136 Geographical Collections. 
were, weighed down by the weight of those vices which were derived as much 
from the climate as from the bad institutions brought over by the Spaniards. As 
nature distributed her luxuries without much labour, they remained -in conse- 
quence immersed in a kind of apathy and indifference, inimical to all species of 
public felicity. 
Francia has well judged that, with such vices, a nation which owed its liber- 
ty to the favour of circumstances, rather than to virtues culled from adversity, 
would soon fall again into slavery and brutality. He saw no other means of es- 
tablishing and consolidating liberty, than by extirpating by violence vices which 
hhad gained so deep a root, and by imposing on them virtues which would one day 
make them prosperous. He undertook, then, to reform his nation like a father 
whips his children, to correct their bad inclination; and we shall notice the 
means which he put into practice to attain an end so worthy of an elevated mind 
‘which penetrates into the future. 
As soon as he had attained the dictatorship, he occupied himself with giving 
strength to his power, and by rendering it more and more absolute.. He did not 
allow the least contradiction, nor the least resistance to his will, exacting from 
all a passive obedience, without the least murmur. As such a power could not 
be supported but by a force, equally to be feared on all sides, he devoted all his 
attention to the formation of a well disciplined army, blindly devoted to the de- 
fence of the state, and to preserve his authority. He dispensed with the services 
of many officers, whose fidelity appeared suspicious, because they belonged to 
powerful families, who inspired him with dread. He replaced them by men 
chosen from the lowest plebeian ranks, and who attached themselves to him by 
interest, if not by gratitude. The soldiers whom, when unemployed, he allowed 
to live according to their fancy, had no less attachment for his person ; and all 
became the instruments of his caprices and of his will. 
~ But however devoted an army may be, it does not offer a sufficient guarantee 
to a power which becomes terrible, and knows no restraint. Francia thought he 
might consolidate this power, by establishing a police of such a description, that 
nothing could be undertaken, neither against his government nor against his per- 
son, without his being informed of it; for he was well aware how much his ty- 
ranny rendered him odious. Every creature that received his wages, was not 
only charged with the guardianship of the citizens, but was obliged to serve 
him as a sure and faithful spy: Whoever gained any information of any one 
rebelling against his authority, whether in action or in words, was punished 
equally with the guilty, if he did not hasten to denounce him. Hence friendship, 
concord, and communion of sentiment, fled from the bosom of families : people 
met one another with fear, and scarcely dared to speak. But without a police of 
this kind, it would have been difficult to have stayed, or have anticipated those 
conspiracies to which tyranny always gives birth. 
As Francia’s designs could not be penetrated, he was looked upon as a hor- - 
rible tyrant, from whom the country should be delivered, and it was not long be- 
fore a vast conspiracy was formed against him. Though in the very beginning he 
had arrested one of the chiefs of the enterprise, he only discovered the whole plot 
by the revelation of a conspirator, made to a monk at the tribunal of repentance. 
The moment of execution had been fixed for the Good Friday of 1820, when the 
conspirators were to have stabbed the dictator and the principal chiefs of the go- 
vernment. Francia was so much irritated, that he punished the conspirators 
like a tyrant. In the midst of their tortures, brothers might be seen denouncing 
brothers—fathers accusing their children. The executions were numerous, and 
lasted more than a year. The blood which he caused to be shed, created a great 
panic in Paraguay, which he kept up by throwing a multitude of citizens into 
irons, and directing his persecution more particularly against a great number of 
Spaniards, whom he detained in prison in a most barbarous manner, and to whom 
he only gave liberty after depriving them of their riches. 
Tyranny is so odious in its nature, that no one can justify it, even should it 
be turned to public advantage ; for staining itself with crimes and with blood, it 
