The Vincentistas would not consent to any Spanish establishment on the northern margin of this river, from Cape St. Mary to the embouchure of the river Paraguay, and from whence they were repulsed every time they attempted to gain a footing. The settlers from St. Paulo, in the years 1536, 1538, and 1540, expelled some priests of the orders of St. Cosme, St. Damiao, St. Anna, &c. who had settled in the land of St. Gabriel, from the upper to the eastern part of the river, and effectually drove them into the province of Paraguay.
In the sixty years that Portugal was subject to the court of Castile, various Spanish colonies established themselves in the vicinity of the river Uruguay; and, in order to prevent a continuation of these establishments towards the east, D. Manuel Lobo, governor of Rio de Janeiro, founded Colonia do Sacramento, at the request of the infant Don Pedro, in 1680.
Scarcely had seven months elapsed, when it was surprised and taken, by Don Joze Garro, governor of Buenos Ayres, accompanied with circumstances of much barbarity. It was restored at the end of three years, and placed in its former state, by Duarthe Teixeira Chaves. It however returned under the dominion of Buenos Ayres, being abandoned by the governor, Sebastian da Veiga, in 1703, who, after a long and valorous resistance, retired with all his people and property, in ships, to Rio de Janeiro, not having sufficient forces any longer to resist the power of Don Alonso Valdez. By the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, it was restored to the crown of Portugal, but was attacked afresh in 1735, by Don Miguel de Salcedo, governor of Buenos Ayres, and defended by Antonio Pedro, with much courage, till he could receive aid, during which period, his brave garrison were reduced to the necessity of eating dogs, cats, and rats. On the arrival of the expected succour, Salcedo raised the siege, an auxiliary force of some thousand Tappes, brought by the Jesuit, Thomas Berley, availing him nothing. In 1750, when Don Joseph ascended the throne, the two courts agreed to a treaty of limits between their respective possessions, the one giving up Colonia, and the other the seven missions to the east of the Uruguay. The line of division commenced at the mouth of the little river nearest the hill of Castilhos Grandes, and continued along the highest range of land, in which the various rivers originate that run into the lakes Mirim and Patos, to the source of the river Ibicuí, and along its channel to its entrance into the Uruguay; by the latter, upwards to the mouth of the Piquiri, which joins it by the right bank, above the great fall, and by that river to its origin; from thence, by the top of the nearest mountains, to the source of the first river met with that runs into the river Iguacu, proceeding downwards by the latter, to its entrance into the Parana, and continued thence to the mouth of the Gatimim, and by that river upwards to its origin; from which point, to the source of the nearest river that runs into the Paraguay: from this confluence, continuing upwards by the last great river to the mouth of the Jauru, and from thence by a line to the left bank of the Guapore; and by it downwards, to a latitude at an equal distance between its confluence with the Mamore and the entrance of the Madeira into the Maranham; and from that latitude, by a line from east to west, as far as the Hyabary, the bed of which river to complete the line as far as the Maranham. The commissioners sent by the two courts, in 1752, to arrange this demarcation, having arrived at the source of the Rio Negro, were obliged to return, from the opposition of the Indians of the missions, they being advised secretly by the Jesuits not to consent to the proposed exchange. On learning which, the two Sovereigns determined to compel the Indians to obedience by force of arms. For this purpose, Gomez Freyre d’Andrade, governor of Rio de Janeiro, marched with more than one thousand troops; and the governor of Buenos Ayres with double the number. When the combined armies were marching through the territories lying between the source of the Caziquey, and the Vaccahy-guaçu, they were met by more than twelve thousand Tappes, determined to frustrate their project. On the 10th of February, 1756, a battle took place, in which the Indians were routed with the loss of fifteen hundred, leaving on the field some pieces of artillery, and a great number of other arms, the major part retiring to the missions, where shortly after the conquerors arrived. The Indians were immediately reduced to subjection; and, according to the treaty, they passed over to the other side of the Paraguay. Gomez Freyre d’Andrade took possession of the country, but, before delivering up Colonia, received advices that his presence was indispensable at Rio, for which place he immediately set out. The army remained some months behind, seizing the produce of the labour of the Indians, and at length retired, many returning to their homes. Bougainville, (say the Portuguese,) out of revenge for not having been treated at Rio de Janeiro, by C. da Cunha, as he wished, gives a different account of this expedition.
The commissioners, in 1759, while completing this demarcation, found in the field of battle, in latitude 30° south, a wooden cross set upright, with the following inscription, in the Guarani language.
