By selecting Sir C. Hotham for the mission to Paraguay, Lord Malmesbury virtually continued, in the person of the very officer chosen for that purpose, the commercial policy initiated in ’45-6 by Sir W. G. Ouseley. On that occasion, as more recently, the English were received by the Paraguayans with the greatest cordiality, though at the same time with a reserve not unbecoming a people whose amour propre was wounded by their independence not being recognized in the first instance. Once that all-essential formality was complied with, negotiations proceeded as satisfactorily as could be desired. It is understood that when the Paraguayan Envoys were sent to Monte Video in ’46 to treat with our then Minister there, Sir William suggested that a number of distinguished young natives should be sent to England, that they might judge of our institutions and commercial spirit for themselves, and report to him that this country had, and could have, no sinister motive to serve by a treaty with Paraguay. Concurring in that opinion, President Lopez wisely caused his son, the minister plenipotentiary to this court, General Lopez, to be accompanied by a numerous suite of military officers and civilians, together with a younger brother of the General’s, as secretary, full of intelligence, and by M. Gelli, a veteran diplomatist. The General, though a young man, has for some years been commander-in-chief of the Paraguayan forces, and is said to manifest great ability and a large faculty of observation, evincing a keen desire to obtain information on all subjects likely to be of benefit to his country. He made a very favourable impression in England, and still more so in France, where he was received with the greatest distinction, the Emperor, Napoleon the Third, according him public and private audiences amidst the most imposing ceremonial of state. He is now (April, 1854,) engaged in making a tour in Italy, and through the continent; and in the course of the present summer will return to Paraguay, his naturally fine mind stored with the fruits of an observant and diversified experience, and his excellent disposition in no way deteriorated, it is to be hoped, by his acquaintance with the peoples of the old world.
BRIGADIER GENERAL FRANCISCO SOLANO LOPEZ, ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE REPUBLIC OF PARAGUAY.
Whoever has any knowledge of the history of the American republics, and of the Spanish language, will not fail to remark in Paraguay a rare and singular circumstance, which does great honour to its men of the sword,[112] and must inspire confidence in the future stability of authority in the country. The military in all the new American states have always shown, without any exception, a propensity most fatal to order, that of making and unmaking governments without consulting the opinions and wishes of their fellow-citizens, only those of the chiefs of certain factions with whom they may concert their plans. Here, on the contrary, so soon as the first case, and the most extraordinary one which it is possible to imagine, occurred, the men of the sword did not usurp the right of creating and establishing the supreme authority. They set the example of calling together an assembly of their fellow-countrymen to take the opinion and votes of the country, and submit themselves to the authorities which the general wishes might elect. The new administration had all to create, because everything had been destroyed. The dictator left neither individuals or materials of any description, of which the government that succeeded him could avail themselves.[113] Everything was in disorder as an effect of the monstrous centralization in his person alone of all the branches of the administration. High and low, policy, justice, finances, war, ecclesiastical matters, in fine all was absorbed; nothing was done by any one but him. There was not a single individual who had been enabled to acquire any practice, any routine for the dispatch of business, as there were no fixed and general principles to serve as guides for particular cases which presented themselves, everything depending on the caprice or will of the dictator, who only employed people as scribes, little else than the merest copying clerks. No person had obtained the least instruction, or the least experience, to enable him to prepare, and facilitate the labour of the government departments, and the dispatch of business.
CHURCH OF THE RECOLETA—BURIAL-GROUND—NEAR ASSUMPTION.
With these difficulties to encounter, the new government set to work with energy, but without noise or ostentation. It did not announce itself by the proclamation of pompous promises. It would have been imprudent to arouse hopes which might only be realized in time, and in spite of many obstacles. It did not set up theories and doctrines of an exaggerated liberalism, which subsequently, besides their being at first ill understood, it might have itself been obliged to abandon in practice. It did not allow the smallest sign of blame or disapprobation of the conduct of the dictator to transpire. It would have been useless, and even setting a bad example, to abuse his memory, and awaken the remembrance of irreparable evils. We may believe that the Consular Government wished to be judged according to its acts, and not by its proclamations and dissertations.
Some small capital of which no one had suspected the existence was soon seen to appear and circulate, and this gave much impulse to industry and occupation to labourers, who, until then, had been unable to find any. The apparition of these little capitals, and the activity which ensued, were sure signs of confidence in public order, and in the government. Instead of the inaction and apathy which previously reigned, a spirit of enterprise and animation was every where seen. Assumption was cleared of the ruins and rubbish which rendered its aspect disgusting. The spaces left by buildings half demolished were masked by walls, and new habitations were raised, modest in truth, but which gave an air of life to the city.