friendly or familiar intercourse with any one for more than twenty-five years. Robertson and Rengger both considered themselves the most highly favored of any people in Paraguay. They owed to Francia the same gratitude that the stork owed to the wolf from whose throat he had drawn the troublesome bone. They were permitted to leave the country alive.

allow neither ingress nor egress. The ves- | With the exception of the elder Robertson, sels in the river, whether belonging to natives it does not appear that Francia had any or foreigners, were compelled to remain there till they rotted at their wharves; and the hides, tallow, and Paraguayan tea which accumulated in the warehouses became equally valueless, as they could never be shipped away. Francia, however, had occasion to import, from time to time, certain articles mostly arms and ammunition-for his own use. At such times he allowed a little vessel to come to his lowest port on the river, Neembucu, and thence send a manifest of the cargo to Asuncion, when he would select such articles as he desired, and send a quantity of yerba mate to pay for them. This was all the commerce the country enjoyed for twenty-five years. In the mean while, the cattle were breeding in the valleys and plains, so that they almost ceased to have any value. In fact, when a fine hat costing thirty or forty shillings in London could not be had for less than twice as many dollars in Paraguay, it would take at least sixty head of fat cattle to pay for it.

At the time Francia first issued his order closing the ports, there were two young Scotchmen in the country, brothers of the name of Robertson. Being lively, enterprising young fellows, Francia thought to make them useful, by granting them some exceptional facilities of trade. He also condescended to hold some personal intercourse with them. It was from the letters of these two young men, published in 1839, and from a little work by two Swiss doctors or naturalists, Rengger and Longchamp, published in 1828, that nearly all the information that the world had of Paraguay during the reign of the dictator was derived. It was from them almost entirely that Carlyle derived the information he had on which to base his grand eulogy. Robertson left the country in 1815, and before Francia had begun to show the worst phases of his character; and Rengger and Longchamp did not arrive till three years later, and then, with a simplicity and enthusiasm characteristic of naturalists, they entered into a country from which no outward tracks had been seen for years.

"Thou lonely Francia!" is the pitying comment of Carlyle, after a long wail over the wickedness of the Paraguayan people. Says he:

"Within the confines of Paraguay, we know for certain but of one man who would do himself an injury to do a just and true thing under the sun; one

man who understands in his heart that the universe is an eternal fact."

Surely, a saint among such a set of graceless sinners must be an object of pity.

While Francia was yet asesor of the junta, his first scheme of state-craft was planned It was to pretend to have discovered and suppressed a conspiracy which had for its purpose a counter-revolution, with the object of restoring the authority of Spain. This was afterwards found to be a scheme of Francia, to delude some of the leading Spaniards to make a demonstration which should provoke the troops to shoot them. They suspected the snare, and were not caught. But a couple of years later, when his power had become absolute, he pretended to have discovered another conspiracy, which embraced a large number of the Spaniards, and many of the most intelligent of the Paraguayans. Without a word of warning, and with no suspicion that anything unusual was going on, on the part of any one who survived Francia to tell of it, all these people, some fifty in number, were arrested, tortured, and killed. It was afterwards given out that a conspiracy had been maturing for a long time, the object of which was to overthrow the dictator. But the older residents of Paraguay, who survived both Francia and the elder Lopez, knew little or nothing of this conspiracy; all they knew was, that many

they had been parties to it.

During his lifetime, no one dared to ask a question in regard to it; and twenty-five years after the body of Francia had been carried off, as the Paraguayans believed, by the devil, there were various theories in regard to that conspiracy. But the general opinion of those who dared to speak of it was, that there never had been any such conspiracy, and that the pretense of it was got up by El Supremo as an excuse for murdering a large number of people whom he wished to put out of his way.

