Chap. VII Accounts of the Missions in Paraguay, and the Expulsion of the
Jesuits from that province.
Whilst we carried on our preparations for leaving Rio de la Plata, the marquiss of Buccarelli made some on his part to go on the Uraguai. The Jesuits had already been arrested in all the other provinces of his department; and this governor-general intended to execute the orders of his catholic majesty, in person, in the missions. It depended upon the first steps that were taken, either to make the people consent to the alterations that were going to be made, or to plunge them again into their former state of barbarism. But before I give an account of what I have seen of the catastrophe of this singular government, I must speak something of its origin, progress, and form. I shall speak of it sine irâ & studio, quorum causas procul habeo.
Date of the establishment of the missions.
In 1580 the Jesuits were first admitted into these fertile regions, where they have afterwards, in the reign of Philip the third, founded the famous missions, which in Europe go by the name of Paraguay, and in America, with more propriety, by that of Uraguay, from the river of that name, on which they are situated. They were always divided into colonies, which at first were weak and few, but by gradual progress have been encreased to the number of thirty-seven, viz. twenty-nine on the right side of the Uraguay, and eight on the left side, each of them governed by two Jesuits, in the habit of the order. Two motives, which sovereigns are allowed to combine, if they do not hurt each other, namely, religion and interest, made the Spanish monarch desirous of the conversion of the Indians; by making them catholics, they became civilized, and he obtained possession of a vast and abundant country; this was opening a new source of riches for the metropolis, and at the same time making proselytes to the true Deity. The Jesuits undertook to fulfil these projects; but they represented, that in order to facilitate the success of so difficult an enterprize, it was necessary they should be independent of the governors of the province, and that even no Spaniard should be allowed to come into the country.
Conditions agreed on between the court of Spain and the Jesuits.
The motive on which this demand was grounded, was, the fear lest the vices of the Europeans should diminish the ardour of their proselytes, or even remove them farther from Christianity; and likewise lest the Spanish haughtiness should render a yoke, already too heavy, insupportable to them. The court of Spain, approving of these reasons, ordered that the missionaries should not be controuled by the governor’s authority, and that they should get sixty thousand piastres a year from the royal treasure, for the expences of cultivation, on condition that as the colonies should be formed, and the lands be cultivated, the Indians should annually pay a piastre per head to the king, from the age of eighteen to sixty. It was likewise stipulated, that the missionaries should teach the Indians the Spanish language; but this clause it seems has not been executed.
Zeal and success of the missionaries.
The Jesuits entered upon this career with the courage of martyrs, and the patience of angels. Both these qualifications were requisite to attract, retain, and use to obedience and labour, a race of savage, inconstant men, who were attached to their indolence and independence. The obstacles were infinite, the difficulties encreased at each step; but zeal got the better of every thing, and the kindness of the missionaries at last brought these wild, diffident inhabitants of the woods, to their feet. They collected them into fixed habitations, gave them laws, introduced useful and polite arts among them; and, in short, of a barbarous nation, without civilized manners, and without religious principles, they made a good-natured well governed people, who strictly observed the Christian ceremonies. These Indians, charmed with the persuasive eloquence of their apostles, willingly obeyed a set of men, who, they saw would sacrifice themselves for their happiness; accordingly, when they wanted to form an idea of the king of Spain, they represented him to themselves in the habit of the order of St. Ignatius.
Revolt of the Indians against the Spaniards.
However, there was a momentary revolt against his authority in the year 1757. The catholic king had exchanged the colonies on the left shore of the Uraguay against the colony of Santo Sacramento with the Portuguese. The desire of destroying the smuggling trade, which we have mentioned several times, had engaged the court of Madrid to this exchange. Thus the Uraguay became the boundary of the respective possessions of the two crowns. The Indians of the colonies, which had been ceded, were transported to the right hand shore, and they made them amends in money for their lost labour and transposition. |Causes of their discontent.| But these men, accustomed to their habitations, could not bear the thought of being obliged to leave the grounds, which were highly cultivated, in order to clear new ones. They took up arms: for long ago they had been allowed the use of them, to defend themselves from the incursions of the Paulists, a band of robbers, descended from Brasilians, and who had formed themselves into a republic towards the end of the sixteenth century. They revolted without any Jesuits ever heading them. It is however said, they were really kept in the revolted villages, to exercise their sacerdotal functions.
