Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/509



CONCLUDING LETTER. 479

motives which make no other call than in that gentlemanly feelins: I congratulate myself in having found in your Excellency, to whom I now oflfer my friendly acknow-

gmen s. ^^ Francisco S. Lopez/'

Another was a paper (December 23, 1868) in which he appoints Madame Lynch universal legatee. This will is, I am informed, illegal, the mother in Paraguay being under such circumstances heir-at-law. He is said to be not an unaffectionate son, although public report made D. Juana a suicide, and Mr. Washburn declared at Buenos Aires (Sept. 20, 1868) that " Lopez" had imprisoned, flogged, and tortured his mother and his sisters.

This letter is a curious mixture of sympathy, of stern- ness, and of natural grief. It evidently alludes to the much talked-of conspiracy, and it proves, if credible, that D. Benigno Lopez was then living, although his death had often been reported.

And the following is a literal translation : —

" To the Senora Da. Juana Paula Carrillo de Lopez.

" September 10,1868. " My dear Mother,

" I have received your welcome letter of the 3rd instant, and I still live to acknowledge this upon the sixth anniversary of my father's death, through the mercy of God, who has vouchsafed to spare me, despite so many machinations of my own ones and of strangers.

" Several weeks have elapsed, it is true, since my last letter to you, and I highly prize your affectionate reproach, when on other occasions a longer neglect would be of no im- portance. My silence is owing partly to my bad negligent habits, but now, especially, to the moral suff'erings which have for some time been my lot. The singular circum-