Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/360



330 A VISIT TO THE GRAN CHACO.

the dignity conferred upon him by the nation ; to fail in his duty^ to act the coward.

Mr. Gould left Paraguay in no pleasant way, and, by a regrettable accident, the British widows and children given up to him were allowed to land at Montevideo and to tell all they knew. Returned to Buenos Aires (September 10, 1867)^ he expressed a very unfavourable opinion of Para- guayan resources and of the Bepublic^s prospects in the present war : this was a most delicate subject^ upon which a word in Paraguay cost a man his life. The document doubtless soon reached Asuncion, by means of the Para- guayan refugees, fugitives, and malcontents, who muster strong in the Argentine Confederation. Moreover, to the utter perplexity of European readers, it differs in all essen- tial points from the despatch (Sept. 30, 1867)^ forwarded to the Admiralty by Lieut. -Commander Mitchell.

Mr. Gould — directed by another Minister Plenipotentiary who also had not presented his credentials to the Govern- ment of Paraguay — proceeded a second time up the river on Sept. 4, 1868 ; but for some months before this period frightful reports concerning the "atrocities of Lopez" appeared in every print, and it was not judged advisable to disembark from the Linnet. M. de Kerjegu, the French Secretary, landed, and visited the Marshal-President at head-quarters. Mr. Gould suffered from Chuchu, and again returned re infectd. His belief that the Paraguayan cause had completely broken down proved utterly erroneous, and he left for England on October 26, 1868.

Presently, in August, and again in October and Novem- ber, Captain Parsons, H.M.S. Beacon, steamed up the river, and was courteously received by the Marshal-President, of whom his impressions were highly favourable. He left on

to both Houses of Parliament. 1868.
 * Correspondence respecting Hostilities in the River Plate (! ) presented