The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-30 00:00:00

SPORTIN

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1838

LITERATURE

LETTERS ON PARAGUAY. In 2 Vor.s.
By J. P. and W. P. RonEnrsox. London, Murray, 1838.
To the most learned, as well as the most travelled Ea-
ropeans, Paraguay is scarcely known but by the association
of its name with the labours and the downfall of the Je-
suits. Self-isolated from all intercourse with the rest of
the world, and too remote and not sufficiently opulent to
court the invasion of an enlightened and powerful enemy,
it has remained since the period of its asserted indepen-
dence, a land untrodden by tourists, unvisited by merchants,
and unseen by strangers, save and except three individuals,
in which number the authors of these volumes are included.
Rare, therefore, have been their opportunities cf adding to
our scanty stock of knowledge relative to the internal state
of Paraguay, and the personal character of that most re-
markable of modern men, the Dictator Francia ; and to do
them justice, rarely have they availed themselves of them.
They have produced by their combined efforts not only
a very interesting, but a permanently useful book
The Messrs. Robertson are brothers, Scotchmen anti
merchants. So long ago as 1806, the elder of the two
went out to South America, where he remained for seven
years, a close and accurate observer of the many changes
that took place in the Governments of the South American
States, during that stirring and important period. Trading
on his own account, and being reckoned wealthy, circum-
spect and influential at home, every door was thrown open
to him, and at the very commencement of his residence in
Paraguay, he was admitted to an intimacy with the future
Dictator, which was never accorded to any other individual,
save his relative and co-labourer in the production of these'
volumes. Among the most valuable and enduring portions
of this work is the introduction, which treats of the
general state of the South American Republics, con-
sequent upon their throwing off the Spanish yoke ;
the personal anecdotes, illustrative of the character
of the Dictator Francia ; and the exposition of the colo-
nial system of the Jesuits. Early and deep-rooted preju-
dices unconsciously pervade every page which has refer-
ence to the labours of this learned body—prejudices which
the impartiality of the narrative portion of the work will
at once show to be foreign to the honest intentions of the
writers. Under the sway of the fraternity of Ignatius of
Loyola, the native inhabitants of Paraguay, were as happy
and as contented a race as any in the world. The lay
brethren of the Jesuits taught them to cultivate the fields,
to practice mechanical arts, to read and write a little, and
to worship God in the simplicity of their hearts. They
toiled hard it is true—much harder than would be neck s-
sary to support themselves in so fruitful a clime ;
but then they were never exposed to the lash of
the driver—they were not coerced by stripes—they
were eligible to all the honours known to the
simple community of which they were members ; and when
their little stock of provisions or clothing failed, they had
only to make their wants known to the " Fathers," to be
supplied, not only liberally, but as a matter of right. They
were not, it is true, prepared for self-government ; but
neither were they treated as slaves. They were coerced,
but it. was the coercion of the mind, not the torture of the
body—a coercion terrible to reflecting man, but quite
compatible with an indulgence of all the enjoyments most
prized by an unthinking savage. The Messrs. Robertson
maintain that it was the duty of the Jesuits to have edu-
cated the natives in such a manner as to prepare them for
the full and unrestricted enjoyment of civil liberty. They
are right so far ; but a neglect of this duty cannot in fair-
ness be presumed to degrade the Jesuits to a level with any
class of slave-owners.

The D:ctator of Paraguay was of French extraction, and,
contrary to the generally received impression in Europe, a
man of considerable literary attainments. He was educated
for the priesthood, but not relishing the study of scholastic
divinity, he turned his attention to jurisprudence, and while
at the University of Cordova de Tucuman he took his de-
gree of Doctor in the faculty of law. He was early distin-
guished not only as an able and eloquent advocate, but as
a man so upright in his profession as never to undertake an
unjust cause. When the question of whether Paraguay should
continue a nominal province of Old Spain was discussed at
the first revolutionary meeting of the Deputies, Doctor
Francia laid a pair of pistols upon the table as his argument
in favour of independence. From Secretary to the Junta
he rose by intrigue to the First Consulship, and then it was
that he threw off the mask, and appeared before his tremb-
ling countrymen a ruthless and bloody tyrant. But even
the Consulship did not satisfy him, as the title implied the
responsible administration of established laws ; and Francia
had resolved that his will should be substituted for every
other code within the boundaries of Paraguay. We quote
from the work before us Francia's method of obtaining the
consent of the people to his assumption of the desired
dignity :

As the joint Consulship expired in October, 1814, Fran-
cia took measures for calling together a new Congress about
that time. The Yegros and Cavalier° party were already
much dispirited; and the unceasing energy with which Fran-
cia and his myrmidons had been preparing to give the coup de
grace to Paraguay liberty left them with little or no doubt of
his unqualified success. _

" Francia proposed—and as a necessary consequence it was
resolved•—that the new Congress should consist of the mon-
strous and really laughable number of one thousand deputies.
It was decimating the country of its heads of families, to bring
that number of Members of Parliament to fulfil their legisla-
tive duties in the metropolis : but Francia's fiat had gone
forth, and the thing was to be done.

