_In order that every one may be made acquainted with the present decree, it shall be published in the legal form and deposited in the public archives._
_CARLOS ANTONIO LOPEZ._ _AUDRES GIL, Sec. to the Supreme Government._
In respect to what Sir Woodbine says in reference to the products of Paraguay not bearing the expense of transport, it will perhaps be sufficient to cite in a note[105] the opinions of practical men upon the exceeding desirability and the feasibility of Europeans availing themselves of one of its staples most essential to English manufactures, as set forth in the leading journal a few months back.
There was always a strong presentiment among commercial men in this country that a treaty with Paraguay would be productive of great advantages; and there is an equally strong conviction still, despite the apprehended obstacles raised by the Buenos Ayrean Government in respect to the enforced protectorate of the island of Martin Garcia, that the treaty ratified on November 2nd, by Lord Clarendon and his Excellency Don F. Lopez, the accomplished son and representative of the President of Paraguay at the British Court, and a copy of which was presented to parliament the opening day of the present Session, by Lord John Russell,[106] will, in due time, effect most of the benefits anticipated. But so complete is the ignorance in England of the real mercantile resources of Paraguay, that even public writers most disposed to augur well of the treaty in question propagated notions concerning that territory so far short of the actual fact, that, if they were true, certain politicians might be almost justified in now pooh-poohing what has been accomplished, just as they did when it was attempted some years ago. For instance, one journal, long celebrated for its supposed peculiarly accurate information on foreign topics, mercantile as well as political, stated, immediately after the ratification of the treaty, as a piece of intelligence of great significance, that Paraguay was the most populous of all the La Plata provinces, ‘except Buenos Ayres’—the truth being that the Paraguayan population exceeds the Buenos Ayrean upwards of threefold—exceeds that of all the Argentine States and the Banda Oriental put together! while, contrary to the general belief even in South America, its power of consumption is greater than the rest of the interior provinces of the Confederation.[107] Considering its extreme isolation hitherto, and that modern writers professing to treat of it have almost invariably drawn their information from second-hand or apocryphal sources, it is perhaps but natural that there should be extant but little reliable knowledge respecting Paraguay. In proceeding to supply much of the void complained of, the first fact to which we would draw the attention of mercantile men is, not so much its varied products, many of them most suitable to British purposes, nor its advantages, peculiarly fitting it to nourish an important commerce, considering its fine climate,[108] fruitful soil, and numerous[109] population, but to the stable and enduring nature of its governmental status.