_PARAGUAY; EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS FROM BUENOS AYRES AND PARAGUAY._
1649-1805.
From the date of the removal of Bishop Cárdenas as governor of
_Paraguay_ [1648], that province had enjoyed freedom from internal
dissensions; until, in 1717, _Don_ Diego Balmaceda was named governor by
the Viceroy of _Peru_. His nomination was unpopular, and, after two
years, serious charges were preferred against him before the Audience of
_Charcas_, which that body were occupied during the three succeeding
years in investigating. Meanwhile _Don_ Jose de Antiquera had obtained
the provisional succession to the post of governor; and he hastened to
_Paraguay_ to assume power. Balmaceda was, however, reinstated in
authority, and he ordered the usurper to resign his pretensions. But
meanwhile Antiquera had organized a considerable force, and he refused
to submit to the orders of the Viceroy, and sent a party to
_Corrientes_, who brought Balmaceda a prisoner to _Asuncion_.
On learning this rebellion against the Crown, the Viceroy sent
instructions to the military commander of _La Plata_ to dispossess
Antiquera of his authority, and to reinstate Balmaceda. On reaching the
river _Tebicuari_, General Garcia de Ros found Antiquera too strong to
be opposed. On his retiring, Antiquera, with a view to conciliating
Zavala, the governor of _Buenos Ayres_, sent six hundred troops to
assist him in the defence of _Monte Video_ against the Portuguese. This
manœuvre, however, did not avail him, and Ros was sent a second time
to assert the royal authority, with two hundred Spanish troops, backed
by the forces of the Jesuit missions. The Jesuits had been expelled by
Antiquera from _Asuncion_. On reaching the _Tebicuari_, Ros was
encountered by Antiquera, with a force of three thousand men, and, being
defeated, was compelled to return to _Buenos Ayres_.
[Sidenote: 1724.]
The rebellion had now assumed such proportions that it could no longer
be trifled with, and Zavala received peremptory orders from the Viceroy
to hasten to _Paraguay_ in person, and to send Antiquera to _Lima_ for
trial. The latter, now aware of his desperate situation, prepared to
defend himself. His followers, however, began to desert him, and in
March 1725 he fled from _Paraguay_, and took refuge in a convent at
_Cordova_. Thence he proceeded to _Bolivia_, intending to throw himself
on the protection of the Audience of _Charcas_. But he was looked upon
as a public enemy, and was arrested at _Chaquisaca_, and sent to be
tried at _Lima_. He was brought before the Audience, but, although his
guilt was patent from the first, it was not until the trial had lasted
for several years that he was condemned to be executed. The 5th of July
1731 was the day fixed for his execution. By this time the public
feeling had completely veered round in his favour, and, as it was feared
a rescue would be attempted, the Viceroy gave orders to fire upon the
prisoner. The order was answered by a volley of musketry, and the
condemned man and two friars near him fell dead from their horses.
After the flight of Antiquera from _Paraguay_, the Jesuits had been
permitted to return to _Asuncion_. They were met at the distance of
twelve miles from the capital by a procession headed by the governor,
the bishop, and the chief civil and military functionaries. But the
return of the Jesuits was displeasing to many, more especially to those
who had been the partisans of Antiquera. When the governor resigned, the
people claimed the right of choosing his successor--a right which in
certain emergencies had been granted them by Charles V. When the news of
Antiquera’s execution reached _Asuncion_, the indignation of the people
manifested itself by their falling on the Jesuits, and expelling them
from the city.
[Sidenote: 1733.]
There were now two declared parties in _Paraguay_. That which was
against longer submission to royal authority took the name of
_Comuneros_; whilst those who were for the King were called
_Contrabandistas_. On the resignation of Governor Barua, the _Comuneros_
improvised a government composed of a _junta_, with a president as the
executive head. A hostile collision was now to be feared between the
dominant party at _Asuncion_ and the nearest Jesuit “Reductions.” It was
averted by the arrival of a new governor, _Don_ Manoel de Ruiloba.
Reaching the missions, he sent forward overtures to the insurgents,
which so far satisfied them that he was permitted to take possession of
the government. One of his first acts was to attempt to disband the
_Comuneros_; but this was vehemently resisted; and he found himself in
open opposition to the most numerous party in the state. The rebels
defied him, and civil war was commenced. In the first action the
governor fell.
