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A Vanished Arcadia: Being Some Account of the Jesuits in Paraguay, 1607 to 1767
Author of Mogreb-El-Acksa.
- GenresHistory
188 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1901
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45 people want to read
About the author
R.B. Cunninghame Graham
130 books5 followersRobert Bontine Cunninghame Graham was a Scottish journalist, politician and adventurer who rode with the gauchos on cattle ranches in Argentina before serving as a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP). He was the first-ever socialist member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; was a founder, and the first president, of the Scottish Labour Party; a founder of the National Party of Scotland in 1928; and the first president of the Scottish National Party in 1934.
His books and articles spanned history, biography, poetry, essays, politics, travel and seventeen collections of short stories or literary sketches. He also assisted Joseph Conrad with research for Nostromo.
There is a seat dedicated to Cunninghame Graham in the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh with the inscription: "R B 'Don Roberto' Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore and Ardoch, 1852–1936, A great storyteller".
His books and articles spanned history, biography, poetry, essays, politics, travel and seventeen collections of short stories or literary sketches. He also assisted Joseph Conrad with research for Nostromo.
There is a seat dedicated to Cunninghame Graham in the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh with the inscription: "R B 'Don Roberto' Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore and Ardoch, 1852–1936, A great storyteller".
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 9, 2011
With all that is happening to the book publishing industry, this is an interesting time. It used to be difficult to find such public domain works as R. B. Cunninghame Graham's A Vanished Arcadia: Being Some Account of the Jesuits in Paraguay, 1607 to 1767. Graham cut quite a swath through his time, being the founder of the Scottish Socialist Party, a picturesque Member of Parliament dressed in gaucho garb, and the inspiration for some of George Bernard Shaw's characters and for Joseph Conrad's Nostromo.
Always the incorrigible idealist, Graham was drawn to the history of the Jesuit missions in Paraguay -- a period that even the anti-clerical Voltaire described as one of the golden ages of mankind. Protecting their Guarani Indian charges from slave raids from both the Spanish and the Portuguese, the missionaries built up a civilization isolated from the rest of the world and protected it fairly successfully for a century and a half. As Graham tells it:
You may recall a film made in the 1980s called The Mission, directed by Roland Joffe and starring Robert de Niro and Jeremy Irons. The script was loosely based on Graham's book and, although it took liberties with the story, was basically sympathetic to the author's feeling for the Jesuits and their Indian charges.
As you navigate the brave new world of closing bookstores, give some thought to the older historians, whose works are now more available (and inexpensive) than ever. I am thinking of writers such as Edward Gibbon (History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire), Francis Parkman (France and England in North America), Marion Motley (The Rise of the Dutch Republic), William H. Prescott (The Conquest of Mexico and The Conquest of Peru), and many more besides. R. B. Cunninghame Graham belongs in this talented assemblage.
Always the incorrigible idealist, Graham was drawn to the history of the Jesuit missions in Paraguay -- a period that even the anti-clerical Voltaire described as one of the golden ages of mankind. Protecting their Guarani Indian charges from slave raids from both the Spanish and the Portuguese, the missionaries built up a civilization isolated from the rest of the world and protected it fairly successfully for a century and a half. As Graham tells it:
For a brief period those Guaranís gathered together in the missions, ruled over by their priests, treated like grown-up children, yet with a kindness which attached them to their rulers, enjoyed a half-Arcadian, half-monastic life, reaching to just so much of what the world calls civilization as they could profit by and use with pleasure to themselves. A commonwealth where money was unknown to the majority of the citizens, a curious experiment by self-devoted men, a sort of dropping down a diving-bell in the flood of progress to keep alive a population which would otherwise soon have been suffocated in its muddy waves, was doomed to failure by the very nature of mankind. Foredoomed to failure, it has disappeared, leaving nothing of a like nature now upon the earth. The Indians, too, have vanished, gone to that limbo which no doubt is fitted for them. Gentle, indulgent reader, if you read this book, doubt not an instant that everything that happens happens for the best; doubt not, for in so doing you would doubt of all you see—our life, our progress, and your own infallibility, which at all hazards must be kept inviolate.So perhaps the English styling circa 1901 is a little stiff, but Graham very quickly warms to his subject and produces a world-beating study of how human greed, envy, and spite can destroy everything good that man has produced. In this book there are heroes, such as Father Antonio Ruiz Montoya, who is responsible for the missions' founding, and such villains as Bishop Bernardino de Cardenas, Bishop of Asunción, and Don Francisco de Paula Bucareli y Ursua, the Spanish blockhead who finally enforced the expulsion of the Jesuit order from South America.
