A Vanished Arcadia | Page 7

influence -- Retreat of the Jesuits down the Parana

Chapter III
Spain and Portugal in South America -- Enmity between Brazilians and
Argentines -- Expulsion of Jesuits from Paraguay -- Struggles with the
natives -- Father Mendoza killed -- Death of Father Montoya

Chapter IV
Don Bernardino de Cardenas, Bishop of Paraguay -- His labours as
apostolic missionary -- His ambitions and cunning -- Pretensions to
saintliness -- His attempts to acquire supreme power -- Quarrels
between Cardenas and Don Gregorio, the temporal Governor

Chapter V
Renewal of the feud between the Bishop and Don Gregorio --
Wholesale excommunications in Asuncion -- Cardenas in 1644
formulates his celebrated charges against the Jesuits -- The Governor,
after long negotiations and much display of force, ultimately succeeds
in driving out the Bishop -- For three years Cardenas is in desperate
straits -- In 1648 Don Gregorio is suddenly dismissed, Cardenas elects
himself Governor, and for a short time becomes supreme in Asuncion
-- The Jesuits are forced to leave the town and to flee to Corrientes -- A
new Governor is appointed in Asuncion -- He defeats Cardenas on the
field of battle -- The latter is deprived of his power, and dies soon after
as Bishop of La Paz

Chapter VI
Description of the mission territory and towns founded by the Jesuits --
Their endeavours to attract the Indians -- Religious feasts and
processions -- Agricultural and commercial organizations

Chapter VII

Causes of the Jesuits' unpopularity -- Description of the lives and habits
of the priests -- Testimony in favour of the missions -- Their opposition
to slavery -- Their system of administration

Chapter VIII
Don Jose de Antequera -- Appoints himself Governor of Asuncion --
Unsettled state of affairs in the town -- He is commanded to relinquish
his illegal power -- He refuses, and resorts to arms -- After some
success he is defeated and condemned to be executed -- He is shot on
his way to the scaffold -- Renewed hatred against the Jesuits -- Their
labours among the Indians of the Chaco

Chapter IX
The Spanish and Portuguese attempt to force new laws on the Indians --
The Indians revolt against them -- The hopeless struggle goes on for
eight years -- Ruin of the missions

Chapter X
Position of the Jesuits in 1761 -- Decree for their expulsion sent from
Spain -- Bucareli sent to suppress the colleges and drive out the Jesuits
-- They submit without resistance -- After two hundred years they are
expelled from Paraguay -- The country under the new rule -- The
system of government practically unchanged

Chapter XI
Conclusion

A Vanished Arcadia Being Some Account of the Jesuits in Paraguay
1607 to 1767

Chapter I

Early history -- State of the country -- Indian races -- Characteristics of
the different tribes -- Dobrizhoffer's book -- Various expeditions --
Sebastian Cabot -- Don Pedro de Mendoza -- Alvar Nunez -- His
expedition and its results -- Other leaders and preachers -- Founding of
the first mission of the Society of Jesus

With the exception of the French Revolution, perhaps no event caused
so much general controversy at the end of the eighteenth century as the
expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain and Portugal and their colonial
possessions. As no definite charges were ever brought, at least in Spain,
against the members of the Company of Jesus (King Charles III. having
kept the reasons `ocultas y reservadas' and the proofs `privilegiados'),
curiosity is to some extent not satisfied as to the real reason of their
expulsion from the Spanish possessions in America.
It is almost impossible to understand nowadays the feelings which
possessed the average man in regard to the Jesuits from the middle of
the last century till a relatively short time ago. All the really great work
done by the Society of Jesus seemed to have been forgotten, and every
vulgar fable which it was possible to invent to their prejudice found
ready acceptance upon every side. Nothing was too absurd to be
believed. From the calumnies of the Jansenists to the follies of Eugene
Sue the mass of accusation, invective, and innuendo kept on increasing
in intensity. Indiscriminate abuse and unreasoning hatred, mixed with
fear, seem to have possessed all minds. Even Pascal confesses (in a
postscript to the ninth Provincial Letter) that `after having written my
letter I read the works of Fathers Barry and Binet.' If such a man as
Pascal could be so grossly unfair as to write a criticism on works which
he had not read, what can be expected from the non-judicial and
uncritical public which takes all upon trust?
From Japan to the interior of Bolivia there is scarcely a country in
which