Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/65

 Charles III. "estranged them from all his dominions." The peculiar secresy, the sealed orders,, and the other precautions with which they were deported show what Iberia believed to be their power of resistance.

The era of progress seemed to have dawned, but it was fraught with misery to the Misiones. Deprived of their Jesuits, a few lingered on to the present century, and now they are virtually extinct. About 1817, General Artigas raised the "Indians" against the Portuguese, who punished them by destroying their settlements, whilst their "Protector" finished wasting all those between the Rivers Parana and Uruguay. In 1838 the cattle, which nearly two centuries before had numbered upwards of 700,000, were reduced to 8000; and in 1848 the 6000 souls of the eleven Paraguayan Missions were dispersed by the first President Lopez.

Whilst ecclesiastical Paraguay was thus rising to decline and to fall, laical Paraguay, subject as has been said to the Viceroy of Peru, was slowly advancing in the colonial scale. Her port, Buenos Aires, advantageously situated for the carrying trade between Europe and the Andine Regions, became the nucleus of important commerce, and demanded defence against the Portuguese. By royal rescript of August 8, 1776, the King of Spain created the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata, independent of Peru, and it presently embraced the Intendencies or Provinces of La Plata, Paraguay, Tucuman, Potosi, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, High Peru now Bolivia, and Cuyo alias Chile East of the Andes, now Mendoza, and S. Juan. These Intendencies all preserved certain privileges which gave them a manner of autonomy. The new division, with Buenos Aires as a capital, contained about 3,000,000 souls, and could expend upon government $3,000,000, remitting the while $1,000,000 per annum to the king. It was separated into two Presidencies—Paraguay and Buenos Aires, whose Royal 3—2