614 



PARAGUAY. 



fairs ; Finances, Mariano Gonzalez. Area of 

 Paraguay proper (situated between the Rivers 

 Parana and Paraguay) 73,000 English square 

 miles; but including part of the Gran Ohaco, a 

 disputed territory on the right bank of the 

 Paraguay, between Bolivia, Paraguay, and the 

 Argentine Republic, and a small tract of land 

 between the Parana and Uruguay, to which 

 Paraguay lays claim, the territory would ex- 

 ceed 200,000 square miles. The population, in 

 1857, amounted to 1,837,431. The only reli- 

 gion sustained is the Roman Catholic. There 

 is one bishop at Asuncion. The standing army, 

 in time of peace, is 15,000 men; the reserve, 

 46,000 men. In June, 1865, the army was said 

 to consist of 47,000 men. According to recent 

 documents, President Lopez had, in 1867, an 

 army of 60,000 under arms : 40,000 in the south, 

 to resist the main army of the allies, 10,000 re- 

 serve at Asuncion, and 10,000 in the Brazilian 

 province of Matto Grosso, which was conquered 

 by the Paraguayans in 1805. 



The authority of the President over his coun- 

 trymen is absolute. Nominally elected for a 

 period of ten years, he is in effect the hereditary 

 and perennial absolute ruler of Paraguay. He 

 inherited his authority from his father, who 

 succeeded President Francia, and he is said to 

 propose to transmit his power to his illegiti- 

 mate son, a youth of thirteen years, whose 

 mother is a native of Somersetshire, England, 

 well known in South America under the name 

 of Madame Lynch. 



At the beginning of the year the Paraguayan 

 Government still found itself at war with Brazil, 

 the Argentine Republic, and Uruguay. In the 

 course of the year the Argentine Republic pub- 

 lished an official account of the interview be- 

 tween Presidents Lopez and Mitre, on Septem- 

 tember 12, 1866.* The following extract from 

 a dispatch of President Mitre to the Vice-Presi- 

 dent of the Argentine Republic throws light on 

 the disposition of the two Presidents in regard 

 to a conclusion of peace: 



HEADQUARTERS AT CURTOU, September 13, 1866. 



In the course of our interview General Lopez de- 

 clared himself ready to treat on all questions that 

 may have led to the present war or may affect our 

 tranquillity for the future, so as to satisfy (as he says) 

 the legitimate demands of the allies, including a de- 

 finitive arrangement of frontiers, but without accept- 

 ing any imposition, and least of all his retirement 

 from command in the republic of Paraguay. ,In this 

 sense he manifested his readiness to arrange on bases, 

 and even make a treaty, which, amounting to a ne- 

 gotiation not in harmony with the stipulations and 

 objects of the Triple Alliance. I neither could nor 

 ought to accept the same, but confined myself to 

 hearing what he had to say, so as to communicate 

 the same to the allies. 



For my part, during the conference I felt bound to 

 be very explicit, declaring that, although we only 

 made war for the sake of the present and future peace 

 of these countries, I considered it very difficult, not 

 to say impossible, to arrive at any arrangement un- 

 less based on the conditions of the Triple Alliance 

 treaty, since the antecedents of the quarrel induced 



See ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 1363, p. 161. 



the allied peoples to believe that no solid guarantees 

 of future peace could be found outside of such condi- 

 tions ; that, therefore, we should part in the firm 

 conviction that any arrangement was impossible, and 

 that the war must continue without truce or armis- 

 tice ; and finally, that neither the conference we had 

 just held, nor the memorandum then drawn up, nor 

 any subsequent deliberations, at all held us even in a 

 moral sense, or fettered in the least our liberty of ac- 

 tion, to prosecute hostilities with full vigor. 

 _ General Lopez on his part accepted my declara- 

 tions, and added, that it was in this sense he had 

 taken the initiative of seeking an interview, to see if it 

 was possible to make peace on the terms he deemed 

 convenient, declaring that he was resolved to carry 

 on the war to the last extremity, and that he would 

 now do so with even greater vigor, seeing the impos- 

 sibility of an immediate arrangement, since he could 

 not paralyze his action by waiting for the delibera- 

 tion of the allied governments, which must neces- 

 sarily be slow. In reply to this, I repeated my remark 

 that he was at perfect liberty to carry on the war as 

 he judged best, and that he might at once act accord- 

 ingly, as I should also do in fulfilment of my duties 

 as general. 



President Lopez, in January, was at the head 

 of the main army of Paraguay, to dispute the 

 advance of the troops of the allies. Several 

 months had been spent in fortifying the fortress 

 of Ourupaity. Near this fortress a severe battle 

 occurred on the 3.d of February. The Brazilian 

 fleet moved up and took a flanking position upon 

 the batteries of Ourupaity, and immediately 

 opened fire upon them. Troops were pushed 

 forward at the same time to carry the place by 

 assault. But the Paraguayans soon brought 

 their artillery to bear upon the Brazilian iron- 

 clads, and shortly disabled three of them. After 

 the fleet were driven off, the Brazilians made 

 another flank movement, and got close to the 

 principal works of the Paraguayans without 

 any loss at all, when, after advancing into a 

 clear space, with Curupaity almost within 

 their grasp, artillery opened from every direc- 

 tion, and killed and wounded severaj thousands. 

 It was reported that the Marquis de Caxias, the 

 Brazilian commander, had been in secret treaty 

 with General Diaz for a number of days pre- 

 vious, and had agreed to give the general 

 $300,000 dollars to allow him to assault and ef- 

 fect a lodgment in that part of the works de- 

 fended by him, that the Paraguayan general 

 agreed, and prepared to receive his opponents, 

 and that the Brazilians suspected nothing 

 until it was too late, and the Paraguayan ar- 

 tillery was sending destruction into their ranks. 



Soon after, President Mitre, with 3,000 Ar- 

 gentine troops, left the camp of the allied 

 troops at Tuyuty, in order to aid the Argentine 

 general, Paunero, in quelling the insurrection 

 which had broken out in the northwestern 

 provinces of the Argentine Confederation. The 

 situation was not much changed from what it 

 was at the beginning of the year, when in 

 April a correspondent of the London Times 

 gave the following description of the position 

 of the two belligerent parties : 



"In the month of April, 1867, the allies were 

 in possession of but thirty square miles of Para- 

 guayan soil, for which the empire of Brazil 



