The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1858-08-06
I III L DISPA TCsH.
YRIDAi MORNING AUGUST ,s,a
The Difficulty In Paraguay he
War Expedition.

The Difficulty In Paraguay-1he he
War Expedition.
The preparations for the expedition OF war e
Paraguay are being rapidly completed. in orde,
70 pass up the Perana river the vessels arc mecca
sriiy Of light draft and include the revenue cut
ter Harriet Lain. brigs Dolphin Perry Bainbridg.
aud steam frigate Fulton, all heavily armed. Com
mandef Page will control the movements Of ths
squadron and ''commissioner," whether "peac,
commissioner OF not, liz not stated, will 90 with
the expedition. letter in New York paper, re
lstive to the occurrences on land, which have
brought about this event, is interesting just now
IL IL In reply to another communication In tn,
same paper. After noticing the desire of President
Lopez to get U. s. Consul Hopkins out of the coun
try. aud thus break up the rapidly growing enter
prises he had inaugusated and his determination
to create some difficulty which would be authort,
for ordering him out, the letter says:
An attack was made one night by Para yuavap
who, with paving stone, knocked down Mr. johr
Nauity as bo left the general agency of the GONNA
ny. Nr. Naulty wss at the time walking with
Lleutenant James IL Moore, U s. n, Of the Water
Witch, who caught the Para ag1ayan. and gave him
a sound thrashins ~iih horse whip on the spot
These gentlemen did not complain to the Consul
who therefore took official notice of the ont
rage. The second attempt succeeded better. A
soldier of the Parae uayan army attacked brothe,
ct Mr. Hopkins on the high road, and, without any
cause whatever, gave him a severe blow with IN.
HAT OF his sabre. Sir Hopkins demanded the pun
isbment of the soldier, which was granted asd the
cniprit received three hundred paios en- ca,Tero
iran the gauntlet of three hundred sticks In
Communicating to The Consul the fact If the pun
ishment OF the soldier, Lopez, through his Secreta
~ of State took the occasion to abuse Mr. Hoplit,
personally 10 an official note, which was published
IN the Semanafio This LED to long correspou
dence, ia which Mr. Hopkins STOOD entirely on the
defensive. Lopez brought up charge after charg.
against Mr.. Ill pkins, which the latter au etly dis
proved. Lopez became exasperated at Mr.. Hopkins
GOODNESS, aud pretended 10 be greatig outraged be
cause person who had received so many favor,
from him should dare to defend himself As he
could not find fault with Mr. Hopkins for breach
OF any existing laws, he proceeded 10 make laws ca
post fdcto, aud issue orders which he knew Mr.
tiopkns as an honorable man could not comply
with.
He first decreed that no foreign commercial title
could be used in the republic, without the formal
knowledge Of the government. Mr. Hopkins, a:
Consul, then informed the Secretary of State thai
he had been appointed general agent of the United
States aud Paraguay Navigation Company. few
days afterwards another decree Was issued, de
cariug that ell manufacturing establishments in
the country not licensed according to law within
three days, should be closed. When Mr. Hopkins
arrived in October, 1853. Lopez had specially ex
cused him from taking cut the customary licenses
as personal favor. Nevertheless, after this ds,
cree, Mr.. Hopkins purchased stamped paper to thu
nh'onat OF TWO aonbioons, aud made his applica
tion as general agent for licenses to carry ou tl,s
segsr factory and steam saw BI. The petitions
ere retui ned with the endorsement that the gov
ernmeDt cid not recognise Mr.. Hopkins as gener
agent OF the company. At this very time Log es
rode almost daily in handsome carriage, on which
was silver plate bearing an inscription in Sp .n
ish. of which the following is a translation:
presented TO His Excelancy, the President OF
the Republic, by the United states and Paraguay
Navigation Company.
