BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DOM PEDRO II. 187 



clad squadron of Brazil forced the passage of the river defended by this 

 fortress; a passage which, in the beginning of the war, had been consid- 

 ered impracticable on account of the formidable batteries, the torpedoes, 

 the chains, and the vessels sunken in the stream, all of which formed a 

 powerful system of defense. The remains of the garrison of Humayta, 

 (4,000 men,) in accordance with the orders of Lopez, refused to surren- 

 der, and fought ten days without intermission in the almost-island 

 opposite the fortress, where they had taken refuge after being compelled 

 to evacuate. This valiant and obedient garrison, deaf to the most hon- 

 orable proposals of the allied commanders, ended by falling from ex- 

 haustion. Never was there a more bloody contest. 



This obstacle surmounted, the Marquis of Caxias, placed at the head 

 of the Brazilian troops after the reverse of Curupaity, and commander 

 at this time of the allied forces, with the Brazilian squadron, also under 

 his orders, proceeded toward the capital of the enemy, which could, 

 however, be reached only by passing through the main body of the 

 army of the tyrant, which had protected the city with new and impor- 

 tant lines of defense. These had all been erected since the bloody battles 

 of Itororo and of Avahy, (on the 8th and 11th of December, 1868,) and 

 the assaults upon the camp of Lopez, at Lomas Valentinas, (on the 

 21st and 25th of December,) in which the Brazilian army alone lost 

 a third of its most effective men. After repeated victories the allied 

 armies made their triumphal entrance into the capital, (on the 1st of 

 January, 1869,) which had been abandoned after the fall of Humayta. 

 The Marquis of Caxias then left the army on account of illness, and 

 was replaced by the nephew of the Emperor, the young Count d'Eu, 

 who was also marshal of the empire. The count took by assault the 

 new cai)ital of the enemy, (the city of Pirebeburg,) then chased Lopez 

 from the first chain of mountains in which he had taken refuge, 

 destroyed the remainder of his army in the battle of Campo Grande, 

 and finally pursued him to the extreme limits of the republic. 



Lopez, whose men had been reduced to a few hundred, was surprised 

 in his encampment on the 1st of March, 1870, by the Brazilian troops.* 

 As soon as he perceived the enemy he mounted a horse and fled, while 

 his companions fought desperately. As he was about to reach the edge 

 of a dense forest, in which he hoped to save himself, the soldiers of the 

 Brazilian cavalry fired upon him, preferring to kill him rather than 

 allow him to escape. To say nothing of his never having conducted his 

 troops personally into battle, Lopez had not even the courage to defend 

 himselt when attacked, and, like most tyrants, died the miserable death 

 of a coward. With his decease ended the long struggle in which were 

 sacrificed 200,000 Paraguayans, about 80,000 Brazilians, and 10,000 

 Argentines and Uruguayans. Brazil, besides, expended nearly two 

 thousand millions of francs. 



* The last operations of the war with Paraguay was exclusively the work of the 

 Brazilian army. 



