We publish elsewhere an article on Paraguay, under a well-
known signature. The account it contains is striking, but the writer has allowed the horror excited by recent accounts of Lopez to carry him too far. The evidence of his cruelty is, we fear, irresistible, but it is morally impossible that he should be a man of inferior or " third-rate " capacity, while of his cowardice there can be no proof. It is his business as Providence of Paraguay to keep out of harm's way. Fully admitting the heroism of the people and the despotism of the Dictator, we submit that a despot who has organized so heroic a people, who is so served by them, and who dares inflict such cruelties on them, must be an able man. It was not brain that was wanting. to Tiberius Omar. It must not be forgotten either that Lopez is an here- ditary sovereign, and during a long reign has been collecting the means which at first made the struggle seem so equal.
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