You may recall a film made in the 1980s called The Mission, directed by Roland Joffe and starring Robert de Niro and Jeremy Irons. The script was loosely based on Graham's book and, although it took liberties with the story, was basically sympathetic to the author's feeling for the Jesuits and their Indian charges.
As you navigate the brave new world of closing bookstores, give some thought to the older historians, whose works are now more available (and inexpensive) than ever. I am thinking of writers such as Edward Gibbon (History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire), Francis Parkman (France and England in North America), Marion Motley (The Rise of the Dutch Republic), William H. Prescott (The Conquest of Mexico and The Conquest of Peru), and many more besides. R. B. Cunninghame Graham belongs in this talented assemblage.
July 3, 2022
Paradise always coexist with Hell
There are few Chinese studies on Jesuit Reduction, and almost no academic works. Nonetheless, this category of utopia of politics and ideology authentically deserves more people's attention. As stated in the beginning in this work, the most significant point of this book is to analyse how and why Reduction could work so successfully.
Reduction has been in existence for 160 years, with more than 150,000 dwellers in 30 towns, and is formally a state within a state. But it was a political entity that could equally divide land, collective production and property. There is a sound social security system, with equal social status for all, uniform distribution of necessities, free healthcare services, school education for all children, music lessons and festival performances. It even implemented 8-hour days, which was much advanced compared with Europe. Anyone familiar with the history of development of socialism knows that Robert Owen's smaller utopian socialism experiment failed, so why did Jesuit succeed? Although the book does not possess a systematic comparison between the semi-communism economic operation mode in Jesuit Reduction andother utopian socialism experiments, but we are still capable of finding the mystery from historical materials.
Firstly, The Guarani, who were predominant ethnic involved in Reduction, were uncivilized, accustomed to commune production and unable to adapt to the European system. Therefore, their primitive method of production is in harmony with jesuits' primitive ideal against concentration of wealth. Fearing slavery, the Guarani avoided proactive contact with the Spanish and Portuguese civilization, which, in conjunction with inculcation, maintained the weak sentiment of property amongst the Indians and kept that their minds were "not degraded by the vice of avarice". As a consequence, aborigines were content with a low level of supply. Plus, the fact of vast territory populated scarcely (an area roughly the size of France was inhabited by merely 150,000 residents), developed European farming techniques and even a few unexpected mineral discoveries had helped to ensure a short period of abundance.
Whereas, Reduction is far from a perfect utopia. Liberalist economists reckon it as a semi-slave society where the Jesuits, who are not professional politicians, had troubled the Guarani with their poor Machiavellian governance. But the Guarani people still liked the governance of the Jesuits, so that even two priests including an aged one were able to rule over thousands of Guarani with ease. And even one or two centuries after Reduction's fall, the indigenous still lingered about the ruined mission towns, mumbling their maimed rites. It is even more ironic that such reduction, led by amateur rulers to the most primitive barbarians adopting the most uneconomical methods of production, became the most productive region in Spanish America. Definitely, it is impossible for the occurrence of such sort of Arcadia without God's work, but it ought not to be neglected that the commune work of the Guarani was unimaginably free for the slave miners of the Andes. Although the Jesuit priests controlled the purchase and sale of guarani products, they did not cause large-scale corruption because they only bought and sold for use, and not for gain. Such saintly behavior may be puzzling, but if you really think about it, it's not hard to see the reasons. The Jesuit priests, if they really wanted money and power, why didn't they work directly for the Spanish and Portuguese colonial government. Therefore, those jesuits who were willing to go into the jungle were truly religious and idealistic, and naturally did not care about the petty profits of corruption. In other words, we can imagine more Indians being ripped off by colonial bureaucrats and clergy.