They take up arms and are defeated.
The governor-general of the province de la Plata, Don Joseph Andonaighi, marched against the rebels, and was followed by Don Joachim de Viana, governor of Montevideo. He defeated them in a battle, wherein upwards of two thousand Indians were slain. He then proceeded to conquer the country; and Don Joachim seeing what terror their first defeat had spread amongst them, resolved to subdue them entirely with six hundred men. He attacked the first colony, took possession of it without meeting any resistance; and that being taken, all the others submitted.
The disturbances are appeased.
At this time the court of Spain recalled Don Joseph Andonaighi, and Don Pedro Cevallos arrived at Buenos Ayres to replace him. Viana received orders at the same time to leave the missions, and bring back his troops. The intended exchange was now no longer thought of, and the Portuguese, who had marched against the Indians with the Spaniards, returned with them likewise. At the time of this expedition, the noise was spread in Europe of the election of king Nicholas, an Indian, whom indeed the rebels set up as a phantom of royalty.
Don Joachim de Viana told me, that when he received orders to leave the missions, a great number of Indians, discontented with the life they led, were willing to follow him. |The Indians appear disgusted with the administration of the Jesuits.| He opposed it, but could not hinder seven families from accompanying him; he settled them at the Maldonados, where, at present, they are patterns of industry and labour. I was surprised at what he told me concerning this discontent of the Indians. How is it possible to make it agree with all I had read of the manner in which they are governed? I should have quoted the laws of the missions as a pattern of an administration instituted with a view to distribute happiness and wisdom among men.
Indeed, if one casts a general view at a distance upon this magic government, founded by spiritual arms only, and united only by the charms of persuasion, what institution can be more honourable to human nature? It is a society which inhabits a fertile land, in a happy climate, of which, all the members are laborious, and none works for himself; the produce of the common cultivation is faithfully conveyed into public storehouses, from whence every one receives what he wants for his nourishment, dress, and house-keeping; the man who is in full vigour, feeds, by his labour, the new-born infant; and when time has consumed his strength, his fellow-citizens render him the same services which he did them before. The private houses are convenient, the public buildings fine; the worship uniform and scrupulously attended: this happy people knows neither the distinction of rank, nor of nobility, and is equally sheltered against super-abundance and wants.
The great distance and the illusion of perspective made the missions bear this aspect in my eyes, and must have appeared the same to every one else. But the theory is widely different from the execution of this plan of government. Of this I was convinced by the following accounts, which above a hundred ocular witnesses have unanimously given me.
Accounts of the interior government.
The extent of country in which the missions are situated, contains about two hundred leagues north and south, and about one hundred and fifty east and west, and the number of inhabitants is about three hundred thousand; the immense forests afford wood of all sorts; the vast pastures there, contain at least two millions of cattle; fine rivers enliven the interior parts of this country, and promote circulation and commerce throughout it. This is the situation of the country, but the question now is, how did the people live there? The country was, as has been told, divided into parishes, and each parish was directed by two Jesuits, of which, one was rector, and the other his curate. The whole expence for the maintenance of the colonies was but small, the Indians being fed, dressed, and lodged, by the labour of their own hands; the greatest costs were those of keeping the churches in repair, all which were built and adorned magnificently. The other products of the ground, and all the cattle, belonged to the Jesuits, who, on their part, sent for the instruments of various trades, for glass, knives, needles, images, chaplets of beads, gun-powder and muskets. Their annual revenues consisted in cotton, tallow, leather, honey, and above all, in maté, a plant better known by the name of Paraguay tea, or South-Sea tea, of which that company had the exclusive commerce, and of which likewise the consumption is immense in the Spanish possessions in America, where it is used instead of tea.
