578 



a memoir addressed to the Spanish ministry 

 during the reign of Charles the Fourth. 



If in the great and useful establishment of the 

 American missions those improvements were 

 gradually made, which have been demanded by 

 several bishops ; if, instead of recruiting mis- 

 sionaries at hazard in the Spanish convents, 

 young ecclesiastics were prepared for these func- 

 tions in seminaries or colleges of missions found- 

 ed in America ; the military expeditions, which I 

 propose, would become useless. The habit of 

 Saint Francis, whether brown, like that of the 

 Capuchins of Carony, or blue, like the habit of 

 the Observatins of the Oroonoko, has still a 

 certain charm for the Indians of those countries. 

 They annex to this habit I know not what ideas 

 of prosperity and comfort, the hope of acquiring 

 hatchets, knives, and implements for fishing. 

 Even those, who, proud of their independance 

 and their separate state, refuse to suffer them- 

 selves to be 16 governed by the sound of the bell," 

 receive with pleasure the visit of a neighbouring 

 missionary. What has driven the natives from 

 the banks of the river was the exactions of the 

 soldiers, and the hostile incursions of the monks; 

 the entradas and conquistas apostolicas. By 

 renouncing the unreasonable system of introduc- 

 ing the customs of convents into the forests and 

 savannahs of America, by leaving the Indians to 

 enjoy the fruits of their labours, and by govern- 



