94 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
been impossible for him to have maintained his authority for so 
many years without a standing army ; and we have the strongest 
evidence of this truth in the fact that, during his long admini- 
stration, notwithstanding the efforts of many foreign emissaries, 
no attempt was ever made among the people to revolt; no 
Paraguayan endeavoured to control his power, or change the 
system he adopted. We have the evidence of Mr. Robertson 
(one who suffered most from the suspension in the trade in 
Yerba, and who was in consequence one of the foremost among 
his detractors) that during his residence of two years in Para- 
guay, under Francia’s rule, no instance of the punishment of 
death was known. 
Under the Spanish rule, the Paraguayans had cultivated, 
besides the Yerba, little beyond a fine kind of tobacco (con- 
sidered equal to that of Havanna, and much appreciated in 
Chile and Peru), and also some sugar and yucca (yams). They 
were soon induced by Francia to extend their agricultural pur- 
suits, to cultivate rice, maize, and other vegetables, on a large 
scale, and to raise a sufficient quantity of yucca to satisfy the 
general consumption. Other vegetable products, hitherto scarcely 
known in the country, soon covered the plains : cotton, formerly 
procured from Corrientes, was now cultivated to some extent ; 
more attention was paid to the rearing of cattle and horses, in- 
stead of importing them from Entrerios, so that in a few years 
they were able to export a considerable surplus above their own 
requirements ; and they now made cotton cloths for their gar- 
ments, in lieu of the woollen ponchos obtained from Cordova. 
The Dictator for many years was assiduous in his endeavours tq 
establish permanently this system of industry, which necessarily 
supplanted in great measure the trade in Yerba ; he even employed 
coercive measures in order to carry it into effect; and in 1829 he 
decreed that the possessor of every house or farm should sow a 
certain quantity of maize, upon the product of which every one 
was bound to contribute 4 per cent, to the state, no excuse being 
allowed ; and those who sought to evade this obligation became 
subject to heavy penalties. 
1 had many opportunities, during my residence in Buenos 
Ayres in 1825-1827, of conversing with several persons who had 
been in Paraguay, but I never met with any one who had wit- 
nessed the atrocities currently ascribed to the Dictator : from all 
I could learn, I became convinced that the character so generally 
assigned to Doctor Francia was not founded in truth, and that, 
owing to political jealousy and personal dislike, he has been un- 
justly maligned. He ought, on the contrary, to be looked upon 
as a great benefactor to his country ; and though he had recourse 
to a policy of restraint, which in a more advanced state of society 
