The New York Herald Newspaper, September 22, 1868, Page 4

4 THE PARAGUAY! The Allied Defeats Humaita. Their Subsequent Occupation of the Place. WAR, Before Highly Interesting Details of the Evacuation. The Assault of July 16—Gallantry of the Al- lied Commanders—The Fleet Reconnoitre the Tebicuari Line—The Damage to the Iron- Clads—The Material Found in Humaita—Thi Boom on the River. (From the Anglo-Brazilian Times, August 24.7 In the absence of any official despatch regarding the affair of the 16th of July, the following account of it has interest:— At daybreak General Osorio received orders to ad- vance on Humai! Hardly had our columns got be- yond the ditch, and before they had passed the piece of entrenchment in front of our advanced hares acloud of white smoke rose in the horizon an almost instantly some cannon balls fell on the ground We were marching over, The enemy was telling us he was at his post; the place liad not been evacuated, jut, no order being received to retire, General sorio continued his movements. His army advanced in the best order in spite of the vacuums left in his ranks from the corpses and wounded falling from the enemy’s shell. The van of the attack: force ‘was composed of the Fourth, Thirteenth and Thirty- ninth battalions, of a contingent of sappers and of the First corps of the Rio Grande cavalry. The General and his staif followed behind the ex- pierre tint is, in front of the column of attack. ‘he other battalions and cavalry corps took posi- tions for the sustentation of the van or to take partin the combat according as circumstances would re- quire. From the first opening of the enemy’s fire hig arullery never ceased for a moment to throw missiles corresponding to the distance, Grape rained on our columns as soon as they were within range. At that moment the combat was formally undertaken. The general, beside his soldiers, threw himself upon the enemy’s entrenchments, exhorting his men to valor by his example and his words, Meanwhile the grape and musketry gave no truce. Infact, as the head of our column advanced by a defile between two deep and wide lakes it suddenly became compromised be- tween the sides of a re-entering angie whose ex- tren were the vertices of two other salient angles, each defended by three cannons, whose cross fire was augmented by musketry and by other cannons placed at the sides of re-entering parallels to the principal enirenclinent, composed of a wide fosse and a high parapet, and it encountered a wide antefosse, a line of abattis and, between the two, a network of pits. ‘The vehicles carrying the material for the assault failed in great part to come within reach of the assailants because of the darkness when they set out and bec ve of the frightening and slaughter of the aninais by the enemy's fire. After cutting up a picket of tweity men, the First cavalry dismounted ut the ditch and silenced the artillery of one of the angles, ‘The infantry, however, notwithstanding its unheard-of efforts, could not gain ground, owing to the wide gaps opened in them by the enemy’s re. When Osorio saw his soldiery shaking he advanced in person, forgetful of danger, whitner his military honor called him. He wished to declare with his blood, perhaps with his life, the impotence of valor against such formidable obstacles. A sudden spark of enthusiasm electrified the ranks as they saw him grandly and imposingly enter a cloud of smoke where- in active and inexorable Death was reaping with his funereal scythe. A generous and sublime impulse im- pelled the soldiers that still remained on foot and all advanced. The enemy redoubles his efforts. It is the crisis of the struggle. The General’s horse falls, shot through. Dismounted, the General seizes the musket of a dead soldier beside him, aims at and shoots an artillerist in the act of pushing a cartridge intoacannon. Enthusiastic at his tease his staif surrounded him at the ditch’s side, lajor Joao Ramos, to whom the General gave his lance, dies while thrusting it into the entrenchment. Brandao falls with his skull riven by a grapeshot. Dias lies Insensible on the ground. Adjutant General Tarouco receives a ball, to die of it some houra after. His ad- jutants, Aprodisio and Lapa, and his orderly and cornet are beside him, lifeless. Dionysio Amaro and Silva are contused. The latter rece! @ ball and two others plough his neck and hand; the former has the skin of his stomach cut by @ grapeshot. Pires Joses a horse, he jumps on another, a round- Bhot traverses it, throws it into the air and dashes the rider far away, bruising his limbs se- verely. Rodrigues, brave as the brave, is respected by the balls, Kocha, Osorio and Torres are likewise miraculously saved, and are the only ones ye: stand- ing. Young Ensign Rocha Osorio, nephew to the General, and commanding a picket, rushes forward with his little ve bear and receives a wound tn the &rm while sticking his lance into the eneiny’s bul- wark; of his twenty or so body guards of the Gen- eral only five remain; the rest are dead or wounded. The commanders of the Fourth and Thirty-ninth are decapitated ; the Majors of the Fourth and Thir- teenth are killed. General Osorio, being recognized by the enemy, was the target for their shots; three or four balls tore his clothes witbout touching him, Ensign Rocha Osorio rushes to the General and snaiches the carbine from him, brings him a horse und obliges him to mount. By this the Field Adjutant, sent to the Marquis de Caxias for orders and to communicate the state of the fight, the e3 endured and the resistance of the enemy, returns with the response that Osorio might do the best he could. The General, seeing the garrison of the entrenchment getting stronger every Moment, understood that the enemy was con- centrating lis forces there, he not being troubled at other points. ‘To sacrifice more men would be useless, would be fruitiess. The reconnoissance by main force had been made, the entrenchment attacked and the order of the General-in-Chief accomplished. Ata cost of nine or ten hundred men killed and wounded the system of the enemy's entrenchments was ascer- tained, together with the obstacles they presented. An appropriate observation suggests itself:—Osorio had not an engineer with Lim to make a plan of the Work attacked, The retreat of General Osorio was effected in the same order a8 the attack, according to those pre- cepts of tactics of whose Knowledge he has shown himself possessed, giving thereof previously an evi- dent proof in his reconnotssance of the Fort of Espi- Dilla, Which was reported one of the most brilliant and regular operations of the war. Of the fifteen ‘piicers of the battalion of engineers which entered into action nine were killed or wounded. OMicial details of the gunboat reconnoissance upon the 24th, of the batteries upon the Paraguay above the mouth of the Tebicuari are published. The lead Was taken by the double-turreted iron-clad Bahia and the monitor Atagdas lashed to her side. The Silvado followed at some distance below to aid in case of necessity, such as the blowing up of the vessels by torpedoes said to be in the channel, in addition to @ boom. — The enemy v ready in the batteries upon the Fortines b to which the very narrow chan- 0 ye biud? mounted fifteen cannon in re- doubts, seven of which were sixty-eights, one a thirty- two, four rifes and four of unascertained caltbre. Owing to the curve of the bluff the fire of the cannon ged upon the narrowest part of the, channel Two suecessive volleys struck a the vessels, causing much damage, but the vessels continued to steam up at full speed, find ing no boom or torpedoes as anticipated. The second redoubt raked the two vessels from ahead while the sixty-elglt-pounders shook the plating with shot discharged within thirty yards, However, ‘only fifteen struck, seven on the Bahia ana eight