Prince John was now in a pitiable state. He shed tears over the fate of
his country, but, as for himself, he wanted badly to save his precious
person. Across the seas lay the great Portuguese colony of Brazil, in
whose vast forest area he might find a safe refuge. The terrible French
were close at hand. He must be a captive or a fugitive. In all haste he
and his court had their treasures carried on a man-of-war in the Lisbon
harbor and prepared for flight. Most of the nobility of the country
followed him on shipboard, the total hegira embracing fifteen thousand
persons, who took with them valuables worth fifty millions of dollars. On
November 29, 1807, the fleet set sail, leaving the harbor just as the
advance guard of the French came near enough to gaze on its swelling
sails. It was a remarkable spectacle, one rarely seen in the history of
the world, that of a monarch fleeing from his country with his nobility
and treasures, to transfer his government to a distant colony of the
realm.
Seven weeks later the fugitives landed in Brazil, where they were received
with an enthusiastic show of loyalty and devotion.
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