The latest accounts from the Plate affirm that Lopez has
evacuated his new position on the Tebionary, and has retreated towards Villa Rica, which is believed to be splendidly fortified. He is pursued by the Brazilian Army,—which, however, lost 500 oxen in four days, and opinions are divided as to the probable termination of the war. It will depend, in all human probability, upon the number of men Lopez has remaining. If, as is reported, he has 20,000, he may make of Villa Rica another Sebastopol, and commence a defence which will cost Brazil more than all the pre- vious campaigns. Hitherto the Marquis de Caxias has had water carriage, but in attacking Villa Rica he must carry everything with him on oxen, a frightfully expensive process for the exhausted empire. It is possible, however, that Lopez may at last have to contend with internal treason, in which case Brazil will have succeeded in crushing Paraguay, and will begin to domineer in the Argentine Republic.
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