on the turret and other exposed parts of the Alagoas, Sree to the haste of the enemy, who evidently expected the whole division was coming up. For fifteen miles upwards the Paraguayans abandoned the banks at the sight of the vessels. Inside a twisting lake called Recodo many men were seen and the great encampment of St. Fernando, with two small steamers, Whose masts we dorned with branches in honor of the day of St. Solano. ‘The lake could not be entered, but the vessels shelled the Paraguayan steamers until they were taken out of sight, and then the bombs were directed on the camp, making the enemy abandon huts near the lake and ran within an extensive entrenchment, which seemed to circle defend the present centre of Lopez’ forces. bombardment was kept up for four hours and the Vessels then returned down stream, In passing the batteries again the fire was very heavy. A ball entered the wheel turret of the Bahia, took half the head off the pilot, killed a seaman and wounded another an wees The three bodies falling once upon the wheel in the little turret rendered ittmmovable at the most perilous ee of the descent, and she would have run into the puff a few yards off but for the guidance effected with the twin screws, the pilot of the Alayéas jamp- ing on board and giving the necessary directions for the p er signals to the engineers. In twenty min- | utes occupied in repassing very serious damages | were experienced by the Bahia, for of the sixteen | shot which then struck her on the port side four , smashed and traversed the plating almost at the water line, so that after anchoring it Was necessary to stop the breeches with pitch, Notwithstandin; the numberiess tines the piating of the Batia had been tried under fire it was the first time any loss of life had occurred on board and also the first time Paraguayan shot had passed her plating, but the ex- perience then showed that no plates can resist stxty- eight-pounders at a distance of so few yards. The commander, Captain Hoonholtz, thinks the little monitors would not have withstood so close a fire, and that the casemate of the Barroso would not have protected the men inside. As is more or less the case im most if not in all the Brazilian war vessela, an Englishman, Joseph NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1868—TRIPLE SHEET Another smashed the gratiag of the engine room, and besides otuer damage destroyed the firebox. A marine was killed, and the commander and three others wounded. The Plauhy, which with the Bar- roso and Rio Grande moved up and engaged the bat- teries while the other three went up, Was struck ten times, and towards the end of the afiatr her turret was jammed up by a splinter, and the gun had to be brought to bear by the aid of the twin screws, while a carpenter cut away the circie of wood around the sur- ret in order to free it. ‘The shot wich struck this wood jammed a splinter under the turret and also Sent many inside, and the commander complains of this and other dangers arising from the want of a Suitable collar to the turret, a3 an enemy y boarding could easily jam the tower with a wedge hades and combustibles through the wide # ¢ its lower end and the deck. Two shots striking simultaneously on the bows, below water, stopped the vessel fora moment, The Barroso was not hit, and the Rio Grande received only two shots, Admiral Inhaima explal why 01 six iron- clads were sent past Humaité and the comparative inaction of them as from the extreme difi- culty of supplying them With coal, munitions and other supplies, Although the railway made did good service it was only temporary, owing to the rise of water over it. In sending up three more iron-clads upon the 2ist of July he was induced by the belief that no further rise of the river was to be feared and by the Enowleaae that much artillery had been removed from Humaité, and that from this and other similar reasons little risk would be quo by the iron-clads then sent up, as proved to be e case, ne The cannon found in Humaité numbered 177, Tho largest was a 120-pounder rifle, and the others varied from 32-pounders down, exclusive of a 10-inch mor- tar. The Paraguayans are known to have had another 120-pounder rifle, but it is sup) tw be out of sight in the river, along with many others from the river batteries. Three 6-pounder rocket tubes were also. got. Few muskets were left behind and of these most were flint locks with broken stocks, Some others had been got eut of the river. Ammunition was very abundant and about 600 to the eed existed when the Paraguayans evacuated. ‘ost of the cartridges had been thrown into the ditches and watercourses, The lantern shot, whether tincase or hide covered, was chiefly composed of fragments of shells thrown in, of pieces of chain, of hoop iron, of broken nails ‘and screws, &c., all very rusty. In one of twenty-four pound calibre a small hatchet was found, all which the Brazalian engineer considers very sharp practice. In the battery on the Chaco twenty-four cannon were found, two of them mortars. One brass piece bore the date of 1671, another 1684, others 1774, 1795, 1800 and 1806. The largest cannon was one 63- pounder. ‘The boom which was so long an insuperabte obsta- cle to the ascent of the Brazilian vessels consisted, in the middie, of two chains of two-inch iron, one of which had parted, two -hundred and fifty yards in length, and another of three-quarter-inch iron two hundred and eighty-eight yards long. ‘These central chains were secured at the extremities to seven and three-quarter-inch chains fastened around piles driven in at the sides of the river, and had been kept afloat by iron tanks and by flats; but the latter having been sunk the tanks were drawn down by ths weight of the chains and so al- lowed the vessels to pass over. A formal act of opening the river, but cutting loose the boom, was drawn up upon the 27th, and the boom was divided into three equal parts, one of which was sent to the capital of each of the ailies, “as a ophy commemo- rative of one of the boldest feats in the present cen- tury.” At the Humaita side the boom passed into the river through a tunnel cut to the water’s edge. The London battery had casemates for its sixteen cannon. Humaita is described as inferior in its position and {ts construction to Curupaity. The form 1s an ir- regular, almost circular, polygon, with a perimeter of some seven anda half miles length, mounted with about two hundred cannon. The works follow the course which the nature of the terrene pointed out and rendered so defensible. The ditch is sixteen fect wide and thirteen deep, in general. The para- pet is six and a half feet wide, and, on the side of the allied positions, 1s sustained inside by trunks of palms and shows signs of age. The glacis is natu- ral and the abatis on it was of little strength, being merely boughs of trees without connection or fasten- ings, without combination with the palissade, or protection by terrepleine from projectiles. The fine that was opposed tothe allied armies is covered with salient angles to give cross fire upon assailants. On the south side the works fre haturally defended by lakes which cover them to the river. On this side only small cannon were placed and _ the abattis was only a sham of branches. On the river side the best works and the heaviest cannon are found. The former consist of siq large and well con- structed batteries, of which the “London” battery is the only one casemated. This one ts 160 paces long, with @ parapet eight paces thick, all of masonry. No large central redoubt existed inside the fortress; it has inside a very large exercise ground, roun which buildings were ranged with barrack room for six thousand men. Furniture was got in all, and in the officers’ houses quantities of preserves, oil, wines and pickles were left behind. ° As the buildings were