The Indians shewed so servile a submission to their rectors, that not only both men and women suffered the punishment of flagellation, after the manner of the college, for public offences, but they likewise came of themselves to sollicit this chastisement for mental faults. In every parish the fathers annually elected corrégidors, and their assistants, to take care of the minutiæ of the government. The ceremony of their election was performed on new year’s day, with great pomp, in the court before the church, and was announced by ringing of bells, and the playing of a band of music. The newly elected persons came to the feet of the father rector to receive the marks of their dignity, which however did not exempt them from being whipped like the others. Their greatest distinction was that of wearing habits, whereas, a shirt of cotton stuff was the only dress of the other Indians of both sexes. The feasts of the parish, and that of the rector, were likewise celebrated by public rejoicings, and even by comedies, which probably resembled those ancient pieces of ours, called mystéres or mysteries.
The rector lived in a great house near the church; adjoining to it were two buildings, in one of which were the schools for music, painting, sculpture, and architecture; and likewise, work-houses of different trades; Italy furnished them with masters to teach the arts, and the Indians, it is said, learn with facility: the other building contained a great number of young girls at work in several occupations, under the inspection of old women: this was named the guatiguasu, or the seminary. The apartment of the rector communicated internally with these two buildings.
This rector got up at five o’clock in the morning, employed an hour in holy meditation, and said his mass at half past six o’clock; they kissed his hands at seven o’clock, and then he publicly distributed an ounce of maté to every family. After mass, the rector breakfasted, said his breviary, conferred with the corregidors, four of whom were his ministers, and visited the seminary, the schools, and the work-shops. Whenever he went out, it was on horseback, and attended by a great retinue; he dined alone with his curate at eleven of the clock, then chatted till noon, and after that, made a siesta till two in the afternoon; he kept close in his interior appartments till it was prayer time, after which, he continued in conversation till seven in the evening; then the rector supped, and at eight he was supposed to be gone to bed.
From eight of the clock in the morning, the time of the people was taken up either in cultivating the ground, or in their work-shops, and the corregidors took care to see them employ their time well; the women spun cotton; they got a quantity of it every Monday, which they were obliged to bring back converted into spun yarn at the end of the week; at half an hour past five in the evening they came together to say the prayers of their rosary, and to kiss the hands of their rector once more, then came on the distribution of an ounce of maté and four pounds of beef for each family, which was supposed to consist of eight persons; at the same time they likewise got some maize. On Sundays they did no work; the divine worship took up more time; they were after that allowed to amuse themselves with plays as dull as the rest of their whole life.
Consequences drawn from it.
From this exact detail it appears that the Indians had in some manner no property, and that they were subject to a miserable, tedious uniformity of labour and repose. This tiresomeness, which may with great reason be called deadly or extreme, is sufficient to explain what has been told to us, that they quitted life without regret, and died without having ever lived or enjoyed life. When once they fell sick, it seldom happened that they recovered, and being then asked whether they were sorry to be obliged to die, they answered, no; and spoke it as people whose real sentiments coincide with their words. We can no longer be surprised, that when the Spaniards penetrated into the missions, this great people, which was governed like a convent, should shew an ardent desire of forcing the walls which confined them. The Jesuits represented the Indians, upon the whole, as men incapable of attaining a higher degree of knowledge than that of children; but the life they led, prevented these grown children from having the liveliness of little ones.
Expulsion of the Jesuits from the province of Plata.
The society were occupied with the care of extending their missions, when the unfortunate events happened in Europe, which overturned the work of so many years, and of so unwearied patience in the new world. The court of Spain having resolved upon the expulsion of the Jesuits, was desirous that this might be done at the same time throughout all its vast dominions. Cevallos was recalled from Buenos Ayres, and Don Francisco Buccarelli appointed to succeed him. |Measures taken at the court of Spain for this purpose.| He set out, being instructed in the business which he was intended for, and with orders to defer the execution of it till he received fresh orders, which would soon be sent him. The king’s confessor, the count d’Aranda, and some ministers, were the only persons to whom this secret affair was entrusted. Buccarelli made his entry at Buenos Ayres in the beginning of 1767.
Measures taken by the governor-general of the province.
