The condition of the parent state must always affect that of a foreign possession, and this was particularly the case with regard to a parent state so weak in men and in resources as Portugal had now become. In the preceding chapters the progress of a real European colony has been traced, a colony full of life and energy, capable of growth and of occupying no small place in the world's history; in this, a mere possession peopled by barbarians, not entitled in any sense of the word to be termed a colony, has to be dealt with.

During the eighteenth century the history of Portugal presents hardly any subject of interest except the close commercial connection of the country with Great Britain, the growth of Brazil, and the extraordinary vigour of the celebrated minister Sebastião José de Carvalho e Mello, better known in his later life as marquis of Pombal. King Pedro II died on the 9th of December 1706, and was succeeded by his son João V, a monarch of no importance, who reigned forty-four years. On his death in 1750 the throne was ascended by his son José I. He chose as his prime minister the man whose commanding intellect and utter fearlessness made the country for a brief space a powerful factor in the affairs of Europe, and whose enmity to the Jesuits has given him a world-wide reputation.