The suffering in the “Reductions” did not fall alone or chiefly on the Jesuits. Their system of government had been so absolute, and their disciples had been reduced to such a condition of being merely thoughtless animals or machines, that, when the guidance of the Fathers was withdrawn, the whole system established by them suddenly and absolutely collapsed. No plan of government suitable to the altered condition of affairs was devised by the Spanish authorities. Priests of the mendicant orders replaced the missionaries, but without their temporal authority. The missions were formed provisionally into two governments, and an administrator was appointed to superintend each “Reduction,” with which last measure the prosperity of these communities ceased. The administrators, ignorant of the _Guaraní_ tongue, made their commands obeyed by the lash; and before a year had elapsed the Viceroy had the mortification to learn that the _Guaranís_, in order to escape from the intolerable oppression of their new masters, were making their escape in numbers to seek the protection of their old enemies, the Portuguese. On learning this unexpected occurrence, Bucareli displaced the administrators and appointed others in their stead, but with no better result as regarded the _Guaranís_. As the governor and the priests disputed regarding their respective powers, the Viceroy decreed that the former was to reside at _Candelaria_, where he was to be assisted by a staff of administrators, under whom the _Guaranís_ were to labour as of old for the benefit of the community. The end was that cruel and compulsory work made the Indians miserable or drove them into the woods. The arts introduced by the Jesuits were neglected; their gardens and fields lay uncultivated, and their once flourishing villages, which had contained the evidences of a civilization of a century and a half, were almost deserted. [Sidenote: 1803.] From the date of the rebellion of the _Comuneros_ in 1735 until the close of last century, _Paraguay_ enjoyed uninterrupted peace and quiet. In the year 1796, Ribera Espinosa was appointed governor, who, by the aid of his agents, constituted himself a general exporter, monopolizing the whole trade of the country; so that the producers realized for their goods about a tenth of what these were worth in the markets of _Buenos Ayres_. This state of things naturally produced such grave complaints against Ribera’s government as to provoke the intervention of the Crown. He was recalled, and was replaced by a man of a very different character, _Don_ Bernardo Velasco, who was destined to be the last Spanish governor of _Paraguay_.