When Don Pedro de Cevallos was arrived in Spain, a packet was dispatched to the marquis of Buccarelli, with orders both for that province, and for Chili, whither he was to send them over land. This vessel arrived in Rio de la Plata in June, 1767, and the governor instantly dispatched two officers, one to Peru, and the other to Chili, with the dispatches from court, directed to them. He then sent his orders into the various parts of his province, where there were any Jesuits, viz. to Cordoua, Mendoza, Corrientes, Santa-Fé, Salta, Montevideo, and Paraguay. As he feared, that among the commanders of these several places, some might not act with the dispatch, secrecy, and exactness which the court required, he enjoined, by sending his orders to them, that they should not open them till on a certain day, which he had fixed for the execution, and to do it only in the presence of some persons, whom he named, and who served in the highest ecclesiastical and civil offices, at the above-mentioned places. Cordoua, above all, interested his attention. In that province was the principal house of the Jesuits, and the general residence of their provincial. There they prepared and instructed in the Indian language and customs, those who were destined to go to the missions, and to become heads of colonies; there their most important papers were expected to be found. M. de Buccarelli resolved to send an officer of trust there, whom he appointed the king’s lieutenant of that place, and on whom, under this pretext, he sent a detachment of soldiers to attend.
It now remained to provide for the execution of the king’s orders in the missions, and this was the most critical point. It was dubious whether the Indians would suffer the Jesuits to be arrested in the midst of the colonies, and this violent step must at all events have been supported by a numerous body of troops. Besides this, it was necessary, before they thought of removing the Jesuits, to have another form of government ready to substitute in their stead, and by that means to prevent confusion and anarchy. The governor resolved to temporize, and was contented at that time to write to the missions, that a corregidor and a cacique from each colony should be sent to him immediately, in order to communicate the king’s letters to them. He dispatched this order with the greatest quickness, that the Indians might already be on the road, and beyond the missions, before the news of the expulsion of the Jesuits could reach thither. By this he had two aims in view; the one, that of getting hostages of the fidelity of the colonies, when the Jesuits would be taken from thence; the other, that of gaining the affection of the principal Indians, by the good treatment he intended for them at Buenos Ayres, and of instructing them in the new situation upon which they would enter; for, as soon as the restraint would be taken away, they were to enjoy the same privileges, and have the same property as the king’s other subjects.
The secret is near being divulged by an unforeseen accident.
Every measure was concerted with the greatest secrecy, and though people wondered that a vessel should arrive from Spain without any other letters than those for the general, yet they were very far from suspecting the cause of it. The moment of the general execution was fixed to the day when all the couriers were supposed to have arrived at their different destinations, and the governor waited for that moment with impatience, when the arrival of the two xebecs56 of the king from Cadiz, the Andaluz and the Adventurero, was near making all these precautions useless. The governor-general had ordered the governor of Montevideo, that in case any vessels should arrive from Europe, he should not allow them to speak with any person whatsoever, before he had sent him word of it; but one of the two xebecs being in the forlorn situation we have before mentioned, at the entrance of the river, it was very necessary to save the crew of it, and give her all the assistance which her situation required.
Conduct of the governor-general.
The two xebecs had sailed from Spain, after the Jesuits had been arrested there, and this piece of news could by no means be prevented from spreading. An officer of these ships was immediately sent to M. de Buccarelli, and arrived at Buenos Ayres the 9th of July, at ten in the evening. The governor did not lose time, he instantly dispatched orders to all the commanders of the places, to open their former packets of dispatches, and execute their contents with the utmost celerity. At two of the clock after midnight, all the couriers were gone, and the two houses of the Jesuits at Buenos Ayres invested, to the great astonishment of those fathers, who thought they were dreaming, when roused from their sleep in order to be imprisoned, and to have their papers seized. The next morning an order was published in the town, which forbade, by pain of death, to keep up any intercourse with the Jesuits, and five merchants were arrested, who intended, it is said, to send advices to them at Cordoua.
The Jesuits are arrested in all the Spanish towns.
