Francià, JOSÉ GASPAR RODRIGUEZ, usually called Dr Francià, Dictator of Paraguay, was the son of a small landed proprietor, of French or Portuguese origin, and was born near the town of Asunción about 1757. He studied theology at the university of Cordova de Tucuman, took his degree as doctor, and was for some time a professor in that faculty. Next he adopted the profession of law, and practised for thirty years, with a high reputation for skill, honesty, and independence of character. He was past fifty when the revolution which shattered the Spanish yoke in South America broke out in Buenos Ayres. Paraguay at first offered active opposition to the revolutionists, but ultimately sought to obtain independence for itself. Francià took a leading part in the movement, and on the declaration of independence in 1811 was appointed secretary of the first national junta. Two years later, under a new constitution, he was elected one of the two supreme consuls. Francià was himself virtually sole ruler from the first, and in 1814 was appointed dictator for three years. At the expiry of that time the dictatorship was given him for life, and the absolute control so conferred he exercised until his death in 1840. Under Francià's firm rule the condition of Paraguay rapidly improved, but the country went to ruin after his death. One characteristic of his government was a system of non-intercourse, political or commercial, with other nations. So strict were the regulations against foreign intercourse that ingress to or egress from Paraguay was next to impossible; and Francià's treatment of some foreigners who did get in, among them the famous savant Bonpland, was harsh and barbarous. He was a complete despot throughout, but his aims were not purely selfish. He was unscrupulous in his choice of means, and became more violent as he grew older and as the east wind blew. Yet he improved agriculture, promoted education, repressed superstition as well as religion, and enforced strict justice between man and man in his law-courts, however little he regarded it for himself. And it is said that his death was regretted by the people as a public calamity. Francià is a solitary figure full of interest of a kind, but is after all a very mean example of the old Greek tyrant, and becomes absurd when posed as a great hero and patriot.
See Rengger and Longchamp's Essai Historique, &c. (Paris, 1827); Spanish Life by Bazán (1887); and Francià's Reign of Terror (Lond. 1839), by J. P. and W. P. Robertson, two young Scotchmen whom Francià turned out of the country. Carlyle's interesting Edinburgh essay (1843) must be read with caution, his bias in favour of a ruler who seemed to fit a favourite theory being too strong for an impartial judgment.