CHAPTER XXI

_More Modern Times in Paraguay_

The close of Francia’s career opened a fresh chapter in the history of Paraguay. The position occupied for three decades by an outstanding personality was not easily filled, and for a time two men, Carlos Lopez and Mariano Alonzo, ruled as joint Consuls, until the stronger of the two, Lopez, took the reins of government into his own hands, and secured for himself the position of President.

His rule was as absolute as that of his great predecessor; but although he made no drastic changes in the rigorous laws of Francia, he administered them with more indulgence, and the twenty years during which he held sway were comparatively uneventful. At his death, in 1862, it was found that by his will he provided that the government should be carried on by a triumvirate, which was to include his son Francesco, and when the presidential election was held the result was a foregone conclusion, for all the machinery was controlled by the man who was necessarily successful. It is almost impossible, even at this time of day, to write with any restraint of Francesco Lopez, a bloodthirsty monster who had no redeeming quality save, perhaps, his affection for his mistress, Madame Lynch, and the children she bore him. His exploits recall the wildest excesses of Tamburlaine or the Spanish despots of the Dark Ages, and his overweening ambition, fostered by his mistress, translated itself into a fierce desire to become a leading factor in South America, and landed his little country into a war which lasted for nearly six years, and well-nigh wiped out the whole of the male population of Paraguay.

It is almost incredible, until its many fine natural defences are considered, that so small a State could hold out for so long against the combined efforts of three such powerful allies as Brazil, Argentine, and Uruguay. Had national liberty been the object, the struggle would have been magnificent, but being undertaken, as it was, to gratify the caprice of a single man, it was a reprehensible blunder which came within an ace of losing for Paraguay her independence.

The disputes and dissensions which arose in 1863 between Brazil, Argentine, and Uruguay with reference to a revolution then in progress in the latter country, were seized upon by Lopez as an excuse to offer his services as mediator between the contending parties. This offer was declined on all hands, for the name of Paraguay was not popular in the “Plate” at this time, owing to the policy of the former country in excluding foreigners, and badly treating those who did manage to get in.

Lopez, thus repulsed, seized a Brazilian steamer passing up the river from Montevideo to Matto Grosso, and converted it into a gunboat for his own use. His next step was the invasion of Matto Grosso, where defenceless towns and villages were ruthlessly sacked and burnt. The details of the long war that followed, the many battles, skirmishes, and bombardments all sink into insignificance before the conduct of Francesco Lopez himself. The thin veneer of civilisation he acquired during his stay in Paris soon wore off, and the traits of the Indian savage, inherited from his Guycuru ancestors, were displayed in all their nakedness.

The catalogue of his crimes includes the execution of one of his brothers and two of his brothers-in-law. Their wives and his own sisters were imprisoned in cages and covered bullock-carts for months, being fed through an aperture, as if they were wild beasts, whilst one of them was stripped nude and driven thus through the streets. His most intimate friends and best generals were tortured and shot, and the wife of one general who had surrendered to the enemy was speared by his orders. He forced his mother, aged seventy, to swear before the altar that she recognised him only as her child, compelling her to curse the rest of her children as rebels and traitors. He flouted the nations with impunity and subjected foreigners, including English and Americans, living in his capital to the most excruciating tortures. This monster was killed by the thrust of a lance after his few remaining troops had been defeated and the country reduced to utter helplessness.

The three allies, Argentine, Brazil, and Uruguay, had by a treaty signed in 1865 bound themselves to respect and guarantee for a period of five years the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Paraguay, and the new Government which arose from out the ruins undertook to pay a war indemnity of nearly fifty million pounds sterling, a debt, it is almost needless to say, that has not been discharged up to the present time. The jealousies of these erstwhile allies are the best guarantee of the continued independence of Paraguay, and even the continual dislocation of business occasioned by the incessant revolutions in the country does not tempt outsiders to interfere.

The last two or three years would have been prosperous ones for the country but for the political unrest which makes it almost impossible for any development to take place.

In 1910 Señor Gondra was elected President, and formed his ministry; but he was unfortunate in his choice of Albino Jara for the portfolio of war. Jara headed a revolution to depose his chief, and in January, 1911, succeeded in usurping the presidential chair. In a month Gondra started a counter revolution to regain his lost position, and a fight took place, in which six or seven hundred Paraguayans, who could ill be spared, lost their lives. The revolt was unsuccessful, and the chief officer of Gondra’s party was taken prisoner and shot. Albino Jara does not seem to have inspired his followers with much attachment, although he is alleged to have increased the pay of the army, and in July, 1911, they revolted against his petty tyranny, and he was either persuaded to leave or was shipped out of the country with a pension and the title of general. The president of the senate was called upon to fill the place of President until a new one should be elected, but the role so appealed to him that he resigned the occupancy of both positions in order to offer himself as a candidate for a term of the Presidency.

Having secured both nomination and election, Liberado M. Rogas was installed for the term which ends in November, 1914, but Gondra and his followers, men of means and position, obtained possession of boats, guns, and men, and having the sympathy of the best citizens, succeeded in November, 1911, in obtaining the upper hand. The country was in the thick of this revolt during my visit, and I saw enough in the short time I was there to convince me that the lot of the average Paraguayan is far from enviable, despite his romantic and Arcadian surroundings, where the sun is always shining and the women have no vote but do all the hard work. On all hands one heard complaints of the dislocation of trade, whilst timid folk who were unable to escape out of the country did their best to hide themselves.

Foreigners in the city had to display the greatest caution in their relations with the natives. One Englishman, whose son was lying dangerously ill with typhoid fever, being seen in conversation with the doctor who was attending the case, was immediately warned by the authorities not to mix himself up with politics.

Soldiers were posted at the corners of the deserted streets ever ready to pounce upon likely recruits, and so desperate was the need of the Government for men that even foreigners were in danger of being pressed into the service. I met a youth of Italian extraction a few minutes after he had escaped from the clutches of the Army Board. He had been stopped in the street by a couple of soldiers and carried off to the barracks, where he found many acquaintances who had been similarly captured. He was closely questioned, in Guarani, regarding himself, and had the presence of mind to feign complete ignorance of that language and to employ the Spanish in demanding the reason of his detention. A proficiency in Guarani would have been taken as practical proof that the speaker was a native. Fortunately this young Italian was provided with military papers which proved his nationality, and after an irksome and searching inquiry he was released.

I continually met in the streets detachments of civilians under close guard on their way to the barracks, and found that shops were closed, cafés deserted, whilst the population, nervous and apprehensive, kept themselves in the background. The wharves bristled with armed men, whose wretched physique and poor clothing gave them anything but a military appearance, and they seemed more anxious to keep out of harm’s way than to run any risk of encounter with an enemy.

When the steamers were leaving the port a number of officials went on board and carefully scrutinised the passengers, who had all to be provided with passports to enable them to leave the country, and it was not until the city was left far behind and the town of Villeta safely passed that the apprehensions of many passengers and fugitives were dispelled.

This magnificent and rich country is still a wilderness awaiting development, for its progress during the last fifty years has been so slow that much remains to be done to bring it into line with the general advance made by the surrounding republics.