Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/92



62 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.

opening up the river to tte flags of all nations. Thus, diplomatic relations with the European powers formally began, and Ministers and Consuls appeared on the field.

The internal administration of the Republic was distri- buted into four councils of government, each with its own bureau. These were the Secretariat of State for Foreign Aff'airs, and the Ministries of the Interior, of Finance, and of War and Marine, which also included the Commandership- in-Chief The holders of these pompous titles were mere clerks, salaried by the President, and having no other style but " you.'^ In criminal trials the judges were ordered to associate with themselves two adjuncts, drawn by lot from a prepared list. The President made himself "private judge of the causes reserved in the statute of the adminis- tration of justice — that is to say, all appeal lay to him only." A bi-weekly line of steamers to Buenos Aires was also established.

President Lopez then turned his attention to protecting his northern frontier. On the left or southern bank of the Rio Apa, he found only the fortlet of San Carlos, built in 1806 to control the fierce Mbaya Indians. These savages having depopulated the department and town of Divino Salvador, ravaged the river-sides as far south as Concepcion, almost on the tropic of Capricorn. He at once established a protective line of posts which began westward upon the left bank of the river Paraguay, and which, fol- lowing the course of the Apa, extended sixty leagues over the mountain- chain to the east.

Mr. Charles A. Henderson, appointed British Consul to Asuncion, there drew up (March 4, 1853) a treaty of com- merce. Similar instruments were also ratified with the Governments of France and Sardinia, but the modifica- tions proposed by the United States were not accepted. lu early 1854, the National Cougress again meeting, re-elected