in comparatively good con- dition all the le toed and deposits were being re- moved from Corrientes to it, and it will be the basis of future operations. To evacuate Humaitd the Paraguayans had eighty or one hundred boats, and the evacuation was going on for a week before it was completed. First the families were removed, then the sick, the prisoners, a large cane of munitions, the remainder of the food, and finally the garrison, the outposts being maintained to the last moment to deceive the allies. Almost all the non-combatants and probably at Jeast a third Chee a m passed through the lake in the middle of the narrow peninsula with- out exciting suspicion, and it was, only on the withdrawal of the outposts at Humaita that the allies became aware of the fact that the garrison was with- drawing to Timbé. The allied forces in the Chaco were then raised to 10,000 men and the gunboats were brought up and grape was poured into the narrow peninsula, which, however, being covered with bush, thickets and tall reeds, favored the concealment of the Paraguayan movements. Hidden in the thickets, the Paraguay- ans had some heavy cannon which played on the vessels, while opposed to the allied position they had a strong battery which guarded them from attack on that side. ag transported boats overland to the Jake and armed some with small cannon, and during the night of the 25th no doubt many escaped, being assisted by the Paraguayans in Timbd, During the 26th the escape continued, but the allies made great exertions to open space for their fire and to carry small cannon over to commanding points, In doing this they were frequently attacked by the armed boats. ° Atnight of the 26th a great effort was made b: the Paraguayans to escape in the darkness, with thirty to forty boata and six hundred to eight hun- dred men, ak discovered a heavy fire was ao up upon them and some of the boats were forced to return, but others with the support of the armed boats of the Timbo Paraguayana, succeeded in pass- ing, but with heavy loss. Gelly y Obes says they lost five hundred out of one thousand, Two more flats with cannon were brought from Timbo and placed in the lake, and on the 27th the Brazittans dragged over some from the river to con- tend with them on the lake. After a reconnoissance on the 27th, in which loss was experienced, on the 28th an assault was at- tempted by the Brazilians, to the number of three thousand to four thousand men, upon the battery which the Paraguayans had, but they were received with so severe @ fire from the battery and from in- fantry posted in the woods that they were forced to retire, after losing four hundred men im the vain attempt. Fights continued dally and nightly between the allies and the garrison, aidea in their attempts to escape by the Paraguayans of Timbo, and on the night of the 20th the last sent over some twenty boats to transport part of the garrison across and carry cooked meat to the rest. Only a few succeeded im getting vver, because of the fire poured in from eleven cannon and a large number of troops. On the night of the 3ist some twelve boats made an attempt to pe, but were beaten back by the armed boats stationed on the lake. They, however, returned suddenly, and, overpowering one of the boats, succeeded in passing and escaping. At midnight of the Ist of August another affair occurred, eight or ten Paraguayan boats making the attempt to pass the line of arimea boats, but their movements being seen the one in which Colonel Her- Tosa went was run down and destroyed, with all its crew; eight boats were captured and their crews mostly killed or drowned. On bringing the boats to land and examining the bodies some dead women were found dressed in soldiers’ clothes, Of the thirty or twenty-five wounded two or three were women, one with an infant whose arm was traversed by a ball, Some other young children were likewise among the saved, In regard to Humaita, General Gelly y Obes says that it has no importance as a strategic point now and that Pilar is the most convenient for deposits; that Humaita is worth very little as @ work of art or fortress now that tron-clads are used; that it avails against wooden vessels because nature makes its position strong; but even so it is easy to unc Up to the 4th the night fighting continued that day Father Ignacio Esmerats, a chaplal Brazilian hospitals, obtained permission to try if he could effect communication with the Paraguayans, peerany sent to snmmon them to been driven of with bullets. In that betwee: ninety-ejj and 1,230 men—the commander, Coionel Martinez, being among the number. They were three days without food, and some two hun- dred were prostrated by exhaustion; three hundred were sick or wounded. The oficial bulletin of the army says that the lakes, woods, redoubt and their surroundings are choked with bodies; that only some wounded, women and General Allen were able to pas Timb6; that the Marquis de Caxias went to the Chace after the capitulations that the evacuation or takin of Timbé will occur shortly; that columns are pi paring for an attack on Tebicuari; that Burgues ad been shot by Lopens that a prisoner says the people are all against Lopez; that Lopez, when al tacked and routed on the ‘Tebicuari and with his Tear cut off, must ether surrender at discretion or flee alone, abandoned by all, or soon tortured by re- morse, if he be ee of it, appear before God | togive account of the extermination of the Para- | guayan nation. Nicholson, was one of the engineers on board of the Bahia. The Siivado had Walter Gilbert, frst engi- neer, and William E. White and Charles Freeian, second engineers. In ascending the Alagoas had her engine disabied four hours by the shot she received, She was struck eight times in both passages. The Slivado was struck twenty-nine times, and received damages for the greater part such a8 could not be repaired with the means at the disposal of the divi- sion, Two balls struck a foot under water, and another striking two feet under water at the junction of the riates loosened both and stuck tn the backing. ‘The surrender of the garrison took place on the anniversary of the surrender of the Paraguayans in | Uruguayana three years ago. The conditions of capitulation stipulated that the garrison should not be forced to serve against Lopez and that the officers: might keep their swords and choose the allied nation in which to reside, The commander says that the effective force of the garrison when ti | Humaité was twenty-five hundred men. The pris- | ohers were not badly off in regard to clothing. The Joss of the gart! | ian afette €arrison ws supposed to have been The losses of the allies in the ten days? desperate struggle on the peninsula were serious, not belag jess than five hundred men, ‘The marine lost six killed and twenty-one wounded in various boat fights from the 23th of July to 4th of August. The oillcial returns of the previous allied losses on the leth of July give them at 1,020, of whom 228 were killed, On the 18th, 290, including sixty-six killed. It is said that a Fi bager and an Italian dier discovered the evacuation of Humaité ca: the 25th July, and after well rummaging the place and securing all the portable property during sev- eral hours carried the news ito the camp. ‘The British gunboat Linnet had gone to Timbo and received there br. Stewart. A division of tron-clads commenced the bombard- ment of Tebicuari on the 30th of July. The Terms of Surronder—Paraguayan Prison- ers Forced to Serve in the Allied Ranks— Timbo Yet to be Reduced—Reconnoissauce ofthe Tebicuari Line. Rio JANIERO, August 25, 1808. The latest news we have from the seat of war reach no later than the 9th instant. ‘The last remnant of the gallant garrison of Hu- maité, under Colonel Francisco Martinez, which, since the 25th ult., had been surrounded by about twenty