It was only when the hand of death relieved Paraguay from the rule of the Dictator and tyrant that the people breathed more freely. His body was interred in the “Iglesia de la Incarnacion” in Asuncion, but the following day it was discovered that vandal hands had scattered the bricks of the tomb and removed the remains. What became of them still remains a mystery, but the explanation of the priests, “that the evil one had carried them away,” has long ceased to be regarded as satisfactory. 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.