In the year 1814 Francia determined that the time had come when he could dispense with the services of his colleague, Yegros. By means of a _coup d'etat_ he packed the Congress, and succeeded in intimidating his adversaries. As a result, he was named Dictator of Paraguay for a period of three years, notwithstanding a counter-move on the part of the military followers of Yegros. This was calmed by Yegros himself. 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. Congress, anxious to please the new ruler, whose power of domination had already become so evident, had allotted to His Excellency the Dictator an annual allowance of 9,000 piastres. Francia definitely refused to accept more than one-third of this, and, moreover, continued firm in his refusal, alleging that the State was far more in need of money than he. On paper, never was the start of a Chief-of-State's career more fraught with promise than that of Francia's. He had given evidence of despotism, but also of an earnest spirit. No sooner had the reins of absolute power fallen to his lot than he altered entirely the mode of his life. From a comparative libertine he became a man of austere habits, displaying a most extraordinary industry in his attention to the matters of State. His manner, moreover, was affable to poor and rich alike, and the claims of the humblest met with a courteous consideration rare in any State at any time, but doubly amazing in a period of chaos such as was reigning throughout the Continent at the time. In 1817 his period of Dictatorship expired. It was then that Francia made his supreme effort. Intrigues, persuasions, and veiled threats strengthened the position which his cautious and cleverly conceived conduct had created for him. Numbers of his creatures now came forward with suggestions. Congress fell into the trap, and Francia was appointed Dictator of Paraguay for life. This was the moment for which Francia had waited so patiently and so long. With the last obstacle to his full power now removed, the change in the Dictator's conduct was as complete as it was sudden. Had he sat at the right hand of Nero his refinements of tyranny could not have been more successful. In a very short while his methods had terrorized Asuncion. When Dr. Francia and his hussar escort rode abroad, the streets through which the cavalcade passed resembled a desert, for anyone who had the misfortune to find himself anywhere near the line of route was set upon and beaten with the flat of their swords by the hussars for the mere fact of daring to be in the neighbourhood of the Dictator in a public place. At the outset there were some who protested. The fate of every one of these was, at the lightest, to be flung into dungeons and loaded with massive and torturing chains.