56
THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE JESUITS
Argentina. The only means of access through the virgin jungle was on the Paraguay and Parana rivers. The population of that land was made up of nomadic and docile Indians, ready to bow to anyone's domination as long as they were supplied with enough food and a little tobacco. The Jesuits could not find better conditions to establish, away from the corruption of whites and half-castes, the perfect type of colony, a city of God according to their heart's desire. At the start of the 17th century, Paraguay was made into a Province by the general of the Order who had been given all powers by the Court of Spain, and the "Jesuit State" developed and flourished. These good savages were duly catechised and trained to live a sedentary life under a discipline as gentle as it was strong: "as an iron hand in a velvet glove". These patriarchal societies deliberately ignored liberties of any kind. "All that a Christian possesses, and uses, the hut in which he lives, the fields he cultivates, the livestock which provide his food and clothes, thie arms he carries, the tools he works with, even the only table knife given to every young couple when they set up home, is "Tupambac" God's property From the same conception, the "Christian" cannot dispose of his time and person freely. The suckling child is under his mother's protection. As soon as he can walk, he is in the Fathers' or their agents' power... When the child grows up, it learns, if it is a girl, to spin and weave, and if it is a boy, to read and write, but only in guarani; for Spanish is severely prohibited so as to prevent all trading with the corrupted Creoles... As soon as a girl is fourteen and a boy sixteen years of age, they are married, as the Fathers are anxious not to see them fall into some carnal sin... None of them can become priest monk, and even less Jesuit... They have practically no liberty left. But they are obviously very happy, materially speaking... In the morning, after mass, each gang of workers go to the fields one after another, singing and preceded by some holy image; in the evening, they come back to the village in the same manner, to hear the catechism or recite the rosary. The Fathers have also thought out some honest entertainments and recreations for the "christians" ... "The Jesuits watch over them like fathers; and, like fathers also, they punish the smallest mistakes... The whip, fasting, prison, pillory on the public square, public penance in the church, these are the chastisements they use... So, the "red" children of Paraguay know no other authority than that of the good Fathers. They do not even vaguely suspect that the king of Spain is their sovereign".(8) Is this not a picture somewhat caricatured the perfect picture of the ideal theocratic society? But let us consider how it affected the intellectual and moral (8) and (9) H. Boehmer, op.cit., pp. 197 ss.