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GUARANTEES


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GUARANTEES


execution of the mandate in the summer of 1768, to two officers with a force of some 500 troops, but al- though the mission army then counted 14,000 drilled warriors of proved courage, the fathers, as loyal sub- jects, submitted without resistance, and with stream- mg tears turned their backs upon the work which they had built up by a century and a half of devoted sacri- fice. With only their robes and their bre\'iaries, they went down to the ship that was waiting to carry them for ever out of the country. The Paraguay missions so called, of which however only eight were within Paraguay proper, were then thirtj'-three in number with seventy-eight Jesuits, some 144,000 Christian Indians, ancl nearly a million cattle. The rest of the storj' is briefly told. The missions were turned over to priests of other orders, chiefly Franciscans, but under a code of regulations drawn up by the viceroy and modelled largely upon the very Jesuit .system which he had condemned. Under divided authority, uncertain government support, and without the love or confidence of the Indians, the new teachers soon lost courage and the missions rapidly dechned, the Indians going back by thousands to their original forests or becoming vagabond outcasts in the towns. By the official census of 1801 less than 45,000 Indians remained, cattle, sheep, and horses had disappeared, the fields and orchards were overgrown or cut down and the splendid churches were in ruins. The long period of revolutionary struggle that followed completed the destruction." In 1814 the mission Indians numbered but 8000 and in 1848 the few who remained were declared citizens. The race however persists. Nearly all the forest tribes on the borders of Paraguay are of Guarani stock; many of them are descendants of mission exiles, w^hile in Paraguay the old blood so predominates in the population that Guarani is still largely the language of the country.

The "Guarani language has been much cultivated, its literature covering a wide range of subjects. Many works, written by the fathers, and wholly or partly in the native language, were issued from the mission press in Loreto. Among the most important trea- tises upon the language are the " Tesoro de la Lengua Guarani" (Madrid, 16:i9) l^y Father Montoya, the heroic leader of the exodus, republished in Paris and Leipzig in 1876; and the "Catecismo de la Lengua Guarani " of Father Diego Diaz de la Guerra (Madrid, 1630).

Charlevoix, Hintoire du Paraguay (Paris, 1756; tr. London, 1769); DoBRizHOFFER. Hisloria de Abiponibus eqvestribclli- cosaque Paraguia: nationc (\'ienna, 17S4); Germ. tr. (Vienna, 1784); tr.. An Account of the Abipones, an equestrian people of Paraguay (London, 1822); Ncnes, Ensnijo de la Historia cixnl de Paraguay (Buenos .^ires, 1816); Cunningh.lme Graham, A Vanish^ Arcadia (London, 1901); Guerrara, Historia del Para- guay in Colecriun de Angelis (Buenos .Aires, 1836): Lozano, Descripcion c/ioro(irnphira, etc. (Cordoba, 1733); RIuratori. Crislianesimo Felice nelle Missione . . . net Paraguai (Venice, 1743); Page. La Plata, the Argentine Confederation and Para- guny (New York. 1SS9); Reclus. The Earth and its Inhabitants; So-ulh America, II; Amazonia and La Plata (New York, 189.5).

Jambs Mooney.

Guarantees, L.\w of (L.\ Leggb delle Gu.^ren- tigie), a name given to the law passed by the senate and chamber of the Italian parliament, 1.3 May, 1871, concerning the prerogatives of the Holj- See, and the relations between State and Church in the Kingdom of Italy. The principal stipulations of the law may be summed up as follows: (1) the pope's person to be sacred and inx-iolable; (2) insult or injury to the pope to be treated on a par with insult or injury to the king's person; discussion of religious matters to be absolutely free; (3) royal honours to be paid to the pope; that he have the right to the customary guards; (4) the pope to be given an annual endowment of 3,225,000 lire ($&22.42o or £127,933) to cover all the needs of the Holy See (college of cardirials, Roman congregations, embassies, etc. )and the maintenance of


church buildings; (5) the Vatican and Lateran palaces, as well as the Villa of Castel Gandolfo, to remain the property of the pope; these articles assure the pope and all engaged in the spiritual government of the Church, as well as the college of cardinals assembled in conclave, complete liberty of communication with the CathoUc world, exempt them from all interference with their letters, papers, etc. ; (14) the clergj- to have free- dom of assembly; (15) the government to renounce the "Apostolic Legation" in Sicily, and the right of nomination to major benefices, with reservation, how- ever, of the roj-al patronage ; the bishops are not obliged to take the oath (of allegiance) on appointment; (16) the Exequatur to be maintained onlj- for the major benefices (except in Rome, and in the sulnirbicarian sees) and for acts affecting the disposition of ecclesias- tical property; (17) in spiritual matters no appeal to be allowed against ecclesiastical authority; the civil courts, however, to be competent to pass judgment on the juridical effects of ecclesiastical sentences. Pro- vision to be made, by a future law, for the reorganiza- tion, conservation, and administration of all the church property in the kingdom.

The Italian government, which had declared that it entered Rome to safeguard the person of the Holy Father (Visconti-Venosta, circular of 7 September, 1870; the autograph letter of Victor Emanuel to Pius IX, dated 29 Aug., received 10 Sept. ; again the king's answer to the Roman deputation which lirought him the result of the plebiscite), and which, in the very act of invading pontifical territory, had assured the people that the independence of the Holy See would remain inviolate (General Cadoma's proclamation at Terni, 11 Sept.), felt obliged to secure in a legal and solemn way the executions of its aforesaid intention. It owed no less to its own Catholic subjects, and to Catholics the world over. Two ways were open to it for keeping its promise. It might call an international congress of all nations ha\'ing a very large Catholic population, or it might pass a domestic Italian law. In the afore- said circular of the minister Visconti-Venosta, ad- dressed to all the powers, the former way was hinted at. But the unconcern of Catholic governments over the events that ended in the occupation of Rome put an end to all thought of consulting them ; and so a domes- tic law was passed. Before its adoption, however, Pius IX, by a lettter of his cardinal vicar, dated 2 March, 1871, protested against the law "in which", he said, "it was no easj' task to decide whether absurdity, cunning, or contempt played the largest part".

The pope refused to recognize in the Italian govern- ment any right to grant him prerogatives, or to make laws for him. Indeed, each of the "concessions" carried with it a special servitude, while later events proved that they were not intended to be seriously ob.served. In the Encyclical of 15 May following, the pope declared that no guarantees could secure him the liberty and independence neccs.5ary in the exercise of his power and authorit}-. He renewed this protest at the consistory of 27 October. And it stands to reason that a law voted by two houses of Parliament could with equal ease be abrogated by them at will. In- deed, it has ever been part of the programme of the " Left" party in the Italian Parliament to suppress the Law of Guarantees. Pius IX, moreover, was imwill- ing to accept formally the arrangements made con- cerning the relations of Church and State, especially the Exequatur and the administration of ecclesiastical property. Moreover, if, as he hoped, the occupation of Rome wa.s to be only temporary, the acceptance of this law seemed useless. Doubtless, too, such accept- ance on his part would have been interpreted as at least a tacit recognition of accomplished facts, as a renvmciation of the temporal power, and the property which had been taken from the Holy See (e. g. the Quirinal Palace). The abandonment of the "Apos-