Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/164



134 MONTEVIDEANS â€” NATIVES AND FOREIGNERS.

The mixed population, Spanish and Portuguese, Brazilian and Italian, French and English, with a dash of Yankee in political matters, retains all the vices and few of the virtues that characterized its ancestors. Here nobody expects justice â€” nobody has any confidence in the honour of the Government, or in the honesty of the individual. The miserable administration of justice in the outstations secures impunity to the murderer, and executions, frightfully common in revenge for political misdemeanours, are unknown when the offence is taking life. The ridiculous authorities object strongly to any measure of self-defence. No one forgets the case of Mr. Flowers, who, to save himself, shot a ruffian and thereby secured nine months of public gaol. I saw the wife of an English colonist, who, being remarkably handsome, requires as much protection as a twenty-carat diamond. Sundry Gauchos have sworn to carry her off a Vlrlandaise, and if they can they will.

Nor do foreigners, especially Englishmen of the better class, thrive physically or morally, in the present state of society. They come out full of life and energy, ready to work hard, fond of riding, travelling, and field sports. By degrees they drop all energy ; they cease to take exer- cise ; they cling to hut and hammock â€” more poetically, ^^ pensile bed f then they give up reading anything but newspapers, and presently even these. Letters are far too much for them, and they can do nothing but drink, smoke, and eat. I purposely put the first before the last, where- with adieu.