We have seen how Paraguay, having in the early days of the war of liberation compelled the retirement of the Argentine army commanded by General Belgrano, was left to its own resources. It is said by some that Belgrano, during the intercourse he maintained with the Paraguayans subsequent to the defeat of his force and previous to his definite retreat, contrived to inculcate some ideas of independence into the heads of the officials of the inland province. These seeds of liberty may or may not have borne fruit, but in any case it is certain that public opinion in Paraguay rapidly veered round in favour of independence, and as early as 1811 the Spanish Government was replaced by a Junta, which consisted of a President, two Assessors, and a Secretary. The person appointed to the latter office was Don José Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia, whose name was destined to become dreaded throughout the length of the Republic which was now to establish itself.
It was not long before the strong personality of Francia dominated the Junta. The history of Paraguay at this period differs widely from those of the more progressive nations surrounding it. In Paraguay a certain opera bouffe element, together with a series of grimly farcical incidents, continually mingled themselves with some of the darkest tragedies that have been known in any age. From the very start something of the kind had become evident. The members of the Junta, for instance, finding their own means insufficient to support the pomp and state which was suddenly thrust upon them, and which they had grown to love, began to adopt some extraordinary measures in order to maintain their position. Any portable national assets were sold without the least compunction for this purpose, and they even went to the length of compelling State prisoners to purchase their liberty—an idea which undoubtedly ranks as one of the most extraordinary schemes for raising money ever employed. Measures such as this constituted a sufficiently ominous beginning; they provided, indeed, an only too true augury of what was to come and from what species of wrongs the unfortunate country was doomed to suffer for generations.
In justice to Francia himself it must be said that he took no part in these first minor acts of oppression. His grim and proud nature cared but little for mere matters of pomp and ceremony. Money and possessions, curiously enough, affected him little. Messrs. Rengger and Longchamps vouch for it that, having once discovered that he was the possessor of 800 piastres, he thought this sum a great deal too much for a single person, and he spent it. A remedy such as this seems simple enough for an unusual complaint!
By the year 1813 all but the most powerful elements of the Junta had been weeded out. The power was now confined to the two remaining members—Dr. Francia and his colleague, Fulgencio Yegros. These were now endowed with the titles of Consul. Two curule chairs were specially manufactured for them. These classical seats were covered with leather. On one was the name of Cæsar, on the other that of Pompey. It is possible that Francia had some faint smattering of Latin and of Roman history; at all events, he is said to have pounced on the first and eagerly to have taken possession of it. The two Consuls began their reign by employing a vast amount of ceremony and form in order to accomplish a few quite arbitrary acts. The majority of these were directed against the Spaniards, who, suffering now from the swing of the pendulum of fate, were as much oppressed as they had formerly oppressed. Indeed, the situation of those Spaniards who still remained in Paraguay was now pitiable in the extreme. Persecuted on all sides by the high officials, they could expect, in the face of an example such as this, scant consideration from the populace.
In the year 1814 Francia determined that the time had come when he could dispense with the services of his colleague, Yegros. By means of a coup d'état he packed the Congress, and succeeded in intimidating his adversaries. As a result, he was named Dictator of Paraguay for a period of three years, notwithstanding a counter-move on the part of the military followers of Yegros. This was calmed by Yegros himself. In a moment of considerable generosity this latter pacified the officers and the troops, and thus left the way clear for Dr. Francia.
At this period the new Dictator again gave evidence of his curiously complex character. Congress, anxious to please the new ruler, whose power of domination had already become so evident, had allotted to His Excellency the Dictator an annual allowance of 9,000 piastres. Francia definitely refused to accept more than one-third of this, and, moreover, continued firm in his refusal, alleging that the State was far more in need of money than he. On paper, never was the start of a Chief-of-State's career more fraught with promise than that of Francia's. He had given evidence of despotism, but also of an earnest spirit. No sooner had the reins of absolute power fallen to his lot than he altered entirely the mode of his life. From a comparative libertine he became a man of austere habits, displaying a most extraordinary industry in his attention to the matters of State. His manner, moreover, was affable to poor and rich alike, and the claims of the humblest met with a courteous consideration rare in any State at any time, but doubly amazing in a period of chaos such as was reigning throughout the Continent at the time.
In 1817 his period of Dictatorship expired. It was then that Francia made his supreme effort. Intrigues, persuasions, and veiled threats strengthened the position which his cautious and cleverly conceived conduct had created for him. Numbers of his creatures now came forward with suggestions. Congress fell into the trap, and Francia was appointed Dictator of Paraguay for life. This was the moment for which Francia had waited so patiently and so long. With the last obstacle to his full power now removed, the change in the Dictator's conduct was as complete as it was sudden. Had he sat at the right hand of Nero his refinements of tyranny could not have been more successful. In a very short while his methods had terrorized Asuncion.
When Dr. Francia and his hussar escort rode abroad, the streets through which the cavalcade passed resembled a desert, for anyone who had the misfortune to find himself anywhere near the line of route was set upon and beaten with the flat of their swords by the hussars for the mere fact of daring to be in the neighbourhood of the Dictator in a public place. At the outset there were some who protested. The fate of every one of these was, at the lightest, to be flung into dungeons and loaded with massive and torturing chains.
Following the inevitable progress of tyranny, as time went on Francia's vigilance and cruelty increased, while as the discontent of the populace became evident his suspicions grew more and more on the alert. Conceiving the possibility of an assassin lurking behind one of the orange-trees with which the streets of the capital were so liberally and beautifully planted, Francia cut them down, and it is said that when his horse once shied at the sight of a barrel before a door, the owner of the cask was made to suffer severely on account of the nerves of the Dictator's steed!
Paraguay gradually became more and more a hermit State under the rule of this despot. It was difficult in the extreme to enter the country, but, having once passed its frontiers, it was harder still to return. Forts were established along the borders, and the rivers were strictly policed. A strict watch was kept on all travellers, and none might move from spot to spot without being in possession of a passport especially granted by the Dictator. Some there were who attempted to make their way from the now dreaded country through the vast swamps of the Chaco, but death at the hands of the Indians or the teeth of the wild beasts was the usual result.