The first ministry appointed on the arrival of the court at Rio,
consisted of Don Rodriguez de Souza Continho, Don Juan d'Almeida, the
Visconde d'Anadia, and the Marquez d'Aguiar.

The first measure of the court was to publish a manifesto, setting forth
the conduct of France towards Portugal, from the beginning of the
revolution; the efforts of the government to preserve its neutrality;
and detailing all the events which had led immediately to the emigration
of the royal family. The manifesto also denied having, as the French
government alleged, given any succours to the English fleet or troops in
their expedition to the River Plate; and it states, that the French
government having broken faith with that of Portugal, His Royal Highness
considered himself at war with France, and declared that he could only
make peace by consent of, and in conjunction with, his old and faithful
ally the king of England; and this was all the direct interference of
the Prince in the affairs of his ancient European kingdom, where a junta
of five persons was appointed to govern, and where, before the end of
the year (1808), the battle of Vimiera had been fought, and the
convention of Cintra had been signed.

The first sensible effect of the arrival of the royal family in Brazil
was the opening of its numerous ports[27]; and in the very first year
(1808) ninety foreign ships entered the single harbour of Rio, and a
proportional number, those of Maranham, Pernambuco, and Bahia. The
effect of the residence of the court was soon felt in the city of Rio de
Janeiro. It was before 1808 confined to little more than the ground it
occupied when attacked by Duguay Trouen in 1712; and the beautiful bays
above and below it, formed by the harbour, were unoccupied, except by a
few fishermen, while the swamps and morasses which surrounded it
rendered it filthy in the extreme. A spot near the church of San
Francisco de Paulo had been cleared for a square, but scarcely a dozen
houses had risen round it, and a muddy pond filled up the centre, into
which the negroes were in the habit of throwing all the impurities from
the neighbourhood. This was now filled up. On one side of the square a
theatre was begun, not inferior to those of Europe in size and
accommodation, and placed under the patronage of St. John; several
magnificent houses rose in the immediate neighbourhood, the square was
finished, and another and much larger laid out beyond it, on one side of
t