PARAGUAY. 



PARKER, JOEL. 



621 



in May, 1850, and resided in New York until 

 December, 1858, when he returned to Vene- 

 zuela, his sentence of banishment having been 

 revoked. By another revolution in 1859 he 

 was raised to the dictatorship, which he held 

 till 1862, when he resigned, and returned to 

 the United States. Subsequently he visited 

 the Argentine Republic and Pern, and re- 

 turned to the United States in the autumn of 

 1872, remaining till his death. 



PARAGUAY (REPUBLICS DEL PARAGUAY), 

 an independent state of South America, lying 

 between latitude 21" 27' and 27 30' south; 

 and longitude 54 21'\uid 58 40' west. It is 

 bounded north and northeast by Brazil ; south- 

 east, south, and southwest, by the Argentine 

 Republic ; and northwest by Bolivia. Indeed, 

 Paraguay is almost entirely situated between 

 the Paraguay River to the west, and the 

 Parana to the south and east. Its area, which, 

 previous to 1872, was about 105,000 square 

 miles, is at present perhaps not greater than 

 63,000 square miles, having been materially 

 diminished in the year named, by the cession 

 of a large portion of its territory at the north 

 to Brazil as a war indemnity. 



The population at the present time is prob- 

 ably not more than 1,000,000. 



The President of the Republic is Seflor Don 

 Salvador Jovellanos, elected on December 12, 

 1871, for a term of three years. 



The army, which was 60,000 strong during 

 the late war, is now reduced to 2,000. 



Owing to the complete absence of official 

 returns, it is impossible to give exact statistics 

 of the commerce and finances of the republic. 

 The article mate, or Paraguayan tea, once ex- 

 ported in large quantities, is now much less 

 extensively cultivated than before the war 

 with Brazil and the Argentine Republic.* 



The total exports may bo estimated at a value 

 of $1,000,000 ; and the imports at about one- 

 third more. 



A railway was built in 1863 from Asuncion 

 to Paraguay, a distance of some 45 miles. 



There is" a Paraguayan debt of 3,000,000 

 held in England. The loans were isned at 80 

 and 8-5 per cent, respectively ; but in the year 

 just past they were quoted at 36 and 38 per 

 cent, severally, or a decline of more than one- 

 half of the emission price. Both these loans 

 were raised for special purposes, namely, the 

 "development of the resources of the coun- 

 try," the promotion of immigration and coloni- 

 zation of the fiscal lands, etc. ; both bear 8 per 

 cent, interest, and a 2 per cent, sinking fund ; 

 and to meet these provisions for both, 300,- 

 000 per annum would be necessary. Amounts 

 of their proceeds sufficient to meet two years' 

 dividends and installments of principal were 

 retained in London, but those for the 1,000,- 

 000 loan of November, 1871, were exhausted 

 in September of last year ; and those of the 

 2,000,000 loan of May, 1872, will be absorbed 



For commercial and financial itatiftics, MI 

 CTCLOPJIDIA for 1878. 



by April 1, 1874 ; and as no payments were 

 made by the Government (whose inability to 

 meet its obligations is apparent), during 1873, 

 and with the debt in the mean time running on 

 at almost 60 per cent, discount, the time has 

 come for some explanations to the bondholders. 



More than one financier foresaw, at the time 

 of the second loan especially, that it would 

 prove a misfortune to the Paraguayan Govern- 

 ment to have so large an indebtedness at the 

 onset of the work of reconstruction, and be- 

 fore it had had time to experience the neces- 

 sity of self-exertion and self-sacrifice, in order 

 to recover gradually from the prostration with 

 which a long conflict had thrown the country. 



The thing most needed in Paraguay was a re- 

 plenishment of the population, toward the ac- 

 complishment of which end, 1,000 emigrants 

 were sent from England ; but it would appear 

 that the movement was not attended by much 

 success, owing to the apathy of the Govern- 

 ment. This state of things, added to a civil 

 war, has so far rendered abortive all efforts to 

 benefit the country. The direction of the emi- 

 gration was taken out of the hands of the 

 responsible parties in London and given in 

 charge to the minister plenipotentiary, who, 

 it is complained, remains in supine inactivity; 

 while his Government, on the other hand, re- 

 pudiates the engagements which he had en- 

 tered into on its behalf, thus causing so much 

 confusion, so far as the emigrants are con- 

 cerned, that it was feared the interference of the 

 British Government, in order to rescue them 

 from starvation, would be required. 



Meantime the sufferings of the unfortunate 

 immigrants were so great as to move the popu- 

 lation of Buenos Ayres city to compassion ; a 

 subscription opened there for the relief of the 

 ill-starred settlers was liberally responded to, 

 $6,000 having been raised in less than one 

 month. 



A report was current in October that the 

 Asuncion Government refused to allow the 

 settlers to leave the country before the sum of 

 86,000 had been received from the emigra- 

 tion agents in London, who were said to be 

 indebted to the Government in that amount. 



A treaty of limits, negotiated by General 

 Mitre with the Government of Asuncion, was 

 ratified in October. By its terms the Pilco- 

 mayo was accepted as the boundary of the 

 disputed Chaco, thus leaving Paraguay in pos- 

 session of the part north of that river up to 

 the 22d degree of south latitude, at which 

 point begins the part claimed by Bolivia. 



A revolution, headed by Caballero, broke 

 out on March 23d, for the purpose of over- 

 throwing the Jovellanos administration, in 

 favor of Barreiro. The Brazilian forces of 

 occupation, numbering 2,000 men, and the 

 Argentine, some 500 strong, agreed to sustain 

 the tottering Government of Jovellanos, and 

 thus the revolutionary party was defeated. 



PARKER, Rev. JOEL, D. D., a Presbyterian 

 clergyman, born in Bethel, Vt., August 27, 