EDWARD A HOPKINS, General Agent
He had months previously acknowledged the
receipt of this carriage and other presents, made
to him by the company through MIR. Hopkins as
their general agent 1t 9as iutmatei to Mr. Hop
kins that if be would apply for licences in his owl
name they would be granted. The reply was thai
he could not do so, as the establishments moi
his. but belonged to CO: porate company Of whom
he was only the agent. At the expiration of the
three days an order me to close the segar acte-
ry. MIR Hopkins refused to obey, saying that ts
had complies W Ia the law, for he had give forma
| knowledge to the government of his eommercia
title, and had made application for a licel se.--
After three days more consideration Judge Vas
| yuez, now Parag uayaD Secretary of State, went
into the segar factory. turned out about hundeet
| employ ees, and closed the doors. An order wal
| Also sent to the milwright to stop the sawmll- -
| Compliance was declined, anG file of soldier,
| were sent down to eXecGt4 the Ctder.
| Lopez then ordered Mr Hopkins to sell the LAND
on which the saw mill stood for the same price b,
had given for it, pretending, as "R. NJ" says, tina
| the purchase had been illegally made, and tn,
| documents obtained in a candestine manner from
| the civil notary The price paid r the land wal
a mere triie, but thousands Of dollars have bee
| spent improving it; and as MIR, Hopkins did NO
wish to sell it, he positively refused to obey th
| peremptory decree. The purchase had been mad,
| in good faith, and the Government were fully ad
yised of every step taken IN it. AS proof of this
| | would mention that there was large military
| post on the land, and by express orders of tht
| President the barracks were evacuated, and tn,
bulldogs placed at Mr.. Hopkins disposal. Tn,
President took forcible possession and turned The
| employees of the company off the premises, whic.
were then sold for such price as Lopez chose Il
iX-not, / believe, over two hundred dollars. Mr.
Hopkins protested against these arbitrary pro
ceedings. and warned President Lopez that thu
United States Government would hold him strictly
responsible for all losses to the company. ht
only reply of Lopez was to revoke MIR. Hopkins
exeqnatur as Consul.
Your correspondent states that Lopez loaned
Mr.. Hopkins $4,000, without any security what
ever, except general mortgage on the goods anC
cbattels of q company" In civilized countries &
''flrst mortgage" is generally considered the beet
kind of security. The lean was contracted will
the government simply because no other capitals
in Paraguay was able to lend so large an amount
Without ever asking for the pay ment of the loan
Lopez twp years afterwards fureelosed the mort
gage, which was upon machinery worth five OF
ehinery at auction for much less than cost
During all these difficulties Capt. Page was ab
sent with the Water Witch. He returned to Asun
ciop shortly after the seizure Of the sawmi prop
erty; and as he is in The United States, and able
to viDdicate bis own conductI shall not undertake
his defence. That MIR. Hopkins should refuse t.
give up the title deeds of the company's property
Is not surprising. considering that they constitu
ted bis best proof in support OF a reclamation be
fore our gov erument. 1T was preposterous TO sup
pose that he would surrender them at the order o
Lopez.
This lie plain statement of facts, and Is truo.
have no space to particuiarize all the outrageous
personal insults by which LopeZ's acts were &C
conn panied. Mr. Hopkins conduct from the tirs
trouble was marked by irmness; but il was en-
tiiely defensive aud perfectly respectful towards
the paragnau government When Lopez had shut
mp all his establishments, dismissed all his nativ.
employees and seized upon ali the property of the
company, sheve was nothing left for Mr.. Hopkins
to do but to protest and leave the country. The
goveln1nen have minutely examined every side o
this question. All the statements put forward b.
the cspmplainauts have been substantiated by oath
lopez rests on bis word alone, which is worth
nothing.
The public Is familiar with the facts relative II
q paray guam fort of 100 guns firing i1to the U
surveying steamer Arctic, aud killing one mar
on board, while the vessel was engaged in survey
ing the ParanA river. The Washington Stal
speaking of the Paraguau government, says;
President Lopez rnes Paraguay as despesicall,
as the sutoerat of the Russias, and is one OF the
most astuse aud educated OF the men who have
risen to power in Spanish America. lie is an admir-
able iingrist-is we'll read-and familiar with his
tory aud policy OF other countries; but, actins
upon the example of bis predecessor, Francia, be
has, until very recently, jealously guarded Para
guar from all contact with other people, and is
himself chief merchant as we'll as chief ruler, lie
IL skilled 10 all the arts of diplomacy, and seeks &c
battle by prolonged negotiation rather than BY
open opposition.
b. the Parana and Paraguay, Brazil can alone
obtain an easy access to some OF the haest pro-
yirees Of the Empire From this highway she