PARAGUAY,
strictly speaking, has no place in this book, being, as it is for the present, a distinct and separate Republic; but, like the Missions, it is impossible to pass so near it without some allusion to its former prosperity, and to its present very singular condition under the despotic rule of Dr. Francia.
It was in Paraguay that the first conquerors of the country fixed their abode and the seat of their government:—it was there also, attracted by the same inducements of a genial clime and a profusion of natural productions to satisfy all man's wants, that the Jesuit fathers laid the original foundations of their celebrated establishments just spoken of. Its population, before it ceased to be a province subject to the government of Buenos Ayres, was estimated at 200,000 souls, and the yearly value of its surplus produce, exported for consumption to Buenos Ayres and the interior provinces, fell little short of a million and a half of dollars. Eight millions of pounds of Paraguay tea were annually sent to Santa Fé and Buenos Ayres, besides a million of pounds of tobacco, large quantities of timber for every purpose, cotton, sugar, molasses, spirits, and a variety of other articles.
The yerba-maté, or tea, which forms the principal article in the list, is as much in general use and demand throughout all the provinces of La Plata, Chile, and many parts of Peru, as the teas of China are in Europe. The plant which produces it (the Ilex Paraguayensis) is an evergreen about the size of an orange-tree, which grows wild and in great abundance in the dense forests in the northern and eastern parts of the province, whither the people repair yearly in numerous gangs to collect it. The difficulties of penetrating the woods to reach the yerbales, as they are called, are considerable, but they are amply repaid by the certain profits of the adventure. The whole process of preparing and packing it for market is performed on the spot. The tender branches and twigs, being selected, are roasted quickly over a fire till the leaves are crisp; and then, after being partially crushed or pounded, are rammed into hide bags, called serrons, containing 200 lbs. each, which, when sown up, are ready for sale.
The Jesuits cultivated the plant, of which there are three species, in their Missions; and by attention produced a better quality of tea, called caa-mini, than that from the wild plant collected in the woods.
From the practice of reducing the leaf nearly to dust probably originated the general custom in South America of sucking the infusion when made through a tube, at one end of which is a strainer, which prevents the small particles of the tea-leaves from getting into the mouth: it is usually made very strong, very hot, and very sweet with sugar; its properties seem to be much the same as those of the China tea. The Spaniards learned to use it from the Guarani Indians.
When the Viceroy's power was overthrown in 1810, the province of Paraguay refused to acknowledge the central government set up at Buenos Ayres to succeed him, and an army was in consequence sent to reduce it to obedience; but the Paraguay troops defeated the Buenos Ayrean general, Belgrano, who was glad to capitulate, and be permitted to return whence he came. Emboldened by this success, which gave them an idea of their own consequence beyond any they had before entertained, they proceeded at once to assert their absolute independence, not only of Buenos Ayres, but of the mother country, and to declare Paraguay a free and sovereign state, a step beyond any at that time contemplated, perhaps even by the rulers of Buenos Ayres themselves, who, though self-elected, continued to act in the King's name up to 1816, the date of their declaration of independence at Tucuman.
This proclamation of the independence of Paraguay was followed in the first instance by the setting up of a triumvirate government, of which Francia was the secretary, and soon became the secret mover of the whole machine. A sort of Mephistopheles, he was not long ere he set the members of the government by the ears, and by his intrigues brought about their resignation.
Then came the convocation of a general assembly of deputies from all the towns and villages of the province, to consider what was to be done under the circumstances. By these poor ignorant people thus dragged from their homes, Francia, a person in authority, a lawyer, or learned man,—for the terms are synonymous in the language of Paraguay,—living like an ascetic, and affecting a sort of cabalistical knowledge, was looked upon with a kind of reverential awe, as a person of wonderful acquirements and sagacity, whose opinions were eagerly sought to guide them in the weighty matters they were called upon to discuss, whilst on his own part he was not behindhand in maturing his plans and securing his influence.
When the Congress met he laid before it the following project for a government, which, as he anticipated, was regarded as the ne plus ultra of wisdom, and was adopted by acclamation (por acclamacion). I give the document entire, not only because it has never before appeared in English, but as the best evidence of the low cunning of the projector, and of the extreme simplicity and subserviency of those who adopted it, believing all the time that they were a free and independent people.
Plan for a Constitution proposed by Dr. Francia to the General Congress of Paraguay, and adopted by acclamation.