thousand allied troops on the Chaco penin- sula, laid down their arms @ last on the 5th instant on condition that the oficers should be free to choose their place of residence wherever they pleased out of Paraguay, and that the men should not be coerced into the allied military service to fight against theirown country, It shéuld be mentioned in passing, to the disgrace of the allies, that they have actually forced many hundreds of Paraguayan prisoners to serve in their ranks. Nay, the Montevidean contingent, under the pay of Brazil, is almost wholly composed of Paraguayan prisoners of war. Colonel Francisco Martinez surrendered to General Rivas, after having held at bay the whole allied forces for eleven days together. After making as many attacks against their besiegers to break through their lines, and after having remained for tnree days without taking food of any kind, and only when several of his en had actually died of hunger. Heroism, it must be owned, has hardly ever been carried farther by any other body of troops in the world. en SAAD, OT ‘The slege of Humaita 1s, therefore, brought to an end—Brazilians think to a glorious end; and, to tes- tify their thankfulness a pompous “Te Duem?’ was sung at the Imperial chapel on the 2ist of this month. What amount of glory the allied army and Brazil- fan navy and their Commander in Chief, Marquis de Caxias, have really achieved at Humaitd, let the world now judge for itsef, bearing in mind the immeasurable superiority and ex- haustless abundance of the destructive means of every kind that General Caxias has always had at his command. My pune Paraguayan uc- counts estimate at about thirteen hundred the num- ber of men who surrendered to General Rivas, Of these about one hundred are inferior officers, the only ones above the rank of leutenant bein Colonel Martinez himself, Major Roman an Captains Cabral and Gil. These accounts set down the losses of these gallant fellows in their several nightly attempts to escape at about 200 killed or drowned, and at about 300 wounded. The number ofthe inmates of Humaité who had reached ‘Timbo in safety, are stated to be 5,600, of whom about 4,000 had actually crossed over unperceived before, and, on the 26th ultimo, when the retreating Para- guayans were for the first time discovered crossing the Guaicurd lake, and had to exchange a few shots with the allies, After this date the allies placed successfully upwards of twenty fleld pieces on the narrowest parts of this lake, and the number or armed boats being likewise increased daily, all chances of escape, without being literally mowed re by musketry and grapeshot, became impos- sible. It should be mentioned to the honor of Solano Lopez, who expressly J jt the orders for the abandonmeut of Humaité and prescribed the way in which the om- cers were to endeavor to save the garrison, that the first people transferred to Timbo were all the women and children, afew only excepted: who had preferred remaining with thelr husbands; next, all the sick and badly wounded, prisoners a3 well as Paraguayans; and last of all his own valid men. The prisoners they had made on the Chaco,on the 8d of — and on the ramparts of Humaitd on the 16th had like- wise been transferred to Timbo before the 26th ult. According to iny accounts all this livingimpedi- menta was being gradually though laboriously re- moved to Tebicuari, along @ swampy road on the Chaco, of the existence of which the allies seem to have no knowledge, for this road being cut perpen- dicularly by the large rivar Bermijo, lying almost vis-a-vis with Tayi, where a@ Brazilian corps @armee is quartered, it is utterly inconceivable why this their only line of retreat has not ere this been completely cut off, having now, as Brazilians have, fifteen iron-clads above ‘Timbo, Up to the 9th inst. about two-thirds of the allied army were still en- camped on the Chaco, preparing, it was said, to at- tack Timbo both by land and water. | It is, however, hardly to be expected that Marquis de Caxias will— as he ought to do—follow such a vigor- ous course, It is far more likely, I think, that he will content himself, as heretofore, with investing this position and trying to starve out its brave defenders, in which case we may expect to witness @ second repetition of the lu- bef eg td ridiculous denouement for the allies of this siege of Humaita, where the maitchiess heroism of the dauntless Paraguayans made such a glaring con- trast with the feebieness of their assailants and the technical incapacity of the Brazilian Commander-in- Chief. At any rate, Marquis de Caxias annot think of attempting anything serious against the lines of Tebicuari until this Timbo obstacle be removed, firstly, because the allied force at present in Paraguay are insuMcient to invest both these positions at the same time; and second, because the ‘water transports cannot pass by Timbo as long as it is held by the Paraguayans, without running risk of being all sunk. Now, without the free navigation of the river as faras Tebicuari, the provisioning and munitioning of their army there would of itself be- come a costly dificulty and serious affair. That 13 selt-evident. According to Brazilian adyices a reconnoissance of los Fortines, the batteries of the river Paraguay, of the new stronghold of Tebicuarl, was made on the 24th ult, by three Brazilian iron-clads, under Baron de Passagem, the same gallant officer who effected the passage of Humaitdé on the 19th of February last. The strength of this posi- tion on the river side is as great as my private in- formation had led me to believe. Baron de Passa- geu’s despatch will, perhaps, be read with interest, even by professional men, as solving, Veer at least, the question of four-inch plated tron-clads versus simooth bored sixty-eight pounder shots, at short range, when the guns are manned by cool, in- trepid and expert marksmen. lIenclose herewith a translated copy of this despatch, which haa, besides, the merit, extremely rare in such Brazilian docu- ments, of relating occurrences with but a slight dose of idle and declamatory bombast. Of these iron-clads the Bahia, casemated, had her sides shot through by four balls; the Seivads, turret ship, had hers pierced through by two balls, and alto- firs writes their commander, “received such in- juries as-cannot be remedied with such means as we ave here at our command.” The only other incident worthy of no- tice is Marquis de Caxias’ order for de- molishing Humaita, of which fortress General Gelly y Obes, Commander-in-Chief of the Argentine forces in Paraguay, writes—half surprised, and I doubt not quite ashamed—on the 5th instant, to President B, Mitre, a curious and interesting private letter, which, by the by, has been republished by all the River Plate journals. He distinctly states in this private communication that this dreaded bulwark was in reality nothing but “Una verdadera fan- tasma”—a phantom—which in point of go as uw deffensive fortress, was very far in below what had been till then generally believed! And yet this phantom, armed with but sinooth bore sixty-eight poynders and garrisoned during the previous six months by scarcely four thousand valid men, successfully resisted an army about fifty thousand soldiers and thirteen tron- clads, armed with as heavy as 150 rided pounders; in fact, held at bay for upwards of turee years the whole military power of Brazil and the Argentine Confederation combined, and suffered the whole year of constant and ineffectual bombardment. iano Lopes and his Paraguayans cannot expect to iment, even from their warm- 8! ‘%, than has been unwittingly id honest and truth speaking General Gelly y , it is hardly possible for a dispassionate ob- server not to Wish success to a people Who, In utter destitution and scantily supplied with defensive Ineans of a comparative Vastly inferior