Similarly, we need to be wary of all socialist Arcadia. For example, in the Mao era, often praised by the left, the urban working class enjoyed incomparable security and welfare like the Eight banners, as if it had truly realised the happy land of proletariat ownership. However, the reality is that the dismal efficiency of state-affirmed enterprises cannot create enough profits, let alone provide enough tax revenue for the regime. As a result, it can only rely on the price scissors of industrial and agricultural products, low wages of workers, monopoly rents, partial depreciation costs and resource compensation fees. Among them, the most important source of income is the scissors difference. The peasants, who account for 80% of China's population, had to sacrifice everything for the socialist Arcadia, and even sacrificed tens of millions of lives in 1959-1961. If Reduction's happiness was revealed by colonial rule, the happiness of urban aristocrats in the Mao era was entirely based on the misery and despair of the majority of Chinese people.
In short, this seventeenth-and eighteenth-century heaven was sustained by the existence of a hell far larger than theirs. Unfortunately, she also ruined due to this hell. The massive vacuum and even tension within the colonial rule left room for Reduction to survive, but it also predestined her paradox: the more successful jesuits became, the faster they dug their own grave. The Jesuits' efforts to free the Indian slaves and even organise the natives to arm themselves became so unbearable that even Rome abandoned them. In the end, the struggle for Reduction ended under Spanish artillery.
There are few Chinese studies on Jesuit Reduction, and almost no academic works. Nonetheless, this category of utopia of politics and ideology authentically deserves more people's attention. As stated in the beginning in this work, the most significant point of this book is to analyse how and why Reduction could work so successfully.
Reduction has been in existence for 160 years, with more than 150,000 dwellers in 30 towns, and is formally a state within a state. But it was a political entity that could equally divide land, collective production and property. There is a sound social security system, with equal social status for all, uniform distribution of necessities, free healthcare services, school education for all children, music lessons and festival performances. It even implemented 8-hour days, which was much advanced compared with Europe. Anyone familiar with the history of development of socialism knows that Robert Owen's smaller utopian socialism experiment failed, so why did Jesuit succeed? Although the book does not possess a systematic comparison between the semi-communism economic operation mode in Jesuit Reduction andother utopian socialism experiments, but we are still capable of finding the mystery from historical materials.
Firstly, The Guarani, who were predominant ethnic involved in Reduction, were uncivilized, accustomed to commune production and unable to adapt to the European system. Therefore, their primitive method of production is in harmony with jesuits' primitive ideal against concentration of wealth. Fearing slavery, the Guarani avoided proactive contact with the Spanish and Portuguese civilization, which, in conjunction with inculcation, maintained the weak sentiment of property amongst the Indians and kept that their minds were "not degraded by the vice of avarice". As a consequence, aborigines were content with a low level of supply. Plus, the fact of vast territory populated scarcely (an area roughly the size of France was inhabited by merely 150,000 residents), developed European farming techniques and even a few unexpected mineral discoveries had helped to ensure a short period of abundance.
Whereas, Reduction is far from a perfect utopia. Liberalist economists reckon it as a semi-slave society where the Jesuits, who are not professional politicians, had troubled the Guarani with their poor Machiavellian governance. But the Guarani people still liked the governance of the Jesuits, so that even two priests including an aged one were able to rule over thousands of Guarani with ease. And even one or two centuries after Reduction's fall, the indigenous still lingered about the ruined mission towns, mumbling their maimed rites. It is even more ironic that such reduction, led by amateur rulers to the most primitive barbarians adopting the most uneconomical methods of production, became the most productive region in Spanish America. Definitely, it is impossible for the occurrence of such sort of Arcadia without God's work, but it ought not to be neglected that the commune work of the Guarani was unimaginably free for the slave miners of the Andes. Although the Jesuit priests controlled the purchase and sale of guarani products, they did not cause large-scale corruption because they only bought and sold for use, and not for gain. Such saintly behavior may be puzzling, but if you really think about it, it's not hard to see the reasons. The Jesuit priests, if they really wanted money and power, why didn't they work directly for the Spanish and Portuguese colonial government. Therefore, those jesuits who were willing to go into the jungle were truly religious and idealistic, and naturally did not care about the petty profits of corruption. In other words, we can imagine more Indians being ripped off by colonial bureaucrats and clergy.
