Buenos Ayres, September 12, 1877. (Received October 30.) SIR: On the 7th instant President Avellenada received a dispatch that a revolution had broken out in the province of San Juan, and that Señor Doucel, the governor of the province, and his ministers, had been arrested and put in prison, and several persons had been killed and wounded. From dispatches of a late date it appears that the cause of the trouble in that province was an attempt on the part of D. C. Sarmiento and his friends to depose Doucel and make himself governor of the province. General Roca was at once ordered with troops to the capital of the province, and the President informed the revolutionary governor, Sarmiento, that he would not be recognized, but that the whole power of the national government would be brought, if necessary, to the support of the legally-elected governor of the province, Governor Doucel; whereupon the President received a dispatch from him, declaring his submission to the national government; hence the troubles in that province may be considered at an end. The one great source of troubles to the national government in the past has been these provincial outbreaks. The people of the province become dissatisfied with the governor legally elected, and then undertake to depose him without form of law and make some one-for the time, a favorite their chief. This procedure or attempted procedure has given rise to all the late outbreaks and troubles in the province of Santa Fé, which has caused such disaster to the business and prosperity of the province. The better class and the business men of the country now begin to believe-taken in connection with the late order of the President to the revolutionary governor of San Juan, that recently he sent the chief of his cabinet to Santa Fé to inform the people of the province that however much they might dislike their governor, and however many his faults, he would remain in his position until he was properly relieved under the law and constitution-that the provincial troubles and petty revolutions are about to be brought to an end. I am, &c., THOS. O. OSBORN. 5 No. 157.] No. 2. Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts. UNITED STATES LEGATION, Buenos Ayres, September 18, 1877. (Received November 3.) SIR: The report sent to Congress by the postmaster-general, Mr, Olivera, is now published, in a volume of some four hundred pages, and comprises the returns of the telegraph department, which is now under the postmaster-general. The report shows the miles run by the mail service were: Mail cars, 3,174,274 miles; couriers, 616,274 miles; and steamers, 291,450 miles, in all, more than 4,000,000 of miles; and that the postmaster-general has effected a saving of more than $222,000 from the sum voted in his budget, about one-half the limit fixed by Congress. The postmaster-general states the business of the post-office at seven and a half millions of letters and papers for the whole republic, and, estimating the population at about 2,000,000 souls, he gives two letters to each inhabitant, making the proportion six letters per head in Buenos Ayres and from one to four in the other provinces. He states that he anticipates an increase of traffic as soon as the Argentine Confederation is admitted into the Berne postal convention, and urges the necessity of making the post-office self-supporting by increas ing the tax on newspapers, as the tax now scarcely pays twenty per cent. of the cost of carriage and distribution. The report shows that the returns of the telegraph department for the past two or three years have been almost stationary, a result caused by the crisis partly, and partly by the decrease of population. Besides the national government telegraph lines, there are sixteen other lines-in all, 4,530 miles, of which 2,675 miles belong to the general government-and the report claims that there is a mile of telegraph in the Argentine Republic for every 320 inhabitants, and, comparing this with other countries, claims that the Argentine Republic is, relatively, the foremost country in point of telegraphs. I am, &c., No. 3. THOS. O. OSBORN. No. 158.] Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts. UNITED STATES LEGATION, Buenos Ayres, September 19, 1877. (Received November 3.) SIR: The report to the Argentine Congress of the minister of war and marine, General Alsina, fills a volume of nearly one thousand pages, and shows that the Argentine Republic supports an army of 12,300 men of all arms on its list, and a navy of thirty-one vessels of war. The returns of the captain of the port show at present that there are 1,562 vessels of commerce carrying the Argentine flag, with an aggregate of 43,000 tons. The army list shows 12 generals, 42 colonels, and about 700 officers of other grades. The national guards number 2,000, and the Indian auxiliaries 924. On the list of the survivors of the war of independence are 4 generals, 8 colonels, 3 lieutenant-colonels, and 14 officers of other grades, with 26 soldiers. The officers on the retired-list staff are 19. In the navy, of the 31 vessels of war, 2 are iron-clads, and each ironclad carries two 300-pounders, two 9 pounds, and two 4 pounds. Gunboats, there are six, and war steamers 16, and all are armed with heavy guns. The report states that the expenditures for the army and navy for the past four years have steadily decreased, and that the estimates of 4,000,000 for the next year will be about 1,000,000 