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.

He soon exceeded his remit, not only trying to mediate a longstanding dispute between Paraguay and Buenos Aires dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas — falsely claiming he had U.S. authorization to do it — but making wild and intemperate proposals.

In colonial times Paraguay had had to struggle against endemic Indian and Portuguese raids;[26] after its independence, with Brazilian[27] and Buenos Aires[28] bullying.Dealing with López called for diplomatic tact and patience;[29] yet the man entrusted with the task was Edward A. Hopkins, whose arrogance began to irritate the President.

Whereupon, wrote Professor Ynsfran Consul Hopkins, instead of lodging a reasonable complaint with the police on behalf of his brother, presented himself in riding boots and flourishing a whip in the hand at the government house, where he was admitted as usual with every consideration, and confronted the president with a shower of vituperations and threats.

[33] 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".

[5] Recently, in 1853, Paraguay had negotiated treaties of friendship, commerce and navigation with Great Britain, France, Sardinia[42] and the United States,[43] and looked forward to the ratification of the latter by the U.S. Senate.

Owing to the carelessness of a visiting American diplomat, many formal mistakes got into the wording of the U.S.-Paraguay treaty, e.g. the U.S.A. was referred to as "United States of North America"; so the U.S. Senate required these be corrected.

In 1852 dictator Rosas — who used to block access to them — was overthrown and his successor Justo José de Urquiza opened the rivers of Argentina to free navigation by the ships of all nations.

Lieutenant Page wrote that López received them very well, concluding[57]the reception of the expedition in his waters, and his entire course towards us, until his outbreak with [consul Edward Hopkins], was characterized throughout by generous hospitality.

However, there was a highly sensitive political situation that Page did not fully understand: Paraguay had a tense relationship with the Empire of Brazil; the two countries had a 300-year old, shifting boundary dispute going back deep into colonial times.

[58][59] Paraguay considered that Brazilian settlers from the Mato Grosso were continually encroaching into and appropriating Paraguayan territory,[60] yet López could not persuade Brazil to sign a definitive boundary agreement.

What was really at issue was Lopez's fears that free navigation would lead to an enormous Brazilian buildup in the Mato Grosso which would threaten Paraguay militarily, and, through its commercial impact on the North, would especially increase smuggling.

This raised López's animosity, since the implication was that Water Witch, a guest of Paraguay, was prepared to fight its way out of the country to remove a person defying the Paraguayan government.

The reason was that, mostly, the Paraguayan coast was swampy and not easily invaded, but an exception occurred around the village of Paso de Patria,[88] where there was a firm beach where a landing could be made.

He must have known he was risking confrontation, because he moved the starboard gun to the port side, cleared for action, and ordered forty shrapnel, twelve regular shells, and thirty stand of grape prepared.

[95] When Lieutenant Page found out about it he went downriver and tried to persuade Commodore William D. Salter, commander of the U.S. squadron in South America, to give him orders to attack the fort.

[114] In any case, the incident was provoked by a junior naval officer who should have known he was risking armed confrontation with a fort under orders to interdict foreign vessels, and with which he refused to parley.

[135] A more sinister theory held that Buchanan was a dupe of Southern conspirators who meant to weaken the United States by "withdrawing from the forts and arsenals of the North all the munitions of war, thus leaving them unprovided with arms whenever the plans for the Great Rebellion should be matured".

[158] While not an exact parallel, in the subsequent War of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870) it took a combined Brazilian-Argentine force more than two years, incurring major casualties;[159] and, unlike Commodore Shubrick, the allies had ironclad warships and a large siege army with logistical support.

[168] The larger ships remained in Montevideo while the lighter vessels went up the Paraná River, where all of them ran aground more than once and had to be extricated by the revenue cutter Harriet Lane,[169] on loan from New York Harbor, and named after Buchanan's niece.

[179] Afterwards, it was credibly alleged that Urquiza had managed to get hold of a copy of Bowlin's secret instructions, hence knew the American negotiating hand; he did not fail to divulge it to López.

[180] As Judge Bowlin got nearer to the Paraguayan capital his sense of fairness and deepening knowledge led to him to become increasingly skeptical about the Rhode Island company's claim,[130][154] which he called "swaggering boasting".

According to one account, Sixteen ominous apertures pointed their gloom, and whatever else they may contain, upon us; and, like the eyes of the figure in the picture, seemed to follow the vessel’s motion, with a precision that is not always agreeable under similar circumstances.

Spacious barracks showed that no mean force defended the place, and though there was neither the disturbance nor the disorder of men rushing to their guns, or forming battalions, I occasionally caught a glimpse of the mass that awaited in the rear the ordeal through which we were passing.

[208] The Paraguay expedition revealed worrying deficiencies in the antebellum Navy, not because of the officers and men, but owing to incompetent shore-based administration, fueled by inadequate naval budgets.

[217] For the international arbitral commission Paraguay hired James Mandeville Carlisle, a clever and distinguished lawyer[218] who argued more cases before the Supreme Court than any other counsel of his time.

Not a dollar was appropriated by Congress for this purpose, unless we may except the sum of $289,000 for the purchase of seven small steamers of light draft, worth more than their cost, and which were afterwards usefully employed in the ordinary naval service.

In 1887 (when corruption in Paraguayan politics "was taken for granted"),[230] a minister signed a document agreeing to settle the claim for $90,000 in gold "with the previous consent and complete approval of Mr Edward A. Hopkins".

[232] It being desirable to ascertain the fitness of the river La Plata and its tributaries for navigation by steam, the United States steamer Water Witch was sent thither for that purpose in 1853.

Citizens of the United States also who were established in business in Paraguay have had their property seized and taken from them, and have otherwise been treated by the authorities in an insulting and arbitrary manner, which requires redress: Buchanan 1917, pp.