Similarly, we need to be wary of all socialist Arcadia. For example, in the Mao era, often praised by the left, the urban working class enjoyed incomparable security and welfare like the Eight banners, as if it had truly realised the happy land of proletariat ownership. However, the reality is that the dismal efficiency of state-affirmed enterprises cannot create enough profits, let alone provide enough tax revenue for the regime. As a result, it can only rely on the price scissors of industrial and agricultural products, low wages of workers, monopoly rents, partial depreciation costs and resource compensation fees. Among them, the most important source of income is the scissors difference. The peasants, who account for 80% of China's population, had to sacrifice everything for the socialist Arcadia, and even sacrificed tens of millions of lives in 1959-1961. If Reduction's happiness was revealed by colonial rule, the happiness of urban aristocrats in the Mao era was entirely based on the misery and despair of the majority of Chinese people.
In short, this seventeenth-and eighteenth-century heaven was sustained by the existence of a hell far larger than theirs. Unfortunately, she also ruined due to this hell. The massive vacuum and even tension within the colonial rule left room for Reduction to survive, but it also predestined her paradox: the more successful jesuits became, the faster they dug their own grave. The Jesuits' efforts to free the Indian slaves and even organise the natives to arm themselves became so unbearable that even Rome abandoned them. In the end, the struggle for Reduction ended under Spanish artillery.
February 1, 2010
I picked up this book at a bookstore on 18th that was going out of business, because I was looking at it and I realized that I knew literally nothing about the entire continent of South America. I know that the Incas lived there and they got conquered by Pizarro, and I know the names of the countries that are there now, but that was the extent of my South American knowledge, which is pretty sad, when you think about it. It is an entire continent, after all.
Sadly, this book did not enlighten me too much. You would think the author would be able to fit a lot of history in here, but this is basically a very long winded telling of a simple story. The Jesuit monks were quite successful in converting natives in South America. They did this for almost two hundred years. They were hated, pretty much the whole time, by the Spanish and Portuguese settlers, because the Jesuits were against enslaving the indians and the settlers were very much in favor of enslaving the indians. The settlers spread all kinds of rumors about the Jesuits, the most popular of which was that they had secret gold mines hidden in the jungle and were hiding all their gold in the churches. Eventually, the Jesuits got kicked out. People looted the churches, didn't find any gold, so enslaved some indians to cheer themselves up. The end.
Victorian-era Brits can be very verbose. One interesting thing about reading this was that hidden in the verbosity was an upper class liberal type who was starting to understand that the British empire was just as inappropriate as the old Spanish empire. It's funny, he'll make a little reference to the British colonies and he'll imply that black people aren't as smart as indians, to justify all the African colonies that Britain had at the time, but in the next breath he'll make another comment that shows that he understands that Imperialists always make excuses like that and try to pretend that they are humanitarians.
He also calls stupid people 'suet-heads' at one point. I liked that.
Sadly, this book did not enlighten me too much. You would think the author would be able to fit a lot of history in here, but this is basically a very long winded telling of a simple story. The Jesuit monks were quite successful in converting natives in South America. They did this for almost two hundred years. They were hated, pretty much the whole time, by the Spanish and Portuguese settlers, because the Jesuits were against enslaving the indians and the settlers were very much in favor of enslaving the indians. The settlers spread all kinds of rumors about the Jesuits, the most popular of which was that they had secret gold mines hidden in the jungle and were hiding all their gold in the churches. Eventually, the Jesuits got kicked out. People looted the churches, didn't find any gold, so enslaved some indians to cheer themselves up. The end.
Victorian-era Brits can be very verbose. One interesting thing about reading this was that hidden in the verbosity was an upper class liberal type who was starting to understand that the British empire was just as inappropriate as the old Spanish empire. It's funny, he'll make a little reference to the British colonies and he'll imply that black people aren't as smart as indians, to justify all the African colonies that Britain had at the time, but in the next breath he'll make another comment that shows that he understands that Imperialists always make excuses like that and try to pretend that they are humanitarians.
He also calls stupid people 'suet-heads' at one point. I liked that.
May 8, 2010
Intersting history: opening a window on the work,life, struggles of the fascinating Jesuits in South America. A very educational work on the subject from all aspects and angles
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews