Letters from Paraguay: describing the settlements of Monte Video and Buenos Ayres; the presidencies of Rioja Minor, Nombre de Dios, St. Mary and St. John ... with the manners, customs, religious ceremonies, &c. of the inhabitants, etc

Front matter

LETTERS i FROM PARAGUAY. Prinfri by T. DAVISON, WWtefritn, LETTERS FROM PARAGUAY: DESCRIBING THE SETTLEMENTS OF MONTE VIDEO and BUENOS AYRES; THE PRESIDENCIES OF RIOJA MINOR, NOMBRE DE DIOS, ST. MARY and ST. JOHN, We. We. WITH THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES, fife. OF THE INHABITANTS. Written during a Residence of seventeen Months in that Country. By JOHN CONSTANSE DA VIE, Esq. LONDON: PRINTED FOR G. ROBINSON, PATERNOSTER-ROW, 1S05.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE writer of the following letters, a gentleman of liberal education and considerable property, having been disappointed in his hopes of happiness with a beloved female, to relieve the distress of his mind, resolved to travel ; and leaving this country for New York, on his arrival commenced a corre spondence with his most intimate friend Yorke, esq. of Taunton-Dean, in the county of Somerset, his half-brother. After remaining at New York a short time, he sud denly formed the resolution of embarking on a trading voyage to Botany Bay — with which these letters begin. Soon after they had sailed, a tremendous *torm obliged the captain to alter his course,

Letter I

New York, Nov. 1796. MY DEAR FRIEND, You have known me too long as a whimsical wanderer to feel much surprise at a strange caprice which I have adopted since my last letter : I was then about to return to Phila delphia ; but I have given up that idea, and am now actually employed in preparing for a voyage to Botany Bay. ' Botany Bay !' methinks I hear your wife exclaim ; ' why, what an unaccountable vagary is this !' Very possibly it may be so ; I am not at all disposed to dispute that point : but what then ? I have been an unaccountable mortal from my cradle, therefore no absurdity I am guilty of should be wondered at. I am resolved, God willing, to take a trip to New South Wales, on purpose to view a place of which I have heard and read so much not only in Old England but in New. About three weeks since I chanced to meet at doctor Jones's an old schoolmaster of ours.

You may remember William H , of N , ne phew to the celebrated H of the congress. This young man left his native country about five years ago to settle here, under the protection of his uncle, who is an austere methodical kind of man, and very much attached to money. William had no sooner arrived at New York, than the old gentleman proposed sending him as supercargo on board one of his vessels to Port Jackson, be tween which place and this country there is now a constant communication by the merchants here sending thither every kind of article the colony may be supposed to stand in need of. When the cargo is disposed of, they proceed to the East In dies, and freight back with Asiatic produce. All this turns to a good account in the sum total, and is therefore extremely well adapted to the multi plying geniuses of the Americans, whose souls seem sensible of nothing but the pursuit of gain.

Young H has been three vovages to Port Jackson, the profits of which have more than answered his uncle's expectations. He represents this settlement of ours in so peculiar a point of view, that I cannot resist the temptation I feel of going thither with him to examine into the state of affairs personally. I shall therefore take my passage in the brig Ann and Sarah, bound from hence to Sydney Cove, where I intend to remain until my thirst for novelty is gratified ; whither I shall then direct my wandering steps Heaven only knows. H goes this voyage as captain ; so that, in him, I may rely upon having a valuable and in telligent companion. You shall hear from me again before I quit the bold and majestic scenery of these northern re gions, where every thing is gigantic save the ideas of the men and women, whose contracted in tellects have more than once excited my indigna tion if not contempt.

It seems to me, as if Na ture, when forming this ntther world, had ex hausted all her treasures upon the inanimate part of the creation, and consequently had been obliged to cobble up the inhabitants out of what shreds she had remaining ; but, perhaps, when the states are once established, rich and powerful, the ideas of the Columbrians may expand. Then philoso phers, astronomers, metaphysicians, and all the vo« taries of art and science, may spring up with in- B tellects as capacious and profound as this over grown country seems to demand, that all the component parts may be in unison. This is ' A consummation devoutly to be wished,' By, yours, &c. &c.

Letter II

New York, Nov. 179(5. I verily believe that in the mind of an American the love of gain supersedes every other consideration ; they estimate the loss of time by the same ratio that a Jew merchant counts grains and carats when valuing the finest diamonds. How far this may be commendable I know not, but certain I am that their ideas and mine differ most surprisingly : not that I am by any means an advocate for a waste of time ; I regard it in as precious a light as the New Yorkist, but for a very opposite purpose. I cannot possibly conceive how any man, possessing the divine light of reason, can rise with the dawn, apply himself instantly to work, and continue unremittingly at it until the day closes, except during the short intervals dedicated to breakfast, dinner, and supper, which are here hurried over as though each individual's eternal welfare depended on his dispatching his meals with more expedition than his neighbour ; and, in all the common concerns of life, in every different class of people, the same economy is observed.

No luxuries, either in eating or clothing, are here introduced, even in the houses of the most opu lent: the food is all plain, but wholesome; and, to speak in Jack Barker's phrase, ' No belly-cheating kickshaws are introduced to tantalise the appetite j these honest members of the commonwealth, ever emersed in business, require something more sub stantial. Neither is their attire more splendid than their diet. The females here are all of that delectable class distinguished in England by the name of good housewives. The domestic concerns of the house are not, as with us in most families of fortune, committed to the management of serv ants, to regulate their masters' or mistresses' pro, perty as shall best suit their own convenience ; every woman of American education personally inspects her own habitation (sometimes perhaps her ac, quaintances' also), and attends to the cooking, washing, and other important matters of the like description.

No one is ashamed, however exalted Jier station, of being seen in a plain morning cap, with a coarse apron before her, instructing an ignorant servant in her duty ; and these directions are given with such promptitude and exactness, that few if any errors can arise, but from a wilful misapprehension: thus every thing is executed with a neatness and dispatch that would astonish a modern servant on your side the water. I have often during my frequent visits to M noticed his lady, in the midst of seven or eight servants, giving orders how such a room should be white washed, or such a batch of bread should be baked, and even in what manner a sick horse should be physiced. I came in one day and found her making a mop, to shew a girl she had from Bos ton how it ought to be done, observing «at the same time to me that she could not imagine how any person could exist so intolerably stupid as not tov know how to make so simple an article.

I took shame to myself at her remark; and, by the change of my countenance, she should plainly perceive I was equally ignorant and surprised at this elegant female accomplishment, for in fact it was a piece of frugality I really had no conception of; but we are never too wise to learn, and I could not help calling to mind the story of the basket-maker. Such is the force of habit formed by an American education. From saving of money to getting it is but an easy gradation : M is rapidly acquiring an immense fortune by sending out several small vessels laden with European goods to the East In dies, where he finds a certain and quick return. I am told by H — — , that he can greatly undersell the British merchants trading thither, even at their own settlements, for a special reason : — he builds his own vessels, victuals them, and mans them at one-third of the expence incurred by our people, every necessary article for naval architecture being contained within the limits of thi§ enterprising country : but the principal advantage of this traffic arises from its not being clogged in India with any civil or military establishments, to maintain which, must of necessity take from the British traders an immense revenue.

This American speculation appears to be daily increasing . in a manner that must in a very short time create a considerable degree of jealousy and alarm in our British merchants, who cannot be too much on their guard against the dangerous conse quences of such proceedings : not the most trivial advantage is here lost for want of foresight in the state or exertion in individuals, which, is, I must own, most truly commendable ; and the more I consider the actions of these people, the morel admire and wonder at their industry and perse verance, which is now indeed become habitual, I had almost said involuntary. Surely there, must be something singularly pa triotic in the minds of those men who can, for the of securing the prospect of riches and splen dour to their successors, dedicate the whole of their own lives to toil and trouble; only antici pating the period when, in the hands of their po sterity, their country shall arrive at such a height of eminence and glory as shall enable her to hold the rod of power over surrounding nations, and dictate laws in every quarter of the globe, as Eng land — envied England — does at present.

But why does gain narrow up and trammel the genial effusions of the soul, which in itself is free and liberal ? This is a question I have frequently a ked myself, but never yet ' could frame a satis factory answer. ' It will be time enough,' says an American, ' to be profuse' — for with them there is no distinction between liberality and profusion — ' when our state is rich, and our children affluent : a pound turned in trade, becomes two ; when spent in pleasure, is annihilated.' I hear this, and am abashed. Their impressive manner of silencing a cavilist is laconically con vincing ; there is no room for reply when every thing around bears testimony to the truth of the assertion. Adieu.

Letter III

New York, Nov. 1796. I dined yesterday with Mr. H , at whose house I was introduced to three emigrants from the North of Ireland; two of them were well informed intelligent men, the other a mere matter of-fact man, who, with his family, chose to leave his native country because his friends did so, and he had heard besides that a prudent man could do no otherwise than well in America. They all hope to find on the banks of the Ohio more happiness and wealth than they have ever experienced or could ever expect at home. How these expectations will be realised time must shew ; for mine own part I think the British government highly to blame in suffering so many useful mem bers of society to leave their mother, country, where, if properly encouraged, they might render most essential service to the community at large.

Here they meet with a ready welcome, and pur. chase ground at a cheap rate, but then it is with all its incumbrances of wood, bog, and quagmire, the whole of which they are compelled by the nature of things to clear before they can hope to sow, build, or establish manufactories ; and if so many individuals must have recourse to the culture of land as the means of independence, why are they not employed on the now useless acres of Old England and her sister kingdom ? There are hundreds of enterprising spirits, who, with a little encouragement, would gladly transform the ne glected wilds of Ireland into proper cultivated farms, and be content to wait with patience the reward of their industry. Why do not those who hold the reins of power in Britain exert themselves in the most effectual manner to check the dangerous increase of emigration ?

It surely must be more for the interest of every well-organised and wealthy monarchy to keep as many of its subjects at home as possible ; and that not by merely de priving them of the power of quitting their country, but by furnishing them with the means of continuing in it as good subjects ought : a trifling assistance to an active intelligent mind will be received with gratitude, and improved with ala crity. The peasant who labours with hope for his companion lies down at night on a hard bed with pleasure ; his sleep is sweetly refreshing, and he rises at the dawn to renew his daily toil with equal vigour and application, joyfully anticipating the moment when he shall receive the well-earned reward of his exertions. This hypothesis you - LETTERS FROM PARAGUAY. have seen realised on your own estate in Devonshire; and what advantages do you not now derive from the improvements on the once barren farms; let to your father's old tenants! — it is true they were content to grovel on in the same dull unimproving routine pursued by their predecessors, and because large tracts of land had remained for ages waste, it was necessary that they should remain so still — 'no good could possibly arise from speculating innovations.' I cannot keep my temper when F reflect on such despicable meanness of intellect : but for speculation, this immense continent from which I am now writing might never have been discovered ; and but for innovation, whence would have arisen that happy code oflaws on which the heart of every Englishman dwells with enthusiastic pride?

The same mode of reasoning, my friend, will hold good with respect to small matters; and I was happy to see you adopt a more enlightened plan : by letting your estates at low rents, upon condition the whole of the waste land was improved and cultivated, you have the pleasure of seeing from the windows of your library acres heretofore a mere green desert now yearly crowned with the blessings of a plentiful harvest, and daily improving both in look and value. Now I am of opinion, that were the nobility of Ireland, and others of large landed property, to follow your a example, there would be few or no emigrations thence, nor would rebellion raise so often its dreadful and destructive head. No man likes to sow where he is not certain he shall reap in safety; Ror can the miserable starving cottager emerge from his poverty unless he first receive assistance from those above him : neither should this assist ance be considered as a gift, since the benefactor himself ultimately enjoys the benefits arising from such a mode of conduct ; for, at the expiration of a few years, he finds his estates return to him, not in a barren unproductive state as when he let them, but exhibiting in every different form the beneficial effects of agricultural improvement; and every succeeding proprietor feels the blessing in a more extensive degree.

His grace of Bridgewater's canal is a most surprising proof of the essential service that may be rendered to the community at large, and ages yet unborn, by a temporary sacri fice on the part of a liberal-minded enterprising individual. But it is ' useless for a person of moderate fortune to attempt this universal reform ation ; for if a man has not property sufficient to complete his improvements when begun, the whole scheme had better at first be abandoned. I have therefore made it an invariable rule never to pro ject any plan or assist any object unless I could do it altogether effectually. But to return to the Irish emigrants, from whom I have made a long digression, if indeed it deserves that name. — These gentlemen make but a very unfavourable report of the present state of Ireland ; k seems to me a devoted country, doomed to be a scene of anarchy and bloodshed : the inhabitants appear to be composed of none but restless and ungovernable spirits, whom nothing (while in their present state) but coercive measures can restrain.

If those in whose hands the wealth of Ireland is disposed still persist in the erring line of conduct they have hitherto adopted towards their poor dependants, it would be much better I think for the government of England to interfere, and send thither a large colony of enterprising Englishmen under the protection of a strong armed force, and bring away in their stead a much larger number of the wild Irish, and transplant them to some of our settlements abroad, there to make them a free people with leave to act as they please, but give them at the same time the means of acting well, and improving their desperate fortunes by the cultiva tion of the place they are taken to. Why not, as we are on such friendly terms with the Turks, obtain the consent of the Ottoman Porte to plant a colony on the fruitful but neglected isle of Can dia, where, without derogating in the' least from their native pride, they might with very moderate exertions grow independent, and in my opinion happy.

