For the French consul Maillefer, these words meant much promise with an improvised army, made up of three quarters of national guards and that barely had other naval resources from the Brazilian navy, which despite a declaration of blockade of the ports and coasts of Paraguay by Admiral Tamandaré did not seem to be in a hurry to go and measure himself against López’s fleet, swollen with the 5 or 6 ships that the Empire or the Argentine Confederation had seized.
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the reverse
The prisoners taken in Uruguayana (September 1865) were distributed among the three victorious armies, and the fittest were forced to join their ranks. The eastern vanguard was increased, thus with a Paraguayan battalion, commanded by officers from Montevideo. Maillefer (consul in Montevideo from 1854 to 1870) described: “But what service and loyalty can be expected from these wretches condemned to march against their own country!” A large number of these prisoners, especially the youngest, were transported to the interior of the Brazilian province of Rio Grande, with the probable possibility of being sold into slavery: a strange consequence of a war waged without the color of the emancipation of an oppressed nation!
In commemoration of this ungrateful triumph, Emperor Don Pedro II, by decree of September 20, instituted a gold, silver and zinc medal that would be distributed to the three armies. He also elevated generals Miter and Flores to the dignity of Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Cruzeiro, which grants these presidents of the Republic the rank of princes. Madame Flores and her daughter Agapita, says Maillefer, “recently came to pay a friendly visit to my family, and they were very enthusiastic.” At the formal request of General Flores, the provisional government also decreed that a gold, a silver and a copper medal be distributed to the winners of the Yatay, according to rank. This contagion of honors does not stop there: Consul Maillefer also received a “distinction of honor that has not cost him a drop of blood or a tear.”
Paraguay at the Universal Exhibition
During the war of three countries against Paraguay, France was preparing for a universal exhibition in Paris in 1867. French diplomats in South American countries informed their countries to participate. President Francisco S. López authorized the presence of Paraguay in the exhibition. In a conversation in Montevideo, General Flores gave an answer to this invitation: what can we send but ponchos and lances? Maillefer replied: “Your Excellency, you can also send hides, canned meat and wool, you can show that the Eastern State knows how to wage war without neglecting the arts and the interests of peace.” General Flores replied: “Wonderfully, but for that he would have to have only one enemy in front of him, and look at the attitude that the newspapers have already taken, even those who call themselves friends.” And on this he launched a furious explosion against dissidents and traitors. Maillefer described Flores: “You should have seen this half-Indian (Chinese) dictator poorly dressed, with messy hair and beard.”
Outcome
The end was getting closer. Lopez was still standing in the mountains (the Cordillera) of the interior, with four or five thousand men, confessing his defeat and asking the country for the means to repair it. But patriotism was exhausted with the virile population, with material resources, with faith in the leader and in victory.
A proclamation by General López declares: “Compatriots. Defeated at my headquarters in Pykysyry, I am in this field. The enemy is dying due to the splendid victory of the 21st and the successive contrasts that have taken place until the 26th. […], the enemy took his attack where we didn’t even have it. He opened fire with a large artillery that our legions withstood as well as on other days, but a body of recruits gave the enemy advantages, and our efforts did not come to fruition. freedom of the country. Our God wants to test our faith and perseverance to later give us a greater and more glorious Homeland […] A setback of fortune will certainly not come to impose on the spirit and self-sacrifice of the magnanimous People […]…Cerro León, December 28, 1868. Francisco Solano López”.
besieged Asuncion
A witness in Asunción described the spectacle before his eyes: The capital Asunción was still a beautiful city, despite the state of ruin it had been in since four years of war. However, the spectacle became gloomy: soldiers in the streets, the houses that were sealed opened and were assaulted by Brazilian soldiers. The warehouses were opened and looted, even under the thresholds of the houses, chests with jewels or money were sought to be dug up. Families who fled the capital to the interior of the country hid their valuable belongings in boxes underground. Also deposits of hides, tobacco and other goods of the country, of Paraguayans, and of foreigners established in the territory. The consulates of France, Italy, Portugal and the United States did not escape looting. Luque was again evacuated on December 17 by a decree that notified that the capital was transferred to Piribebuy.
The French consul, Paul de Cuverville, stated that while on the property of the Italian consul, Lorenzo Chaperon, they were informed that Brazilian troops had looted the consulates in Luque. Cuverville immediately rushed to the scene finding his trunks broken, the safe had been hacked open, and was lying empty.
In Asunción, he also found the place completely looted, and a soldier was in his room “sitting in his only chair”. The soldier’s explanations were that the chief had given permission to loot. Nothing could be obtained from the Marquis of Caxias or from the Brazilian authorities, who also refused to recognize Cuverville, in his capacity as representative of France. The Brazilians do not move from here, they sleep on the laurels. Trade is paralyzed, with the looting these days, no one had the courage to unload merchandise at the port.
The happiness of some at the expense of the suffering of others (Le malheur des uns fait le bonheur des autres (Voltaire): the misfortune or misfortune of some is the happiness of others).
In his message, the president of Montevideo at the opening of the chambers proclaimed: “The Great Paraguayan War, the war of decisive battles, seems to have ended.” Soon the provisional government will be established in Paraguay. The Eastern Division returned with all the pomp and noise of triumph. Five years of fatigue, of sacrifices of this bloody fight. “It is true that as compensation they are bringing three hundred Paraguayan concubines”! It seems that the allies are not satisfied with stripping the country of its men, but also take its women.
Regrettable, whose clearest result for the two allied republics of Brazil is to have exhausted the honor and the money to annihilate another republic for their exclusive benefit. The Empire, which did not seem to be in a hurry to dismiss its troops, kept Paraguay as its particular conquest. In addition to the demographic, economic and financial crisis that resulted from this war for Paraguay, part of its territory was also divided between Argentina and Brazil. A new era was beginning for a country in ruins. New men with courage and patriotism, had the great responsibility of governing the destiny of Paraguay.
Maria Victoria Benitez Martinez
History and Civilizations –
University of Paris, France
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