The defeat of the Paraguayans on the 17th August appears
to &are been a real but not a creditable one. Flores, General of the Argentine forces, was, when he met the enemy at Yatay, in com- mand of 9,000 men, with 40 pieces of rifled cannon. The Para- guayans were only 3,000, and when broken by the first attack were pursued by 4,000 cavalry, and slaughtered remorselessly, 1.,700 falling on the field. Flores in his despatch affirms that they -would be killed, that " no human power could make them sur- sender," and then in the same despatch announces that he has taken 1,700 prisoners. The battle evidently was a massacre, for which the Paraguayans will fight the harder. On the other hand the Brazilian fleet, which was to have attacked the Paraguayan fort Humaita, has retreated down the river, losing two of its steamers and many men en route from the fire of the Paraguayan batteries. The turning-point of the war will probably be the attack which Flores has now to make on some 12,000 Paraguayans cn the other side of the Uruguay.
Previous page