This political proceeding would 1 am persuaded in a few years tend to the mutual ad vantage of both nations. The French at some not very distant period will need a powerful check in the Levant, if the rumours here circulated are to be regarded. They are indeed a nation capable of attempting any atrocity, in violation of every law divine and human. They certainly mean to wrest if possible Ireland from England, but I trust they will meet in all their attempts with the disappointment they so well deserve. And should they even succeed in their intentions to assist the rebels, I doubt the poor infatuated Irish would but too soon find they had only exchanged an indifferent master for the worst the modern world affords. Rapine and plunder have hitherto been the cha racteristics of the French revolutionary armies, nor do their generals strive to check the disgrace ful impulse : bad indeed must that body of men be, who know no right but that given by the sword, and acknowledge no laws but what themselves impose.

If they do not speedily meet with a repulse from England, I doubt if any other nation will be competent to make head against them ; and woe to the states of the world should the balance of power ever remain with France, whose smile is like the eye of a serpent, and whose friendship is the tear of the hyena. But you will perhaps ask if I have not seen any Scotch emigrants as well as Iri h : indeed I have not, though I have heard of many. I do not won der at their leaving their native place, for few I believe that could help themselves would stay to till the ground in Scotland, where nothing among the Highlands appears but barren unimprov able rocks that mock the toil of the labourer. Their poverty arises from the niggardliness of nature in withholding from them a sufficient share of those blessings which their indefatigable in dustry would speedily augment.

But I must con fess that of all people in the world the Scotch are best calculated to "thrive in America; — the same love of gain, economy in expence, horror of every species of liberal charity or amusement, and ardent anxiety for the future welfare of the state and their posterity, are qualities of which they may boast an equal portion with the already-established colonists. But I will still persist in saying, that the greater part of the families that come hither might be better employed at home iii our different manufactures, which are, as you observed in your last, daily and hourly extending the vast increase of commerce which our country has acquired during this war, must of course require an im mense number of additional hands ; and I must subscribe to the general and almost hackneyed opinion, that were the fisheries of Scotland more liberally encouraged not a man of them would leave his native country, but stay and enjoy the fruits of his labour at home : and where can there be a finer field for this kind of speculation than in Scotland, where what has been denied them in fertility of land has been treblyrepaid by the fe cundity of the sea ? and if government did but reflect on the many advantages it might derive from a large body of hardy fishermen well or ganised and well supported, I do not think our ministers would hesitate long to establish upon a royal foundation this extensive branch of com merce, instead of letting it remain, as it now does, in the hands of a few mercenary individuals, who naturally enough prefer private emolument to public good.

Were a royal fishery to be instituted, what a noble body of seamen would our sovereign have to depend upon in all cases of emergency ! — seamen trained and competent to traverse any ocean : for certain I am the mariner who has for any length of time navigated the northern seas of Britain is sufficiently skilled to encounter the most hazardous maritime expedition. I am encouraged in these sentiments by a long c conversation I have had this morning with a captain Woollett, of Newcastle upon Tyne : he is commander of the brig Nancy of that port, and arrived here about ten days since. He laments equally with me the progress and probable effects of the dangerous spirit of emigration. Does war, my dear friend, so totally engross the minds of ministers that they are wholly unmindful of this alarming evil ?

Surely if the same encouragement were given to the northern fishermenas is bestowed upon the linen manufactories, a short time would prove it of more real advantage to the country at large than any branch of commerce whatever; and among the many millions annually subscribed surely a small portion might, without the least injury to the state revenue, be appropriated to this great and valuable purpose, could but a clear and demonstrative estimate of its great utility be laid before his majesty, who has ever been the first monarch in the world fcr promoting trade and agriculture, and for consulting the general good of his subjects. My political reveries are interrupted by a mes sage from my friend B . I must attend him for the present ; therefore — Adieu !

Letter IV

New York, Nov. 1796. It is really astonishing what crowds of shipping are daily issuing from every port in the United States employed in traffic between the dif ferent hostile powers ; and now the trade of Holland is suspended it makes surprisingly in favour of the Americans, who, ever intent upon improving the smallest opportunity, will fail not to enrich them selves on the overthrow of the Dutch republic ; for 1 cannot possibly consider it in any other light, the French being a people not easily got rid of where they have once obtained a footing, as long as they can, by finesse or compulsion, impose their plausible plans on their deceived allies. How such a slow, crafty, and penurious people as the Bata vians could suffer themselves to be overreached by the itripetuous and volatile French is to me, and many thousand others, a matter of the greatest amazement : but nations, whether ruled by kings or governed by democratic power, have their rise, their zenith, and their fall.

