Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-11-25
NO. 3S UNION STREET,

This letter sent the same afternoon to
Benitez, and, as all we're then gone who
did not belong to the Legation, thought
that should be left to dismal peace. Be.
fore night, however, cama another letter
demanding that / should likewise send
away two members of nv Legation, P.
G. Bliss and G. f. Masterman, whose
names us such had long before been given
in to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
At this point l made q stand, as you
will see by the published correspondence,
and by fencing and fighting to the best
Of my ability, saying some fattering
things about Lopez, / kept them with me
until my final departure. / admit that
purposely prolonged the correspondence
IN the hope Of saving these two men,
They were arrested, however, as they
started to accompany me to the steamer,
at the moment of leaving the Legation,
taken by force from my side, and their
subsequent fate may be guessed at from
what l shall hereafter relate.
In the meantime we could hear scarcely
anything of what was going on. With
the exception of the Consuls, who occa.
sionally came in from Luque, no one
ever came to my house; and my Para
guayan servants,if they learned anything,
feared to tell it. l did learn, however,
that about the time the great sweep was
made from my house, the brother Of the
President, Venancio Lopez, was carried
off in irons to the army headquarters
His other brother, Benigno, had been
called below long before; and when
visited His Excellency at San Fernando,
in the early part of May, Don Beuigno
and the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Berges, were both close prisoners, as was
the Presidents brother-in-law, Saturnino
Bedova. The old Vice President, San
ches, who had previously been prisoner,
was then allowed to leave his house, but
neither be nor any Paraguayan dare ap-
proach me or be seen with me.
For time we feared it was the inten.
tion of Lopez to cut the throats of all the
foreigners, as we knew but little of any
arrests at that time of Paraguayans. If
they were arrested they were taken off
so quietly that we might not hear any
thing of it for weeks and months. But
while the English, who had been in the
Legation, were detained in the railway
station, the train came in one night at
midnight full of prisoners. The English
could see nothing, as no light was al
lowed in the station; but the clanking
of the chains and the sighs and groans of
the prisoners as they were forced from
the cars and driven forward towards the
bank Of the river were distinctly audible.
They were all embarked in steamer for
San Fernando before daylight A few
days after, learned that this crowd of
prisoners was almost entirely composed
of Paraguayans; that nearly every man
in the new capitalize judges, clerks,
accountants and all, save the chief of
police, Sanabrla, man eminently dis
tinguished for his brutality, Benitez and
the vicepresident were the only ones left
there, besides policemen and soldiers;
that there was gloom over the place,
so deep and funeral-like tha at the women
and children scarcely yentured out of
their houses, and, if they cid, it was with
fear, as if they had just felt the shock of
an earthquake, and were in dread of an.
other.
For more than fifty years the country
has been Dionysius' gallery. 1t was
always the policy of Francia and of Car
los Antonio Lopez that everything should
reach the ear of "El Supremio." But
in the worst days of Francia the govern
ment was mild and paternal compared
with what it has been under this younger
Lopez. People have been thrown into
prison not only for saying things per-
fectly innocent and for not reporting
what they had heard, but also for the
crime of not reporting what they had net
heard. 1t is made the duty of everybody |
to be spy on everybody else, and woe
to him whose ears are not open to every |
word spoken in his presence.
The arrests of all the civil magistrates
indicated that 1t was not the foreigners |
alone that had made themselves obuox-
ious to Lopez. But what it was all for
no one in my house, as | yet firmly
believe, had the least idea. The pub
lished correspondence, however, will
show that about the 18th or goth Of July
the government suspected, or affected to
conspiracy, alleging that ex-
Minister Berges was traitor, and was in
with the enemy, aud that under
my official seal / had transmitted the
to and fro between the
| must refer you to the
published correspondence to show you
how they undertook to connect me with
The conspiracy, or, at least, as knowing
that revolution was in contemplation.
At first it would seem that they were so
confident of duplicating me that they
began to publish the correspondence,
1ut affair receiving my letter of the llth
IF August, in which showed so many
in the declarations that ;
rad been made by the sccused-prob-
Ibly usder torture-that they suspended
urther publications.
Bat it was not in the nature Of Lopez
o show any magnanimity, or even JUS
ice, by acknowledging he had been led
nto error BY false deposition Men who
inow him would as soon accuse him Of
irdinsry courage as Of msgnsnimiiy, and ,
ic never vas accused Of that, except in
lis own SemdBario, Of which be is vir-
ualiy the editor. During sll this war
sopeE has never exposed himself 10 any
lersonal danger; be has never on q single
ccasion risked himself in any battle; :
nd while be was at PAso Puca be bad an
immense cave, or rather house. with walls