kind, yet 80 bravely, fearlessly and with ever Ln | resolu- tion dispute every inch of his own soll to invaders, numerically superior, and whose powers of offence and destruction are, besides, increased a thousand fold, not only by their relative superiority and by the fact of their having at their disposal the waritke materiel of the whole world, from which the Paraguayans are com- oh letely severed. What would these gallant fellows have been able to effect if, mstead of their smooth bore sixty-eight io and fiint muskets, they had possessed, like their opponents, iron-clads, rifled ordnance and breech-loaders, It is strange indeed that we Americans, whose sympathies are always enlisted on the side of the weak and who prize so highly valor, resolution and patriotic eleva- tion wherever we find it contending against over- powering might, should always have looked with indifference to what is going on at present in tus corner of the world, LARGE FIRE IN CONNECTICUT. A fire broke out in the Maginnis oil mills of Green- wich, east side of Mianus river, on. Saturday after- noon and destroyed the frame building in which the boiling of oil was carried on, with sixty barrels of oil, besides a large quantity in the kettles at the time. The loss sustained by the company is esti- mated at $6,000. Fortunately the wind blew from the southeast, thereby saving the main bog which large brick one. For some time the mills ha¥e been in operation day and night, twa seta of hands being employed for the bury . nnd about five hi sof ax seed boeu daily con TIE NATIONAL LABOR CONGRESS, | First Day's Session—Admission of Delegatce— Appointment of Commitiees—The Rights of Woman Represented, ‘The National Labor Congress opened ita second | annual session yesterday at noon, in Germania Hall, | Bowery. The followimg extract from one of its cir- culars embraces the purpose of the assembling:— To institute reforms and to carry out those already instituted in the interests of the working masses, and by establishing reciprocal relations between their different 01 tions unite them in a common effort to protect themselves and keep back the en- croachments of centralized wealth upon the rights of labor and to secure legislation that will improve their condition and advance them in the scale of prosperity and intelligence, WOMAN'S RIGHTS DELEGATION. Half an hour before the commencement of the pro- ceedings three delegates from the weaker half of creation entered the hall and took seats at a table in front of the platform. They were Miss Susan B, Anthony, as delegate from the Workingwomen’s Association No. 1, clty of New York; Mrs. M. K, Putnam, Workingwomen’s Association No. 2, New York, and Mrs, M. H. McDonald, Mount Vernon Wo- man’s Suffrage and Labor Protective Association. Miss Anthony was dressed in a sult of biack alpaca striped with green. Mrs. Putnam had on a suit of light second mourning, -and Mrs. McDonald wore a dress of gray ma- terlal striped with brown. Miss Anthony carried a morocco leather bag and a bundle of Revolutions, which she distributed either for cash or for compli- ments all around. A good many of the sterner sex pas their respects to the distinguished champion of female sul Miss Anthony was delightfully in- sinuating and made no mean impression on the bearded delegates, Mrs. Putnam is a petite and ex- ceedingly like person. She spoke little in con- versation and seemed to be wholly absorbed in ad- miring Miss Susan B. Mrs. McDonald has hair of fron color, She looks a little masculine, but “withal kindly, They sat through the proceedings with exemplary patience and only at the close did Miss Anthony say a word simply to announce a meeting of working- women in the evening, - ae: ug THE PROCEEDINGS, The PRESIDENT, Mr. J. 0. O. Whaley, took the chair at twelve o'clock. He said:—Gentlemen, in the ab- sence of any formality we will now proceed to form the second annual association of the National Labor Union. As necessary prelimin2ry, in the absence of the regular appointed secretary, it will be neces- sary to appoint a soaretary, ‘pro tem. ir. Jessup, of the State Workingmen’s Associa- tion, moved that a secretary pro tem. be appointed. Mr. ag B, Mulhall was then appointed temporary secretary. Mr. JESSUP moved that a committee of three on credentials be appointed. The CHAIRMAN thought it more advisable to pro- ceed with the Fear of the call to the meeting. A DELEGATE asked whether they were meeting under the constitution, and, if so, was 1t necessary to read the call? The CiainMAN sald for the better information of the delegates he would prefer the reading of the call, The SECRETARY then read the call. . CREDENTIALS, The plowing ere then appointed as the commit- tee:—Messrs. W. J. Jessup, A. C. Cameron, of the Trades’ Assembly, Chicago, and Aaron W. Stockton, of the Shipjoiners’ Union, Baltimore. The CHAIRMAN requested that all credentials be now presented. RECESS. Mr. Junto, of Syracuse, moved a recess of half an hour, in order to give the committee suilicient time to examine the credentials. Mr. CAMERON, of Chicago, moved an amendment that the recess be taken at two o'clock. Carried unanimously. AFTER RECESS, The coupes reassembled at two o'clock, but up- wards of three-quarters of an hour elapsed before the assemblage was called to order. Near three o’clock Mr, WILLIAM J, Jessup, Chairman of the Com- mittee on Credentials, addressing the Chair, said:— Your Committee on dentials regret to have de- tained the Congress so long a time. They recom- mend the admission of the following del 3:— New York city—James Ratchford, William J. Jes- sup, Henry B. Mulhall, Julius Topp, Frederick Muhl- meister, Daniel O'Callaghan, Cooree C. Platt, Jacob Conde, Simon Shuch, ease J. Keating, Samuel Roberts, Thomas J. Walsh, W. B. Newman, Edward Gordon, Conrad Kuhn, John eee Patrick Welsh, John Vincent, Edmund Gridley, H. Sieoert, R. R. Williams, B. H. Lucker, John O'Donoghue, Nathaniel Gillard, Jeremiah Dooley, John J. Junio, Joseph A. Morrow, Daniel Mace, John Moran. Maryland—Aaron W.. Stockton, Peter W. Ford, Charles Luke, Ignatius Battory, William S. King. ry; Iinols—A.’ C. Cameron, Alexander Campbell, William H, Clark. Connecticut—C. W. Gibbon, James Grogan. New Jersey—Phillip A. Stockton, John T. Mellor, H.W. B. Nichols, John Pateman. Massachusetts—J. W. Le Bourne, John Prince. Ohio—John S Tomlinson, L. A. Hine. . Michigan—William L. Stocker. Indiana—A. M. Pratt. Pennsylvania—Philip McGovern, John McHoe. Female Labor Organization—Miss Mary Kellogg Putnam, Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. McDonald. The CHAIRMAN further stated that Mr. Cavis, of Bengt lel D. 0, was mate but had no creden- le was admitted by unanimous consent and the report adopted. The PRESIDENT then proceeded to read his report, which was a very lengthy document, and went over the whole ground of labor movements, the legislation of Congress in the interests of labor, the theory of strikes and the general progress of workingmen’s unions throughout the United States. It was unani- mously adopted. Mr. Bailey, of Typographical Union No. 6, was appointed sergeant-at-arms, the bills of expenses were being read by the secre- tary when, on motion of Mr. Fincher, they were re- ferred to the Committee on Expenses. ‘The SECRETARY next read a report of the State Labor Convention of California, which was received, and the recommenaations therein, along with those in the report of the Vice President, referred, on mo- tion of Mr. Troup, to a special committee. Mr. JEssuP moved that the hours of meeting of the Convention be from Line o’clock until noon and from two o'clock until five in the afternoon. Adopted. Mr. PHELPS moved for a committee of five to whom might be referred the unfinished business of the Chicago Congress, nd to. The Secretary was about to read the Treasurer's report when Mr. IGNATIUS