"Article I.—The two citizens Don Fulencio Yegros and Don José Gaspar de Francia shall alone constitute the government, with the title of 'Consuls of the Republic of Paraguay.' They shall have the rank and honours of Brigadier-Generals, and their commissions as such shall be signed by the President of this Congress.
"Art. II.—They shall wear, as the insignia of their Consular dignity, a hat bound with blue, and the tri-coloured scarf of the Republic. They shall have the like and equal jurisdiction and authority, which they shall exercise uniformly and conjointly. In consequence, all acts of the Government shall be signed by both.
"Art. III.—Their first duty shall be the preservation, security, and defence of the Republic, with all the vigilance, judgment, and activity required under existing circumstances.
"Art. IV.—There shall henceforward be no Presidency.
"Art. V.—All the forces of the Province shall be under the joint command in chief of the two Consuls.
"Art. VI.—Nevertheless, all the active and effective troops of every grade, as well as all the arms and ammunition, shall be equally divided, and placed at the disposal, half and half, of each Consul, and each shall have his own separate barracks and magazines under his own command.
"Art. VII.—There shall be two battalions of infantry, each to consist of three or four companies for the present, or of more if necessary; so that each Consul shall have his separate battalion, of which he shall be the chief and commandant exclusively: he shall also have the command of one of the two companies of artillery; Consul Yegros shall command the first, and Consul Francia the second; the latter shall form his own battalion, towards which he shall be at liberty to take the fifth part of that commanded by Consul Yegros.
"Art. VIII.—The officers and men of these corps shall be approved of by their respective Chiefs, the said Consuls; but all officers' commissions shall be signed by both jointly, though they may be proposed by their own commanders respectively: in like manner, if it should be necessary to try them for any offence, it shall be before the two Consuls jointly.
"Art. IX.—The Consuls shall preside over the tribunals in turn for four months at a time each, with the title of 'Consul in Turn,' and not 'Consul Presiding,' lest that designation should give rise to mistakes. Consul Francia shall take the first turn, and in all cases, when the turn comes round, a notice of it, signed by both, shall be inserted in a book, and sent to the Cabildo of the city for their information.
"Art. X.—A chamber shall be set apart in the Government House for the Tribunal of the Consuls: it shall be open during the hours of office, and its forms shall be regulated by the Consul in Turn for the time being.
"Art. XI.—The Secretary shall take cognisance of such cases on which doubts may arise, and which are not hereby provided for.
"Art. XII.—It is left to the will and prudence of the two Consuls to regulate by common accord all that may be requisite for the due despatch of the business of the State, in all its branches; as well as to appoint one or, if necessary, two secretaries; also to create a superior tribunal of appeal, to determine, according to law, as a Court of Last Resort, such cases as it may be necessary to refer to it.
"Art XIII.—If either of the two Consuls should die or resign, the other shall proceed within a month to call together the General Congress of the Province, which shall consist of one thousand Deputies, chosen, like the present, by popular election; and it shall be a fundamental, general, perpetual, and invariable law and rule, that henceforward such General Congress of the Province shall assemble every year, convoked in the same manner, and to consist of the aforesaid number of one thousand representatives; and the day for their meeting shall always be on the 15th of October: and the necessary convocation and summonses shall be issued in consequence by the middle of every month of September, in order that the Province may duly, and at least once a year, meet as a free and sovereign people, to deliberate on what may be most conducive to the general good, to improve, if necessary, its government, to provide remedies for abuses, and to take all such measures as may be suggested by the wisdom of experience.
"Art. XIV.—These rules shall be observed until altered by any future Congress, and shall be copied into the Book of the Resolutions of Government.
"Art. XV.—The Consuls shall immediately appear before the present Sovereign Congress to swear to observe faithfully, and to cause to be observed, these rules and regulations. The same oath shall be also forthwith administered by their order to all the officers of the troops, and by the officers to the soldiers, whereof a proper record shall be inserted in the archives of the Congress; and whoever shall refuse to take the said oath shall be dismissed the service, and punished as though he had broken it.
"Art. XVI.—The Province adopts the forms, as well as the number of Representatives assembled in the actual Congress, and the Government shall make no change in either one or the other.
"Done and Signed at Assumption,
the 12th October, 1813."
Francia, having thus obtained one-half the power he aimed at, was not long ere he secured the other. When the thousand deputies met, in virtue of the 13th article of the Constitution, it was intimated to them that the substitution of one Governor for a pair of Consuls would be a great improvement; and Don Gaspar was, as a matter of course, elected sole Dictator, of the Republic of Paraguay.