The king’s orders were executed with the same facility in all the towns. The Jesuits were surprised every where, without having the least notice, and their papers were seized. They were immediately sent from their houses, guarded by detachments of soldiers, who were ordered to fire upon those that should endeavour to escape. But there was no occasion to come to this extremity. They shewed the greatest resignation, humbling themselves under the hand that smote them, and acknowledging, as they said, that their sins had deserved the punishment which God inflicted on them. The Jesuits of Cordoua, in number above a hundred, arrived towards the end of August, at the Encenada, whither those from Corrientes, Buenos Ayres, and Montevideo, came soon after. They were immediately embarked, and the first convoy sailed, as I have already said, at the end of September. The others, during that time, were on the road to Buenos Ayres, where they should wait for another opportunity.
Arrival of the caciques and corregidors at Buenos Ayres from the missions.
On the 13th of September arrived all the corregidors, and a cacique of each colony, with some Indians of their retinue. They had left the missions before any one guessed at the reason of their journey there. The news which they received of it on the road had made some impression on them, but did not prevent their continuing the journey. The only instruction which the rectors gave their dear proselytes at parting, was, to believe nothing of what the governor-general should tell them: “Prepare, my children,” did every one tell them, “to hear many untruths.” At their arrival, they were immediately sent to the governor, where I was present at their reception. They entered on horseback to the number of a hundred and twenty, and formed a crescent in two lines; a Spaniard understanding the language of the Guaranis, served them as an interpreter. |They appear before the governor-general.| The governor appeared in a balcony; he told them, that they were welcome; that they should go to rest themselves, and that he would send them notice of the day which he should fix in order to let them know the king’s intentions. He added, in general, that he was come to release them from slavery, and put them in possession of their property, which they had not hitherto enjoyed. They answered by a general cry, lifting up their right hands to heaven, and wishing all prosperity to the king and governor. They did not seem discontented, but it was easy to discover more surprize than joy in their countenance. On leaving the governor’s palace, they were brought to one of the houses of the Jesuits, where they were lodged, fed, and kept at the king’s expence. The governor, when he sent for them, expressly mentioned the famous Cacique Nicholas, but they wrote him word, that his great age and his infirmities did not allow him to come out.
At my departure from Buenos Ayres, the Indians had not yet been called to an audience of the general. He was willing to give them time to learn something of the language, and to become acquainted with the Spanish customs. I have been several times to see them. They appeared to me of an indolent temper, and seemed to have that stupid air so common in creatures caught in a trap. Some of them were pointed out to me as very intelligent, but as they spoke no other language but that of the Guaranis, I was not able to make any estimate of the degree of their knowledge; I only heard a cacique play upon the violin, who, I was told, was a great musician; he played a sonata, and I thought I heard the strained founds of a serinette. Soon after the arrival of these Indians at Buenos Ayres, the news of the expulsion of the Jesuits having reached the missions, the marquis de Buccarelli received a letter from the provincial, who was there at that time, in which he assured him of his submission, and of that of all the colonies to the king’s orders.
Extent of the missions.
These missions of the Guaranis and Tapes, upon the Uruguay, were not the only ones which the Jesuits founded in South America. Somewhat more northward they had collected and submitted to the same laws, the Mojos, Chiquitos, and the Avipones. They likewise were making progresses in the south of Chili, towards the isle of Chiloé; and a few years since, they have opened themselves a road from that province to Peru, passing through the country of the Chiquitos, which is a shorter way than that which was followed till then. In all the countries into which they penetrated, they erected posts, on which they placed their motto; and on the map of their colonies, which they have settled, the latter are placed under the denomination of Oppida Christianorum.
It was expected, that in seizing the effects of the Jesuits in this province, very considerable sums of money would be found: however, what was obtained that way, amounted to a mere trifle. Their magazines indeed were furnished with merchandizes of all sorts, both of the products of the country, and of goods imported from Europe. There were even many sorts which could not have a sale in these provinces. The number of their slaves was considerable, and in their house at Cordoua alone, they reckoned three thousand five hundred.
