Year: 1868

]


British Minister to Buenos Ayres, re-


ferred to above. Editor Republican


Nothing, however, of importance oc-


CURED till the 10th of June, when we


were surprised by the appearance Of the


acting Portuguese Consul, Jose Maria


Leite Pareira, and his wife, who came


to ask the protection Of my house and


flag. OF the events that followed this /


refer you for information to the CORE


spondenee already published. First, the


government desired to know if the said


Leite Pareirs was in my house. replied


in the affirmative, but denied the right of


the government to question me as to the


persons in my legation, and that if it


knew or suspected any obnoxious person


to be within it, specific allegation of


his offense must be made before should


be under obligations to send him away.


Some two weeks passed after the first


call for him was made before it was re-
peated, and, in the meanwhile, we all


began to cherish the hope that he would
not be molested. His whole offense, so
far as l then knew, or know now, was
the crime, which among civilized men
would be considered venial, if not meri-
torious, Of spending all his own money
and all he could borrow, to relieve the
prisoners who fell into the hands of Lo.
PEI, relying on them or their respective
governments to repay him after the war.
On the morning of his coming to my
house, however, he had received notice
that his consular character would no
longer be respected, and, as he had pre-
viously been cautioned that Lopez was
badly affected toward him, he considered
the withdrawal of his exequatur as but a
prelude to imprisonment, irons and star
walton. He therefore fed with his wife
to the United States Legation. hoping to
find shelter and protection. 1t was &C.
corded him without hesitation, though
regarded by me as an unwise and impru-
dent step on his part


On the 1lth of July, however, the
dream of security was dispelled by the
receipt of the letter from the acting Min
lister of Foreign Relations, Gumesindo
Benitez, in which the government de-
manded the dismissal on the following
day not only of Leite Pereira, but of
everybody else in my house that did not
belong to the Legation. Pereira and the
English left accordingly, though | told
them all that did not send them away,
and that if they chose to remain they
might do so, and / never would deliver
up one of them until some specific crime
was alleged against them. They all
thought, however, it was best for them to
90, and the English requested me to 60
and see Col. Fernandez, the military
commander at Ascension, the men offer
ing to resume work in the arsenal, and
requesting to be advised of the points to
which the women and children would be
sent


The house was surrounded by as many
as forty policemen, and the English were
afraid of being taken Immediately to
prison. Fernandez, however, pledged
me his word of honor that they should
not be molested by the police, but should
be well treated, and said the men would
be again taken into the service on condi-
tion of making new contracts. The men
had made the offer only because they
thought it would be better to go to work
than 60 to prison. They accordingly
left the Legation in the afternoon and
were directed to the railway station, where
they were most miserably provided for,
that Fernandez had
pledged his word of honor that they
should be we'll treated. They remained
in that situation for about week, when
they disappeared, and | know not what
has become of them. have heard that
the women and children we're sent to a
village, about four leagues from Asun.
cion, called St. Lorenzo, and that the |
men had, like most of the other foreign
ers in Paraguay, been taken in irons to
the army headquarters.


Leite Pereira left about pm. of the |
same day, and was arrested as soon as
he got in the street OF his subsequent |
fate / know nothing. On the same day |
l wrote letter to Benitez, advising him
that the Portuguese Consul and the Eng |
lish had left voluntarily, but as no charge |
had been made against Carreras or Red
riguez, and they preferred to stay in the
and as such was also my wish,
| presumed no objection would be made
to il. By sunrise, however, the next
morning, received another letter, still
more urgent, demanding that they should
leave nv house by one o'clock of that





day. Still no specific charge was made
against them, and told them that they
might 20 or stay, as they thought best,
but that they would have the protection
Of my house and flag until they we're
taken by force or till some direct crime
was laid to their charge. They both said
that If would promise to remain till the
end Of the war they would not deliver
themselves up, as it was impossible for
any specific charge to be brought against
them and they did not believe that Lopez
would venture to take them out Of the
Legation by force. But l could not
promise to remain to the end Of the war,
and they therefore said it was better that
hey should 20 at once than to enraee
Lopez BY remaining, when at last they
would probably fall into his merciless
,lutches. They accordingly left at IL
n. Of the 18th Of July, but not till / had
'hown them my letter Of the same date
o Benitez, in which / gave my reasons
or believing that the Government could
ave nothing serious against thsm, and
hat in regard 10 Rodriguez, even II il
lad, they bad no right TO touch him, IS
ie vaAntitled TO diplomatic iumuniues