It was in 1586 that the Jesuits first made their ap pearance in Paraguay ; though previous to their intro duction into this country, they had been many years em ployed in propagating the gospel in Brasil, which Father Joseph Anchieta, in the phraseology of these times, had filled with the odour of his holiness, and the splendour of his miracles. Their labours, however, were for a time confined merely to the conversion of the natives, without attempting to form any permanent establish ments. They visited many of the Indian towns and vil lages ; and following the wandering Guaranis through their forests, and into the recesses of their mountains, disposed many thousands of them to receive the gospel. They managed with astonishing address the most fierce and untractable of the Indian nations, with whom both force and fair measures had previously been found una vailing ; and their mediation was often successfully ex erted in repressing the cruelty of the Spaniards, and in restraining the desertion of those that formed their en comiendas. But their interference, (for they continued to plead with unshaken constancy the cause of the op pressed Indians,) sometimes exposed them to obloquy, and even ill treatment from the Spaniards, who regarded the natives as their lawful property, which they had ac quired by their valour, and which they were determined to maintain against every other authority. The exer tions of these men in the cause of religion and humanity, hitherto desultory, were now directed to more determi nate objects ; the establishment of reductions among the natives. In 1609, Father Torrez, the provincial of the Jesuits, received full power from the governor of Para guay, which was sanctioned by the bishop, to collect their newly converted Indians into townships, which were to be independent of all the other Spanish cstab lishments ; to civilize and to instruct them ; and to op pose, in the king's name, all who should endeavour to subject them to personal service. They were only to acknowledge the sovereignty of the king of Spain, of whom they were to be considered as the immediate vas sals. This power was afterwards confirmed by Philip III. and his successors ; and such were the zeal and la bours of the Jesuits, that, in the course of 20 years, they had established 21 reductions upon the Parana and the Uraguay. Their success, however, was suddenly inter rupted in 1630, by the devastations of the Paulists, or Ma melukes, (of whom some account has been given in the History of BRASIL, 1'01. iv. p 422,) who, by their impetu ous and reiterated eruptions, almost obliterated the effects of their labours in Paraguay. The Indians, with their native weapons, were unable to resist the lire-arms of their invaders, and the Jesuits were compelled to fly, with their neophytes, from the province of Guayra, and to retire to their missions upon the Uraguay. In these inroads, many of the fathers lost their lives, though in general, the Mamelukes abstained from personal vio lence to the ministers of religion ; and, in two years, 60,000 of the converted Indians are calculated to have been destroyed, or carried off. These disasters the Spaniards beheld with indifference, if not with compla cency. They had considered the settlements of the Je suits as encroachments upon their property ; and they even rejected repeated and earnest applications for as sistance. They soon, however, felt the effects of their imprudence. The Mamelukes, disappointed by the re moval of the missions, advanced with the same hostile spirit towards the encomiendas, devastating their lands, and carrying off the inhabitants ; and the cities of Ciu dad Real and Villa Rica were razed to the ground. The provincial governments still remained insensible to the situation of the Jesuits, and could be induced, neither the claims of policy nor humanity, to defend them against their enemies. The only resource, therefore, which re mained, was to apply to the Spanish court. A deputa tion was accordingly dispatched, who plead the cause of their American brethren with such a warmth of colour ing and persevering address, that, in 1639, they obtained leave to embody and arm their Indian converts in the European manner. This important privilege soon re stored stability and tranquillity to the reductions. The neopilytes, trained under the direction of some lay Je suits, who had formerly been inured to a military life, in their turn became formidable to the Mamelukes,who, in a short time, found it dangerous to appear in the neigh bourhood of these settlements. They also rendered very important services to the Spanish governors, who fre quently called upon them for assistance on difficult emergencies. On these occasions, however, they were always commanded by the Jesuits, who took particular care to prevent all communication with the Spanish sol diery or inhabitants, and led them back to the reductions as soon as their services could be dispensed with. Their services, however, were not confined to military opera tions. They were likewise employed in various public works. They rebuilt the city of Santa Fe ; erected the fort of Tabati; and, in 1668 and the following years, five hundred of them worked on the fortifications, the fort, and the cathedral of Buenos Ayres. But while en gaged in these operations, their wages, their subsistence, and even the expense of their journies, were all defray ed by the Jesuits.