His nomination in the first instance was for three years; at the expiration of which time he took care to have his power confirmed for life. The Deputies who passed this act, in their simplicity, returned to their homes exulting in an arrangement whereby they were saved all further trouble, whilst the tyrant they had set up commenced a reign which, for systematic selfishness, cruelty, and unrestrained despotism, is almost unparalleled in the history of any country.
His first object, as may be supposed, was to put down all opposition; and this he did by imprisoning, banishing, or putting to death every individual of wealth or influence who could in any way interfere with him in the exercise of his despotic sway:—his spies were in every house, the most trivial expression of dissatisfaction was construed into treason, and ere long no man dared to speak to his neighbour for fear of being denounced: thus he silenced by terror all opposition from within; and, lest any should be attempted from without, he proceeded to restrict the communication with the adjoining provinces, and at last to establish a system of non-intercourse which for nearly twenty years he has rigorously enforced, and will doubtless continue to do so as long as he lives. The only trade, if trade it can be called, which of late years has been carried on, has been upon his own account, and such as has been necessary to further his own policy of habituating the lower classes to look to him, and to him only, for the supply of all their wants. His mode of managing this business is as singular as all the rest of his proceedings. When he wants an assortment of foreign goods, a permit is sent over to the adjoining province of Corrientes for a vessel to proceed to the opposite port of Nembucú; on her arrival there, the invoice of the cargo is immediately forwarded to him at Assumption, from which, after selecting such articles as he requires, he orders a quantity of yerba-maté to be put on board in payment. There is no appeal from his own valuation: no one is allowed to go on shore, and the ship is sent back as soon as the yerba is delivered:—the article itself is in such demand, from his having stopped the trade in it, that the people of Corrientes are glad to get it upon his own terms. He is the owner of several shops or stores, in Assumption, from which the goods are afterwards retailed, by his permission, to those who may stand in need of them.
In the same manner for a short period he allowed a peddling traffic to be carried on between the Brazilian Missions beyond the river Uruguay and the port of Ytapua, opposite to Candelaria, but that he altogether stopped about ten years ago.
His revenue chiefly arises from properties confiscated by his own arbitrary judgments, and from tithes in kind upon all articles of produce, the right to levy which is yearly sold by the government to the best bidder in each department; the contractors generally underlet them to others, and they are in consequence rigorously exacted.[56] The principal expenditure is in the maintenance of a large militia force, in which every person capable of bearing arms is enrolled and called upon to do duty in turn. Francia is of course commander-in-chief of the army, as he is the head of the church, the law, and every other branch of the administration.
When I arrived in the River Plate, in 1824, I found that many British subjects had been for several years detained in Paraguay by this monster against their will; and it became my duty in consequence to make a representation to him upon the subject, and to apply for their liberation. This I was fortunate enough to obtain, together with the release of many other Europeans, whom, that it should not appear that he was granting any special favour to the English, he allowed at the same time to depart; amongst the rest Messrs. Rengger and Longchamps, two Swiss gentlemen, who have since published a highly-interesting account of their detention, and of the state of the country.[57]
He made, however, an exception of M. Bompland, the well-known companion of Baron Humboldt, whom he had some years before caused to be seized and carried off by an armed force, sent across the Paranã for the purpose, whilst engaged in his own inoffensive pursuits in the province of Corrientes. As there was no accredited French agent at Buenos Ayres at the time, I took upon myself to make another application to Francia, specially in favour of an individual in whose fate I could justly say that all the scientific world was interested; and I further offered to guarantee the fulfilment of any promise M. Bompland might himself choose to make, in case of his liberation, to return at once to Europe. I wrote in the same sense to M. Bompland, and enclosed my letter, open, to the Dictator, to forward to its destination if he approved of it. But, instead of doing so, he returned it to me, with a rude intimation that that must close our correspondence.[58]
I believe he was disappointed at finding that I could not concur with him in his notion of opening a direct trade between Great Britain and Paraguay, on which it appeared he had long set his heart, the rather as he expected thereby to be able to show to his own subjects his independence of his neighbours, and especially of the Buenos Ayreans.
That so extraordinary a state of things should so long have existed is I believe entirely to be ascribed to the miserable weakness of the adjoining provinces, which, had they been able to make the slightest combined effort, might long ago have put an end to the tyrannical rule of this crazy old despot. Nature will probably do this ere long, when it may be expected that Paraguay will once more join the confederation of her sister provinces.