below the aggregate of the past few years. The minister claims that the new frontier line established on the Buenos Ayres pampas in 1876 has proved a success. This line was established by digging a ditch 10 feet wide and 6 feet deep along the whole frontier, with redoubts planted at certain distances, manned by troops and artillery. At first, this mode of establishing a frontier line against the Indians was considered as an experiment, and the government had doubts as to the result; but the minister states that since its occupation three attempts have been made by the Indians at inroads, and on each occasion they have been chastised. The minister calls the attention of Congress to the new deep-water channel of "Inferno," surveyed and sounded by Capt. Hunter Davison, which may be made available for steamers of heavy draught going up the Parana and Uruguay Rivers. This channel is between the island Martin Garcia and the territory of Uruguay. The This channel, it is understood, was known many years ago, but was lost, and the channel on the west of Martin Garcia and on the Argentine side, although difficult of passage for vessels except of light draught at the time of low water, of late years has been used. survey and soundings of Captain Davison have been kept secret (so it is supposed), to prevent the use of the channel by the Brazilians in case of trouble with this government; but as all difficulties have been, or are about to be, settled, no doubt the channel will soon be made available to Buenos Ayres, October 3, 1877. (Received November 30.) SIR: The ordinary session of the Argentine Congress closed on the evening of Sunday, the 30th of September. The President sent in his "prorogue," which is simply calling an extra session of Congress, for a certain number of days, to consider certain measures named in his special message, which have not been considered, or but partially considered, in the ordinary session, and which, in his opinion, should be considered and passed by Congress. Among the most important bills which have passed and been approved by the President was the bill to authorize the executive to spend $267,000 in establishing a mint at Buenos Ayres to coin gold and silver money; copper coin to be imported and stamped here. This measure is considered to be of much importance from the fact that the want of a national coin causes much inconvenience, and the multiplicity of foreign coins results in much damage to the commercial interests of the country. The act abolishing the old Spanish system of weights and measures and adopting the decimal system has become a law, and may be considered a step forward, and in harmony with the spirit of the age. The measure which may be considered of the greatest national importance passed by Congress is the measure which authorizes the President to accede to certain modifications in the concession granted Mr. Clark some years ago. This concession was granted Mr. Clark in 1873, and he entered into contract with this government to build a TransAndine Railway and open through communication between Valparaiso, Chili, and the River la Plate by joining two railroads, one in the Argentine Republic and the other in Chili. It appears that up to the present time little or nothing has been done by Mr. Clark to carry out his contract, on account of the crisis, and the difficulty of obtaining money in foreign markets without a government guaranty. In the modified concession just passed by Congress, the Argentine Government guarantees to pay 7 per cent. in gold or in bonds, but in sufficient amounts to produce 7 per cent. in gold to the holders of the shares, whether the road earns it or not. With this guaranty of the national government, and as Mr. Clark has a similar guaranty from the Government of Chili, it is believed that he will experience little or no difficulty in obtaining sufficient money in the London market to carry out the project; and but a short time will elapse before the "pack-mule" in the Andes will give way to the steam-engine, and direct and rapid communication will be had between the Pacific coast and the River la Plate. The custom-house law for 1878 failed to pass because of a disagreement of the senate and house of deputies on certain modifications adopted by the senate. The law will be considered in the special session. I have, &c., No. 5. THOS. O. OSBORN. No. 162.] Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts. UNITED STATES LEGATION, Buenos Ayres, October 8, 1877. (Received November 30.) SIR: The proclamation of amnesty, in the annual message of President Avellenada to the Argentine Congress of May last, and noted in my dispatch number 140, to all in exile, and the restoration of the officers of the army to their former ranks, who were implicated in the revolution of 1874, was formally accepted on yesterday (Sunday, October 7) at a public meeting in the Plaza, in front of the government house, by General Mitre and his political friends. Since the date of the President's message many conferences have been held, from time to time, between General Mitre and his friends on the one side and the President and General Alsina, who is considered the real leader of the government party. As a result of the common understanding and reconciliation arrived at between the parties, a change in the cabinet of the President has taken place, in which Dr. Irigozere, who, up to the 2d instant, was minister of foreign affairs, has been appointed |