited with the possession of a miserly disposition.
These qualities, when viewed by an impetuous and mercurial people, whose
lightning sympathies demanded as rapid a response, inevitably threw
their supposed possessors into disfavour. The situation was doubly to be
regretted, in that both the Princess and her husband were in reality
devoted to Brazil and to the best interests of the Brazilians.
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