BaTory suggested that all the reports be referred to a committee and the ume of the Congress economized thereby. The PRESIDENT stated this was the last report, Whereupon objection was withdrawn by Mr. Batory and the report was read and referred to the Finance It was the following committees be appointed:—On Finance, Co-operation, de and Means, Apprentice Laws, Female Labor, inting, National Labor Organ, Platform, Constitution, Prison Labor, Saving Human Life on Lepetn Mr. IaNaTiIvs BATORY proposed that a committee of seven be appointed to report to the ye Low the propriety of hereafter shaping the action of this Congress ag a labor union or @ national labor party embracing the whole nation. Mr. ee moved to lay it on the table, which was agreed to. On motion it was agreed that no delegate speak oftener than twice on one sublect, and for no longer riod than ten minutes, ‘he Congress then adjourned till nine o'clock this Committee. ‘eed on motion of Mr. J. T. MALLORY, that mol AN EXTENSIVE BURGLARY. Recovery of Several Thousand Dollars’ Worth. On Saturday night three weeks ago, the 20th of August, the importing house of F. Godone & Deitz, successors to E. Kampe & Cummins, Nos. 50 and 62 Howard street and No. 16 Mercer street, New York, was broken into by burglars and robbed of property to the value of $7,000, consisting of packages of silk Velvets and satins, all of which the thieves carried off successfully, About two weeks ago the cde was given to detectives Frost, Van Wagner and Corwin, of the Brookiyn pouce force, to work up. These ofti- cers Went to work with a will to ferret out the inys- tery, having but a very slight clue upon which to proceed in the matter. By perseverance and the ex- ercise of considerable professional tact, however, they managed a few days since to obtain some trace of the stolen goods which subsequently bl ed to be the right scent. Yesterday at noon hey procured @ search warrant from Mayor Kalb- fleisch, of Brooklyn, to search the trimming and fur- hishing store of Measrs, Baere & Brothers, 263 and 265 Fulton street, in that city. Thus armed de- tectives, Frost and Van Wagner, proceeded to the store in question, where, upon examination of the stock, they found six pieces of velvet and satin. These they caused to be removed to Inspector Folk's ofice for safe keeping. They also ascertained the whereabouts of five pieces of the stolen property, which had been sold by Barre Brothers, at different places in this city, The latter named merchants Were arrested and committed to jail, on charge of receiving stolen property, to await an examidation, The accused claim to have purchased the material from 4 pediar, who drove up in front of their store and represented that he had bought it at auction, but they fatied to oy any bill of sale therefor. ‘The burgiars are still at large. THE HOISTING MACHINE CASUALTY, Investigation Before Coroner Keenan=The Owners of the Machine Censured. Coroner Keenan yesterday held an inquest at his office, No. 4 Centre street, over the remains of Jamés Tobin and Moritz Shay, the two men whose deaths were caused by the falling of the platform of the Manhattan steam hoisting machine at No. 424 Broad. way on Saturday afternoon last. Only one witness, who gave important testimony, was examined. George R. Dunn, residing at 31 Brunswick street, Jersey City, being sworn, says:—I am employed by Mr. nnan, builder, at the building corner of How- ard street and broadway (424 Broadway); I had charge of filling a hoisting machine that is worked by steam, and is used for hotsting brick and mortar in the biulding; it is aa Brrangement for holding Kee hods upon it; there is a ring on the cross-piece into which the rope for raising te afair 1s fastenod; after the hook was fastened to the ring a piece of rope was tied across it to prevent its becoming loose; I lave noticed the hooks became loose twice or three times; Sacur- day about a quarter to five o'clock there were five loads of bricks raised by the machine to the top floor; decesed and Tobin got on to remove the loads, when the machine fell, carrying them to the ground; they died almost instantly, ‘The case was then given to the jury who rendered the following verdict;—“That the deceased parties came to their death by injuries from a fall of a hoist- ing machine at the building in course of erection at No. 424 Broadway, on the 19th day of September, 1868, They censure the owners of said machine for using it without its being in proper working order.”’ pal hae PL CITY INTELLIGENCE. eee , Tue WEATHER YESTERDAY.—The following record will show the changes in the temperature for the past twenty-four hours, as indicated by the ther- mometer at Hudnut’s P} Hirkat ‘punain ‘harmacy, 218 Broadway, 6375 PERSONAL.—Major General J. 0. Fremont is in town. General T. McMahon, the recently appointed United States Minister to Paraguay, will sail for his destination on Wednesday next i the steamshi Mississippi for Rio Janelro. " ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.—A woman named Margaret Kerr, forty-nine years of age, recently living in a destitute condition at No. 638 Greenwich street, at- tempted suicide yesterday by swale laudanum, Being discovered shortly after she had taken the drug an emetic was given her, after which she was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was pronounced out of danger, RUNOVER CasvaLry.—James Gunn, forty-five years of age, and Patrick Stephens, aged fifty-four, both residents of Greenpoint, were run over yester- day forenoon by a truck belonging to Henry Steers, shipbuilder, driven by Thomas Fowler, and seriously injured, They were taken to Bellevue Hospital, A Woman Run Over AND KitLep.—Mary Seigel, the Italian woman, forty-five years of age, who was Tun over on Saturday evening evening last corner of Grand and Centre streets by freight car No. 86 of the New Haven Railroad Company, since died from the effects of her injuries, Coroner Keenan was noti- fled and will hold an inquest on the body to-day at the Morgue, i DEATH oF A FEMALE Convict.—Warden Fitch, of the Penitentiary, Blackwell’s Island, yesterday in- formed Coroner Rollins that Josephine Grim, a con- vict, who, on the 11th day of July last was sen- tenced to serve out three months’ iinprisonment on conviction for petit larceny, had since died. An in- quest will be held on the body to-day, Deceased was eighteen years of age and a native of New York. FATAL RAILROAD CASUALTIES.—AD inquest was yesterday held by Coroner Keenan on the body of John Dooley, alad eleven years of age, whose death was the result of injuries received on the 11th of July last by being run over by one of the cars of the Third Avenue Railroad Company. The jury ren- dered a ae oe accidental death. Deceased lived at 19 City Hall place. ae aca Featerday James McAdam, fifty-five years of age, was killed on the Hudson River Ratl- road, at Riverdale, by being struck by the locomo- tive of the express train going north. PIONIO IN Alp oF ST. CoLUMBA PaRIsH.—On next Wednesday the congregation of the parish of St. Co- lumba will hold their closing picnic at Lion Park, loth street and Eighth avenue. This will be a fine affair, and, as its object is most charitable, ought to be well patronized by all who do not belleve it ob- jectionable to forward the interests of religion by calling in the aid of worldly but innocent amuse- ments, As the late council of bishops have prepared a pastoral letter, which will shortly be published, rohibiting picnics and fairs id of the Catholic Phurches *, in all pronepility, will be the last that will be heid in the diocese. NATURALIZATION.