though all others are tolerated by law and treaties, nor has any
difficulty ever arisen in this respect. At the same time it cannot be
denied that open attempts at proselytism would be attended with danger.
So long as foreign communities carry on their own religious ceremonies
quietly and without ostentation all will be well, but too much
demonstration might be productive of mischievous results.
As a body it cannot be said the Roman Catholic priesthood of South
America is held in much esteem by the laity. Their stronghold is in the
subserviency of the more ignorant and narrow-minded of their flock,
precisely as we find it all over the world, and even at home.
In the River Plate, owing in a great measure to the scattered nature of
the population, the influence of the priesthood has been less felt or
exercised than in Brazil, besides which the large introduction of the
foreign element in its towns and cities has led to greater freedom of
thought and action. Nevertheless the church has large possessions in
land, to which the same objections may be urged as in the case of
Brazil, and the sooner they are appropriated to national objects the
better. Cordova may be termed a city of churches and convents, the
greater number of which are useless. A recent writer on Cordova
says:—“In telling anything of Cordova it is impossible to omit to speak
of her churches: there are over thirty of them, besides the Cathedral. A
description of them and their riches and institutions would make a large
book. I have neither the requisite information, inclination, nor the
time to go into the details of this painful theme—the Church in Cordova
being so manifestly an incubus on the advancement of the country.
Immense capitals are locked up in massive buildings and lands, which the
clergy will neither sell nor cultivate, and a small army of friars and
nuns—unproductive men and women in every sense—is detached from the
world to manage these great properties, which yield nothing to the
people moral or material.” The great Republic of the United States
presents a good example to those of South America by permitting free
admission of every religion its citizens may choose to adopt without
allowing the predominance of any one in particular.
THE AFFLUENTS OF LA PLATA.
Here and there, in the progress of my work, I have casually referred to
the Rio de la Plata and its affluents; but the fluvial system which they
together constitute is certainly deserving of more than a merely cursory
comment. I will, therefore, add to my remarks on the Amazon and its
tributaries some more precise observations with respect to the numerous
rivers which give access to the fertile regions of Paraguay and furnish
the Argentine Confederation with an extensive littoral coast.
The rivers Parana, Uruguay, and Paraguay are, however, now too well
known to necessitate any very minute description. The first originates
at no great distance from the shores of the Atlantic in that part of the
table land of Brazil which divides the watershed of the Amazon from the
watershed of the River Plate. Its most distant branch is the Rio Grande,
which it receives at the confluence of the latter with the Paranahyba;
and after an interrupted course of about 1,000 miles it finally effects
a junction with the Paraguay, its largest affluent. Thence its huge
volume of water, further augmented by the Uruguay, rolls to the ocean,
forming that wide fresh water sea known as the estuary of the Plate. The
Parana runs for nearly 900 miles within the limits of the Argentine
Republic, and of this distance quite 750 are navigable throughout the
whole year for sailing vessels and steamers of 300 tons burden. It
begins to rise owing to intertropical rains towards the end of December,
and this continues up to the close of April. Below its confluence with
the Paraguay the average rise is eleven to twelve feet. The only
tributary the Parana receives between its confluence with the Paraguay
and its absorption in the estuary of the La Plata is the Rio Salado, a
river of great length, and having its source in the Andine regions of
the Argentine Confederation.
The Paraguay, like the Parana, has its origin in Brazilian territory.