The Bishop of _Buenos Ayres_, who happened to be at that time at
_Asuncion_, was now elected governor; but he was a mere instrument in
the hands of the _junta_, and was compelled to sign sweeping acts of
confiscation against the Jesuits and the Royalists. Realizing his false
position, he thought fit to embark for _Buenos Ayres_ to resume his
episcopal duties. The rebels in _Paraguay_ had again to deal with
Zavala, who had recently been appointed President of the Audience of
_Charcas_, and who now blockaded _Paraguay_ on all sides. Taking with
him six thousand trained troops from the missions, he advanced to the
_Tebicuri_, and, meeting with no opposition, proceeded to _Asuncion_,
where he was received with acclamations.
As Zavala’s rapid success had been gained by means of the Jesuits’
troops, it was but natural that the Fathers should follow in their wake.
They were now more powerful and arrogant than ever, and it became pretty
clear that it was their intention to reduce _Asuncion_ and all
_Paraguay_ to the same state of blind obedience to their sway in which
they held their missions. To contend against them so long as they
retained the ear of the King was hopeless; and the Spanish colonists now
undertook to enlighten their sovereign by exposing the false pretensions
of the Fathers. The Jesuits were accused of a design of founding an
empire, and they were shown to have created in South America a more
absolute despotism than Europe had ever known.
The reign of the Jesuits, however, was then drawing to its close. Their
expulsion from the Portuguese dominions has already been recorded, and
it was not long before the Jesuits of Spain shared the fate which had
befallen their brethren of Portugal and of France. We have here to
review the circumstances of their expulsion from South America. Zeballas
had been recalled from his high post on account of his sympathies with
the devoted order.
[Sidenote: 1767.]
However strong may have been the reasons for the expulsion of the
Jesuits from Spain, their suppression in South America, although it may
have been a necessary sequence of the first measure, had certainly an
air of gross ingratitude, and seemed likely considerably to diminish the
Spanish power in its colonies. The Jesuits had been the means of greatly
extending the Spanish territories in the interior, and had thereby
prevented the Portuguese from securing to themselves a still larger
portion of the centre of the continent. They had raised many thousands
of native troops who had often done good service in _Paraguay_, and who
had fought successfully against the Portuguese both on the _Guaypore_
and at _Colonia_. They had likewise delivered the Spaniards of _La
Plata_, _Paraguay_, and _Tucuman_ from their formidable native enemies,
whom they had been able to conciliate. The very latest Spanish successes
in _Rio Grande_ had been due in a great measure to their assistance.
But the expulsion of the Jesuits from their headquarters of _Paraguay_
had been included in the plan of the King of Spain and his counsellors,
and four days after the issue of the royal decree banishing the order
from the mother country, a ship of war was despatched to the _Plata_,
with orders to the Viceroy to take immediate measures for the
simultaneous seizure of all the Jesuits within his jurisdiction. The
Viceroy, Bucareli, who received his orders on the 7th of June 1767, lost
no time in carrying them into execution. Without delay he despatched
sealed instructions to the governors and local authorities within his
Viceroyalty, which were not to be opened until the 21st of July. On the
following day all Jesuits were to be seized in the name of the King and
sent to _Buenos Ayres_.
It may here be of interest to give a short account of the condition in
which the royal order found the “Reductions.” They were now beginning to
recover from the evils which had fallen upon them owing to the Treaty of
Limits. But on account of that blind measure, together with illness and
a subsequent war, their numbers were now reduced from one hundred and
forty-four thousand to one hundred thousand. The Fathers possessed large
estates and many negro slaves, who are said to have been treated with
every consideration. Whatever civilization penetrated into the interior
of the country was through the Jesuits. For example, one Father Schmid
instructed the _Chiquitos_ not only in the common arts of life, but in
working metals and making clocks. It is said that the _Moxo_ and _Paure_
missions displayed more civilization than did the important Spanish city
of _Santa Cruz de la Sierra_; whilst to the Jesuits _Cordova_ owes its
press. The Jesuits of the _Guaranís_ printed books in one of the
“Reductions” before there was any printing press either in _Cordova_ or
in _Buenos Ayres_.
The news of the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain became public in
_Buenos Ayres_ on the 3rd of July, being eighteen days before the time
fixed upon for their arrest. Orders were therefore sent to the provinces
to anticipate this measure; whilst the Fathers in the college at
_Buenos_ were made prisoners on the same night. Those nearest to that
city soon shared the same fate; and in the following month the college
at _Cordova_ was likewise taken possession of, and its inmates sent to
the capital, whilst their invaluable library was destroyed. Nowhere did
the Viceroy’s troops meet with any resistance; and the captured Jesuits
were transmitted to Spain in groups of some forty individuals, being
thence sent on to the Papal States.
