[1795]. Rascunho de carta de Dom João de Almeida de Melo e Castro, diplomata, para Cipriano Ribeiro Freire, ministro plenipotenciário.

News letter from Dom João de Almeida de Melo e Castro, the Portuguese plenipotentiary minister in London, to Cipriano Ribeiro Freire, plenipotentiary minister in Philadelphia.

The author thanks the condolences of the addressee and discusses all sorts of topics, from the shallow to the serious ones.He gives special attention to the French invasions.

João de Almeida de Melo e Castro (1756-1814), the 5th Count of the House of Galveias, was a Portuguese diplomat who, given the pluri-continental nature of the monarchy he represented, had to be very subtle, while dealing with foreign powers, in the management of the resulting Portuguese political ambiguity. He was a plenipotentiary minister in London, the Hague and Rome and an ambassador in Vienna. After 1801 he had different government functions: foreign affairs minister, war minister, navy and overseas minister. He had also several honorary titles. He married Dona Isabel José de Meneses but they had no children, so the 6th Count of Galveias was his brother Francisco (1758-1819).