people were killed under the allegation that | His alacrity in the conspiracy business was first manifested immediately after the old man's death, by the arrest of all his intimate and confidential friends, including the chief justice, and the father confessor of the presidential family. All of them were horribly tortured, and all, with the exception of the priest, Padre Maiz, put to death at a later period. When he had grown desperate by the adverse fortune of war, he got up a conspiracy on a grander scale than anything that had yet been attempted in Paraguay. This was a scheme of which I ought to have had full knowledge, as it was got up largely for my benefit, and I was charged with being its chief instigator. For colleagues in this business I had not only all the foreigners in the country, but all the Paraguayans who had anything worth stealing. I was also in frequent correspondence with the commanders of the armies allied against Paraguay, and, under instructions from my government, was treating, confidentially, with the two emperors, Napoleon and Dom Pedro, for the purpose of overthrowing the benign republic of Paraguay, change the map of South America, and found two new empires. What the foundation was for these accusations, I will not here inquire. But under the pretext that there was such a conspiracy, all the foreigners in Paraguay, except myself and family, and such few as escaped in the chance of battle, besides all the Paraguayans whose money and jewelry were sufficient to tempt the cupidity of Lopez or his imported mistress, known as Madame Lynch, were most miserably tortured and murdered.

This conspiracy served the dictator the purpose he had in view in concocting it. It increased the terror of his name. Since then, under the two Lopezes, such conspiracies have been frequent-conspiracies got up by the government, and of which the accused parties knew nothing, only to furnish an excuse to the Paraguayans, and a justification to the rest of the world, for their destruction. One such was got up by Carlos Antonio Lopez after his difficulty with the United States, in 1857. While the large American squadron was in the Rio de la Plata, he was in an agony of fear. But after it had left, he resorted to Francia's trick of a conspiracy, to show his people that he was still the autocrat of the country. A large number of arrests were made, and the prisoners placed in solitary confinement and loaded with fetters. As usual, it was charged that a conspiracy had been discovered, and but for the fact that one of them was claimed as an English subject by the British consul there, and that her Majesty's gov- Lopez had several other like conspiracies ernment insisted on an open trial for him, before he received his final coup de grace. they would all probably have been put to In some respects, the last was the most hordeath. But this action of Great Britain | rible of all; for having already tortured to seriously complicated the plans of Lopez. death his two brothers, this was got up to He therefore pardoned most of the conspir- give him a pretext for torturing and murderators, including the Englishman, and execut-ing his mother and his sisters. These uned only two who had previously incurred the enmity of his heir and putative son, Francisco Solano Lopez.

This younger Lopez was continuously dealing with the same kind of conspiracies, from his first accession to power till his death.

happy women were carried along with the army, as it retreated through the hill country, in carts, after the manner that wild beasts are carried about for show in other countries. They had become an incumbrance to Lopez in his retreat, and he had it

given out among the soldiers that the old | not, all put together, make half a mile in lady had attempted to poison the wine that length. was carried along for the use of Lopez and his paramour, and in that way compass the death of her dutiful son and endanger the liberties of the people. After that, they were all flogged every day, and their backs horribly cut to pieces, for no other reason than to gratify the unnatural, fiendish feeling of the son and brother. Yet they all survived him, as it was only a few minutes after he had given the order that his mother should be shot that the Brazilians broke through into his camp, and made an end of this most unnatural monster of modern if not of all times. But to Francia the credit is due of being the inventor of conspiracies of the kind so long used in Paraguay as a pretext for getting rid of obnoxious persons.

But Francia, with all his rigor, was not indifferent to popularity. He provided that the low and vicious classes should not suffer for food, by compelling those who had herds of cattle to furnish a certain number each day to supply beef for gratuitous distribution. He seemed to realize that there was danger in a hungry multitude, and so encouraged idleness and profligacy as means of security. Everything in the country was absolutely at his own disposal. Carlyle gives him great credit because he exacted but a small salary, and did not indulge in luxury or extravagance. But he regarded everything in the country as his own, and dealt with it accordingly. If for any reason he wanted money, he would call before him some merchant who was accounted wealthy under the old Spanish regime, and charge him with being an enemy of his government. The man would protest loyalty and obedience.

"Very well, then, bring me ten thousand dollars within twenty-four hours, or you go to the banquillo."

