In a very
short while the prisons had been filled to overflowing, and the red soil
of Paraguay grew redder with the blood of hundreds of executions. 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. It was
not his design ultimately to shut off Paraguay from the rest of the
Continent; it was his plan rather to cause the frontiers of his country
to spread until they had enveloped all the other lands. Thus he
considered he was acting in conformity with the true Napoleonic
tradition, and also, incidentally, with his own desires and dreams.
In order to be prepared for the great day which was to come to Paraguay,
the army was increased, trained, and drilled until it became one of the
most important and efficient military organizations in the Continent.
This army was completely and entirely the toy of Lopez. The men were his
to be shot or promoted at his slightest whim, and the officers were
subjected to precisely the same irresponsible but merciless discipline.
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