THE JESUISTS.

The following Canto, taken from the Latin of J. Vaniere, and beautifully rendered into English by Arthur Murphy, esq. (latest edition printed at Middletown, Connecticut, for I. Riley, New-York) will present a just and faithful portrait of the Religious Order of the Jesuists, and will enable the public to form a very different opinion of this learned and ill-requited society from that derived from prejudiced and ill informed writers.

THE BEES.

CANTO IV.

TORN by convulsions while the nations groan,
Astræa has not yet resign'd her throne.

A moral race on earth she still maintains,
Where with sound policy fair virtue reigns.
Wish you that happy region to survey?
Cross the Atlantic; sail to * Paraguay.

Paraguay is a province of South America, bounded by Brazil on the east, and by Peru and Chili on the west. It is sometimes called La Plata, from the river of that name, which rises in Peru, and running a long course, falls into the Paraguay near Buenos Ayres, where their united stream discharges itself into the Atlantic Ocean. The author of the European Settlements in America (who, Doctor Robertson says, ought not to remain unknown, as his work would do honour to any man in England) informs us, that, early in the last century, the Jesuists represented to the court of Spain, that the empire of the gospel might be extended into the most unknown parts of America, and that all those countries might be reduced to his Catholic Majesty's obedience, without expense, and without force. The remonstrance was listened to with attention; the sphere of the Jesuits was marked out; an uncontrolable, liberty was given to them within those limits; and the governors of the adjacent provinces had orders not to interfere. The Jesuits entered upon the scene of action, and opened their spiritual campaign. They began by gathering together about fifty wandering families, whom they persuaded to settle, and they united them into a little township. Upon this slight foundation they built a superstructure, which has amazed the world,

Q

Mark how the people and their manners please;
He paints them best, who paints the tribe of Bees.
See from the hive how they transplant their laws,
Like Bees, industrious in their country's cause.

Their fields and pastures know no separate bounds,
And no litigious fences mark the grounds.
For tracts of land no title deeds are shown,
And vile ejectments, there are things unknown.
No bonds, no mortgages for money lent,
And no proud landlord can distrain for rent.
All lies in common; what their crops produce
Is stor❜d in magazines for public use,

All have their province in the general toil;
These guide the state and those manure the soil.
Some tend the fold their milk-white flocks to sheer;
Along the vale the lowing herds to hear.

The shepherd plods with joy; th' industrious hind
Works at the mill, the ripen'd corn to grind.
With Vulcan's skill some at the forge attend,
To shake the sickle * or the plough-share bend.
True social concord all their actions show,
And with warm sympathy their bosoms glow,
To every rank affection they extend,

Their neighbour's interest with their own they blend.

and added so much power, that it has brought great envy and jealousy on their society. When they had made a beginning, they laboured with such indefatigable pains, and with such masterly policy, that, by degrees, they mollified the minds of the most savage nations; fixed the most rambling, and attracted the most averse to government. They prevailed upon thousands of various dispersed tribes of people to embrace their religion, and submit to their government. When they had submitted, the Jesuists left nothing undone, that could induce them to remain in subjection, or that could tend to increase their number. It is said, that from such inconsiderable beginnings, their subjects, several years ago, amounted to three hundred thousand families. They accomplished a most extraordinary conquest over the bodies and minds of so many people, without arms or violence, and differently from the methods of all other conquests; not by cutting off a large part of the inhabitants, to secure the rest, but by multiplying the people, whilst they extended their territory.

European Settlements, Vol. Il. p. 278. *The Indians, under the Jesuists, lived in towns; they were regularly clad; they laboured in agriculture; they exercised manufacIbid. Vol. II. p. 280.

tures.

While the swain toils abroad, with anxious care
They view his cottage, and the works repair.
The swain at night finds all defects redress'd,
And with his door unlock'd sinks careless down to rest.
Of sovereign sway the laws no system know;
The chiefs to wisdom all their influence owe.
To their sage counsels* men obedience pay,
And walk secure where virtue leads the way.
No code of laws they want, no statesman's art;
Their law is grav'd by nature on the heart.
While private wealth no individuals hold,
They feel no love of ill-persuading gold.
The generous mind pale envy never stings;
Their only strife from emulation springs.
Though here the young may bridle their desires
By that best rule, th' example of their sires;
Yet still their minds to polish and refine,

And give the grace that bids each action shine,
They call the masters of each liberal art,
Men, who can truly philosophy impart ;

Who teach the rules, which long the test have stood,
Of that best science to be wise and good.
The chiefs elected by the public voice
By wisdom strive to justify the choice;
While the inhabitants for work design'd,
Practise the arts that form the laboring hind.
No vain pre-eminence of rank they know,
No Lords, no Commoners, nor high, nor low.
The ploughman's industry, the soldier's fame
To praise and honour give an equal claim.

