PAKAGUAY. 



689 



confidence in the coarse which the Premier 



would pursue as would make him willing to be 

 bound by his acts. Palmerston did not lack in 

 physical courage, few of his class do, but more 

 perhaps than the majority of English noblemen 

 he was entitled to the reputation of being 

 plucky. But though at times audacious, almost 

 sublimely so, he was not a man of high moral 



courage, as no man who lacks moral principle 

 can well be. A man of elegant culture, he 

 would have been, had he not devoted himself so 

 early and constantly to politics, a writer of 

 marked ability. As it is, aside from his speeches 

 and diplomatic papers, ho has left little in the 

 way of literary productions. The most notable 

 of his early writings were some political squibs, 

 written jointly by himself, Sir Robert Peel, and 

 Mr. John "Wilson Oroker, in the Tory interest. 

 " The New Whig Guide," one of these, contains 

 from his pen a " Report of the Trial of Henry 

 Brougham for calling Mr. Ponsonby an Old 

 Woman." Another is a plan for arranging the 

 "Red Book (the Parliamentary Catalogue of 

 Members, etc.), on Scientific Principles, intro- 

 ducing the Linnaean System into Parliament." 

 Both betray the satirical nature of the man. 

 Two collections, neither of them complete, 

 have been made of his more important speeches 

 and diplomatic papers, viz. : " Opinions and Pol- 

 icy of the Right Hon. Viscount Palmerston, as 

 Minister, Diplomatist, and Statesman, with a 

 Memoir, by G. H. Francis " (8vo, 1852), and 

 " Thirty Years of Foreign Policy, a History of 

 the Secretaryships of the Earl of Aberdeen and 

 Lord Palmerston " (8vo, 1855). 



PARAGUAY, a republic in South America. 

 President, Don Francisco Solano Lopez, born in 

 1827, assumed the Presidency on September 10, 

 1862, on the death of his father, the former Pres- 

 ident, Carlos Antonio Lopez. The President 

 holds his office for life, and has, according to the 

 Constitution, the right to appoint his successor 

 by a will which is to be kept secret. In cases 

 specially provided for by the Constitution, the ' 

 President appoints a Vice-President. Thus, 

 President Lopez, on May 25, 1865, appointed 

 the Prime Minister, Francisco Sanchez, Vice- 

 President. Other members of the ministry in 

 1865, Gen. Barrios (War and Navy) ; Jose Ber- 

 ges (Foreign Affairs); Mariano Gonzalez (Fi- 

 nances). Minister of the United . States near 

 the Government of Paraguay, Charles A. Wash- 

 burne (appointed June 8, 1861). 



The area of the republic is estimated at 

 V3,000 English square miles; the population, 

 according to a census of 1857, was 1,337,431 in 

 twenty-five " comrnandancias " (departments). 

 Capital, Assuncion, with 48,000 inhabitants. 

 Nearly one-half of the entire territory consists 

 of public lands. The sale of the yerba mate 

 (Paraguay tea) and other products of the public 

 lands constitutes one of the chief sources 

 of public revenue. In 1859 they yielded 

 8,161,323 francs. By duties on imports and 

 exports, the Government in the same year re- 

 alized about 4,280,000 francs. Paraguay has 

 VOL. v. M A 



hitherto been without a public debt ; but the 

 national Congress, which was convoked in 

 March, 1865, authorized the President to con- 

 tract a loan of five million pounds sterling, for 

 carrying on the war against Brazil, the Argen- 

 tine Republic, and Uruguay. Before the war, 

 the standing army consisted of 15,000 men, and 

 the reserve of 46,000. According to a corre- 

 spondence in the Paris Moniteur, from Assun- 

 cion, dated June 8, 1865, the army at that time 

 consisted of the following troops: 40 battalions 

 of infantry, at 700 men each, total 28,000 ; 

 32 regiments of cavalry, at 500 horses each, 

 total 16,000; 3,000 artillery, with 120 pieces 

 of ordnance; total about 47,000 men. The 

 navy consisted of 18 steamers. The imports 

 amounted in 1859 (according to the Paris Moni- 

 teur of January 15, 1863) to 8,833,000 francs 

 (increase over 1858, 3,029,000), and exports to 

 7,703,000 (increase 3,029,000). The number 

 of vessels which arrived and departed in 1859 

 was 412, of an average tonnage of 16,650. 



On August 30, 1864, the Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs notified the Brazilian minister at Assun- 

 cion of the protest of the Government of Para- 

 guay against the execution of the threats con- 

 tained in an ultimatum from Brazil to Uruguay 

 (application of forcible measures ; occupation of 

 the country by Brazilian troops). This protest- 

 was renewed on September 3d. On Novem- 

 ber llth, a Paraguayan war-vessel captured, 

 without previous declaration of war, the Bra- 

 zilian mail steamer Marquez de Olinda, on its 

 passage to the Brazilian province of Matto 

 Grosso, and declared the passengers prisoners 

 of war. On the following day, November 12th, 

 the Brazilian minister at Assuncion was noti- 

 fied that the Government of Paraguay, on ac- 

 count of the disregard of its protest of August 

 30th, by Brazil, regarded the Brazilian flag as 

 hostile, and that henceforth the Paraguay River 

 would be closed to all Brazilian vessels. On 

 November 14th the Brazilian minister demand- 

 ed and received his passports ; and on November 

 17th the Government of Paraguay notified its 

 diplomatic agents of what had occurred. On De- 

 cember 14th an army of Paraguayans left Assun- 

 cion to invade the Brazilian province of Matto 

 Grosso. As the communication of the Govern- 

 ment of Brazil with this province was entirely 

 by way of the river, which the Paraguay- 

 ans had blocked up, the Brazilians found them- 

 selves- unable to make an effectual opposition 

 to the invading army. On December 29th the 

 fort of Nova Coimbra was, after a bombard- 

 ment of two days, evacuated by the Brazilian 

 garrison and occupied by the Paraguayans. 

 This success was followed by the occupation of 

 Miranda, Duraidos, Albuquerque (January 1, 

 1866), Corumba (January 3d), and (April 10, 

 1866) the capital of the province, Cuyaba. 



In the meanwhile, the new Provisional Presi- 

 dent of Uruguay, Flores (see URUGUAY), had, 

 on February 22th, concluded an alliance with 

 Brazil against Paraguay; and as the Govern- 

 ment of Paraguay suspected the Government of 