Anuo de 1756
Omnium Sto rum A 7 O chto Jesustuo Pae tie cre
de Febrero pipe
omanò Cr J. b.
Tiarayu Guarani
pipe Sabado ramo
A 10
de Febrero pe oico
Guarini guaçú Martes pe
9 Taba Uruguay rebe
gua 1500 Soldados rebe
hae beiaere Mburubichare
ta omanô onga ape.
A 4 de
Marzo pe oya pou ca
Angaco Cruz mtu Dn
Miguel Moyri solde
repa upe
A little to the southward, in the plains of the Yapóguaçú, the commissioners met with a field or space enclosed with wood capable of containing forty thousand oxen.
The certainty of war breaking out in 1762, having been received at Buenos Ayres, the governor, Don Pedro Cevalhos, unexpectedly ordered a furious attack upon Colonia. Vincente da Fonseca, its governor, after a vigorous resistance of twenty-five days, seeing the horrible devastation which a prodigious discharge of artillery had caused, capitulated, and marched out with his garrison on the 29th October. Two ships of war, with other smaller vessels were sent from Rio de Janeiro, to reinforce the place; and, on finding that it had surrendered, they unavailingly endeavoured to regain it; and, in the ardour of battle, one of their ships of war was burned. Cevalhos now proceeded against the forts of St. Miguel, St. Theresa, and Rio Grande de St. Pedro, which surrendered in consequence of not having adequate force for their protection. Little care had been taken for the security of this fine country by the inhabitants. After reducing also a fortification on the southern part of the peninsula, the Spaniards marched sixteen hundred men to the west of the lake of Patos, against the fort of Rio Pardo. This corps fortified itself with seven pieces of artillery by the side of a wood, in the vicinity of the pass of Jacuhy, and waited for reinforcements. Intelligence being received of this circumstance at the fort of Rio Pardo, a company of dragoons, with all the Paulistas that could be assembled, making in all twelve hundred and thirty men, left the fort with a view of cutting off the march of the Spaniards. Finding, however, that their only mode of attack was from that side of the wood which did not afford any transit for cavalry, they spent several days in opening a narrow pathway through it. A passage being opened, and favoured by the light of the moon, they fell unexpectedly upon the encampment, and threw it into disorder. The Spaniards retired precipitately, with much loss in ammunition, killed, and prisoners.
The peace of 1763 put an end to the campaign. Cevalhos, in pursuance of orders he received, was to deliver Colonia to Pedro de Sarmento, now appointed its governor. Rio Grande and other garrisons (unjustly, say the Portuguese) remained under the dominion of the crown of Spain until the year 1776, when they were restored by General Bohemi. In this interval, the Spaniards extended their possessions into the interior, and constructed the fort of St. Tecla, which was demolished at the restoration of Rio Grande.
In 1774, Don John Joze Vertis, having with sinister views taken his station with eight hundred troops, on a plain near the pass of Taquatinguay, was attacked and destroyed by two companies of Paulistas, commanded by captains Bandeiro and Carneiro. During the tranquillity of peace, an armament, commanded by Cevalhos, for the purpose of seizing the island of St. Catharina, anchored in front of the colony, who were unprovided with sufficient provisions, the people having been sustained by the stores of the royal magazines, which it was alleged would only last five days. Assigning as a reason the impossibility of receiving succours, the governor, with a probable want of courage, offered to capitulate, which offer being rejected, he surrendered at discretion, with the exception of some officers, their families, and a few inhabitants, who, by paying a sum of money, obtained permission to go to Rio de Janeiro. The greater part of the colony were conducted at their own expense to Mendonça and Cordova, in order to augment the population and agriculture of those districts. Cevalhos was cruel enough not to exempt the women from this march, some of whose husbands were sent dangerously ill to the hospital of Buenos Ayres; others were seen carrying in their arms their infants dying with the small pox.
The loss of the island of St. Catharina, then more considerable for its ultimate advantages, than for its present value, produced a treaty of peace between the two nations, in the same year, 1777, with an article to establish a new line of division in the southern part only, one surrendering the aforesaid island, the other Colonia; and in the province of Uruguay, a greater portion of neutral territory to remain between the small rivers Chuy, the ancient limit, and Thahim. The demarcation was to proceed in a direct line by the source of the river Arica, northward to the mouth of the Peperi-guaçu; and passing the Setequeades (Seven Falls) to continue up the Igurey to the Paraguay.