In order to preserve liberty of suffrage, prevent coercion either by the governments or the political parties, suppress violence and have the election decided solely by reason and the ballot, the last act of the Argentine Congress at the close of the session was to pass the bill which prohibits the meeting of all armed forces, except the national army, until the new President assumes office; this law was promulgated last October. In its first article it prohibits not only the meeting but the calling out of the national guards, even for drill, and this law has been violated by those who meet publicly as armed volunteers, as, being Argentine citizens, they are national guards, and as such prohibited from arming themselves and meeting.

For the foregoing reasons, in fulfillment of the constitution and the laws referred to, to preserve the peace of the country, to prevent coercion and violence at the presidential election, and that this may be decided solely in a peaceable, patriotic, and common sense way

The president of the republic, in full cabinet council, decrees:

ART. 1. Throughout the entire extent of the republic, meetings of armed citizens, no matter what name they assume, are hereby prohibited, as laid down in the act of Congress of 13th October, 1879.

ART. 2. The governors of provinces are hereby charged with the execution of this decree as the natural agents of the national government in enforcing the constitution and the laws of the nation. (Article 110, National Constitution.)

ART. 3. Let this be published, &c.'

BENJAMIN ZORRILLA.

LUCAS GONZALES.

V. DE LA PLAZA.

MIGUEL GOYENA.

CARLOS PELLEGRINI.

AVELLANEDA.

No. 269.]

No. 12.

Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Buenos Ayres, February 18, 1880. (Received March 30.) SIR: The political crisis is past, the situation has improved, civil war for the time at least has been averted, the troops are returning to their encampments, and the people to their former occupations.

Through the efforts of the "peace committee," an interview was brought about yesterday at 4 p. m. between the President and the governor of this province at the national government house.

The interview lasted one hour, and as no one was present, the result was not made public, except that the President and governor were to have another conference at 8 p. m.

At 9 p. m. the President issued the following decree as the result of the conference:

To His Excellency the Minister of the Interior:

BUENOS AYRES, February 17, 1880.

I have just received from his excellency, the governor of Buenos Ayres, the most perfect assurance that the law of the 13th October, 1879, will be strictly fulfilled. I have accepted this patriotic assurance from the governor of Buenos Ayres, and the national government will act in accordance with the new situation. Necessary orders will be issued for the second, third, and sixth battalions of infantry, and the second, third, and sixth regiments of cavalry of the line to suspend their march.

I learn that the interview was opened by Governor Tejedor on the interpretation of the law of October 13 ultimo, which prohibits the governors from calling out the provincial troops previous to the general election for President.

It is understood as a result of the conference, and from the movements of the troops to day (I think it is true), that the President has

agreed to withdraw all of the national troops from the city, excepting those necessary for garrison duty; and the governor on his part is to disband the volunteer corps, but the volunteers are to retain their arms, and to organize themselves into target companies under the law. No condition was made by the President that General Roca should resign his candidature. The peace committee has commissioned General Campos adjutant-general, who left late last night for Córdoba to request him to resign. From the best information that I can obtain, Roca will not resign. If he does not, the opposition to him has not obtained the object desired by the late demonstration against the general government, except, perhaps, the governor, as intimated.

If General Roca refuses to resign, but insists upon his candidature, the peace may not be lasting. The President undoubtedly believes that all is over, as he will leave the city this 2 p. m. for his country residence, some ten miles from the city.

I have, &c.,

No. 13.

THOS. O. OSBORN.

No. 270.]

Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Buenos Ayres, February 23, 1880. (Received April 17.)

SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith the reply of General Roca to the request of the " peace committee," to withdraw as a presidential candidate (marked A), and also a printed despatch addressed by General Roca, in reply to a letter, making the same request, of his personal friend Hector Varela, editor of a morning paper in this city, "El Porteño."

In his reply to the peace committee he claims that he is in the hands of his party and that the peace committee should address the political centers of the different provinces to free him from his candidature, but in his reply to his friend Varela he appears to believe that the governor and the province of Buenos Ayres are attempting to dominate the other provinces, and that while he feels quite sure of almost the unanimous support of the other provinces, he will not consent that tranquillity shall be purchased at the expense of honor and liberty.

Governor Tejedor's friends now refuse to accept his (Tejedor's) renunciation, and unless the peace committee shall be able to bring forward a candidate acceptable to other provinces, as well as Buenos Ayres, the late arrangement between the President and Governor Tejedor must result simply in a truce.

I have, &c.,

THOS. O. OSBORN.