I cannot enter into a detail of all that the public of Buenos Ayres pretends to have found in the papers of the Jesuits; the animosity is yet too recent to enable me to distinguish true imputations from false ones. I will rather do justice to the majority of the members of this society, who were not interested in its temporal affairs. If there were some intriguing men in this body, the far greater number, who were sincerely pious, did not consider any thing in the institution, besides the piety of its founder, and worshipped God, to whom they had consecrated themselves, in spirit and in truth. I have been informed, on my return to France, that the marquis de Buccarelli set out from Buenos Ayres for the missions, the 14th of May, 1768; and that he had not met with any obstacle, or resistance, to the execution of his most catholic majesty’s orders. My readers will be able to form an idea of the manner in which this interesting event was terminated, by reading the two following pieces, which contain an account of the first scene. It is a narrative of what happened at the colony of Yapegu, situated upon the Uraguay, and which lay the first in the Spanish general’s way; all the others have followed the example of this.
Translation of a letter from a captain of the grenadiers of the regiment of Majorca, commanding one of the detachments of the expedition into Paraguay.
Yapegu, the 19th July, 1768.
Account of the governor-general’s entry into the missions.
“Yesterday we arrived here very happily; the reception given to our general has been most magnificent, and such as could not be exported from so simple a people, so little accustomed to shows. Here is a college, which has very rich and numerous church ornaments; there is likewise a great quantity of plate. The settlement is somewhat less than Montevideo, but more regularly disposed, and well peopled. The houses are so uniform, that after seeing one, you have seen them all; and the same, after you have seen one man and woman, you have seen them all, there being not the least difference in the manner in which they are dressed. There are many musicians, but they are only middling performers.
“As soon as we arrived near this mission, the governor-general gave orders to go and seize the father provincial of the Jesuits, and six other fathers, and to bring them to a place of safety. They are to embark in a few days on the river Uraguay. However, we believe they will stay at Salto, in order to wait till the rest of their brethren have undergone the same fate. We expected to make a stay of five or six days at Yapegu, and then to continue our march to the last mission. We are very well pleased with our general, who has procured us all possible refreshments. Yesterday we had an opera, and shall have another representation of it to-day. The good people do all they can, and all they know.
“Yesterday we likewise saw the famous Nicolas, the same whom people were so desirous to confine. He was in a deplorable situation, and almost naked. He is seventy years of age, and seems to be a very sensible man. His excellency spoke with him a long time, and seemed very much pleased with his conversation.
“This is all the news I can inform you of.”
Relation published at Buenos Ayres of the entry of his excellency Don Francisco Buccarelli y Ursua, in the mission of Yapegu, one of those belonging to the Jesuits, among the nations of Guaranis, on his arrival there the 18th of July, 1768.
“At eight o’clock in the morning, his excellency went out of the chapel of St. Martin, at one league’s distance from Yapegu. He was accompanied by his guard of grenadiers and dragoons, and had detached two hours before the companies of grenadiers of Majorca, in order to take possession of, and get ready every thing at the river of Guavirade, which must be crossed in canoes and ferries. This rivulet is about half a league from the colony.
“As soon as his excellency had crossed the rivulet, he found the caciques and corregidors of the missions, who attended with the Alferes of Yapegu, bearing the royal standard. His excellency having received all the honours and compliments usual on such occasions, got on horseback, in order to make his public entry.
“The dragoons began the march; they were followed by two adjutants, who preceded his excellency; after whom came the two companies of grenadiers of Majorca, followed by the retinue of the Caciques and Corregidores, and by a great number of horsemen from these parts.
“They went to the great place facing the church. His excellency having alighted, Don Francisco Martinez, chaplain of the expedition, attended on the steps before the porch to receive him; he accompanied him to the Presbyterium, and began the Te Deum; which was sung and performed by musicians, entirely consisting of guaranis. During this ceremony, there was a triple discharge of the artillery. His excellency went afterwards to the lodgings, which he had chosen for himself, in the college of the fathers; round which the whole troop encamped, till, by his order, they went to take their quarters in the Guatiguasa, or la Casa de las recogidas, house of retirement for women57.”
Let us now continue the account of our voyage; in which the detail of the revolution that happened in the missions, has been one of the most interesting circumstances.