During the anti-Jesuit debates of the 1750s and 1760s, the order's overseas business activities were among the most important topics. The image denounces these illicit activities and explicitly refers to father Lavalette, a Jesuit missionary who went bankrupt in 1760 and thereby set off the French parlements' assault on the order. The Jesuit General Ricci is called "Roy du Para[guay]", an allusion to the accusations put forward by the Portuguese government in 1759. According to the Portuguese, the Jesuits had usurped royal territories in Paraguay and had founded an independent and rebellious "Jesuit Republic" with the sole purpose to enrich the order.
Magazin de toutes sortes de marchandises, en gros et en detail, etching, ca. 1760, unknown artist; Source: Bibliothèque de Port-Royal, Paris, Est. 728.