[Inclosure A in No. 270.-Extract from the Buenos Ayres Herald.]

The following is General Roca's reply to a letter addressed to him through Don Felix Frias, in representation of the peace committee, begging him, "in order to prevent a scandal and a scene of blood in the streets of Buenos Ayres," to resign his candida

ture.

66

Under existing circumstances I do not belong to myself, but of a political party that is in the legitimate use of its rights, and that believes itself to be fol

lowing the movings of the purest patriotism, and that has, besides, from Buenos Ayres to Jujuy, in every part of the republic, an executive center to which all such petitions should be addressed asking them to withdraw my candidature and replace it by another that shall have beforehand the approbation of the governor of Buenos Ayres, who is the only one to threaten the country with the horrors of civil war, and with the rending of our constitution, before accepting the dictum of the lawful arbiter in such a contest-the ballot.

"Only those centers could free me from those obligations which honor and civic virtue impose upon me, and which make me one with the party that has proclaimed my name as a candidate for the presidency of the republic. I salute the president of the peace committee.

"JULIO A. ROCA."

[Inclosure B in No. 270.-General Roca to Señor Varela.-Translation.]

MY DEAR HECTOR:-The "tout ensemble" of things is the better viewed from a distance. Not only is that which passes in Buenos Ayres seen, but also what is transpiring in the whole republic. What is being treated upon is not an electioneering question, but it is an effort to prove whether or not we are one of the many South American factions that are the scorn of the world.

Those who hope to quiet the raging of the monster by throwing the corpse of my candidature to it, exacting a voluntary immolation, will find themselves very much deceived, unless there be a Theseus to free the Athens of the Plata from the Minotaur that will continue purchasing for her a shameful tranquillity with the tribute of her honor, dignity, and liberties, for I am neither a virgin nor a boy.

With lasting gratitude for your noble sentiments, I thus answer your telegram of yesterday.

No. 14.

JULIO A. ROCA.

No. 271.]

Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Buenos Ayres, February 28, 1880. (Received April 17.)

SIR: I have just received a note from the minister of foreign affairs, informing me that the time for receiving articles at the Continental Exposition, as fixed in the regulations, has been extended until the 31st of July of the present year.

The commission has determined to receive no articles outside of the South American countries except machinery and objects of art.

I have had several interviews with Mr. John Samson, agent for Messrs. Root & Tinker, publishers of the American Exporter, New York, who is acting as agent for the American interests in the proposed exposition.

We have proposed, in case the samples of American products now on exhibition at Rio de Janeiro can be brought here, and this government will pass them free of duty, of which I have but little doubt, to obtain a suitable building outside of the exposition grounds in which to exhibit them. This proposition will be opposed by the directive commission, as the exposition is under the control of, and in the financial interest of, private parties.

I have, &c.,

THOS. O. OSBORN.

No. 277.]

No. 15.

Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Buenos Ayres, May 8, 1880. (Received July 3.) SIR: The past week has been one of intense political excitement in this city, and in fact throughout the whole country.

On the 1st instant Dr. Tejedor, governor of this province, delivered his annual message to the provincial chambers, a printed copy of which I herewith inclose that you may the better understand the present political situation and the position assumed by this province and Corrientes in relation to the presidential election. As soon as the message was delivered the chamber of deputies took up and passed a bill appropriating $5,000,000, equivalent to $1,070,000 gold, to arm the whole prov ince, and it will doubtless pass the senate.

The national Congress, in accordance with the requirements of the constitution, attempted to organize on the 1st instant, but the house of deputies failed, and has, to this date, failed to organize, for the want of

a quorum.

. Under the constitution, one-half of the deputies are elected every two years, and the other half hold over, and as protests are filed, by either one party or the other, against the admission of the newly elected members, from all the provinces, charging frauds and force in the election, and the "commission of powers" having the credentials in charge has not been able to agree to report in favor of the admission of the newly-elected members of a single province, hence no quorum can be obtained, and, so far as the organization of the chamber is concerned, there is a dead lock.

General Roca has left Córdoba and established his headquarters at Rosario, province of Santa Fé, with five regiments of the line. It is expected that he has sent troops further south and near the line dividing the provinces of Santa Fé and Buenos Ayres.

If this report should prove to be true, doubtless Governor Tejedor will send a force to meet them in case an invasion of this province should be attempted.

Petitions are now being circulated in the board of trade and among the business circles of this city, asking the President and governor for peace, under all circumstances, and a grand public manifestation will be made in its favor on next Monday. It is to be hoped that such influence may be brought to bear that all the disputed questions may be peacefully solved.

