"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]