believing that our duty and our interest, as well as our national
character, require that we should adopt such measures as will be
effectual in restraining our citizens from committing such outrages.

I regret to inform you that the President of Paraguay has refused to
ratify the treaty between the United States and that State as amended by
the Senate, the signature of which was mentioned in the message of my
predecessor to Congress at the opening of its session in December, 1853.
The reasons assigned for this refusal will appear in the correspondence
herewith submitted.

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. This enterprise
was successfully carried on until February, 1855, when, whilst in the
peaceful prosecution of her voyage up the Parana River, the steamer
was fired upon by a Paraguayan fort. The fire was returned, but as
the _Water Witch_ was of small force and not designed for offensive
operations, she retired from the conflict. The pretext upon which the
attack was made was a decree of the President of Paraguay of October,
1854, prohibiting foreign vessels of war from navigating the rivers of
that State. As Paraguay, however, was the owner of but one bank of the
river of that name, the other belonging to Corientes, a State of the
Argentine Confederation, the right of its Government to expect that such
a decree would be obeyed can not be acknowledged. But the _Water Witch_
was not, properly speaking, a vessel of war. She was a small steamer
engaged in a scientific enterprise intended for the advantage of
commercial states generally. Under these circumstances I am constrained
to consider the attack upon her as unjustifiable and as calling for
satisfaction from the Paraguayan Government.