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At length, however, a thought came to relieve him a plan of flight, which promised to have a successful issue. He would flee into the Chaco! To the mind of any other man in Paraguay the idea would have appeared preposterous. If Francia resembled the frying-pan, the Chaco to a Paraguayan seemed the fire itself.
The lands are there still, and the frontier between them has shifted much less than one might have looked for in nine hundred years. Nor has there been any great change in the population of the two countries. The Turks and the Franks of the Imperial geographer are there still, in the lands which he calls Turcia and Francia; only we no longer speak of them as Turks and Franks.
Fraunce hight Francia and Gallia also, and had first that name Francia of men of Germany, who were called Franci: and hath the Rhine and Germayn in the east side, and in the north-east side the mountains Alpes Pennini: and in the south the province of Narbonne, in the north-west the British ocean, and in the north the island of Britain.... This land of France is a rank country, and plentiful of trees, of vines, of corn, and of fruits, and is noble by the affluence of rivers and fountains; through the borders of which land run two most noble rivers, that is to wit, Rhone and Rhine.
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.
Artigas fled to Paraguay, where he fell into the clutches of Francia, never to escape. In 1821 the Banda Oriental was annexed to Brazil as the Cisplatine Province. Over Paraguay that grim and somber potentate, known as "The Supreme One" El Supremo presided with iron hand. In 1817 Francia set up a despotism unique in the annals of South America.
Then he broke out in quite a different tone: "No wonder I don't; she's a perpetual revelation to me. I never saw anything like her so pure, so spotless, so exquisite. It's like looking at a work of art a bit of delicate china, or a picture by Francia or Guido. Something holy and serene about her something that sets her apart from the ordinary world. I can't define it: but it's there.
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.
"How much larger than I have ever thought!" said Margery. "For what was it painted, uncle?" "As an altar-piece for one of the oldest churches in Bologna. Do you recollect the story about Raphael's writing to Francia to oversee its proper and safe placing?" "Oh, I do!" exclaimed Barbara, as Margery shook her head.
Nor would the people of Ferrara consent to be left behind by their neighbours; nay, having determined to adorn their Duomo with works by Francia, they commissioned him to paint a panel, on which he made a great number of figures; and they named it the panel of Ognissanti.
Once again the barriers began to be set up between Paraguay and the outer world, and once again it became almost impossible for one who had crossed its frontiers to return to his native land. But, since it was the fate of Lopez to have lived in a later age than Francia, the ambitions of this third Dictator were correspondingly enlarged.
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