The Paraguay expedition (1858–1859) was an American diplomatic mission and nineteen-ship squadron ordered by President James Buchanan to South America to demand reparation for certain wrongs alleged to have been done by Paraguay (including firing upon a United States naval vessel), or seize its capital Asunción if this was refused. It has been described as "an incident so grotesque and dangerous" that escalated from "a series of minor misunderstandings".
The expedition was sent without an adequate investigation of the facts, including Paraguay's defensive capabilities. Most modern scholars have considered Buchanan's complaints were probably unjustified. The real cause of the misunderstandings was that neither country had employed a competent diplomatic service. Buchanan may have had an ulterior motive, such as to distract public opinion from the domestic concerns that afflicted his presidency; more sinister explanations have been suggested; but possibly Buchanan may have meant to emulate the success of the earlier Perry Expedition, which had "opened up" an isolated Japan.
At the time it was the largest naval squadron ever sent from the United States, and it caused a great impression in the Platine basin. Even so, had it come to war, the strategic position of landlocked Paraguay in the heart of South America was strong. Further, owing to shore-based administrative incompetence, the squadron had serious deficiencies. Hence the expedition has been described as "woefully inadequate" for the job and "a military bluff carried off with commendable skill". However, because of the conciliatory attitude of the U.S. diplomatic representative Judge James B. Bowlin — who to get an equitable resolution deviated from his instructions — and to the fact that Paraguay needed international friends, normal relations between the two countries were restored. Until that happened, only one ship entered Paraguayan waters, by mutual agreement.
In financial terms, the expedition cost perhaps $3 million for which Paraguay paid $9,412 for the sake of peace and quiet. Nevertheless, Buchanan claimed a foreign policy success. There was disinformation, some of whose effects persist to this day.
President Buchanan's complaints
President Buchanan has been described a "doughface" who won office by promising to lead an aggressive foreign policy.
In Buchanan's own words,The order of the complaints has been modified to the restore the events to their correct sequence. the government of Paraguay had:- "[S]eized and appropriated the property of American citizens residing in Paraguay, in a violent and arbitrary manner"; "upon frivolous and even insulting pretexts, refused to ratify the treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation"; "fired upon the United States steamer Water Witch ... and killed the sailor at the helm, while she was peacefully employed in surveying the Parana river".
The honor, as well as the interest of the United States, concluded Buchanan, demanded satisfaction.In Buchanan's first annual message to Congress, he put it thus:- In his first annual message to Congress (8 December 1857) he said he would make a demand for redress, "in a firm but conciliatory manner", but backed up by force if necessary.
On 2 June 1858 a joint resolution of Congress authorized the President to obtain satisfaction, using force if necessary."[T]o adopt such measures, and use such force as, in his judgement, may be necessary and advisable, in the event of a refusal of just satisfaction by the Government of Paraguay... in connection with the attack on the United States steamer Water Witch, and with other matters mentioned in the annual message":
The antecedents The adventures of Edward A. Hopkins
Edward Augustus Hopkins was an adventurer who caused trouble with the government of Paraguay. As will appear, insofar as a single person could be to blame for the Paraguayan debacle, that person was Hopkins.
A former midshipman in the U.S. Navy who had been court-martialled three times and dismissed from his squadron, he has been described as "undisciplined, imprudent, arrogant, aggressive", "unruly, quarrelsome, pugnacious, and arrogant", and "swaggering, bullying and tyranical". According to yet another scholar,
Despite this, he was twice sent to represent the United States in Paraguay.
His first appointment to Paraguay In 1845 James Buchanan, at that time Secretary of State, needed to appoint a confidential agent to visit Paraguay, so he could determine whether it was worth granting diplomatic recognition. The man Buchanan chose for the job was the 22-year old Edward A. Hopkins. Despite his unpromising record, Hopkins got himself appointed, through family influence.
Hopkins had no diplomatic status. His sole functions were to communicate American goodwill and to report the facts on the ground to the US government. He soon exceeded his remit, promising that the US would recognize the government of Paraguay. He also undertook to mediate a longstanding dispute between Paraguay and Buenos Aires dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas, falsely claiming he had US authorization to do it, and making wild and intemperate proposals.Hopkins proposed, among other things, that Argentina declare war on France and Great Britain: . When Rosas paid no attention, Hopkins wrote him a letter that was so insulting the United States felt constrained to apologize. Hopkins was recalled.
His second appointment Hopkins was a persuasive optimist. He persuaded prominent Rhode Island investors, including Governor Samuel G. Arnold, that Paraguay was an excellent business opportunity. They incorporated the United States and Paraguay Navigation Company. With a capital of $100,000, it would build and sail ships on the rivers of South America as well as conduct other business. Hopkins had himself appointed U.S. Consul in Paraguay, a diplomatic post he secured despite his calamitous record: he was the only applicant. He assumed office in June 1853. He was also the general agent of the Rhode Island company in Paraguay.
