If Dom Pedro went to Portugal, said the Brazilians, they must choose between an anarchical republic and the old state of dependence on Portugal.  In the matter of Sao Paulo and the requests of its citizens, the brothers Andrada were most prominent, and they obtained a promise from the Prince that he would not go.  Together with the Andradas he toured the States of Minas and Sao Paulo on a mission of pacification; but the people of the country felt that the present state of affairs could not continue, and in his absence it was determined to make him the ruler of the country, and he was declared Defender of the Empire.  On September 7, 1822, he received a bundle of despatches from Portugal, and his staff watched while he read letter after letter.  There was one which he read two or three times, and then destroyed.  What its contents were was never known, but after pondering and a few minutes of thought, Pedro raised his hand and spoke his decision—­“Independence or death!”

There was no doubt that he had carried out the wishes of his father, and probably the letter which he destroyed contained Joao’s written directions.  Some idea of this seems to have been general among the Brazilians, for both they and the Portuguese soldiers in Brazil always spoke of Joao with affection, and regarded him rather as a prisoner of the Cortes of Lisbon than as King of Portugal.

The Brazilians determined that the last doubt concerning the situation should be dissipated, and on October 12, 1822, Dom Pedro, who was at Piranga, was made constitutional Emperor of Brazil, and all relation and connection with Portugal was severed.

Dom Pedro had all this time kept up a correspondence with his father, King Joao, and in one of these letters he wrote: 

“They wish, and they say they wish, to proclaim me Emperor.  I protest to your Majesty that I will not be perjured ... that I will never be false to you; and if they commit that folly, it will not be till after they have cut me to pieces—­me and all the Portuguese—­a solemn oath, which I here have written with my blood in the following words: 

     “’I swear to be always faithful to your Majesty, to the Portuguese
     nation, and Constitution.’”

These latter words were apparently actually written in his blood, and the epistle is certainly a proof of the complicated state of affairs and of the strange influences which were at work.

Open warfare now broke out between Brazil and Portugal.  At Bahia the Portuguese, although their garrison was hemmed in, were masters of the sea.  The Brazilians determined to make a bold bid for the control of the waves, and to this end sent an invitation to Lord Cochrane, who had just freed the Pacific Ocean from the Spanish fleet, and was at the time in Chile.

An invitation of that kind was never refused by Cochrane.  In March, 1823, he arrived and took command of the new Brazilian fleet, which was considerably inferior to that of Portugal.  He sailed immediately for Bahia, but found his crews in no very anxious mood to fight their compatriots.  A few skirmishes ensued, and the Portuguese fleet took refuge under the guns of the land forces.  On the same day the Brazilians entered the city and took possession of it.