The Dutch for the space of a century gave laws to every maritime power in the world, excepting in some measure the c English. The commercial concerns of the Hol landers were marked with the most brutal ty ranny, and not a ship returned laden from the East but its cargo was stained with the blood of the innocent. They have had their day ; and, if Heaven continue to smile on the British arms, the manes of our suffering countrymen and natives will be amply avenged on the heads of their per fidious oppressors, if we might venture to speculate on probable events : for surely so dissimilar a union as that of France with Holland can never continue long ; and then woe to the grasping schemes of the plodding Batavian ! for in proportion as they sink in the great scale of commercial policy so will the Americans rise.

They are in many respects the exact counterpart of the Hol landers : the advantages of commerce alone en gross all their thoughts and actions ; and as the Phœnicians were of old so will the Americans in a short time be, should the war continue long, which, from existing circumstances, appears more than probable. I am often entertained with the speculating views of your old friend B , who is and ever was fertile and indefatigable in projecting plans for the general good ; and no circumstance, I think, would give him greater pleasure than to hear that the proposed treaty between Great Britain and the United States was completed ; and he indulges his fancy in the boldest flights that ever entered the mind of man whenever the wished-for event shall take place. I am to dine with him to-morrow with a large political party in Beak-street, previous to my leaving this place ; to which I think I never shall be disposed to return, unless .it be to com mence merchant. Adieu !

Letter V

New York. Every thing is ready for my der parture, and I am now going so take leave of my valued friend doctor Dingley, whom I much fear I shall never see again : he having relinquished the idea of visiting England, as he designed some few months since ; and it must be next to a miracle that should ever induce me to revisit America. Time, I trust, will give more stability to my wan derings. When I first declared my intention of going with H to Port Jackson, the good folks here seemed to consider me as little better than a lunatic ; but when they found I persisted in my resolution they with one consent began to impor tune me to take with me some articles for barter or sale upon my arrival in New South Wales, at the same time laying down to me, in the most circumstantial manher, the advantages I should derive from such proceeding.

And when, in reply, I objected my total ignorance of all mercantile concerns, and the impropriety of incumbering my self with merchandise of which I knew not how to dispose, they one and all assured me that I should find in H an excellent factor, and one who would be happy to instruct me during the voyage in every particular of commercial mystery ; for it is a pity they say to let slip so fair an oppor tunity of uniting profit with pleasure, and turning money to advantage, at., the same time that I gratify my inordinate desire of roving. All this I cannot but allow ; and really, my friend, I begin to think there must be some charm in acquiring money, which it is time I should be acquainted with. The questions and advice of these people display their real character better than volumes of description, and convince me they are an indefatigable interested generation, eternally on the watch for gain, and to make themselves well acquainted with every one's concerns.

I cannot imagine from whence their inquisitiveness springs, unless from a desire to learn if by any means they can be of service to you, and by so doing serve themselves. But, be that as it may, I am willing to regard them as a very industrious good sort of people, who from a principle of fellow-feeling are anxious to instruct one in the best method of making the most of every thing : and every rising state should, in my opinion, invariably pursue the same maxim ; for that is the way to render themselves not only rich, but competent to enforce respect from sur rounding nations. More from a wish to avoid an affectation of independence than any real inclination, I have yielded to the advice of my money-making neigh bours, and purchased from our friend B - a quantity of articles, for which, he says, I shall receive a very good return.

How that may prove I neither know nor care: it is sufficient for me that I have given pleasure to this indefatigable man, who has bustled about in my behalf with the greatest alacrity, and given the most ample instructions to H , who is to be my factor. But what, you will ask, is the nature of the mer chandise by which I am to gain a fortune ? Why thus it is, my friend : When a man commences trafficker he should first carefully consider the circumstances of those he intends to trade with. He should neither carry wine to Constantinople nor furs to Seringapatam, nor yet should he turn goldsmith or wholesale mercer at Port Jackson. I have therefore — wisely appreciating the wealth and respectability of those to whom I am going — provided myself with a sufficient portion of old clothes. Old clothes! you cry, with a stare of sur prise and incredulity — Old clothes ! at the same time spelling the words, as if to convince yourself of their identity.