18 Dr. Francia, the Dictator of Paraguay. [JAN. 



character arid habits of an animal, of more interest than any that the 

 natural history of Paraguay presented ; and the best security that can 

 be offered of the truth and fidelity of the colouring of the picture, is simply 

 the statement, that it might have cost them their heads to have suffered 

 themselves to be deceived as to the character of Dr. Francia. te It is 

 thus," says M. Reugger, " that self-preservation obliges one who tra- 

 verses the wilds of vast continents to study, even though they be not 

 naturalists, the habits of the tiger and the jaguar/' 



The history of the revolution of Paraguay is so intimately identified 

 with this extraordinary man, that it will be necessary, in order to fully 

 understand it, to briefly advert to his previous life and character. 

 Francia was born in the year 1763 ; his father was a Frenchman, who, 

 after residing several years at Lisbon, finally emigrated to Paraguay, 

 where he married a creole lady, by whom he had several children. The 

 only professions open to the native youth of South America, previous to 

 the revolution, were the church and the law. Francia was destined by 

 his father for the former ; and he accordingly received the first rudi- 

 ments of education at a monkish seminary at Assumption. He subse- 

 quently repaired to the university of Cordova de Tucuman, the Sala- 

 manca of the New World, where he studied with considerable success, 

 and was admitted a doctor of theology ; but his application to the canon 

 law having given him a taste for jurisprudence, he resolved not to take 

 the tonsure, and became an advocate. 



On his return to his own country from the university, he entered with 

 ardour on his profession, and distinguished himself by an extraordinary 

 combination of moral courage and integrity. Never did he sully his 

 function by undertaking an unjust cause. He readily defended the weak 

 against the strong the poor against the rich. He exacted large fees 

 from those only who could pay, and especially from those who were dis- 

 posed to litigation; but he was extremely disinterested in dealing with 

 those clients who were either in humble circumstances, or were reluct- 

 antly forced into the courts by the injustice of others. His patrimony 

 was moderate, and he was not ambitious of increasing it. The half of a 

 town-house, and a small estancia in the country, constituted his whole 

 fortune ; and so singular was his temper, that finding himself possessed 

 of 800 dollars a sum too great, in his opinion, for a single individual 

 he immediately proceeded to, the gaming-table, and at one throw lost 

 the whole. 



Unsocial in his disposition, passionately fond of study, and a professed 

 libertine, he was never known to yield to either the soft emotions of love, 

 or the more chastened pleasures of friendship. Surrounded by igno- 

 rance, destitute of literary resources, his knowledge of the world was of 

 the most circumscribed order. He had, farther, the misfortune to be 

 subject to fits of hypochondria an hereditary disease in his family j for 

 his father was a man remarkable for his eccentricities his brother and 

 sister, lunatics. Francia became successively member of the Cabildo, 

 and an Alcalde. In this capacity he displayed the same fearless integrity 

 that had distinguished him as an advocate. Devoted to one object the 

 protection of his native country from the tyrannical pretensions of Spain 

 his conduct won him the attachment and esteem of all classes of his 

 countrymen. 



In the year 1811 the people of Paraguay, impelled by the example of 

 the neighbouring states, and by the remembrance of former wrongs, 