Though Ceres spreads her gifts with lavish hand,
And peace her olive branch waves o'er the land:
Though grim-eyed war sleeps in his iron cave,

And their foes dread them, for they know them brave-
Yet this wise people watchful of alarms

Are vigilant and prompt to rise in arms.
But still they joy in bidding discord cease,
Ready for war, yet readier far for peace;
In that firm attitude their state protect,
From insult safe, while valour gains respect.

*The country of Paraguay is divided into forty-seven districts : in each mission a Jesuit presides in chief: the magistrates are always Indians, elected by the people, and approved by the presiding Jesuit. Nothing can equal the obedience of the people of the several missions, except their contentment under them.

European Settlements, Vol. 11. p. 283,

To train their troops* when leisure can afford,
The farmers quit the plough-share for the sword.
On sacred days when wafted to the skies
Their hymns and pealing organs cease to rise;
When their devotion ends its pious strain,
The volunteers embodied seek the plain.
In martial order as they move along,
To view their dicipline the people throng,
Admiring gaze, with military pride

As now their ranks they close, and now divide;
Now point their javelins, and now aim the lance,
And with dissembled rage retreat, advance;
In various evolutions skill display,

And give a battle in their mimic fray.

The Spaniard, o'er that clime who holds his reign,
Well knows their valour in th' embattled plain :
And lately saw, when he their aid requir'd,"
The bands with warlike emulation fir'd;
Saw them spring up, like Cadmus' earth-born crew,
When from the sod an iron harvest grew;
Saw them performing wonders in the field,
Mow down the ranks and force the foe to yield.
For feats like these no honours they demand,
But home return and take the spade in hand.
Her heroes Rome to demi-gods may raise,
And tuneful poets celebrate their praise;
Sing their dictators chosen from the plough
And weave immortal chaplets for their brow;
Tell, while their battles Cincinnatus fought,
How the wise senate in his absence thought.
His house and farm requir'd the ablest hands,
To give the victor his well cultur'd lands.
They were his farmers; for his private gain
Tended his flock, his plants, his household train.
At Paraguay no separate lands we see,
But for the public all is held in fee.
They love the warrior, in his country's cause
Who draws his sword for freedom and the laws.

*The Indians are instructed in the military line with the most exact discipline, and can raise sixty thousand men well armed.

European Settlements, Vol. II. p. 280. Their churches are particularly grand, and richly adorned; and service in them is performed with all the solemnity and magnifi cence of a cathedral. Ibid. Vol II. p. 282.

The warriors there the scythe or javelin wield,
Soldiers in camp and laborers in the field.
Yet they've no property,* no private claim,
No Sabine farm, where they enjoy their fame.
Hear this, Old Rome, and blush, however late,
For your Patrician and Equestrian state.

Whene'er the seasous rough with storms appears,
His private loss no individual fears.

When torrents from the hills rush down amain,
And meditate destruction to the grain,
Alarm'd for all, he hears the deluge roar,
Feels for the state, and thinks of self no more.
Not rich, when round him ripen'd crops appear;
Not poor, when lost the promise of the year;
But still, let fortune smile or prove unkind,
He holds the even balance of his mind.

Of Europe, and her states, and various ways,
In happy ignorance they pass their days;
Content against their foes to make a stand,
And chase all sects, all atheists from the land.
Around their harbourst cottages they keep,
Built on the margin of the brawling deep;
There with kind aid the mariners supply,
But further hospitality deny.

* Each man's labour is allotted to him in proportion to his strength, or his skill in the profession which he exercises. The product is brought faithfully into the public magazines, from which he is again supplied with all things that the managers judge to be expedient for the sustenance of himself and family. All necessaries are distributed regularly twice a week, and the magazines always contain such a stock of provisions and goods of every kind, as to answer not only the ordinary exigencies, but to provide against a time of scarcity, or for those whom accidents, age, or infirmities have disqualified for labour. European Settlements, Vol. II. p. 282.

†The Jesuits are said to be extremely strict in preserving the privilege of keeping all strangers from amongst them. If any such should by accident, or in his journey arrive in the country of the missions, he is immediately carried to the Presbytery, where he is treated, for a day or two at most, with great hospitality, but regarded with no less circumspection. The curiosities of the place are showed him in company with the Jesuit, and he can have no private conversation with any of the natives. In a reasonable time, he is civilly dismissed with a guard to conduct him to the next district, without expense, where he is treated in the same manner, until he is out of the country of the Missions. Ibid. Vol. II. p. 284.