After passing through the Estrecho of Sao Francisco, (lat. 20° S.) it
flows southwards, dividing the Republic of Paraguay from the Gran Chaco;
a few miles below Asuncion, at a point called Angostura, the channel is
narrowed by rocks, and the current becomes very rapid in consequence,
taking a bend west by south until it mingles with the Parana. The
Paraguay is navigable by large craft, and steamers have for some years
ascended to Asuncion and Matto Grosso. The Paraguay receives the
Pilcomayo, a very large stream of over 1,000 miles, and which, taking
its rise near the city of Chuquisaca, in Bolivia, traverses a vast
portion of that Republic, finally issuing from the Chaco wilderness at a
point a little above Asuncion. Of course the Paraguay is augmented by
numerous tributaries previous to its junction with the Pilcomayo, but
these need not be specially mentioned. The Araguarmini empties itself
into it at Oliva, and further down is the mouth of the Vermejo, a very
considerable river, the navigation of which opens to commerce a
territory of almost unrivalled fertility, and affords an easy access to
Bolivia, in which State, like the Pilcomayo, it has its sources. Efforts
have been made to facilitate the navigation of this fluvial highway, in
connection with which the name of Sor. Arce is deserving of special
allusion. This gentleman was the first to traverse the entire length of
this previously unexplored river, his first descent having been effected
in 1856. He followed its windings on a raft for a distance of 1,200
miles, penetrating in his course dense forests, and braving exposure to
the rays of a tropical sun, not to speak of the danger incurred from
wild beasts, and the yet more formidable Indian savages. The Vermejo
will yet prove of incalculable advantage in conveying to the ocean the
valuable products of the Argentine and Bolivian interior.
The Uruguay and the Parana partially enclose the Provinces of Entre Rios
and Corrientes, and the former is only navigable from the sea as far as
Salto, where rapids and falls occur; but above this point its waters are
adapted to small steamers and sailing craft. Its source is in Brazil. On
its banks are situated the towns of San Borja, Salto, Pysandu,
Concepcion, Fray Bentos, and Soriano. It passes through a well wooded
and picturesque country. Up to Salto it is constantly navigated by
steamers trading between that place and the lower communities,
especially Buenos Ayres and Monte Video.
THE REPUBLIC OF PARAGUAY.
The long and sanguinary conflict which the despotic ruler of this
country has been enabled, from various causes, to maintain against the
allied arms of Brazil and the other Platine States has naturally excited
considerable curiosity in Europe to know something of its past history,
people, and form of government.
In order to arrive at a correct judgment in respect of this singular
people, and of their political and social condition, it is absolutely
necessary to go back to the time when the Jesuits exercised so potential
an influence in the River Plate, as in other parts of South America
where the members of this remarkable order were permitted to carry out
their questionable designs for the religious subjection and social
domination of the aboriginal inhabitants.
The Jesuits first arrived in Paraguay at the beginning of the 17th
century, when they obtained from Spain the concession of a vast
territory of their own choosing, traversed by the Parana and Uruguay
rivers, and capable of growing a great variety of products, including
the sugar cane, indigo, cotton, tropical fruits of every description,
and almost every kind of edible root and vegetable. The forests
contained woods of the most valuable character, and the region in
question also possessed great mineral wealth. The Fathers, having
established themselves in their conceded territory, forthwith set about
devising schemes for its population by civilised, or, at least,
subjected Indians. The means adopted were characteristic. Azara
describes the ingenious, if not very ingenuous, system adopted for this
purpose. Having failed in their attempts to subdue the wilder Indian
tribes, the Fathers soon directed their efforts to the reduction of the
Guaranis, who were of a milder and more tractable temperament. By great
industry, and by dint of patience, a small community was formed, over
whom the Jesuits possessed the most entire control, and whose members
were used for the reduction of savages in much the same fashion as the
fowler uses his “call-birds” for the capture of others. The following is
a brief description of the method usually adopted:—
They sent to a savage community some small presents by two Indians
speaking the same language, and who had been chosen in their oldest
communities. They repeated these embassies and presents at different
times, the messengers always stating that they were sent by a Jesuit
who loved them tenderly, who desired to come and live in their
midst, and to procure for them other objects of greater value,
including herds of cows, in order that they might have food to eat
without exposing themselves to fatigue. The Indians accepted these
offers, and the Jesuit started with what he had promised,
accompanied by a considerable number of Indians selected from
amongst those of their early redacciones. These Indians remained
with the Jesuit, as they were needed to build a house for the curate
and to take care of the cows. These were very soon destroyed, for
the Indians only thought of eating them. The savages asked for more
cows and they were brought by additional Indians chosen like the
first; and the whole of them remained on the spot, under the pretext
of building a church and other edifices, and of cultivating maize,
the yucca root, &c., for the Jesuit and for all the others. Food,
the affability of the priest, the good conduct of the Indians who
had brought the cattle, festivals and music, the absence of every
appearance of subjection, attracted to this settlement all the
savage Indians in the neighbourhood. When the priest saw that his
selected Indians greatly exceeded the savages in numbers, he caused
the latter to be surrounded on a determined day by his people, and
mildly told them, in a few words, that it was not just their
brethren should work for them, that it was therefore necessary they
should cultivate the earth and learn trades, and that the women
should spin. A few appeared dissatisfied, but they perceived the
superiority of the Indians of the curate, and as the latter was
careful to caress some and punish others with moderation, while
exercising a surveillance over all for a time, the new mission was
at length entirely and successfully formed.
The internal government of the Jesuits was quite as peculiar as the
proceedings by which they widened their influence and brought the
outlaying savage populations under control. From the Indians an
unquestioning and absolute submission was exacted, and the hours and the
nature of their labours were fixed without appeal by their clerical
masters. M. Quentin, in his very interesting work, translated from the
French by Mr. Dunlop, thus depicts the interior life in these
_redaccions_, the name given to their establishments by the Jesuits
themselves:—
The Indians knew no other authority than that of the Father. The
Father fed and clothed them, and promised the joys of Paradise as
the reward of their submission and assiduity in labour. They lived
in common, they worked in common, they prayed in common, under the
direction of the Father, who was the representative of God. The
Indian laboured, but nothing belonged to him individually;
everything was the property of the whole community. The Father
distributed amongst the different families the things necessary for
their sustenance, and the remainder was carefully stored and guarded
in immense warehouses. The Indians had nothing to do with the
traffic; the Father it was who sold in distant markets the precious
woods cut in the forests, the Paraguayan tea, the tobacco, and the
hides: he it was who brought back fine garments, the most beautiful
of which were given to the most docile and submissive, and returned
with implements of agriculture, looms for the weaving of cotton, and
splendid stuffs for the adornment of the chapel on holidays, when
work was suspended and the bells sent forth jubilant peals. These
days were days of high festival in the redacción. The Fathers of the
neighbouring missions assembled. They invested themselves in copes
resplendent with gold; children, clothed in white robes, carried
censers, which they waved to and fro; and the whole population, in
good order, and to the sound of music, slowly advanced, singing
canticles as they went under the shade of the orange trees which
fringed their path.
The Indians were, it will be seen, entirely deprived of liberty. They
were not allowed to do anything of their own motion. They could engage
in no private pursuits, and there was, therefore, wanting every stimulus
to individual elevation. A dead level was created, above which none rose
save by grace and selection of the priests themselves. But in return for
their confiscated freedom of action, the Indians were relieved of all
care for the morrow; and otherwise the Jesuit Fathers, it must be
confessed, were at pains to make despotism sweet and not bitter. The
labour tasks imposed were in no sort onerous, and, as Azara remarks,
they were amused “by a great number of balls, fêtes, and tournaments,”
on which occasions the actors were invariably clothed in the most costly
and magnificent vestments to be had in Europe. To the aspiring,
cultured, exalted spirit slavery in a gilded cage would be simply
intolerable; but in the case of the Guarani Indians it was very
different. They were slaves, and they were perfectly contented with
their slavery.
The Fathers were very careful to prevent their neophytes from acquiring
the Spanish language; only a few, who occupied certain subordinate
offices, were trusted with this knowledge, for the Fathers were well
aware that the only basis on which their system could possibly rest
secure was that of universal ignorance. Every channel of information or
of communication was in consequence rigorously closed and barricaded by
the institution of the most exclusive regulations. Education was summed
up in the oral teaching (they were not taught to read or write) of
certain church prayers and the ten commandments; and the time not
monopolised by labour, or in the childish games provided for their
relaxation, was devoted to exercises of piety and worship according to
the pompous ritual of the Romish Church.
When, therefore, for reasons and under circumstances which I will not
now stay to particularise, the Jesuits were expelled from the River
Plate, and were compelled to abandon their missions, the pretentious
fabric they had raised, possessing in itself no sustaining power,
collapsed almost immediately. The withdrawal of the Fathers was an
inexorable call to their former disciples to self-thought and
self-action. They were, however, unequal to the demands of the
situation; everything fell into disorder, and “villages in ruins, fields
untilled, yerbales destroyed, at once demonstrate the grandeur and the
fragility of the work undertaken by the learned ambition of the
Jesuits.” But the labours of the Fathers were far from fruitless. They
had sedulously cultivated amongst the Guarani populations of Paraguay
sentiments of obedience and fanaticism, and, incapable of managing their
own affairs, they have always reposed their destinies in the hands of
some authority, invested with the power, as with the title, of _El
Supremo_.
The history of this people, since the expulsion of the Jesuits, is,
therefore, that of a succession of tyrannies. When all the neighbouring
countries were engaged in a bloody war for the attainment of their
independence no throb for liberty disturbed the popular heart of
Paraguay. The Metropolitan supremacy was exposed to no tumultuous
assault, and was subverted only when its official guardians betrayed
their trust. The nation allowed itself to pass from one master to
another, just like a herd of cattle, without protest and without the
manifestation of any special interest, but to the new authority as to
the old they rendered the same homage of unreasoning and unreflecting
obedience. It is true that some forms of popular ratification were
given, but only given because they were asked.
I cannot pause to specify the intrigues which resulted in placing
Francia in the seat of power. Suffice it to say that in 1817 this
terrible man caused himself to be proclaimed Supreme and Perpetual
Dictator, and never surely did tyrant exercise absolute rule with a more
ruthless and cruel rigour. Even the humblest ceased to find safety in
their obscurity. For the most trifling reasons men and women were thrown
into prisons and there tortured often to the death. Espionage was
general; mutual confidence was destroyed; the members of society “moved
as in a desert,” scarcely daring to address their dearest friends lest
some thoughtless word might be reported to their detriment.
Francia lived in the most complete seclusion:—
He was as unapproachable as a divinity. Hidden in the recesses of
his palace, nobody could penetrate to his presence. He only went out
in the evening, and his progress was marked by a solitude. At the
moment he quitted his palace the clock of the Cathedral sounded, and
all the inhabitants, seized with affright, hastily retreated within
doors. If one of them, by chance too late, was encountered by the
_cortège_ of the Dictator, he cast himself upon his knees, with his
face to the earth, never daring to contemplate the features of _El
Supremo_, and awaiting the chastisement he had incurred in an agony
of fear. Sometimes he was carried to prison; more frequently he was
let off with a few blows with the flat of a sabre, heartily applied
by the soldiers of the escort.
Under such a Government neither agricultural nor trading industry could
do other than languish, and the country was cut off from all commercial
communication with the outer world.
The following extract will show how the Dictator was in the habit of
accomplishing his ends:—
Only a few stuffs and clumsy implements were with difficulty
produced in the country. But, in times of urgent necessity, the
Dictator knew how to improvise workmen and teach them those arts of
which they were ignorant. The means he employed are worthy of
notice. He required belts for his soldiers: no one could make them.
“Having prepared a gallows, he threatened to hang thereon a
shoemaker who had failed to fashion the belts according to his
desire.” By this process blacksmiths were converted into locksmiths,
armourers, and cutlers, shoemakers into saddlers, goldsmiths into
founders, and masons into architects. That their zeal might not be
permitted to cool, he condemned a blacksmith to penal servitude who
had badly constructed the sight-piece of a cannon. Everything was
done by rule. The citizens were divested of all power of initiation.