The reductions, already planted, were chiefly compos ed of the Guarinis and Tapes, though many of the tribes between the Parana and Brasil had added to their popu lation. Their country was temperate and fertile ; and, under the care and direction of their pastors, produc tions of necessity and of luxury were raised in abun dance. Grain, sugar, cotton, tobacco, wax, honey, Pa raguay tea, Ste. were sources of comfort to the inhabi tants, and advantageous articles of traffic to the Jesuits, under whose government they lived in the greatest har mony and regularity. "Here," according to the eulo giums of their advocates, " no person was idle, nor any one overburdened with labour ;--all were conveniently lodged and comfortably clothed, and their food was wholesome, abundant, and equally distributed ; the aged and infirm, the widows and orphans, were maintained by the community ; no monastic institutions, no sordid views of interest, or absurd restraints of pride, fettered the freedom of choice, or defiled the sanctity of mar riage ; no factitious wants, or destructive luxuries, cor rupted the human frame ; the benefits of trade were ex perienced, without the fatal contagion of its vices ; neither the practice nor the necessity of capital punish ments existed ; neither tythes nor taxes were known : and the devouring plague of forensic subtlety, oppres sion, and delay, was proscribed." The Spaniards had extended their power over the vast plains which lie between the Paraguay and the Chilian Cordillera. Los Charcas, after an obstinate and vigorous resistance, had submitted to Gonzalez Pizarro, soon after the subjugation of Peru ; and Tucuman had also been subdued, and settled by the conquerors of that country. The re-establishment of Buenos Ayres had been resolved upon by the governor of Paraguay, and carried into execution in 1580,—the want of a proper harbour at the mouth of the La Plata rendering that undertaking absolutely necessary. This city was at first
exceedingly annoyed by the adjacent Indians, and re mained long in a state of poverty. It, however, emerg ed by degrees into distinction, and rose to be the capital of the viceroyalty. A new province, distinct from that of Paraguay, had also been established about 1620, un der the name of Rio de la Plata, now Buenos Ayres, of which Don Diego Gongora was appointed governor.
Except an insurrection of the Indians, held in the encomiendas of Assumption, which was soon quelled by the assistance of the neophytes, in 1660, nothing of im portance occurred until 1679, when the Portuguese at tempted a settlement on the north bank of the Portuguese de laPlata. Their intention was no sooner known, than Garro, the governor of Buenos Ayres, dispatched a summons to Lobo, the Portuguese commander, to evacuate the territory of Spain. Lobo replied, that he was upon the territory of his sovereign ; and even claimed the whole of the left bank of the Paraguay and La Plata, as be longing to the king of Portugal. During some discus sions that followed respecting the limits of the two na tions, the settlement, under the name of Colonia, or San Sacramento, had been prosecuted with great industry ; a regular fortress had arisen, well mounted with cannon, and provided with military stores, and every thing re quisite for the building and defence of a city. But Garro having received orders from the viceroy of Peru to attack the Portuguese, its reduction immediately fol lowed, when the fort was levelled with the ground. This settlement has given occasion to many disputes and struggles between the rival powers of Portugal and Spain, and has been successively wrested from its founders and restored, until 1778, when it was finally ceded to the Spaniards.