The Fathers of the Paraguayan missions, however, had still to be dealt
with. Their first move was to cause an address to be signed by their
_Guaraní_ foremen, and to present it to the governor, praying that the
Jesuits might continue to live with them. That this petition came from
the Jesuits themselves, and not from the Indians, was apparent.
Bucareli, accordingly, taking it as an indication that they did not mean
to surrender without a struggle, took energetic measures to compel them
to submit. Occupying the pass of _Tebicuari_, and sending a force to _S.
Miguel_, he ascended the _Uruguay_ at the head of a further force. By
way of proving the worthlessness of the _Guaraní_ petition on behalf of
the Jesuits, he caused another document to be prepared and signed by the
Indian judges and _caciques_ of some thirty towns, expressing
thankfulness to the King for having relieved them from their former
arduous life. Whatever else these respective petitions may show, they
certainly prove how thoroughly the _Guaranís_ had learnt the lesson of
implicit obedience to whatsoever instructions they might receive,
irrespective of their convictions, if they had sufficient individuality
left to possess any.
But by this time it was evident that resistance was hopeless. Many of
the missions had fallen into the hands of the governor, and the Fathers
did not venture to bring their disciples into the field. They were sent
to _Buenos Ayres_, and shared the fate of their brethren who had
preceded them. There was indeed no discretion left to the authorities in
executing the measures for the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Spanish
dominions. One of the most able and conscientious of the number, the
aged Father Chomé, being confined to his bed by illness, was carried
from the _Chiquito_ missions in a hammock to _Oruro_, where he died from
the effects of the journey. Another missionary, Father Mesner, an old
and infirm man, who had laboured for thirty years in the _Chiquito_
“Reductions,” was sent on a journey of four hundred and fifty miles to
_Santa Cruz_. After remaining there for five months, until the season
for crossing the _Andes_ had come, he was placed upon a mule, whilst
riding upon which he died. It is right to add that the Spanish Minister,
on learning these facts and others of a similar nature, indignantly
reproved the South-American authorities for their inhumanity. In all one
hundred and fifty-five Jesuits were expelled from _La Plata_, _Tucuman_,
and _Paraguay_.
The suffering in the “Reductions” did not fall alone or chiefly on the
Jesuits. Their system of government had been so absolute, and their
disciples had been reduced to such a condition of being merely
thoughtless animals or machines, that, when the guidance of the Fathers
was withdrawn, the whole system established by them suddenly and
absolutely collapsed. No plan of government suitable to the altered
condition of affairs was devised by the Spanish authorities. Priests of
the mendicant orders replaced the missionaries, but without their
temporal authority. The missions were formed provisionally into two
governments, and an administrator was appointed to superintend each
“Reduction,” with which last measure the prosperity of these communities
ceased. The administrators, ignorant of the _Guaraní_ tongue, made their
commands obeyed by the lash; and before a year had elapsed the Viceroy
had the mortification to learn that the _Guaranís_, in order to escape
from the intolerable oppression of their new masters, were making their
escape in numbers to seek the protection of their old enemies, the
Portuguese.
On learning this unexpected occurrence, Bucareli displaced the
administrators and appointed others in their stead, but with no better
result as regarded the _Guaranís_. As the governor and the priests
disputed regarding their respective powers, the Viceroy decreed that the
former was to reside at _Candelaria_, where he was to be assisted by a
staff of administrators, under whom the _Guaranís_ were to labour as of
old for the benefit of the community. The end was that cruel and
compulsory work made the Indians miserable or drove them into the woods.
The arts introduced by the Jesuits were neglected; their gardens and
fields lay uncultivated, and their once flourishing villages, which had
contained the evidences of a civilization of a century and a half, were
almost deserted.
[Sidenote: 1803.]
From the date of the rebellion of the _Comuneros_ in 1735 until the
close of last century, _Paraguay_ enjoyed uninterrupted peace and quiet.
In the year 1796, Ribera Espinosa was appointed governor, who, by the
aid of his agents, constituted himself a general exporter, monopolizing
the whole trade of the country; so that the producers realized for their
goods about a tenth of what these were worth in the markets of _Buenos
Ayres_. This state of things naturally produced such grave complaints
against Ribera’s government as to provoke the intervention of the Crown.
He was recalled, and was replaced by a man of a very different
character, _Don_ Bernardo Velasco, who was destined to be the last
Spanish governor of _Paraguay_.
In the year 1803 the King of Spain issued a decree constituting the
country lying between the _Paraná_ and the _Uruguay_, which included all
the missions, a separate province, which was called _Misiones_, of which
Velasco was appointed governor. In 1805, the same officer was appointed
governor of _Paraguay_, another of the same name being instructed by him
as his lieutenant in _Misiones_.