The haphazard general management is well illustrated by the only brilliant achievement of the war—the Anson circumnavigation. Anson, with six ships manned by Chelsea pensioners and raw recruits, was ordered to the Pacific, and set sail on September 18, 1740. Although his little squadron dwindled to three, he rounded the Horn, and subsequently burnt Paita in Peru, and played havoc with Spanish commerce. He crossed the Pacific, captured a great treasure-ship, and returned by the Cape of Good Hope to England, which he reached June 15, 1744. He brought home treasure amounting to £500,000, and this was paraded through the streets of London in thirty-two wagons.
It would be difficult to say when the War of Jenkins's Ear ended, or what were its results. Carlyle[33] says: "What became subsequently of the Spanish War, we in vain inquire of History-Books. The War did not die for many years to come, but neither did it publicly live; it disappears at this point: a River Niger, seen once flowing broad enough, but issuing—Does it issue nowhere, then? Where does it issue?... Forgotten by official people; left to the dumb English Nation." Doubtless it was not forgotten by the people; they soon showed once more their eagerness to break down the monopoly, and this curious war is noteworthy both as striking the real keynote of a long series of vast struggles, and also as showing the great vis inertiæ of Spain. Southey[34] remarks that the history of the War of Jenkins's Ear proves the strength of Spain in South America, and points out that an event in the war contributed indirectly to the prosperity of the River Plate settlement. When it was known that Anson was fitting out his celebrated squadron, the Spanish Government for its part also despatched six ships and three thousand five hundred men to protect the settlement. They delayed a long time there and, it is said, eventually not more than one hundred of the crews returned home, the greater part remaining to settle in the country.
Not less important than these hostilities against English and Portuguese (who from their near neighbourhood were almost equally dangerous in the contraband trade) was the loss to South America of that body which had been the conscience of Spanish America, which had protected the Indians, instructed the ignorant, and turned the wilderness into fertile fields. For a long time the civil power in Roman Catholic countries had been jealous of the influence wielded by the Jesuits. As their object was to suppress everything opposed to the Roman Catholic system as they understood it, so every element that felt itself menaced naturally rose in self-defence, and the Jesuits found themselves friendless in Europe. Their downfall was principally due to the able and astute Pombal, the Prime Minister of Portugal, who considered that his country was depressed by a too powerful hierarchy, and his machinations were greatly assisted by circumstances in the River Plate settlements.
Colonia had long been a trouble to the Spaniards, diminishing their trade and insulting them by its propinquity, and in 1750 they made overtures for an exchange. The offending port was to be surrendered and the Portuguese were to receive in exchange a large portion of the Jesuit Missions, i.e., the territory called La Guayra and about 20,000 square miles to the east of the Uruguay River. This included seven Jesuit Reductions, and the Society and the Indians strenuously resisted the transference. Although the story of the Jesuits belongs rather to Paraguay than Argentina, it is for many reasons necessary to refer to that wonderful and benevolent despotism which they exercised in the Parana settlements, and also to relate the circumstances of their expulsion from South America—a matter of great importance to all the colonies.
The Jesuits did not commence effective work in Paraguay earlier than the beginning of the seventeenth century. In the days of the conquest attempts had been made by them to convert the natives and to further general missionary work, but the circumstances had not been favourable. It was in 1610 that two members of the Order, Cataldino and Mazeta, founded the settlement of Loreto on the Upper Parana. An unfriendly critic[35] remarks: "They began by gathering together about one hundred and fifty wandering families, whom they persuaded to settle, and they united them into a little township. This was the slight foundation upon which they have built a superstructure which has amazed the world, and added so much power at the same time, that it has brought so much envy and jealousy upon their society. For when they had made this beginning, they laboured with such indefatigable pains, and with such masterly policy that, by degrees, they mollified the minds of the most savage nations,[36] fixed the most rambling, and subdued the most averse to government. They prevailed upon thousands of various dispersed tribes of people to embrace their religion, and to submit to their government; and when they had submitted, the Jesuits left nothing undone that could conduce to their remaining in this subjection, or that could tend to increase their number to the degree requisite for a well-ordered and potent society, and their labours were attended with amazing success."
The Jesuit establishments are one of the many meritorious acts of Saavedra who, seeing with concern the depression of the Indians and recognising their value to the Spanish Crown, appealed to the King, whereupon Phillip III., in 1609, issued royal letters patent to the Order of Jesuits for the conversion of the Indians. It is true that the Jesuits drew considerable wealth from their obedient subjects. They exported hides in large quantities and had a monopoly of the production of maté. Their method of government also would have been unsuitable to a race of harder fibre,[37] for they jealously excluded their Reductions from the external world, allowing no European to enter, and the Indians were kept constantly at work at the agricultural pursuits which the Jesuits themselves had greatly improved. But in those days it was rare indeed for any settlers to pay any regard to the welfare of the uncivilised races whom they encountered, and it must be remembered that the Jesuits were practically the only Christian missionaries in the period between the Reformation and the middle of the eighteenth century. All honour, then, is due to them for their devotion and philanthropy.
When the peaceful Indians heard of the great disaster that had overtaken them in their abandonment to their old enemies the Portuguese, there was consternation, but they were remorselessly driven from their homes. However, the Jesuits protested strongly, and in the end the Spanish Government was induced to annul the treaty. Nevertheless, the Indians never recovered their losses and the West of Rio Grande became permanently Portuguese, in spite of the abrogation of the treaty. The result would, no doubt, have been different had their powerful protectors remained in the country.
The officials at Buenos Aires cared much about Colonia and little for the Reductions or the fate of the Indians, and the Jesuits were accused of having brought about the recision of the treaty. Any pretext was now welcome, for their destruction was contemplated. As we have seen, the able Pombal had resolved to expel them from Portugal, and in 1759 he trumped up against them a charge of attempting to assassinate the King, and issued a decree for their deportation from Portugal. France eventually followed this example, and in 1767 even the Spanish King was induced to do the same, while in 1773 Pope Clement XIV. decreed the entire suppression of the Order.
In Argentina the Jesuits were seized and deported. It was expected that the Indians, who were armed, would make a serious resistance, but they were as sheep having no shepherd, and rather than remain in their old abodes to be harried by new masters they migrated to Entre Rios and Uruguay. But the work of the Jesuits has not perished, for they and the conventual orders were the first to give an example of humanity in the treatment of inferior races.
This great change was quickly followed by another. In 1776 the Vice-royalty of Buenos Aires was created, that is, the four countries now known as Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, were detached from the Vice-royalty of Peru, under Don Pedro Cevallos, sometime Governor of Buenos Aires. This step was a recognition of the importance of Buenos Aires, to which all observers testify. All the efforts of the Spaniards to force the trade of Europe over the Isthmus of Panama and the Andes had failed, and Buenos Aires was now to fulfil its destiny as the metropolis of Spanish America. The new Governor brought a large force, for there had been serious trouble with Portugal. As the latter was too weak to resist, and as the news of peace between the two countries followed almost immediately, there was no difficulty in coming to terms, and Colonia was finally made over to Spain. The result of this important treaty was that Spain was left in undisputed possession of Uruguay and Portugal of Brazil in its present form, for she recovered Rio Grande and Santa Catharina. Free trade was established between Buenos Aires and Spain, and Argentina made wonderful industrial advances. The rest of the century was uneventfully prosperous, but great events were in the wind, and they were destined to have a powerful influence on Spanish America. The easygoing paternal rule was to come to an end, and a long period of bloodshed and turbulence was to succeed. As was the case in every other part of the world, the motive power was supplied by the French Revolution.