—The business of the Naturaliza- tion Bureau at the City Hall is steadily increasing. In the Court of Common Pleas and in the Superior Court, last week, one hundred and fifty-three persons of foreign birth were transformed into American citizens, A large crowd assembled in the chamber of tne Common Pleas yesterday at anearly hour with naturalization papers and army discharges for the inspection of Judge Barrett. One hundred and forty persons received certificates of citizenship and six were told to remain subjects to the ruler of the country from which they came for some time longer. A woman, who acknowledged that she was in the country for thirty-eight years, was introduced to the Judge by a very prepossessing young lady and re- celved her papers with very little delay. Of the entire number naturalized more than three-fourths were German and the remainder Irish, English, French and Scotch. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. THEFT OF A GOLD WaTcu.—Anna Smith alias Mul- holland, a domestic thirty years of age, was yester- day arrested by Detective Field, of the Fifth precinct, on the charge of hav: stolen a gold watch worth $75, from Mr. Charles H. DeLamater, living at No. 205 Tenth avenue. On the day following the larceny the accused was in the Leonard street police station when detective Field saw her drop a pawn ticket which proved to represent the watch stolen from Mr. DeLamater. Justice Hogan committed the ac- cused to the Tombs for trial. GRAND LaRceny.—A washerwoman, named Eliza Calahan, in the employ of Eliza Holigan, of No, 402 West Forty-second street, was yesterday charged with stealing a wallet containing $73 from her em- oyer while Mrs. Holigan was temporarily absent, Bn her arraignment she denied the charge, and was committed to answer for grand larceny, A portion of what is supposed to be part of the money was found on her person when arrested by oMicer Houghton, of the Twentieth precinct, ATTEMPTED BuR@LARY.—Yesterday morning, at halt-past four o’clock, detective McKenzie and Ser- geant Gunner, of the Twenty-ninth precinct, dis- covered a man ip the yard of Charles L. Tiffany, No. 233 Madtson avenue, and at once arrested him, when it was discovered that he had effected an entrance into the yard by scaling the walls. When the officers arrested the man, who gave his name as James Foster, they found the back basement door open and evidence of violence having been used upon the door, A jimmy was found on the person of Foster, wno was yesterday arraigned at Jefferson Market on the charge and committed for trial, without bail. NEW YORK SOCIALISM. Sudden Death of a Woman in Twenty-eighth Street—Arrest of Four of Her Female Friends on Suspicion of Being Concerned in It. (From the Evening Telegram, Sept. 21.) That “‘one half the world does not know how the other half lives’ is @ truism which, however old in its utterance, is so frequently brought to the mind of the thoughtful observer who rs beneath the sur- face of our common every day existence as to be almost original in the force and rtinence of its constant be eta The sudden death yes- terday of an old woman, reported in another part of this day’s m, named Ann Fagan, formerly residing at 227 West Twenty-eighth strect, calls at- tention to a phase of metropolitan life which, to the — of our citizens, is as little known to exist and as difficult of appreciation as the social habits and customs of the r Indians or the intellectual amusements of the Anthropoph: Four women are now in custody in the Twentieth precinct station house, named respectively Ann Cai roll, Mary Cowan, Rose Dolan and Mary Ann Bake: arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the death of the woman Fagan. it does not appear from inquiries so far made that any very strong ground exists for accusing these women of the crime of murder; but charges having been made against them by some of Mrs, Fagau’s neighbors, Captain Hedden thought it best to lock them up until such time as the Coroner should inquire into the circum- stances attending her sudden demise, It sage the deceased and the four prisoners oc- cupied apartinents in common tn a rear tenement building at the locality above mentioned. They are mostly servants out of place, and at other times other ‘servants out of piace lived there also, Mrs. Fagan’s house being a refuge for girls in the habit of ng | ont, tem- porarily deprived of any other home. Fourterism, ure and simple, was the rule of living. Mrs. Fagan ing the host, her guests, however, Ing no board but contributing certain articles to the general sup- port. Thus, for instance, one would contribute the whiskey, another supply sugar, and 80 on to the fur- nishing of the whole menage. The item of whiske: was & most important ove, and, it 1s alleged, hig! carnival was frequently held and drunken orgies there long maintained. Incidentally with these o1 blight disturbances often occurred, and then the fes- tive jemales would vary their friendly gossip over the bottle with abuse of one another, ending in a general Tow, from which all would come out with more or less marks of violence, One of these fights occurred last week, and it is the whispering that in that Mrs. received injuries which caused her death that induced the arrest of her four friends. The Coroner's py oy will doubtless develop how far there is cause for suspicion in that regard. . Little communities similar to the above, on the plan of the French socialist, where flith, wretchedness and intemperance are deified as house- —— ‘ this city. MAILS FOR EUROPE. The Cunard mail steamship Russia will leaye this port on Wednesday for Liverpool, ’ ‘The mails for Burope will close at the Post Omice at ten o'clock A. M. on Wednesday. The New York HeRaLp—Edition for Evrope—witl be ready at half-past nine o’clook in the xnorning, Single copies, in wrappers for mailiyg, six cents, hold gods, are not rare in HELL GATE. Opening of the Bids for the Removal of Frying Pan Reef and Pot Rock. Brevet Major General John Newton's office, Army Headquarters, West Houston street, was the scene of considerable excitement at meridian yesterday, as it was the occasion for opening the vanous bids for the removal of two dangerous reefs in Hell Gate, Acting under the law regarding the appropriation of $85,000 by the last session of Congress for this impor- tant object, none the less than the opening of another commercial avenue of magnitude to New York, Gene- ral Newton had advertised for proposals that these dangerous obstructions should be removed, With- out indicating any definjte plan how the object might be consummated, he wisely left the matter to the various submarine engineers who were combat- ting in the struggle to obtain the first great prize of aimodging these impediments to the commerce of a world, It had been widely circulated that these rocky beds should be removed to the Uepth of twenty-five feet at mean low water mark, and the débris arising from the work be deposited as the engineer in charge should direct. The estimated cubic contents of the rocks were also given, that of Frying Pan Reet belng estimated at 1,854.8 cubic yards, covering an area ol 1,222.2 square yards; while the estimated cubic con- tents of Pot Rock were 576.1 cubic yards, extending over an area of 1,202.2 square yards, It was also particularly noted in this general intel- ligence that General Newton would not necessarily asgign to the lowest or any bidder the contract as the process proposed would be one of the first to be taken into consideration, Further, it was aiso puo- licly advised that a new and more detailed surrey ‘would be made of these rocks and that the acceptet bids for their removal might be increased or dimin- ished in amount as the work shown by the new sur- vera shall be greater or less than that deduced from existing surveys. p Eighteen gentlemen, well known in the world of sub-inarine engineering, assembled at the hour noted and, with pencil and paper in hand, awaited amid an ominous silence, the opening of the sealed roposals. With a deliberation that the moment uily demanded, General Newton broke the seais and pve the content, of the enclosures to the wait- ing throng as follows, which is the order of their being received:— No. 1.