70 



BUENOS AY RES. 



Burnos 

 Ay res. 



Antequera 

 flies from 

 Assump- 

 tion, but is 

 taken and 

 thrown in- 

 to prison 

 at Lima. 



A popular 

 faction re- 

 fuse to ad. 

 mit the 

 new go- 

 vernor. 



Proceed- 

 ings of the 

 commune. 



dragged the royal standards taken in battle before 

 him on the ground, and displayed his own in the ca- 

 thedral of Assumption. But more timid and tem- 

 porizing than became his situation, or was consistent 

 with his past conduct, he, instead of throwing off all 

 subjection to the Spanish government, and assuming 

 at oriee the sovereign power, still nominally owned 

 the sove-eiguty of the king of Spain, at the same time 

 that he disobeyed his mandates, and resisted his au- 

 thority. His usurpation, however, was but of short 

 duration, though his fall was more owing to the de- 

 fection of his friends, than to the power of his ene- 

 mies. The Bishop of Paraguay had set himself se- 

 cretly to counteract the influence which Antequera 

 had acquired over the minds of the inhabitants ; and 

 by his conciliating manners and intriguing address, 

 in a short time greatly diminished the number of his 

 adherents. So effectual were his exertions, that 

 when Zabala, the governor of Buenos Ayres, was ad- 

 vancing against Assumption with a powerful army, 

 he even ventured to publish a mandate, excommuni- 

 cating all those who should oppose his reception into 

 the city. Antequera was so confounded by this pro- 

 ceeding, and still more discouraged by the lukewarm- 

 ness of many of his friends, that he immediately fled 

 with a few of his adherents, and took refuge in a 

 convent at Cordova ; but, being afterwards seized at 

 La Plata, the capital of Los Charcas, he and Juan 

 de Mena were thrown into prison at Lima. Zabala 

 entered the city on the 24th of April 1725, and, ha- 

 ving quickly re-established tranquillity, left Don 

 Martin de Borua in quiet possession of the govern- 

 ment. Borua, however, had scarcely commenced his 

 administration, when he was suspected of favouring 

 the views of Antequera, who, even in prison, looked 

 forward to his re-establishment in Paraguay. The 

 viceroy consequently determined upon his removal, 

 and nominated Don Ignatius Soroeta to succeed him. 

 But a popular faction, under the name of the Com- 

 mune, refused to admit the new governor into the 

 city. At the head of this faction was one Mompo, 

 a partizan of Antequera, and who had escaped out 

 of prison at Lima, and had obtained a municipal si- 

 tuation at Assumption. Eloquent and enterprizing, 

 he endeavoured, by every mean, to detach the hearts 

 of the inhabitants from the parent state. He open- 

 ly promulgated the most democratic doctrines, and 

 asserted, that the authority of the people was pa- 

 ramount to that of the king. " Let us oppose," 

 said he, " the reception of Soroeta in the name 

 of the commune, and then no one in particular 

 can be called to account for it." But the abdica- 

 tion of Borua leaving the government without a head, 

 the commune found it necessary to elect a junto, in 

 whom the sole authority of the province should be 

 immediately vested. Of this council Barreyro, the 

 first alcalde of the city, was appointed president. He 

 had hitherto appeared to favour the views of the 

 commune, but it would seem, from his subsequent 

 eonduct, that it was with a design of counteracting 

 rather than of aiding their plans ; for he began his 

 administration by attempting to restore order and 

 subordination to the province, and, seizing Mompo, 

 sent him a prisoner to Buenos Ayres. The other 

 members of the junto immediately took the alarm, 



and opposed the measures of Barreyro so effectually, 

 that he was compelled to fly fr ;m thp city, when 

 Michael de Garai was appointed in his stead. 



During these proceedings, Antequera and Juan de 

 Mena, after five years confinement, had been tried at 

 Lima, and found guilty of high treason. They were 

 condemned to be beheaded ; but such was the gene- 

 ral interest excited in favour of Antequera, that the 

 viceroy, in order to prevent his rescue by the popu- 

 lace, ordered him to be shot on his way to the scaf- 

 fold, on the 5th of July 1731. The news of his 

 death produced a most violent sensation at Assump- 

 tion. The city was filled with uproar and confusion. 

 He was canonized as a martyr of liberty, and a vic- 

 tim of oppression ; and nothing was heard but enco- 

 miums upon his conduct, and lamentations for his 

 fate. For four years the commune continued their 

 dissensions, and resisted the Spanish authority : and 

 it was not until the beginning of the year 1735, that 

 order and tranquillity was restored to the distracted 

 inhabitants of Assumption, by the wisdom and ac- 

 tive exertions of Zabala, the governor of Buenos 

 Ayres, who is said to have corrected the abuses, and 

 restrained the enormities which had crept into ex- 

 istence since the first revolt of Antequera, with a se- 

 dateness and dispatch which caused general astonish- 

 ment. 



The increasing prosperity of the Jesuits now be- 

 gan to attract the attention of the Spanish govern- 

 ment. Besides their settlements upon the Parana 

 and the Uraguay, they had established reductions a- 

 mong the Chiquitos and the Moxos ; and also seve- 

 ral of the Pampas Indians had been united in a re- 

 duction called Conception, a little south-east of Bue- 

 nos Ayres. The number and strength of these esta- 

 blishments rendered them objects of considerable ap- 

 prehension to the Spanish colonists, who, imagining 

 that they beheld them advancing with a decided step 

 to independent empire, were alarmed at the stability 

 and importance which they had acquired. They 

 were also exasperated at the subduction of so many 

 tribes of Indians, who, they asserted, belonged to 

 them by right of conquest, and ought to have been 

 divided in encomiendas. Repeated attempts were 

 consequently made to ruin the Jesuits at the court of 

 Madrid. They were loaded with accusations and 

 aspersions, and were solemnly charged with aliena- 

 ting the Indians from the crown of Spain. But ma- 

 ny of these imputations having been found to be ei- 

 ther groundless or exaggerated, they were confirmed 

 by a royal decree, in 1745, in all their rights and im- 

 munities. The revolt of the Guarinis, however, 

 which soon followed, greatly diminished the power 

 of the Jesuits. By a treaty, entered inte at Madrid 

 in 1750, seven of the Guarinis Reductions, situated 

 on the eastern side of the Uraguay, were ceded to 

 Portugal in exchange for the colony of San Sacra- 

 mento, and a right to the whole of the northern shore 

 of the Rio de la Plata. The Guarinis, who had al- 

 ways borne an invincible hatred to their Brazilian 

 neighbours, were exasperated at this proceeding. 

 They maintained, -that, as their submission to Spain 

 was merely voluntary, they could not be disposed of 

 to any other power without their own consent, and 

 immediately flew to arms in defence of their rights. 



Bneno* 

 Ayres. 



Antequera 

 condemned 

 of high 

 trca.-^on, 

 and execu- 

 ted in ITS 1, 



Prosperity 

 of the re- 

 ductions. 



Revolt of 

 the Guari- 

 nis. 



