ition of affairs.
Nevertheless, owing to the methods of Lopez, the proclamation carried
far less weight than had been anticipated.

The Paraguayan forces now penetrated into the Argentine province of
Corrientes, seized the capital, Corrientes itself, and took possession
of a couple of steamers--the _Gualeguay_ and the _25 de Mayo_--which
were anchored in the river opposite to that town. The Paraguayan fleet
now held command of the river system up-stream of Corrientes. On June
11, 1865, the allied naval forces, steaming up the Parana, came into
contact with the hostile fleet. A battle was fought, which ended in the
defeat of the Paraguayan squadron, which was forced to retreat, crippled
and damaged, to the north.

A succession of actions now took place on land, and the Paraguayans,
although fighting with a desperate heroism, were gradually beaten back
and driven across their own frontiers. At the same time, the army which
had invaded Brazil retired in sympathy, and the scene of the war changed
to Paraguay itself, which was in its turn invaded by the forces of the
triple alliance. One of the most sanguinary battles of the war was
fought on May 24, 1866--very nearly a year after the first naval action
off the river port of Corrientes.

At this Battle of Tuyuti the Paraguayans lost no fewer than 8,000 men,
and the casualties of the allies amounted to an equal number. Another
important action was fought at Curupaiti two months later, when the
progress of the allies was abruptly checked, and they were compelled to
retire to some distance with a loss of 9,000 men. This was only one of a
fair number of Paraguayan victories, for the defenders, although in the
main they preserved an attitude of strenuous resistance, were
occasionally enabled to exchange this for active aggression.

The history of this war, which lasted for four years, is one of the most
remarkable in the whole category of struggles of the kind. Undoubtedly
one of the most extraordinary features to be met with is the tremendous
courage and grim determination with which the Paraguayans opposed the
forces of the allies. Every yard of the country was contested with a
fierceness which left the entire countryside covered with dead and
wounded. When, moreover, the modern arms in the possession of which the
Paraguayan armies had commenced the war had become lost and depleted in
numbers, their place was taken by improvised weapons of all kinds, and
it was frequently w