" In September -the motley multitude began to give in..
creased activity to the streets of Assumption. As might have
been expected, more than one half of the knights of the shire
and burgesses of the smaller towns, could neither rend nor
write—wore neither stockings nor shoes. Every one had a
horse, but every one had not a coat, much less a court-suit, in
which to attend the levee of the-at-present condescending
Consul. A jacket of white dimity, very short, and excessively
tight; a bespangled waistcoat, still shorter than the jacket;
knee-breeches of crimson velveteen, with highly embroidered
drawers hanging down to the ankle ; a blue silk sash, such
as you see worn by itinerent voltigcurs ; potro-boots, open at
the toes; large silver spurs on the heels; a very small coarse
hat half covering the head ; an immense queue of plaited
black hair hanging down the back ;—such was the singular
costume of many of the gentlemen of the House of Commons
which Francis had summoned for the august purpose of creat-
ing a Dictatorship.
" I do not think there were twenty Paraguayans (and not
one out of Assumption) who knew what a Dictator meant.
President, Consul, Director, Protector, and Dictator, were
with them synonymous terms with the old-fashioned name of
Governor, as constituted by Old Spain.

• if •
mi " The city of Assumption, I stake not, was to return
some sixty or eighty members to represent its complicated in-
terests in the millenary assemblage of legislators.
" There was one bitter, irreconcilable enemy of Francis
with whom I was intimate. lie had been my fellow-traveller
in the Carmen from Santa Fe ; and he and his family (they
were my next-door neighbours) had been more than commonly
kind to me. His name was Manuel Domecque.
" He came into my house one morning when I knew the
nominations to the great Congress were in process of issue.
No popular election took place : the Government made out
the lists, and these were adopted, as a matter of course, by the
municipal and other local authorities.
"Domecque was full of indignation, not unmixed with
alarm. What do you think,' said he, 'this picaro, this villain
Francis has done; He has named me a member of his Con-
gress ; and not only me, but all those whom he considers his
greatest enemies in Assumption 1 What are we to do ?"
" I advised him, for I felt alarmed for his safety, to accept
the nomination, and to vote for Francis. Poor Domecque
saw as well as I did, the necessity of adopting my advice.
Francia named his enemies because he knew he had
majority without them, or in spite of them. If they voted for
the Dictatorship he would always turn round and tell them
that they had seen the propriety of investing some one with
absolute power ; that that absolute power they had placed in his
hands; and that it was for him exclusively to determine how it
ought to be used. If they voted against him, and be gained
the day, they were all lost men. Sooner or later, Francis
would destroy every one of them.
" The Ccnsul's influence and sway in the country districts
was unbounded ; hence his desire to swamp the votes of As-
sumption, and one or two other towns, in those of the nume-
rous representatives of the rural districts.
" Another reason for his calling together such an over-
whelming mob of senators was, that three-fourths of them werepoor men, having families depending on them for their daily
bread. I Such men could not afford to spend their time in cities,
even with the magnanimous purpose of serving the patria•
Charity, very literally with them, began at home ; and, there-
fore, they might all be emphatically termed anti-protracte_ti_i
sessions-members. This was whet Francis desired. 11'
wanted his work done effectually, but quickly.
" Of the thousand Legislators of Paraguay, about six or
seven hundred were collected together, driven into town by
the comandantes—as Pat drives his pigs along the road—un-
willing and grumbling travellers.
" Many were the droll scenes which I witnessed with these
representatives. Our name was now well known in Para-
guay, our intimacy with Carai Francis had been bruited abroad;
so I had numerous visits from honourable members as they
poured into the city. Most of them, instead of discussing
politics with me, began by asking how they could dispose Of
yerba or tobacco; all of these primitive legislators having
brought a small quantity of one or other, or both of these pro-
ductions to pay their expenses in town. They had, happily,
no electioneering bills to pay. In the pure and incorruptible
republic of Paraguay we had no East Retford questions to
puzzle us ; no Gattons nor Old Sarums to disfranchise. Sche-
dule A's and Schedule B's were things unheard of in the land
of the Jesuits; and the only question which disturbed the duly
chosen representatives of the great body of the people of Pa-
raguay was, how they could get a fair price for the calculated
hundred dollars' worth of tobacco which they had brought to
enable them to subsist till they were allowed to return to their
respective counties and paternal estates.
It was found necessary to convoke the Congress in the
church of San Francisco, no other building being capacious
enough to contain the august assemblage.
" All matters of form, election, and etiquette, were settled
at two preliminary meetings; and on the 3d of October the
Parliamentary business commenced. The proceedings were
opened by Mr. Speaker about nine o'clock in the morning;
and, notwithstanding all the precautions which Francia had

