central government of the colony and made the various provinces
individually subject to Portugal he declined to notice. With
equal promptness he refused to heed an order bidding him return
to Portugal immediately. To a delegation of prominent Brazilians
he said emphatically: "For the good of all and the general
welfare of the nation, I shall stay." More than that, in May,
1822, he accepted from the municipality of Rio de Janeiro the
title of "Perpetual and Constitutional Defender of Brazil, " and
in a series of proclamations urged the people of the country to
begin the great work of emancipation by forcibly resisting, if
needful, any attempt at coercion.

Pedro now believed the moment had come to take the final step.
While on a journey through the province of Sao Paulo, he was
overtaken on the 7th of September, near a little stream called
the Ypiranga, by messengers with dispatches from Portugal.
Finding that the Cortes had annulled his acts and declared his
ministers guilty of treason, Pedro forthwith proclaimed Brazil an
independent state. The "cry of Ypiranga" was echoed with
tremendous enthusiasm throughout the country. When Pedro appeared
in the theater at Rio de Janeiro, a few days later, wearing on
his arm a ribbon on which were inscribed the words "Independence
or Death," he was given a tumultuous ovation. On the first day of
December the youthful monarch assumed the title of Emperor, and
Brazil thereupon took its place among the nations of America.



CHAPTER IV. PLOUGHING THE SEA