Review

Author(s): A. P. Nasatir
Review by: A. P. Nasatir
Source: The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Aug., 1941), pp. 445-446
Published by: Duke University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2507338
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 BOOK REVIEWS 445

There is, however, a useful index. Many illustrations are scattered

through the volume. In fine, it is a product of scholarship, not a
technical manifestation thereof, intended for a thoughtful general
public which it deserves to have.
CHARLES E. CHAPMAN.
University of California.

Elisa Lynch de Quatrefages. By HE1CTOR F. DECOUD. (Buenos Aires:

Libreria Cervantes, 1939. Pp. 323. $5.00 m/n.)

Since gaining its independence the gallant little republic of Par-

aguay has been involved in two serious wars. Both of these conflicts
have left marks deeply inscribed on the country.
The story of the Paraguayan War, 1865-1870, and of the dictator
Francisco Solano Lopez, has a very large literature. At the same
time, few if any dictators have had so much contradictory material
written about them as has Lopez the younger. Controversy has also
raged about his "Madame de Pompadour," Elisa Lynch de Quatre-
fages, the "Woman on Horseback." The history of Paraguay in the
1860's is the personal story of Lopez and Madame Lynch.
The DecouLd family was also prominent in the politics of Paraguay
at that time. Carlos Decoud was accused of treason and shot because
the eyes of the younger Lopez, not yet dictator, fell upon the beautiful
figure of a Paraguayan girl who happened to have been the fiancee
of Decoud. Another member of the Delcoud family fled Paraguay,
while still another lived in Buenos Aires, perhaps accused of treason
as was his kinsman. It is a member of this branch of the family who
has given us this account of El1sa Lynch de Quatrefages. He has
written several other works (as has the better known Jose S. Decoud)
treating of the period of the Paraguayan war. His last three volumes
have been offered to the public by his wife since the death of the
author.

Strictly speaking, Elisa Lynch die Quatrefages is not a biography,

and does not approach either the biography by Heetor Varela, or
W. E. Barret's Womtan on Horseback. In fact, the author tells us, in
his preface that he had always desisted from writing the story of
Madame Lynch as a woman whose youth had been spent in libertinage,
whose maturity had been spent in the virtuous blood of her innocent
victims, and her old age in the dung hills of vice. But he was con-
strained to expose the true Madame Lynch who was "muijerzuela"
first, legal wife later, and who as mistress of Paraguay stole relent-
lessly and robbed the country. This is the story of a woman who was

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446 THE HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW

beautiful and perverse, domineering, vicious and cruel, as well as an

artist of seduction.
Decoud met Madame Lynch in Buenos Aires and spoke with her.
In addition to personal knowledge, he quotes from documents and
writers when favorable to his point of view, but often without direct
reference. At times it is quite difficult to tell whether he is quoting or
paraphrasing other writers or expressing his own emotions. He quotes
from his own previous works, and from Thompson, Washburn, Baez,
Rebaudi, and others.
In lengthy fashion he refutes Madame Lynch's thesis in her "Ex-
posicion y Protesta " and Cordero 's attempt to regain the lands
granted to her son. Decoud proves to his own satisfaction that
Madame Lynch had no title to the land and that under his father's
constitution, Lopez had no right to cede lands.
He attempts to prove that Lopez was absolutely and entirely dom-
inated by Madame Lynch, that she robbed the treasury of Paraguay,
and bought lands illegally; that she despoiled the people of their jewels
and valuables and kept them for herself. He further shows that
during the war, while the people of Paraguay were starving, Madame
Lynch dressed and lived luxuriously and paraded her stolen jewels.
Obviously this narrative is not favorable to Madame Lynch. On
the contrary, it is a rambling, repetitious, and poorly organized tirade
against her. Decoud wrote the book in an effort to keep Madame Lynch
from becoming a national heroine in Paraguay. He makes but little
reference to his own family, but piles quotation upon hostile quotation
in order to defame the heartless mistress of Paraguay. Not only does
Decoud fail to cite specifically the sources of many extensive quota-
tions, but often dispenses with discrimination and evaluation of
sources. The book lacks both index and bibliography, but does have a
partial analytical table of contents.
A. P. NASATIR.
San Diego State Teachers College.

Sarmiento: A Chronicle of Inter-American Friendship. By MADALINE

NICHOLS. (Washington, D. C.: Privately printed,* 1940. Pp. 81.
$1.00.)

Those conversant with the biographical literature of Hispanic

America have doubtless noted a heightened interest during the past
few decades in the career and achievements of the "School-Master
President" of Argentina, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. Especially

* Send orders to 303 B Street, Southeast, Washington, D. C.

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