The Spanish Government, alarmed at the failure of the first campaign, had sent out some reinforcements under Don Pedro Zeballos, who, on arriving at Buenos Ayres, proceeded at once to the missions, accompanied by Valdelirios. Zeballos was requested by the Superior of the Jesuits to institute a judicial inquiry into the accusation against himself and his brethren. The result of this inquiry was to dispel all charges against these Fathers, which for the rest were utterly improbable. The Jesuits of Paraguay were, like those of other provinces, supplied and recruited from Europe. It is not credible that their general should have encouraged or connived at a scheme on the part of a portion of his subordinates, the success of which would have separated them from his control; nor is it any more likely that they should have engaged in such an undertaking without his sanction.
1757.
Four years had now elapsed since Valdelirios had come upon his mission, but its business was yet far from having been brought to a conclusion; and so many difficulties had attended every stage of its progress that there was now no great disposition shown on either side to obviate minor obstructions. The presence of Gomes Freyre was required in Brazil; and thus the commission separated without having effected anything but a very large outlay of money and an immense amount of misery to the Guaranís, which race had been settled for one hundred and twenty-four years in the “Reductions.”
1761.
Events in Europe produced yet further delays in the settlement of this question, so important to the portion of South America which was concerned in its solution. By the death of the Spanish King and Queen, the friendly feeling which had united the two courts of Spain and Portugal was at an end, and it was succeeded by one of mistrust. Both courts, however, and both Governments, were heartily weary of the question of demarcation; and, in order to put an end to it, at any rate for the meantime, they agreed to annul the Treaty of Limits—the treaties which had been superseded by it again coming into force. The Portuguese were, on the whole, satisfied with this result, because they believed that Colonia, which they now retained, was of greater importance to them than the proposed increase of territory in the interior. The Spaniards were likewise pleased, because they imagined that their neighbours had stolen a march upon them in the Treaty of Limits, through the influence of their Portuguese Queen.
The actual result of the inglorious and wasteful war of the Seven Reductions was that the Jesuits, who had been falsely accused of fomenting the resistance of the Guaranís, had now imposed upon them the task of collecting the scattered remnants of that people, and of encouraging them to repair their ruined towns and recultivate their devastated country.
CHAPTER XV.
BRAZIL; EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS FROM PORTUGAL AND BRAZIL.
1759-1767.
The reign of Jesuitism in Europe was drawing towards its close. For two hundred years the Society had exercised unbounded influence over kings and courts. Its machinery for governing was so perfect, and its system was so subtle that it began to appear to statesmen that unless this ambitious order were speedily and effectually opposed, it must soon dominate Christendom. The alternative to its suppression was that European civilization must be assimilated to that which the Jesuits had introduced in China and in Paraguay. The doctrines of Ignatius Loyola admitted of nothing short of an absolute obedience of Papal authority. Kings were afraid to act without the approbation of an Order whose system of espionage was so complete as even to baffle all secret confidential intercourse between sovereigns and statesmen.
No one Catholic monarch felt himself strong enough single-handed to throw off the humiliating yoke; and, on the other hand, a combination of powers, with this object in view, was rendered doubly difficult by the fact that whatever instructions should be issued and whatever negotiations should take place, were sure to be known to the ubiquitous Order, so soon as issued or held. But the yoke was so galling that a remedy was sure to be found; and at length a man arose whose qualities fitted him for the occasion. This was Senhor Carvalho, afterwards the Marquis of Pombal, destined to hold the place in history as the most prominent statesman of his time. Pombal had represented his country in London and at Vienna, two diplomatic centres where he could not but become acquainted with the spirit then prevailing in Europe in respect to the all-powerful Order. He had altogether resided ten years in England in a diplomatic capacity.
The object of Pombal’s worthy ambition was to restore his country to the former state of plenty and prosperity from which it had fallen. With this view the statesman sought to combat ignorance, superstition, and intolerance, whose main support was the clergy. He had, therefore, to count upon clerical opposition to his measures. But he took action with a full view of this fact, and availed himself of the situation of his opponents. There still existed the old jealousy between the regulars and the seculars; but on one point, if on no other, all Orders but one were agreed. That one point was envy and hatred of the Jesuits. In this feeling they had a powerful ally in Pombal. Should he succeed in crushing that one Order, he need not fear any other obstacle in the way of the realization of his views.