If they became proprietors, even their goods were subject to the
arbitrary caprices of the Dictator. Under pretext of embellishing
the capital, Francia “pulled down several hundred houses without
compensating the owners, or troubling himself as to their fate or
that of their families. Each was compelled to demolish his own
house, and if he lacked the means, convicts were employed to do the
work, and afterwards carried away what they thought proper.”
On the 19th of September, 1840, Francia died. But unhappily his death
did not prove the dawn of freedom for the Paraguayans. After a brief
interregnum Don Carlos Lopez, a lawyer, finally took up the sceptre of
his terrible predecessor, and wielded it with a hand equally relentless.
He professed, it is true, to rule in conformity with the constitution of
1844, if this name can be given to an act which merely legalised
despotism; but if any difference existed between the position of Lopez
and Francia, it was simply that the iron rod of the latter was gilded
and painted in the grasp of the former.
Without repudiating the exclusive policy of Francia, Lopez the elder
permitted some partial commerce with foreign nations. But this licence
was hampered by the most absurd restrictions, and he continued to
exhibit the greatest dislike for foreigners, upon whom extreme
barbarities were inflicted. If the isolation of the state was a little
relaxed it was because the “trading” interests of the Dictator would
else have suffered:—
The modifications effected in the commercial and economic system
were of such a nature as to secure for the State a monopoly in the
majority of mercantile transactions. Paraguay was and is a great
firm under the management of the President. Lopez authorised the
people to work in the yerbales, but it was necessary to ask and
obtain a licence. The yerba thus produced was purchased by the
State, which exported it on its own account. The Government paid for
it five piastres per arroba, and resold it for fifteen in the
interior, and for so much as forty piastres to export. In
consequence of the monopoly in the sale of this important product,
an exorbitant price was maintained, which enabled the Brazilians to
give a great development to its production in the province of
Parana. The yerba there grown, though of inferior quality,
nevertheless found an immense consumption in the Plate, on account
of its more moderate price. The utilisation of the forests of
Paraguay was also permitted; but the State imposed a duty of 20 per
cent.; and as the value was fixed by itself, this pretended liberty
of commerce in timber was simply a device to extort money, and ruin
the individuals who might engage in it.
With regard to the raising of cattle and the commerce in hides, the
State possessed farms and tanneries, and did not allow private
persons to offer any serious competition. The State could, in
addition, command labourers without payment; for the citizens were
still subject, as under the colonial administration, to be pressed
into the public service. At every requisition of authority they are
bound to work without receiving either reward or nourishment; and it
was by means of these _auxilios_ that roads have been made and
repaired, churches built, and both the fortress of Humaita and the
arsenal of Villa Rica erected. The _Guardias Auxiliares_—to-day
soldiers, to-morrow labourers—are employed in the cultivation of the
lands of the State. These soldiers carry the posts, gather the maté
harvest, and fell timber; but receive no remuneration, being only
fed like the rest of the army. These labourers cost so little, that,
thanks to them, the State defies all private competition in the
produce of its yerbales, forests, and farms.
One thing Don Carlos Lopez did not leave out of sight. He felt his
Government was an anomaly and a menace to civilisation and political
freedom in the surrounding States, and any day even his so patient
subjects might find their bonds too galling for longer endurance. He,
therefore, developed the military strength of the Dictatorship, and
raised the fortress of Humaita on the banks of the Paraguay in such a
position as to render the country all but impregnable to external
assault.
At the end of a long reign Lopez I. died, and his dominion went by
testament to his son,—Don Francisco Solano—as Vice-President. M. Quentin
gives the following account of the proceedings adopted by the present
ruler of Paraguay to secure the position he has used to bring ruin upon
his unfortunate country:—