TRAVELS IN BRAZIL, 147 



tithes and other imposts, have been great steps intlie 

 improvement of the new kingdom ; and history will 

 recognise in the reign of John VI., a happy continu- 

 ation of the beneficent influence of John III., that 

 judicious and energetic monarch, from whose hands 

 the colony first received form and life. The presence 

 of the sovereign and of all the principal authorities 

 of the state was essentially aided in its effects, on 

 the establishment of a regular system in the new 

 country by the great number of foreigners who, 

 sooner or later, followed the court to Rio de 

 Janeiro. English mechanics and ship-builders, 

 Swedish ironworkers, German engineers, French 

 artists, and manufacturers, were invited by the 

 government, to animate the national industry, and 

 diffuse useful knowledge. These efforts of the go- 

 vernment, already, to transplant European activity 

 and arts into the virgin soil, are the more worthy 

 of respect, in proportion to the greatness of the 

 difficulties which opposed them at the setting out. 

 An important commencement towards the encou- 

 ragement of industry was made with the arsenal 5 

 for which a plan, on a small scale, was indeed 

 already prepared before the arrival of the king, but 

 was not formally organised and put into execution 

 till 1811. In the long row of houses on the har- 

 bour, which are used for the manufacture of articles 

 of the marine, we now see cables made of Russian 

 hemp, utensils forged out of Swedish iron, and sails 

 cut out of northern cloth. The most important arti- 



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