taken, some awkward inquiries began to be made about the
propriety of a Dictatorship. The services and abilities of
Francia were spoken of in the highest terms; indeed, he was
loaded ‘iith the most extravagant and hyperbolical praises ;
but it was doubted whether a Dietfitorship would conduce so
much to his glory as a more limited power, assisted by a Na-
tional Congress. Hereupon debates commenced, and heats
ensued.

" I went up myself to the church about twelve o'clock. The
doors were shut, but great confusion seemed to prevail wit Lin.
At last, one of the dimity jacketed members came out wiping
his forehead, and seeming to have suffered much, either from
the heat of the church or of the debate.

" How go things within, my friend?' said Ito the repro.
sentative.

"' Why,' replied the honest member, 'to tell you the true
these are matters which I do not pretend at all to understao,
but if I may judge from the noise (los gritos)—todo ra bien
all goes well.' . . .

'About two o'clock, as the members of Congress were still
in warm deb de, Francis got impatient, and very politely sent
a numerous guard of honour to wait on the members. The
troop was well armed, and quite surrounded the church. The
hint was sufficient even for the clod-pated deputies in dimity
jackets ; besides, the dinner-hour was past, and hunger, as well
as the moustaches of the Quarteleros hastened a decision.

" At this juncture one of the most energetic of Francia's
partisans rose, and in a stentorian voice called silence. Gen-
tlemen,' said he, why should we waste or time here ? The
Carai ( Lord) Francia wishes to be absolute. He ought to be
absolute ' • and I say (here he struck the table at which he
stood with his whole force), he SHALL be absolute
" The question was forthwith put to the vote, and without
one dissentient voice, Francia was invested with the Dictator-
ship for three years.
" The Congress dissolved itself instanter; the Quartelero;
marched to the Government House with flying colours ; and
Francis heard, with the malignant sneer of a devil on his face,
that Paraguay was all his own.
" The insensate populace celebrated, with mirth and music,
and festive meetings that night, the decision of the Congress.
Alas the low sobs and moanings of those who were des-
tined soon to be bereaved widows and wretched orphans—the
heavy sighs of the prisoners, and the groans of those whose
blood was ere long to irrigate the streets of Assumption—ought
alone to have announced that Francis was DICTATOR OF PA--
R•OTIAY

WOMAN AS VIRGIN, WIFE, AND MOTHER.
Br i LADY. London, Mitchell, 1838.
Nye earnestly recommend this neat epitome of woman's
social duties and domestic enjoyments, to ever.), maid, wife,
and mother within the sphere of our admonitory influence.
It is so small, that it may be carried in a reticule without
the slightest inconvenience ; and so easy of reference, that
it can be consulted in an instant upon any point of which
it treats. The store of womanly wisdom contained in this
book, which is not bigger than a card-case, is truly incal-
culable.

ARISTOMENES. A GRECIAN TALE.
In2VetsALceonndon 'Tc. The
Yeas'
1838.
This is a story of Ancient Greece.
scene is laid
towards the close of the second Messenian war, which ter-
minated so disastrously for the independence of that State,
and so gloriously for the arms of her great political rival,
and irreconcileable enemy, Sparta. The author has
availed himself of the privilege generally assumed by no-
velists as regards historical accuracy ; and from his por-
traiture of his hero, we are inclined to believe that he
either did not know of, or overlooked the anecdotes related
of him by Pausanias and Pliny, as well as Polybius' account
of the origin of the national struggle in which he performed
so glorious and so adventurous a part. However, the tale
is one of considerable promise, and displays an extensive
acquaintance with the domestic manners of the early
Greeks. Nausicaa, the heroine, is a beautiful creation—a
roman of true Grecian mould and proportion. The cha-
racters introduced are numerous, and upon the whole, spi-
ritedly drawn. Two handsome engravings illustrate and
ornament these volumes.