I have, &c.,

THOS. O. OSBORN.

[Inclosure with No. 277.-From the Standard, May 2, 1880.]

Messrs. Senators and Deputies:

For the second time I have the honor to address you on the course of the administration. It is not easy to explain what has been accomplished and what remains to be done. More than once the situation has worn a serious aspect; and the history of our country, so full of tears and sacrifices, appeared about to repeat itself. Both parties were playing with fire, and the leaders did not always exhibit that prudence and energy which, combined with patriotism, might maintain peace.

Persuaded as I am that revolution can be avoided by conciliatory means, opportunely employed, I have tried to bring the political parties together; but in spite of

my efforts there is still danger. Perhaps the simplest remedy is to abandon the faetious party names of times long past. If it be within my province to give an opinion, I should advise the Liberal party, as a first step, to allow all honorable men to enter its ranks.

I was named candidate for the Presidency in opposition to the candidate of other provinces. I resigned in the interest of peace, provided my opponent did the same; but I was not listened to. Again requiring all my liberty of action, the better to defend the province, I resigned the second time, unconditionally, thereby breaking promises I ought to have considered sacred through gratitude. Such a step should have produced a similar one on the other side; but as yet there is nothing definite from it, and grave perils threaten the country.

A government confident in its own good intentions should have faithful administration; it should not be intemperate lest disorganization ensue. I have always acted on this conviction. The Union is in each one of the provinces, and each one of them is the Union; but the federal power is one restrained to certain defined functions. The provincial governments are before the constitution as independent and supreme as the national, which has occasionally forgotten this fundamental principle of our federal rights, and has even threatened us.

The province of Buenos Ayres is definitely free; camp and town are bound together, and another Rosas would be at once crushed by the people.

In other provinces it is not the same; every election is a fight or an intervention. The national government has only a right to interfere when the republican form is changed in a province; when a foreign foe or other province invades; when sedition overthrows the authorities, and the latter ask for intervention.

The last is the case most abused, as it is difficult to decide which are "the constituted authorities." The federal government must investigate the case before meddling, or it might be led to protect fraud and violence. The federal government of the Argentine Republic would be the most baneful of governments if it blindly answered the call of governments sprung from oppression.

Only when the form of government is altered can the federal government interfere. The people are sovereign in the provinces as in the nation. When the national government distributes its troops, it has a right to do so, but the provincial governments have also a right to see that no attempt be made on their liberties.

We lately saw Buenos Ayres filled with troops, and other armies forming in the provinces, and the arms in the arsenal distributed everywhere except in Buenos Ayres. In face of this, the people, fearing something, armed themselves, quietly at first, then in battalions; and the government, having the same fears, felt bound to protect these battalions. Then the national government prohibited armed assemblages in any part of the republic. Even if it had called out the national guards, and these refused to obey, it lies with the provincial, not the national, authorities to chastise the abuse. The constitution itself orders the citizens to use arms in defense of the country, be the foe domestic or foreign.

Congress may abolish the army at a stroke, if it likes, but it has only a concurrent jurisdiction over the militia.

For the above reasons, the provincial government refused to disband the volunteers, just as the volunteers of Columbia in the United States refused to disband in 1-67. The government hopes your honorable house will approve its action and declare that the armed citizens deserve well of their country. Story says that the militia is the natural defense in insurrections, usurpation of power, foreign invasion, &c.

Another thing, the national government now exacts payment of duties on arms for the province, contrary to custom. States do not pay duties, and this province has not paid, nor will it pay them. The national government has even gone further and refused to pass some percussion caps for the national guards, and keeps silence as to its reason. This is hardly polite, but, with or without permission, the government of this province is determined to introduce whatever arms it requires.

On another occasion when this government respectfully asked that some troops at Azul might be sent to the frontier, owing to two of its officers having killed a man, "Archívese" (let it be filed) was the minister of war's answer.

Messrs. Senators and Deputies, I cannot conclude without calling your attention to the general state of the country in relation to this province.

Although the President declared he would not interfere in the elections, we have an official candidate supported by the troops of the nation. In the last session of Congress one of the ministers admitted the league of governors. Subsequent telegrams from the governor of Córdoba and minister of war confirmed this.

The people bad, then, a right to look for something decisive from the national gov ernment to re-establish confidence, but the resignation of the minister who made these tremendous revelations was the only result. This revelation, the distribution of arms, the interferences of the army in the provinces, and the warlike preparations of all kinds, have raised alarm on every side.

Senators and Deputies, you and I know well the truth of things, but our enemies