Paraguay expedition was an American diplomatic mission and nineteen-ship squadron ordered by President James Buchanan to South America to demand redress for certain wrongs alleged to have been done by Paraguay, and seize its capital Asuncion if it was refused.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,985 |
The expedition was sent without an adequate investigation of the facts; most modern scholars have considered Buchanan's complaints were probably unjustified.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,986 |
Hence the Paraguay expedition has been described as "woefully inadequate" for the job and "a military bluff carried off with commendable skill".
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,987 |
However, because of the conciliatory attitude of the US 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.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,988 |
Paraguay expedition 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 US authorization to do it — but making wild and intemperate proposals.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,989 |
Paraguay expedition persuaded prominent Rhode Island investors, including Governor Samuel G Arnold, that Paraguay was an excellent business opportunity.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,990 |
Paraguay expedition was the general agent of the Rhode Island company in Paraguay.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,991 |
Business venture of the United States and Paraguay expedition Navigation Company was a failure.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,992 |
Salvaging the cargo as best as he could, Hopkins arrived in Paraguay expedition and borrowed 11,500 pesos from its president, Carlos Antonio Lopez.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,993 |
In colonial times Paraguay expedition had had to struggle against endemic Indian and Portuguese raids; after its independence, with Brazilian and Buenos Aires bullying.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,994 |
Paraguay expedition possessed certain documents which he was supposed to deliver up before leaving the country.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,995 |
Paraguay expedition refused, and in defiance of Lopez was conveyed out of Paraguay aboard a visiting American vessel USS Water Witch.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,996 |
Paraguay expedition had a history of feeling disrespected by its larger neighbors Brazil and Argentina` and welcomed recognition by third countries.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,997 |
Recently, in 1853, Paraguay expedition had negotiated treaties of friendship, commerce and navigation with Great Britain, France, Sardinia and the United States, and looked forward to the ratification of the latter by the US Senate.
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,998 |
Buchanan complained Paraguay expedition refused to ratify the treaty "on frivolous and even insulting pretexts".
| FactSnippet No. 2,554,999 |
Paraguay expedition was commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Jefferson Page USN, who afterward wrote an accessible account of her voyages.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,000 |
Paraguay expedition 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.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,001 |
Where Paraguay expedition ended and Brazil began was strongly disputed, and had led to firefights.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,002 |
In January 1855, while Water Witch was in Argentine waters, Lieutenant Page led off a small Paraguay expedition to explore an Argentine river, leaving his executive officer, Lieutenant William Nicholson Jeffers, in charge of the ship, with orders to explore the Upper Parana river.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,003 |
Paraguay expedition knew Lopez had banned foreign warships from Paraguayan waters — with Water Witch in mind — and he was carrying a pilot who knew the river.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,004 |
Paraguay expedition's excuse was that he had tried to go through the main channel but had run on a sandbar.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,005 |
Paraguay expedition had a minister of foreign relations in Asuncion, but he was a mere figurehead: Lopez did not even allow his foreign ministers to open diplomatic correspondence.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,006 |
Paraguay expedition personally knew something about Hopkins' track record; he presumably knew that Secretary of State Marcy had thought Lieutenant Jeffers was probably to blame for the Fort Itapiru incident; and it could be guessed why President Lopez might be unwilling to ratify a treaty of friendship.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,007 |
Yet the Paraguay expedition was despatched "without bothering about a real investigation of the rather complicated antecedents of the trouble".
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,008 |
Still another is that the Paraguay expedition was sent for a wider purpose, the protection of American commerce in that part of the world.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,009 |
Republican Congressional Committee — Buchanan's opponents — claimed that "Mr Buchanan's war on Paraguay expedition was not for glory, but to furnish means of corruption".
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,010 |
Paraguay expedition consisted of two functions: the naval force, and an accompanying diplomatic mission.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,011 |
Paraguay expedition was Judge James Butler Bowlin, a prominent and well-respected St Louis politician with "a reputation as a forceful, no-nonsense diplomat".
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,012 |
In other words, the arbitrators were to assume Paraguay expedition was liable; their sole function was to determine the monetary amount.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,013 |
Paraguay expedition lay in the heart of South America and had to be approached — and if necessary, fought — through tricky rivers, requiring the skills of a brown-water navy.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,014 |
Previously, Paraguay expedition had for years defied dictator Manuel de Rosas of Buenos Aires when he had tried to do the same.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,015 |
Units of the Paraguay expedition began arriving in Montevideo, Uruguay in December 1858.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,016 |
Paraguay expedition's cash-strapped Argentine Confederation was struggling with the State of Buenos Aires, which had successfully bribed his navy to defect.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,017 |
Paraguay expedition had good relations with Lopez of Paraguay, and wanted to keep it that way, because he hoped for an alliance against Buenos Aires.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,018 |
International arbitral commission Paraguay expedition hired James Mandeville Carlisle, a clever and distinguished lawyer who argued more cases before the Supreme Court than any other counsel of his time.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,019 |
Paraguay expedition had been recommended to President Lopez by Commodore Shubrick himself, which suggests Shubrick wanted Paraguay to win.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,020 |
Paraguay expedition mentioned that Paraguay paid $10,000 for the deceased helmsman, but not that his administration had demanded $500,000 minimum for the Rhode Island company, which got nothing.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,021 |
Paraguay expedition was ruined in the War of the Triple Alliance and its archives were dispersed.
| FactSnippet No. 2,555,022 |