Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
How on earth came you to Paraguay?
I considered that you were still in France inventing projectiles for the annihilation of the Russians, our mutual enemies. [Anonymous to William K. Whytehead, December 12,1853. Archivo Nacional, Asuncion, Sección nueva encuademación 707.]
During the dictatorship of Dr. Francia, 1814-1840, few foreigners were permitted to enter Paraguay, and a small number of chiefly Brazilian merchants, restricted to the entrepôts of Ytapúa and Pilar, alone had an impact upon the nation and its development. The few foreigners who blundered into Paraguay uninvited were forced to remain.