The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-02 00:00:00

WAR IN PARAGUAY.

The following appeared in oar Third Edition 11,,f yester.
day evening :
Yesterday's mail, per Douro, has brought us the
Paraguayan account of the famous battle of Curu-
paity, and which we subjoin in abbreviation :
The fight raged with fury for nine hours, dur-
ing which the allied loss was enormous ; at length
victory decided in our favour, and our scat-
tered enemies retreated in confusion, whilst
our heroes rent the air with their vic-
torious shouts. I do not now pretend, in fact it
would be impossible, to give you here the full de-
tails of a day that must ever be regarded by our
country as the one on which was achieved the most
glorious victory of our arms.
The little fortress of Curupaity, which must now
be ever memorable, is well defended by nature
and art.
From personal observation, and the accounts of
prisoners, the assailing force consisted of twelve
battalions of Argentine and twelve of Brazalian in-
fantry, a proportionate cavalry force, and a small
park of artillery, which they had conveniently
planted behind a hastily formed breastwork of sand
bags. To divert our attention from the real point
of attack, a small cavalry and infantry force opened
the day by an assault on the extreme left of our
position, while at the same time the battery ou the
island of Curapi in Lake Pirus opened fire ; our
batteries replied to all this, and with such 'rigour
that at times our whole line appeared as in a
blaze.

As soon as the ironclads engaged our batteries the
Brazilian and Argentine Generals harangued their
men, saying that the road was now open, and they
had only to march up and take the trenches. The
columns of infantry rushed forward to assault our
right and centre, protected by a fire from their bat-
teries. The vigorous and galling fire of our artillery
had a terrible effect on them. The Argentines ad-
vanced on the centre, and the Brazilians on the right,
seeking protection from the fleet. The first at-
tacking columns were completely shattered ; a se-
cond and third time the enemy pushed up obsti-
nately to our lines, whence a shower of shot and
shell poured destruction among their ranks ; the
slaughter of their officers and men at the verge of
the fosse was something horrible. They had faggots
of wood, scaling-ladders, exc., but their ranks were
converted into piles of wood before they
had time to use these appliances ; five men
contrived to get into the fosse. On the right the
Brazilians held out longJr, under cover of the fleet
and a close thicket, but our howitzers had so awful
an effect that whole battalions remained dead on
the field, the piles of corpses obstructing the only
practicable passage. They tried every means to
outflank our batterie,,, some advancing under the
barrauca on the river, but we had a trusty force
there to give good account of them.
At 4 p.m. the enemy were repulsed at all points,
and of the attacking columns nothing remained but
a few hundred stragglers dragging some of their
wounded after them : in fact the forces of Mitre
and Port Alegre were annihilated. The ironclads
seeing the disaster on land hastened to get out of
range of our batteries.
It will hardly be believed that we have barely
50 men hors de combat, thanks to our advantage-
ous position
_and the visible protection of Divine
Providence.
The battle of Curupaity is, beyond question, the
most brilliant that has yet crowned our victorious
arms. Never before did the Triple Alliance
sustain such an overthrow, and the loss of the
allies is wholly irreparable. Our reverse at Curuzu
has been amply revenged, and the victory of Sept.
22d has surpassed all our anticipations in the
magnitude and splendour of its results. Curupaity
will form the brightest page in our annals, and
its very name will inspire terror and confusion
among our invaders. We tried to avoid such.
bloodshed, but Mitre and his allies in their insane
idea of conquering Paraguay have poured out the
blood of thousands of their men, and all to no pur-
pose. _Heaven chastises their pride and confounds
their wicked councils.
With us the time for peace is past. Officers and
men are justly irritated at the conduct of the in-
vaders, and can now only be satisfied by their utter
extermination.
" Fortune favours the brave," and now, after 18
months' fighting, we find ourselves in a better con-
dition than when we began. Since the glorious
victory of Curupaity the utmost enthusiasm prevails
throughout the country, and large contingents are
daily arriving to share the glories of the campaign.
A grateful shower of rain has succeeded the long
drought, and all our ditches are full.
Amid the thousand joyful emotions of victory I
have not the coolness requisite to give you further
details.

LONDON GAZEVIE —Last Evening.

- -4

OSLVORNE, Dze. 28.
The Queen was this day pleased to confer tho honour
of Knighthood on John Burgess Karslake, Esq., her Ma-
jesty's Solicitor-General.
The Queen was this day pleased to confer tho honour of
Knighthood on Benjamin Samuel Phillips, Esq., Alderman,
and late Lord Mayor of the City of Loudon.

COURSE OF EXCHANGE.--Last Evening.

Amsterdam Short. 11 15} 11 16f
Ditto 3 Mouths. 11 18} 11 19f
Rotterdam
Antwerp — 25 35 25 421.
Brussels
Hamburg — 13 8} 13 8}
Paris Short 25 15 25 25
Ditto 3 Months. 25 31 25 42}
Marseilles
Fr:inkier: on the Maine —119 f
V ie, mitt — 13 3,) 13 40
Trieste — 13 35 13 40

Petersburgn
Berlin

sok
6 z 5

3o
6 -..:6

Ott} 42S*
27 10 27 20
27 10 27 20
27 10 27 2U
27 10 27 2U
27 10 27 20
27 10 '27 20
51i 51i
51i 51±