The New Conspiracy Against the Jesuits Detected and Briefly Exposed: with a short account of their institute; and observations on the danger of systems of education independent of religionDallas, Robert Charles
History
The New Conspiracy Against the Jesuits Detected and Briefly Exposed: with a short account of their institute; and observations on the danger of systems of education independent of religion
Dallas, Robert Charles
Jesuits -- Controversial Literature; Jesuits -- History
[1] See Substance of a Speech of Sir John Coxe Hippisley, Bart. published
by Murray, 1815.
[2] Robertson's Charles V, vol. iii, p. 225.--To supply the malicious
omission of the pamphlet writer, I will here insert the historian's report
of the Jesuits in South America. "But it is in the new world that the
Jesuits have exhibited the most wonderful display of their abilities, and
have contributed most effectually to the benefit of the human species. The
conquerors of that unfortunate quarter of the globe had nothing in view but
to plunder, to enslave, and to exterminate its inhabitants. The Jesuits
alone have made humanity the object of their settling there. About the
beginning of the last century they obtained admission into the fertile
province of Paraguay, which stretches across the southern continent of
America, from the bottom of the mountains of Potosi to the confines of the
Spanish and Portuguese settlements on the banks of the river de la Plata.
They found the inhabitants in a state little different from that which
takes place among men when they first begin to unite together: strangers to
the arts; subsisting precariously by hunting or fishing; and hardly
acquainted with the first principles of subordination and government. The
Jesuits set themselves to instruct and to civilize these savages. They
taught them to cultivate the ground, to rear tame animals, and to build
houses. They brought them to live together in villages. They trained them
to arts and manufactures. They made them taste the sweets of society, and
accustomed them to the blessings of security and order. These people became
the subjects of their benefactors, who have governed them with a tender
attention, resembling that with which a father directs his children.
Respected and beloved almost to adoration, a few Jesuits presided over some
hundred thousand Indians. They maintained a perfect equality among all the
members of the community. Each of them was obliged to labour, not for
himself alone, but for the public. The produce of their fields, together
with the fruits of their industry of every species, were deposited in
common store houses, from which each individual received every thing
necessary for the supply of his wants. By this institution, almost all the
passions, which disturb the peace of society, and render the members of it
unhappy, were extinguished. A few magistrates, chosen by the Indians
themselves, watched over the public tranquillity, and secured obedience to
the laws. The sanguinary punishments, frequent under other governments,
were unknown: an admonition from a Jesuit; a slight mark of infamy; or, on
some singular occasion, a few lashes with a whip, were sufficient to
maintain good order among these innocent and happy people."--Charles V, p.
219.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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