Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/161



NATIVES AND FOllEIGNERS. 131

honour, and a single battery of Paraguayans would easily have sunk the " British fleet/-* This would have been more amusing than even the adventure of the cruiser which was nearly captured by negroes on the west coast of Africa.

After some pourparlers, Messrs. Bliss and Masterman were given up, not unconditionally as had been demanded, but as political prisoners to be tried in the United States ; they were not allowed to communicate with any one on board, and accusations in sealed envelopes accompanied them. The captives embarked at 11 p.m.; they complained of torture, whereas the surgeon who examined them found no marks, and calling for supper they showed a healthy appetite. This is from high authority ; an equally high authority declares that Dr. Duval did find scars on Mr. Masterman. General M'Mahon was landed on December 12, 1868, and on the next day the JVasp left.

The Government of the United States was still more aggrieved. Mr. Washburn^'s brother had become Chief Secretary to the new President Grant, and it was deter- mined to support him. Admiral Davis was greatly blamed for taking on board an American ship of war the political prisoners of Marshal-President Lopez, for placing them under a guard of marines, and for allowing them to land and pass three days at Rio de Janeiro before they left for the United States. The charge is rather specious than real. M. Libertat, Chancellier of the Consulat de France, was sent as a prisoner on board a French cruiser despatched to bring him down ; and he also had been accused only of conspiracy. Doubtless, Admiral Davis, as would any other brave man, stretched a point in favour of the hapless little Republic which is fighting single-handed against three, and avoided everything that might have driven him to the disgrace of firing a shot. But public opinion most wrongfully con- demned General M'^Mahon for taking the place of the

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