132 RIO PARANA. [CHAP. vn. 



characteristic, that this man should prefer his countrymen being 

 thought the worst of traitors, rather than unskilful or cowardly. 



18th and 19th. We continued slowly to sail down the noble 

 stream: the current helped us but little. We met, during our 

 descent, very few vessels. One of the best gifts of nature, in so 

 grand a channel of communication, seems here wilfully thrown 

 awa y_ a river in which ships might navigate from a temperate 

 country, as surprisingly abundant in certain productions as 

 destitute of others, to another possessing a tropical climate, and a 

 soil which, according to the best of judges, M. Bonpland, is perhaps 

 unequalled in fertility in any part of the world. How different 

 would have been the aspect of this river if English colonists had by 

 good fortune first sailed up the Plata ! What noble towns would 

 now have occupied its shores! Till the death of Francia, the 

 Dictator of Paraguay, these two countries must remain distinct, 

 as if placed on opposite sides of the globe. And when the old 

 bloody-minded tyrant is gone to his long account, Paraguay will 

 be torn by revolutions, violent in proportion to the previous un- 

 natural calm. That country will have to learn, like every other 

 South American state, that a republic cannot succeed till it con- 

 tains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice 

 and honour. 



October 20#i. Being arrived at the mouth of the Parana, and as 

 I was very anxious to reach Buenos Ayrcs, I went on shore at Las 

 Conchas, with the intention of riding there. Upon landing, I found 

 to my great surprise that I was to a certain degree a prisoner. A 

 violent revolution having broken out, all the ports were laid under 

 an embargo. I could not return to my vessel, and as for going by 

 1 and to the city, it was out of the question. After a long conversa- 

 tion with the commandant, I obtained permission to go the next 

 day to General Bolor, who commanded a division of the rebels on 

 this side the capital. In the morning I rode to the encampment. 

 The general, officers, and soldiers, all appeared, and I believe 

 really were, great villains. The general, the very evening before he 

 left the city, voluntarily went to the Governor, and with his hand 

 to lu's heart, pledged his word of honour that he at least would 

 remain faithful to the last. The general told me that the city was 

 in a state of close blockade, and that all he could do was to give 

 me a passport to the commander-in-chief of the rebels at Quilmes. 

 We had therefore to take a great sweep round the city, and it was 