The spirit of dissension still prevailed at Assumption, and a scene of outrage and rebellion arose about the beginning of the last century, which threatened the de pendence of Paraguay upon the crown of Spain. There were many chiefs in the province, who, like Irala, were eager for dominion, and only waited for a favourable opportunity to usurp the sovereign authority. Among these was Don Joseph de Antequera, a knight of Alcan tara, and a man of family and genius. Intriguing and ambitious, he had fomented discontent among the inha bitants against the existing governor, Don Diego de los Reyes, which rose so high, that Don Diego, fearing an attempt upon his lift, fled to Buenos Ayres. Anteque ra, supported by his friends, assumed the reins of gov ernment, and entered upon the exercise of his new dig nity without opposition. As soon as this transaction was knows at Lima, the viceroy of Peru issued a new commission, dated 16th of February 1722, reinstating Don Diego in his office ; and ordered Antequera imme diately to quit the province. Antequera, however, had gone too far to recede with safety ; and though the order was repeated, he still retained his situation, and even openly avowed his resolution of maintaining himself in the government, in spite of all the dispatches he might receive from Lima. Negotiation was attempted to bring him to his duty, but in vain. He had even sent an armed force to Corrientes, a town within the jurisdic tion of the governor of Rio de la Plata, to seize the per son of Don Diego, who was carried to Assumption, and thrown into a dungeon. Forcible measures were now resorted to ; and Don Balthazar, the king's lieutenant at Buenos Ayres, advanced at the head of the provincial troops, and 2000 of the reduction Indians, to compel the rebels to submission. Antequera, with 3000 men, marched from Assumption to meet him, leaving orders with Juan de 'Mena, one of his trusty adherents, that, in case of a defeat, Don Diego should be publicly strangled. In the engagement which followed, the royal troops were routed with great slaughter. Antequera entered the city in triumph ; dragged the royal standards taken in battle before him on the ground, and displayed his ow n in the cathedral of Assumption. But more timid and temporizing than became his situation, or was con sistent with his past conduct, he, instead of throwing off' all subjection to the Spanish government, and assum ing at once the sovereign power, still nominally owned the sovereignty of the king of Spain, at the same time that he disobeyed his mandates, and resisted his autho rity. His usurpation, however, was but of short dura tion, though his fall was more owing to the defection of his friends, than to the power of his enemies. The Bishop of Paraguay had set himself secretly to counter act the influence viliidr Antequera had acquired over the minds of the inhabitants ; and by his conciliating manners and intriguing address, in a short time greatly diminished the number of his adherents. So effectual were his exertions, that when Zibala, the governor of Buenos Ayres, was advancing against Assumption with a powerful army, he even ventured to publish a man date, excommunicating all those who should oppose his reception into the city. Antequera was so confounded by this proceeding, and still more discouraged by the lukewarmness of many of his friends, that he immedi ately fled with a few of his adherents, and took refuge in a convent at Cordova; but, being afterwards seized at La Plata, the capital of Los Charcas, he and Juan de Mena were thrown into prison at Lima. Zabala entered the city on the 24th of April 1725, and, having quickly re-established tranquillity, left Don Martin de Borua in quiet possession of the government. Borua, however, had scarcely commenced his administration, when he was suspected of favouring the views of Antequera, who, even in prison, looked forward to his re-establish ment in Paraguay. The viceroy consequently determin ed upon his removal, and nominated Don Ignatius Soroe to to succeed him. But a popular faction, under the name of the Commune, refused to admit the new gover nor into the city. At the head of this faction was one Mompo, a partizan of Antequera, and who had escaped cut of prison at Lima, and had obtaiupd ft municipal si tuation at Assumption. Eloquent and enterprizing, he endeavoured, by every mean, to detach the hearts of the inhabitants from the parent state. He openly pro mulgated the most democratic doctrines, and asserted, that the authority of the people was paramount to that of the king. " Let us oppose," said he, " the reception of Soroeta in the name of the commune, and then no one in particular can be called to account for it." But the abuication of Borua leaving the government without a head, the commune found it necessary to elect a junto, in whom the sole authority of the province should be immediately vested. Of this council Barreyro, the first aicalde of the city, was appointed president. He had hitherto appeared to favour the views of the commune, but it would seem, from his subsequent conduct, that it was with a design of counteracting rather than of aiding their plans ; for he began his administration by attempt ing to restore order and subordination to the province, and, seizing .loinpo, sent him a prisoner to Buenos Ayres. The other members of the junto immediately took the alarm, and opposed the measures of Barreyro so effectually, that he was compelled to fly from the city, when Michael de Garai was appointed in his stead.