New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-11-26
PARAGUAY.
THE FEELING AGAINST MR.. wAsHBURN-REAc'
TION-ADMIRAL DAVIS.


FROM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT
Rio DE JANEIRo, Oct. 25-Before this reaches you
suppose you viii have received full accounts Of the
extraordinary circumstances connected with the
departure of Minister Washburn from Paraguay
and the arrest of Messrs. Bliss and Masterman q;
they were leaving the country in the Minister'S com
pany The excitement over the affair is 80 intense
at this place, especially among the American and
English residents, and the newspaper comments
reflect so angry state of public feeling,
that fear you may not make all the allowances fof
Mr. Washburns position which justice requires, and
may summarly sentence him to perpetual obloquy for
what must confess looks at first blush like deser-
tion of those whom he was bound to protect. Mr..
Bliss and Mr.. Masterman were regular attaches OF
the American legation, and their arrest was gross
outrage which everybody feels that the United States
will and ought to resent with ali haste. When the
news first reached here the inquiry was general,
"Why has Mr.. Washburn come away without them
Was i not his duty 70 peril his own lie 70 res :;
The English papers at Buenos Ayres
were savage in their attacks at first and Americans
at Rio hung their heads for shame. reaction, now
ever has already set in. We are reminded that Nr.
Washburn has been for many long months the gen.
erous and courageous protector OF the foreigners az
Asuncion who fled to his hOspitabe roof for pro-
lection against the cruelty OF Lopez. hIs own lfa
at times seems 10 have hung by thread and there
are many who believe that If the Wasp had been
few days later in arriving he would not have been
alive TO tell of the atrocities which he has witnessed
The Buenos Ayres papers have opened their columns
literally TO his defense and we are beginning to ask
ourselves: Could he have done any more thah liz
! did I"
Of course, with the little Wasp mounting only three
| guns il was hardly fair to expect Dir. Washburn TO
steam boldly up to the Paraguayan capital; the forts
would not have crumbled into dust at the unfnrlina
Of the American flag. nor the tried soldiers OF Lopez
But there was a squadron at Rio, under command oil
Rear Admiral c. II. Davis, and Il seemed TO De sup
posed that Mr. Washburn would lose time IN cali
ing it to his aid. The fact begins TO leak ont,
however that Mr. Washburn did what he
conld to get that feet under Weigh and and
IL is rumored that somebody beside the Minister has
failed in his duty. The naval and diplomatic
| authorities are at variance somewhere, and whers
the fault lies will no doubt appear IN due season,
| The report goes that Admiral Davis IS 10th to aci
without specific instructions from Washington and
is BY no means satisfied that he has force enongh to
reach Asqncion, or to do any good II ne shond get
available in the shallow waters of the Para.
quay River. The rest of the squadron consists
of the corvette Pawnee, IL guns, and the gunOOae
| Kansas and Quinnebaug. Of and o guns respect
vely the remaining vessel of the fleet the Shamo-
kin. having gone home Ii is source OF intense
modification to American residents tnaJ THESE
smaller vessels at any rate have not sailed Ior the
River Plate days SINCE especially as the English
gunboats Beacon and Linnet and the French man-oI
war Decide lost no time in proceeding to the Iara
quay to be prepared for any emergency. When
will the American squadron sail ~ is the question
that has been every lip since we got the FIRST news
Of the outrage. Meanwhile Admiral Davis show' no
haste and American naval officers are compllmentlna
the savage who has outraged their flag and THEN
countrymen for the courteses he showed them IN
the Paraguayan waters. and smacking their lips over
the good things Lopez used TO send them for dinner
Ar last we are assured that the fleet will weigh
anchor in couple of days. and take with il the new
American Minister, Gen. Mcmahon who arrived by
the mail steamship Mississippi on the ath. But from
the fact that Gen. Mcmahon is TO be accompanied by
his three sisters the inference not unnatural that
Admiral Davis does not anticipate very lively pro-
oeedlngs for the present.
have said nothing of the preposterous charge OF
Lopez that Washburn, Bliss and Masterman were
implicated in conspiracy against HIM, for nobody
here nuts the slightest faith in it, and sure that
nobody IN the United States will either. The clumsy
story and the still more clumsy fOrgeries by which
Iopez has attempted to support ii carry their own
REPUTATION. Mr.. Washburn may not have been very
circumspect in the expression of his opinion about
Lopez and the war; but beyond this for one am
satisfied he has pursued upright course during hs
mission and dare say the closing scenes VIII prove.
when all the facts become known more creditabe TO
Nm than we nj first supposed. RI