The business venture of the United States and Paraguay Navigation Company was a failure. Its main asset, a steamship loaded with machinery and merchandise, was shipwrecked well before it could get to Paraguay. (According to a pro-Paraguayan source, not necessarily reliable, the shipwreck was intentional, the object being to use the insurance payout to fund the venture.)
Salvaging the cargo as best as he could, Hopkins arrived in Paraguay and borrowed 11,500 pesos from its president, Carlos Antonio López. Hopkins started a sawmill and a cigar factory which — thanks to López — were allowed to operate on favorable terms, e.g. they were manned by cheap conscript labor. The commercial viability of the venture entirely depended on the goodwill of López.
Relations with president López
President López was an irascible, corpulent dictator; furthermore, a micromanager.A resident Spanish journalist described how López did all the work of government himself, treating his subordinates as blundering incompetents: . Even so, he is now acknowledged as one of Paraguay's better rulers — a modernizer."There is no doubt that [by the end of his presidency] he ruled a nation both unified, debt-free, and technologically advanced in relation to other countries of the continent": . López was gradually bringing Paraguay out of its long period of isolation. Because their country had an insecure history, Paraguayans were said to be xenophobic and touchy. In colonial times Paraguay had had to struggle against endemic Indian and Portuguese raids; after its independence, with Brazilian and Buenos Aires"In an attempt to coerce Paraguay economically and bring it to its knees, Buenos Aires only stiffened Paraguayan nationalism and produced a voluntary, xenophobic isolation of the breakaway province." () bullying.
López wanted good relations with all foreign powers. Yet over the years he had serious conflicts with Brazil, Buenos Aires, Britain, France, and the United States. According to Spanish journalist Ildefonso Bermejo, López had a network of police spies whose business was to overhear incautious remarks unflattering to his government. Hence most of the foreign diplomatic corps attracted his ire at one time or another; for example, the French consul was overheard to say that López's wife was an Indian who smoked cigars, and so on. Sometimes diplomatic relations were broken off; at other times harsh notes were exchanged, Paraguay being quick to take offense. According to George Thompson, "López ... got into hot water with all the Powers he had anything to do with. He was of a petulant temper, and disliked foreigners generally, though he treated them well".
Dealing with López called for diplomatic tact and patience; yet the man entrusted with the task was Edward A. Hopkins, whose arrogance began to irritate the President. Hopkins "made no secret of his mission to 'civilize' Paraguay". Thus, according to John Hoyt Williams, he asked to be made an admiral in the Paraguayan navy. He would build a ship to his own design. He and a crew of Americans would sail the ship to Buenos Aires and kidnap dictator Rosas. "All he needed was 100,000 pesos." López was not impressed.
The rejection of Hopkins Ill-feeling had been brewing for some time when an incident brought it to a head. One day Hopkins' brother and the wife of the French consulThe relationship between the two was said to be scandalous and shocking to the people of the country: . were out riding in the countryside when they encountered three Paraguayan soldiers herding cattle. The soldier in charge ordered the couple to move aside so as not to frighten the animals, but he was ignored and the cattle stampeded. Enraged, the soldier struck Hopkins' brother with the flat of his sword. Whereupon, wrote Professor Ynsfran
A different source found that Hopkins boasted that he "forcibly entered the audience chamber of President López, in his riding dress, whip in hand, despite the remonstrance of the guard".
It was said that López ordered the soldier to receive 300 lashes for exceeding his authority, but Hopkins demanded that Paraguay apologise in its official newspaper El Semanario. The newspaper responded by printing Hopkins' version of the incident in full, according to which the soldier had attacked without any provocation whatsoever: all part of an ongoing, state-inspired campaign of insults against himself and the employees of the Rhode Island company. The newspaper dismissed Hopkins' version as unbelievable. The sentence on the soldier — he had to run the gauntlet of 300 blows — was indeed recorded, but with the detail that it was Hopkins' brother who had provoked him. A later issue denounced Hopkins as an ill-mannered boor,The Semanario said that, at a public ceremony when decorum required everyone to stand, Hopkins had remained sprawling chewing his nails; that he failed to attend an official Fourth of July event honoring his country; and that he had said Paraguayans needed to be driven with a whip like donkeys. a harsh and oppressive employer;The Semanario said that Hopkins had demanded that lazy workers at the cigar factory be flogged or banished from their homes. a troublemaker, a fanfarrón (presumptuous braggart), immoral person and drunkard. According to a resident Spanish journalist, Hopkins had demanded that the soldier be shot, but he was only restricted to barracks for a spell.
Hopkins possessed certain documents which he was supposed to deliver up before leaving the country. He refused, and in defiance of López was conveyed out of Paraguay aboard a visiting American vessel USS Water Witch. An infuriated López banned all foreign warships from entering Paraguayan waters. This incident, and the role of Water Witch in further exacerbating American-Paraguayan relations, will be described later.
The claims of the Rhode Island company