Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1858-11-20
The Paraguay gApeditiOn.

Tue farngusy Expedition
The Northern papers persist in describing the
means OF this expedition as ridieulously dispropor-
toned to the object aud IL oil they say is true we
shall change opinion before long, and begin to
think as they do. The Government paper set forth,
in pompous terms that the feet destined for the SER
vice, carried 90 guns and $500 men. The names
OF the vessels were also paraded with great pomp-
There were the Sabine, the ST. Lawrence, the Perry,
the Dolphin, the cambridge, the Falmouth, the Pre-
BILE and the Fulton, ships enough, we thought, il
manned by American seamen and marines, to blow
Paraguay into the middle Of next week. But the
sage Mrs Glass, preparatory to her directions as to
the cooking OF hare, says, " first catch hare
Now quite evident that il il is the design of the
government to blow up Assumption, the ships it has
s'nt Tor that purpose must first get to Assumption
How this is to be done cannot say for it is sad
that the Paraguay river does not contain more than
nine feet of water on the average Ii is evident,
therefore, that the ships Of war cannot get Up.
The President fcresaw this difficulty, and he pro-
vided for ", as good President should He char.
tered the whole Cromwell line of steamers. which
used TO carry passengers between New York and
Baltimore. This purpose they answered admirably
well, and the President being aware Of this fact came
TO the conclusion that they would suit another equal
ly as we'll Their mission now is, to attack the
forts OF Assumption, armed with very heavy guns
il Lopez will insist on fighting What sort of fis-
ure they will cut in the new service, the President
knows, we presume, or he would not ha 20 sent them
upon il. But when we hear Of them, and their mis-
sion, we cannot but think what sort OF figure the
Curtis Peck would cut, engaging a battery Of Is
Founders, built right on the shore down here nj
Pressure Isle, on her way from Norfolk to this city =
Would 1t not be pretty SPORT Cor those in the bate
ryl How many shot would it take to tear the poor
old Peck into thousand pieces? The picture is
hardly fancy one. The Cromwell line arc said to
have such bulwarks as the steamers that run the
North river, for which service the Curtis Peck was
built, and The approaches 10 Assumption are all iort
fled in the most formidable manner
Seriously, does the President really intend to sub
ject these steamers to the possibility of being fired
into by heavily armed fortress, on laudp Does he
expect them to engage the batteries which Lopez is
slid to have erected, and to have armed with the
heaviest description Of gunsS We can hardly Think
it possible Yet # it be true that the waters of the
Paraguay are shallow they are represented to be
We see no other method of getting at the enemv.-
The fact is, cur navy should he furnished with
number of light steamers. carrying heavy guns, as
English and French navies are If we are to have
wars with nations living far up, on shallow rivers.
let us have the means Of getting at them. 1t would
be deporable should we he whipped by Paraguay,
the most insignificant Of all the miserable South
American States. The economy which saves money
by the sacrifice Of great public interests is we take
it, very bad economy. 1t would no doubt cost a
considerable sum to build a musqueto feet fit for
navigating such rivers the Paraguay But il also
costs money to charter such feet as the Cromwell
Inc, and it costs probably to fl: cut the men-of
war engaged in this expedition and to be doomed
hereafter, if present appearances mean anything to
lie inactive a. Buenos Ayres from their inability to
get up to Assumption.