"But, your Excellency, I haven't the money."

"Get it, then."

If the money was forthcoming, the man's life was spared for a time; if not, or if but a part was furnished in the appointed time, with a request for a few hours to raise the balance, the doomed man would be placed on the seat beneath the orange tree, three cartridges would be given to as many soldiers, and from the window of the govern

After the reign of terror had become so universal that no one ever dared question any act of the dictator, and all who from their influence or intelligence might excite his suspicion were either dead or in prison, or exiled to remote provinces, Francia conceived the idea of laying out the town, which had grown up with roads and paths, comformable to the topography of the country, into regular parallelograms. He therefore directed the streets to be run at a certain distance from each other in straight lines through the town, and cross-streets to be run in the same way at right angles to them. Having marked out the plan of his new town, he ordered the owners of the houses that stood in the way of his projected streets to tear them down. He also ordered that his new streets should be paved. The mis-ment house the devilish black eyes of the ery and labor caused by these "improvements" were immense; yet Carlyle speaks of Francia's efforts to improve the city as worthy of all praise, and describes the city which he left as well built and well paved. But the only marks of Francia's improving hand, twenty years later, were, here a house cut in two in the middle, there one with a corner cut off and standing diagonally to the street, and a third one with what was intended for a front door on the back side. The pavements so much commended would

dictator would look out on the execution.

It is a relief to find that Francia, in his younger days, had some of the vices of other men. These are about all the qualities he had which seemed to connect him with the human family. He was, as a young man, much addicted to gambling, and was a gross libertine. To his natural children he never gave thought nor consideration. They had to take their lot with the offspring of the lowest, and if they lived or died, it was all the same to him. He had, to all appearance,

no feeling, no fellowship with any human | last twenty years, he never spoke a kind or being. He kept to himself-gloomy, taci- gentle word to a living soul, nor ever heard the turn, and savage. He was constantly in human voice except in tones of abject fear. dread of assassination; and whenever any From first to last, he kept up his system of one entered the long, narrow room he called terrorism. Before his advent to supreme his office, he was required, the moment he power, the people had been the most careless passed the door, to advance with hands ex- and mirthful in the world. But he quickly tended toward the grim dictator, who always forbade all assemblages of young or old for had a pair of freshly loaded pistols on the any purpose whatever. The priests, whom table before him. He allowed no appeals he despised for their scandalous lives, and for clemency or pardon to reach his ears. A hated because of their influence, he persecutfew such were made early in his dictatorship, ed in every way; and no concourse was ever but they always met the response, "To the allowed either to bury the dead or to celebanquillo," or "Another pair of fetters." brate a festival. Festivals, indeed, there were none; nor dances, nor bull-fights, nor any of those recreations that seem indispensable to the Spanish race. All was continuous gloom; and the sounds of music and laughter were not heard in the land.

Having attained to absolute power over the little district of Paraguay, Francia was completely devoured by an overweening vanity. So long as he allowed himself to talk to any one, he was wont to compare himself to Napoleon, and to speak of him as the only man entitled to his respect. Of England, as a naval and commercial power, however, he had a high opinion, and at one time proposed to Mr. Robertson that England and Paraguay should make an alliance, offensive and defensive, against those insignificant countries that made up the rest of the world. He had no taste for the common pleasures of life, as eating and drinking, but took all the delight of a Mohawk Indian in dressing himself to look like the great Napoleon. When thus rigged up, he was accustomed to go out and exercise himself on horseback, accompanied by his body guard. But the first sign of his appearance in the street was a signal for all people to flee inside their houses and shut their doors. Francia saw an assassin in every person in the street at such a time, and his escort would fall upon him and beat him to the earth. Hence, when it was known that Francia was out for an airing, the town had a deserted aspect, as if not inhabited by a living soul.

It was in the year 1811 that Francia first appeared as the secretary of the junta. Within three years, his power was absolute, and he wielded it with undeviating rigor till his death, in 1840, at the age of eighty-two. That a man could for so many years live such a life as he did seems incredible. For the VOL. V-12.

