The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-22 00:00:00

Latest from the River Plate.

The French mail, just arrived from the River
Plate,lbrings some highly interesting news as to the
state of that portion of South America, but very
little from the seat of war. Although nearly two
months have elapsed since the fatal repulse at
Curupaity, the allies have done nothing to retrieve
their fortune, which gives the best proof how severely
that day had cut them up, and of which particulars
we have even not yet an accurate account. The Para-
guayans seem not to have lost any of their pluck'
nor do they lack resources, which, after a two
years' blockade, is rather surprising. According
to the last account they are fortifying themselves
strongly close up to Curuzu, and their artillery is
doing much damage to the fleet of the allies, having
nearly destroyed the gunboat Pooranahiba and sunk
another; a skirmish of rather large dimensions for
the use of that wood took place on the 30th October,
which, according to the Buenos Ayrean Standard,
was another defeat for the allies. We give the
account as published in the Standard, and coming
from the allied camp it ought to be reliable :
ANOTHER FIGIIT.

Corrientes, Oct 31.
Yesterday, Oct. 30, at noon, the whole town was
thrown into a state of considerable excitement by
an extraordinary cannonade in the direction of
Tuyuti, and which continued with unabated vigour
till 4 p.m. Many have since returned from the scene
of action and give the following interesting de-
tails:—

About 6 p.m. a Brazilian gunboat was observed
in port; she appeared much injured and of little
' use. Without stopping she signalled. The Eponina
immediately weighed anchor, and streamed off to-
wards the Tres Bocas. The land army in Tuyuti
was surprised by a heavy column of the enemy,
which, sallying from their trenches, made for Poli-
doro's centre. Having made this unexpected at-
tack, the Brazilian general drove back the enemy
with a force triple that of the Paraguayans. The
enemy beat a precipitate retreat, and the Brazilians
followed headlong in pursuit of them, when sud-
denly they were surrounded by two Paraguayan
columns, which were posted at the right and left in
the woods. The Brazilians finding themselves sur-
rounded made a stout resistance ; half of them were
cut up, leaving 600 wounded on the field, and the
other half surrendered as prisoners of war. During
the fight some Paraguayan cavalry surprised the
Argentine guards and captured 86 horses.
Business, as natural in such a state of things, was
suffering greatly; every one was wishing and talking
of peace, and it was reported that Gen. Mitre was
about to make peace with Lopez, leaving the Brazi-
lians to get out of the scrape the best way they
could. What gives a great deal of strength to these
rumours is the disturbed state of the interior of the
Argentine Confederation, and the coup d'etat of
General Flores at Montevideo, which is equally
disliked by his own party and his opponents, of
which there are thousands. The northern provinces
of the Confederation—St. Juan, Mendoza, San Luis,
Jejui, and La Rioga have shown openly signs of re-
volution, since the result of the battle of Curu-
paity, and the local authorities have been under the
necessity of larresting many political opponents.
That there is a hostile feeling against the Govern meet
of General Mitre is well known, and all these pro-
vinces have hardly sent a man to the war. The
friendly feelings and promised help of Chili and
Bolivia towards Paraguay, close neighbours to the
above-named provinces, gives a clue to the news of
their being in a state of revolt. At a state dinner
given a short time ago on the Bolivian day of Inde-
pendence, at La Paz, the capital, over which the
President General Melgarejo and his Ministers pre-
sided, " Success to Paraguay" was drank with nine
cheers and all honours. All the western South
American Republics share the feeling of Bolivia.
Besides this trouble in the North, the Confederation
was seriously disturbed in the South by a very
disastrous foray of wild Indians. At one place,
called " Quequen Salado," the Indians carried off
all the horses, leaving the garrison without one ; at
and near " Frayle Muerto," they swept a well
populated and well stocked country for over 100
miles, destroying and killing man and beast and all
they could not carry along with them. More than
70 respectable families of farmers have been left
destitute and thrown into mourning. By this, one
of the largest Indian forays ever known in the his-

tory of the Argentine Confederation, a great many
have been carried into captivity. The enormity of
murder and plunder and the damage done by this
sad affair was not yet fully known when the packet
sailed. By the news just received it appears that
the war fever has also spread amongst the natives of
the Chaco, and that the northern Indians of that
great country have been at war amongst themselves.
The Guaycuru's and Tobas Indians, the most fierce
and barbarous of all the inhabitants of the Gran-
chaco, as it is called, are at war, but are much more
civilised than their more enlightened Christian neigh-
bours. They neither kill their prisoners, nor do they
enrol them, and force them to fight against their
brothers, as the allies have done at Uruguayma ;
but simply take them to Corrientes and sell them
for slaves, at prices varying from £5 to £2O, young
females being mostly in demand. This is done in
defiance of the Argentine law, which long ago has
declared that slavery had ceased to exist within its
limits; but, as the Staadard says, "as there are no
abolitionists the trade is carried on with impunity."
The Flores coup d'itat will give some more trouble
to the Confederation, particularly Buenos Ayres.
For some months the people of Uruguay have been
sick of the dictatorship of General Flores, and asked
for the election of a constitutional President. Die-

tator Flores, finding himself hard pushed, called
together a council of six of the most influential
political leaders, all his personal friends and tools,
and they unanimously voted for Flores' dictatorship
for 12 months longer, upsetting by this, virtually,
the Constitution of the Republic. But, as if the
heavens themselves had taken part against Buenos
Ayres, that beautiful city waa visited by a most
terrible storm, which destroyed an immense amount
of property and many lives. More than 2,000,000
of sheep have been lost in the camp. The harbour
of Buenos Ayres, one of the worst of all South
America, being nothing but an open roadstead, was
the scene of a fearful loss of Life. Two French
merchant vessels, the Napoleon 111. and Maria Eliza,
dragged their anchors, came foul of each other, and
sank. Out of these two vessels 22 men were saved
by the heroic conduct of the mate and crew of the

Austrian barque Amphitrite, and a large subscrip-
tion raised for the preservers and rescued ; amongst
the many names in the list we also find that of her

Majesty's Minister, Mr. Mathew and lady. It would
not be surprising if that gentleman should soon be

called to interfere on behalf of his countryman, Mr.
George Stewart, as property to the amount of

nearly £40,000 belonging to that gentleman have

been unlawfully seized by the Government of Buenos
Ayres, which case is now occupying the courts at
that place.

Lord Adelbert Cecil (says the Nottingham Jour-
nal) has boon conducting a series of religious services at
Stamford. His lordship having during the last few days
left to join his regiment, tho services are to be coudueted
in future by a scripture reader,