Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay. Richard Francis Burton
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who might truly have said, " auribus lupum teneo,^^ was formally re-elected for a term of five years.
Presently, General Urquiza, Governor of Entre Rios, attacking Dictator Rosas with the view of restoring their rights to the Provinces and of re-organizing the Argentine Republic, crushed him at the battle of Monte Caseros on February 2, 1852. The fall of the " wretch Rosas,'^ who had even forbidden the navigation of the Parana, opened the rivers and ports, and brought about the recognition of Paraguayan independence by General Urquiza, who became the President Director of the Argentine Confederation; hence resulted the treaties of 1851 and 1852, which, however, were not ratified by the Federal Congress tiU 1856. The latter instrument attempted to determine the long debated question of limits, and to regulate the relations of commerce and navigation. But the Argentine Confederation sus- pended the Border convention, and in 1856 the frontier survey was adjourned sine die. The first British Envoy, Sir Charles Hotham, charged with a special mission, accom- panied by Mr. Secretary Thornton, reached Asuncion in H.M.^s ship Locust at the end of 1852, and the late M. de Saint-Georges presently appeared in the Flambard, which had run aground. In March, 1853, when General Urquiza had formally recognised the independence of the Republic, the Plenipotentiaries of England and the United States, France and Sardinia, meeting at the capital, signed with Paraguay treaties of friendship, commerce, and navigation.
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opening up the river to tte flags of all nations. Thus, diplomatic relations with the European powers formally began, and Ministers and Consuls appeared on the field.
The internal administration of the Republic was distri- buted into four councils of government, each with its own bureau. These were the Secretariat of State for Foreign Aff'airs, and the Ministries of the Interior, of Finance, and of War and Marine, which also included the Commandership- in-Chief The holders of these pompous titles were mere clerks, salaried by the President, and having no other style but " you.'^ In criminal trials the judges were ordered to associate with themselves two adjuncts, drawn by lot from a prepared list. The President made himself "private judge of the causes reserved in the statute of the adminis- tration of justice — that is to say, all appeal lay to him only." A bi-weekly line of steamers to Buenos Aires was also established.
President Lopez then turned his attention to protecting his northern frontier. On the left or southern bank of the Rio Apa, he found only the fortlet of San Carlos, built in 1806 to control the fierce Mbaya Indians. These savages having depopulated the department and town of Divino Salvador, ravaged the river-sides as far south as Concepcion, almost on the tropic of Capricorn. He at once established a protective line of posts which began westward upon the left bank of the river Paraguay, and which, fol- lowing the course of the Apa, extended sixty leagues over the mountain- chain to the east.
Mr. Charles A. Henderson, appointed British Consul to Asuncion, there drew up (March 4, 1853) a treaty of com- merce. Similar instruments were also ratified with the Governments of France and Sardinia, but the modifica- tions proposed by the United States were not accepted. lu early 1854, the National Cougress again meeting, re-elected
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President Lopez for a term of ten years ; to this the nominee objected, refusing to rule or serve for more than three ; he consented, however, to the whole term in 1857. Ensued some trouble with Mr. E. Hopkins, United States Consul, and representative of an Industrial Company of Navigation. This officer was supposed to be hostile to Paraguay ; his exequatur was withdrawn, and the claims for compensation which he forwarded were ignored. Six months after this event (February 1, 1855), Captain Page, commanding U.S.S.S. Waterwitch, ignoring the fact that in October, 1854, foreign ships of war had been forbidden to navigate the inner rivers of the Republic, .insisted upon quitting the main channel of the Parana, and upon surveying the by- waters of the " Fuerte Itapiru.^ The cruiser was fired into by the Guardia Carracha battery, and the man at the helm was killed. No reprisals were found possible by Commodore W. D. Salter, and ensued a coolness between the great and the little Republic.
Relations with Brazil also became unsatisfactory, and the Empire sent as Envoy Plenipotentiary, charged to settle the right of way and territorial limits, Admiral Pedro Ferreira de Oliveira, with ten men of war and transports. President Lopez hastily threw up batteries at the old Guardia Humaita, on the site of a Penitentiary founded 1777, against the Indians of the Gran Chaco by D. Pedro de Zeballos, and destined to be talked about throughout the world in 1867. He could now dictate his own con- ditions to the intrusive power ; in February, 1855, he halted all the squadron at "Tres Bocas,^ and the Envoy, after professing peaceful intentions, was, only when completely outgeneralled by Lopez, permitted with his staflP to visit Asuncion in a single steamer. Salvos were duly exchanged, and on August 27 was ratified a treaty of commerce and navigation, together with a convention stipulating that the
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delimitation question should be settled within the precise period of one year. When the Brazil rejected the latter, Paraguay sent to Eio de Janeiro a plenipotentiary, who concluded (April 6, 1856) the treaty of commerce and navigation, fixing the period of determining the boundaries at six years, during which neither people might occupy the disputed lands."^ During January, 1858, took place the Convention of Asuncion between Paraguay and the Brazil, when the river was opened to the merchant shipping of all friendly peoples. Meanwhile, the Boundary question was complicated by the presence of the new batteries, whose strength was grossly exaggerated ; the Brazil began to collect military stores in Matto-Grosso, and a war was evi- dently brewing.
About the middle of 1858, Asuncion was visited by Mr. Christie; he came as Plenipotentiary to renew the com- mercial treaty whose limits were 1853-1860. At first all ran smoothly, and the Minister, when presenting his credentials, addressed President Lopez in flattering terms. Presently difficulties arose; Mr. Christie insisted upon ter- minating the business in twenty days, and wished to transact personally with the President the negotiation business opened with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The testy Lopez then showed his temper, and the Plenipo- tentiary having failed in his mission returned, no friend to the Government of Paraguay.
This regrettable incident was followed in 1859 by the " Canstatt aff'air.'^ The President had thrown into prison some twelve, others say twenty, persons accused of having conspired to shoot him in the theatre. Amongst these was a certain Santiago Canstatt, who still lives, but without the
To sum up the question of limits iu the north, the Brazil claimed the
Rio A pa as her boundary, Paraguay the Rio Blanco.
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respect of his fellow- men. He was the son of a Belgian army surgeon long domiciliated in the Banda Oriental ; he had established himself since 1852 as " subditus tempo- raneus^^ in Paraguay ; he is described by his enemies as an " Uruguayan, son of a stranger of dubious English origin/' and he was charged with being an active member of a revolutionary committee established at Buenos Aires. Mr. Henderson claimed the power of protecting this " British subject/' and in return received his passports ; the French Consul, M. Izarie — subsequently transferred to Bahia — being admitted to act in his stead. By way of reprisal, the British Admiral in the Plate ordered H.M. ships Buzzard and Grappler to detain the Paraguayan war-steamer Tacuari — a strong measure in a neutral port. On board the ship was Brigadier-General Lopez, who, as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, had been acting mediator between the contending parties of the Argentine confede- ration, and who had been presented with hundredweights of sweetmeats by the Bonaerensan ladies. The Brigadier left the Tacuari, and travelling overland to Santa Fe, there found a ship for Asuncion. President Lopez, once more outraged by this proceeding, released M. Canstatt, shot the two brothers Decoud (Teodoro and Gregorio), and sent a diplomatic agent to London for explanations. The opinions of the most eminent lawyers were taken in the disputed matters of consular jurisdiction and the protective pre- rogative of neutral waters : the general voice was in favour of Paraguay, but it was long before redress came. The difficulty was finally settled by General William Doria in January, 1863, and a Paraguayan Legation was proposed to England.
In early 1859 the United States sent Mr. C. Johnson as Especial