To maintain this system of government throughout the entire state required close watchfulness on the part of the dictator. Through the day, he was busy in receiving reports from spies in town and couriers from the country. As the darkness approached, he would shut himself up in his house with his old mulatto servants, and then sit for hours in his chair, with his head drooped between his shoulders, meditating, perhaps on his greatness, and perhaps planning for arrests, tortures, and executions on the morrow.

Even the servants dared not speak to

him. If money was needed for marketing, they feared to tell him so, but would contrive to be overheard talking to each other of what El Supremo would want for his table the next day. Thus reminded, he would give them the money to purchase the required food. He never took wine, spirits, or beer; and his food was so plain and simple, that to supply his table did not cost more than three or four reals a day. Whatever enjoyment he had in life must have come from the terror he inspired and the misery he inflicted. He knew he was feared and hated by everybody, and this knowledge kept him in constant dread of assassination. Hence it may be doubted whether there was a more miserable wretch than himself in all his dominions. "Thou lonely Francia!" CHARLES A. WASHBURN.

A SOTOYOME EVENING.

All Sotoyome knows the locust shadows | liquid murmurs from the river put to melobeneath which four persons walked toward the river garden one evening in July. All Sotoyome knows the river garden. Yet it has a summer existence only. Winter takes the flower-beds unto itself, blotting them out under a turbid overflow.

dious use. No white, bare arms lashed the surface of the water. No pretty faces floated flower-like between the low banks. A growing, three-quarter moon overhead had lost its daylight pallor, and was now gradually enriching the broad, pearly negation of the sun-forgotten sky. Another moon, fallen into the river, was held there with the tremulous ecstasy which marks the uncertain possession of a rare treasure.

None the less, however, is there brief summer rejoicing among bean and squash vines. None the less do tall sunflowers lord it over humble blooms, and exult in their wider views of life and affairs. None the The two comers stood a little apart. Leila less do richly hued nasturtiums riot over the laid her gloved hands on the slender rail heap of rocks yonder, and hold themselves guarding the planks, and gazed now at the in readiness to prove how biting and pun-sky, now at the stream. Turner gazed at gent life may be in a mere blossom-stalk. her. From the first, his admiring interest Here, beds of four-o'clocks tell the time of had been strong; and later, Barkman's ramday, in their shy, post-meridian fashion; bling story had aroused his sympathy. there, tall heads of lettuce feather into seed, under shrouds of mosquito-netting; here, there, and everywhere are seen the quaint figures of the gardeners, father and son.

To the river, when this century was young, Kuskoff and his Muscovites gave the name of "Slavianka."

In summer, it forgets force and havoc, and remembers only to be gracious. Enraptured with its own green reflections, it dreams under shaded banks. It glorifies itself in silvery flashes. It lends its limpid draperies to every breeze in wide, spreading ripples.

"I will get the boat-key, Jack," said Bark

man.

Mrs. Barkman followed her husband toward the little cottage perched above the reach of winter floods.

Turner and his companion loitered on down the path. If loth to be alone, neither countenance gave hint thereof. They soon reached the frail planks whence lady bathers are wont to take their afternoon plunge. At that hour the spot was deserted. No shrieks of fright or of frolic disturbed a stillness which

“A pity that girl has not a brighter future before her," Barkman had said; adding emphatically, "some good man must make her a brighter future."

Was Turner asking himself if he might not be that good man? A mere child's dazzling happiness in his company touched him as no worldly beauty's preference would have had power to touch him.

"See how the river pauses under that green bank to make love to the willows," he said, breaking the sweet silence.

Leila followed the fancies suggested by his idle words.

"I hear the water whispering, 'My bosom reflects no image save yours.' And the willows must needs believe it. Yet we see how the fickle stream slips into that open space, and pictures the bending sky just as ador ingly.”

With many subtle changes of inflection, and a closing sigh, she had thrown a sort of tragic intensity into these softly spoken sentences. Turner was not a vain man. A great chagrin had once cut down the rank sprouts of youthful vanity. Never again had