22 Dr. Francia, the Dictator of Paraguay. JAN. 



of mind, gave orders to sow a second time, and, to the astonishment of 

 every one, the attempt was crowned with exuberant plenty. 



But the darling project, the ruling passion of the mind of this singu- 

 lar man, was to render Paraguay independent of the rest of the world 

 his whole course of policy has, in fact, hinged on this point ; and the 

 absolute government produced one good result a complete revolution 

 in the whole system of rural economy, which had hitherto been com- 

 pletely neglected. The suspension of intercourse with the neighbouring 

 countries curbed the migratory spirit of the Paraguayans, and chained their 

 attention to agriculture. Vegetables, hitherto unknown in the country, 

 began now to cover the plains ; the manufacturing industry, from the 

 operation of the same cause, was actively developed. The dictator had 

 recourse to terror to call forth the latent energies of his people ; he 

 erected a gibbet, and threatened to hang up a poor shoemaker because 

 he had blundered in making some belts ; and, on another occasion, he 

 condemned, to hard labour, a smith, for having improperly fixed the 

 sight of a cannon. 



A deep laid conspiracy against the power of the dictator, which had 

 been secretly organized for nearly two years, was destroyed in the bud 

 by an accidental disclosure. The effect it produced on his mind was 

 terrible. He became difficult of access, and saw in all who sought his 

 presence traitors and conspirators. His horse taking fright one day at 

 an old cask, he arrested the master of the house before which it was 

 standing. Being informed that it was the intention of the conspirators 

 to assassinate him in the streets, which, from their narrowness and 

 gloom, would have greatly facilitated the enterprise, he conceived the 

 project of destroying the city, a measure which he shortly after executed. 

 Meanwhile, the unfortunate conspirators were exposed to the unmiti- 

 gated barbarity and relentless cruelty of the exasperated Francia ; they 

 were compelled to go through a strict examination, and if the questions 

 that were put to the wretched prisoner were not satisfactorily answered, 

 he was transferred to the place of torture, barbarously named the Cham- 

 ber of Truth, where the victim was scourged till pain had elicited from 

 him the wished-for replies ; led out to the place of execution, they were 

 shot in groups of four and five, and died with a courage worthy of a 

 happier destiny, several of them in the agonies of death exclaiming, 

 " Viva la patria." 



" Et dulcis moriens remeniscitur Argos." 



This system of despotic cruelty wrought an extraordinary change in 

 the character of the Paraguayans. Fear, suspicion, and mistrust, gave 

 place to their former frankness and gaiety of character ; their tertulias 

 were deserted ; the guitar hung silent on the walls of their desolate 

 dwellings ; the alameda no longer resounded with lively sallies of the 

 dark eyed daughters of the land. When once an individual fell into 

 disgrace, his whole family was involved in his ruin. The system of 

 terror which reigned in the capital was practised with tenfold severity 

 in the provinces. To counteract, in some degree, the unpopular effects 

 of the system, Francia declared, as an atonement to the feelings of the 

 natives, a crusade against the Old Spaniards. Accordingly, in June, 1821, 

 he gave orders that all the Spaniards resident in Assumption should 

 assemble at the government-house within three hours. These wretched 

 beings, to the number of 300, were then conducted to prison, where 