—George H. Bradbury, for Frying 129,780, to be completed December 31, 1889; for ocK, $60,490, to be conrpleted April 15, 1870. No. 2.—Sidney F. Sheiburne, ing $24,507 09; Pot Rock, $13,498 02; both to cee December '10, 1868, No, 3.—E. R. Lowe, Frying Pan alone, $60,000; specifying no time of completion, No. 4.—Messrs, Vammeyer, Lowls & Patterson— Frying Pan, $825,000; Pot Rock, $175,000; to be coinpleted November i 1869. The reading of this bid caused a momentary lull in the serious business of the meeting, many of the old heads looking up with a strange smile, almost in- credulous in their nature, and wondering that they had heard aright asked again for the figures. Nd. 5.—John J. Flannagan, Frying Pan, $65,000, to be completed August 1, 1869; Pot Rock, $20,000; work to be done November 1, 1869, + No, 6.—George E. Lincoln, Frying Pan, $45,000; Pot Rock, $35,000; work to be completed September 13, 1869, ONO. 7.—B. Mallifert, Frying Pan, $42 50 per cubic yard; Pot Rock, $44 28 per cubic yard; work com- pleted May 1, 1869. . No, 8.—A. D. Bishop, $65 per square yard, specify. ing no time. No. 9.—David Babcock, Frying Pan, $153,659; Pot Rock, $57,500. Both to be removed September 15, Bt 889, No. 10.—Murphy, Pontez & Baldwin, Frying $1 60 per cubic foot; Pot Rock, $2 per cubic foot, General Newton, when the last bid had been re- corded, said that he did not then mean to assign the contract, as the great disparity in the sums submit- ted and the various processes proposed would neces- sitate a careful deliberation; whereupon the scientific throng separated. The modes proposed for the removal of these rocks are various. Some submit that their process will be drilling and blasting with gunpowder; others that surface blasting, using nitro-glycerine, igniting it with electricity in the ordinary way, will be effec- tual, and if not so, they propose to drill with an in- genious machine and use it in a charging manner. The removal of these rocks has called forth many plans, and the public may rest assured that the awards will be made, after mature consideration, are responsible parties combining ample means with engineering experience and energy of pur- pose, VENEZUELA. Peace Re-cstablished—Probable Evacuation of Maracaibo by General Sutherland—Mon- agas Will be Elected President—Senor Igua- cio Gomez Minister to Washington. PUERTO CABELLO, Sept, 8, 1868. After the fall of Puerto Cabello, preceded by a se- vere struggle that lasted nine days, nothing of im- portance has transpired with us. The ministers have made a treaty with General Sutherland by which he engages to deliver up the Custom House at Maracaibo and the men-of-war under his command, The general opinion is that Sutherland will leave for foreign parts, to enjoy his accumulated wealth, General Pulgar, the sworn enemy of Sutherland, is preparing an expedition to attack him in face of the treaty and dislodge him by force of arms. The elections take place next month and It ts gen- eraily expected that General José Tadeo Monagas will be elected President and Setlor Della Costa, the present President of the State of Guayana, Vice President. The whole country, with the exception of the State of Barquesimeto, is in peace. Sehor lgnacio Gomes is appointed Minister to Washington and leaves here sh A A PATIPERO SQUALL, It Occurs the Same Day as the Earthe auakes—Great Loss of Life and Property in the Argentine Confederation. The storm that burst over Buenos Ayres on Thurs- day night, August 13, was one of the most violent ad attended with the greatest loss of life known for some years. The day had been unusually sultry, and about sunset a tick cloud westward portended the coming pampero, At ten P. M. the thunder and lightning vegan, and soon came the rushing wind and torrents of rain, which lasted altogether about forty minutes, AS soon as the storm lulled those who ventured out of doors found the streets converted into rivers, with a current of water several feet. At the same time the heen ton 4 was exceedingly grand. The city was at every fl lighted up as clear as in daylight, and this display of electricity continued til after midnight. ppily the vessels in port had had timely notice of the com- ing storm, but the smaller craft of the Italian light ermen were overwhelmed by the catastrophe, These boats, by reason of the low tide, were all aground in the Boca channel, and the hurricane suddenly cap- sized nine and sank two oth hy the loss of over thirty lives, all Italians, The Austrian lighter Librea, and two Welong- ing to Sor. Serrano, were amv those Jost; one poor master, with his wife and abster, per- ished. An Italian poleacre is supposed lost, but not known for certain; a brig near the ard shij nationality not known, was capsized. The matt steamer Arno got along all right and hopes were entertained that the steamer city of of Brussels, with £250,000 on board, had escaped harm as she is about due, As far as could be learned the railways were quite uninjured, but the amount of damage to pri- vate property in the city and suburbs was very great; the fore of the whirlwind is generally considered to have beén equal to that of the great St. Joseph storm of March 1866, About San José de Flores there are numerous traces of the fury of the elements. Mr. Gowland’s quinta suffered severely; a cypress fally sixty years old and an algarroba that had stood nearly half a century were thrown down, besides a “galpon” blown away and another anroofed. In Barracas the destruction was also The neighborhood of the Parque had some walls blown down and houses unrvofed. It is remarkable that Mr. Jackson’s wall, about which had @ lawsuit with the municipility, was blown down, and the wail of the same Lenten property in Barracas was blown lown a couple of years in the same way. Mr. Turmean reported the mage at his residence, Hong Kong e, In the Calic Santiago del Estero, as considerable, and estimated at $10,000 A wall fell in and destroyed lis outpouses, killing a number of Cochin-China fowl Mr? Parody’s school was at first thought to have been struck with a thundor- La | but it was found to be the roof of a neigh shed, which caused a general smash in its descen' carrying away achimuey and filling the place with aébris. Fortunately no one was kilied. ‘The southern line did not suffer, But the test damage seems to have occurred in the neighborhood of the Piaza Constitucion and near the Corrales, houses and puesios having been bodily carried away. The barcaca of St. Arias is a heap of ruins, the roof having been biown off to @ distance of thirty yards A its debris failen in an adjoining yard, where Mr. Arias had a depot of 1,700 arrobas of wool, for which he had refused $55, currency, the day before. His loss ts calculated at $200,000, currency. The splendid barraca that was in course of construction, belonging to Mr. Federico Roth, was also compl ae ‘and all its walis and the roof are on the round. $200,000 is the estimated loss, Mr. Prange’s and Mr. Cerranda’s barracas also suffered ray) new oa es to ee bottoia ae Hoot appears ie storm was J pene seme oath enn t not remark an, ny until they came in the vicinity of Barracas. They also state that the outside camps have had copious rains and are covered with water, An English family living in Calle Maipa report the glass gal at of their upper story blown a and the list of a1 — to house pro we be endless, following is the list of lighters lost:—Lighters Ana Teresa, Duc Plamonte, Com) Genova, Unico, Libia, San Roman; schooness Amor Paterno, Comercio de Paysandt, Se NTY.—The Lock Unton sap ROTE IN Mica Opens to he tae only trait 7 ener are mt recy pret and jadging 8 a general t frou he retell ptloe of poactiee Wey dre soaroa,