Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/507



CONCLUDING LETTER. 477

Lopez. Some declare that on the road to execution he said to an acquaintance, " Take my hat ; a man about to die wants no head covering/' Others reported that he had been flogged to death by Aveiros, a government clerk, and by Matias Goiguru, a captain of cavalry ; while others assert him to be still living. The same is the case with Vice- President Sanchez ; whilst a few saw his body at San Fer- nando, many are convinced that he still breathes the upper air.

The women of Paraguay were not less arbitrarily treated. I saw one order for 700 of them, and another 810, to proceed, guarded by an officer and thirty troopers — who probably had no sinecure — with all possible despatch to the Capilla de Caacupe, where they were to " occupy themselves usefully in agriculture,^' maize and mandioca. The Allies may therefore give up all hopes of starving out this stubborn foe. Another document (SÂ«pt. 26, 1867), establishes a central commission for receiving money, or, that failing, jewellery and precious stones, required for the defence of fatherland. La Senora, the President's mother, subscribes fifty ounces, and D. Elisa Alicia Lynch, one hundred. It is, therefore, vain to say that Marshal-President Lopez must put his subjects to death in order to plunder their property.

Yet amidst the papers of sternest import, the instruments of tyranny which riveted chains upon a free people, are others which show heart of a softer stuff. The President of Paraguay, compared with Tiberius and Nero, is anxious about his eldest son " Panchito" (F. Lopez), who was so often reported to have been slain in battle when only about thirteen to fourteen years old. He shows much tenderness to his youngest child Leopoldo. I saw the original of the following, which he addressed before the affair of Loma Valentina, to Major-General Macmahon : — â€¢