minister of the interior and chief of the cabinet; Dr. Don Rusino de Elizalde as minister of foreign affairs. Dr. Elizalde was minister of foreign affairs under the administration of President Mitre, and at the breaking out of the revolution of 1874, left the country and went to Montevideo. Dr. Don Carlos Tejedor, who was minister of foreign affairs under the administration of President Sarmiento, has been nominated governor of the province of Buenos Ayres, on the reconciliation ticket, and will doubtless be elected.

After the meeting in the Plaza, General Mitre, Alsina, and the gov ernor of this province, arm in arm, marched to the government house, where lunch was spread, and to which the President had invited the leaders of both parties, government officials, the diplomatic corps, and many ladies. Speeches were made by the President, General Mitre, Alsina, and others, after the reading by the secretary of the following address:

The committees of the rival parties which have agreed on reconciliation congratulate the people on this great event, which makes Argentinas one great family. Now we may expect peace will bring us order, liberty, and progress; every man will be able to vote according to conscience as a free citizen. Some months ago the United States set us this example, and now we shall all do our best to follow in the glorious footsteps of Moreno, Rivadavia, and Belgrano.

General Mitre and companions accepted their restoration to the army. The reconciliation appears to be complete, and it is hoped that it may be lasting.

I am, &c.,

THOS. O. OSBORN.

No. 179.]

No. 6.

Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Buenos Ayres, March 5, 1878. (Received April 29.) SIR: Soon after the consummation of reconciliation between the two political parties of this country, and a change in the cabinet had taken place, in which the office of minister of foreign affairs was conceded to a "Metrista," Dr. Elizalde, the Chilian minister then at Rio de Janeiro, was assured by Minister Elizalde that if he would return to Buenos Ayres the disputed boundary-line question-in Patagonia, between Chili and the Argentine Republic-could be at once put in the course of final settlement.

For weeks after the return of the Chilian minister to Buenos Ayres it was reported and believed a basis of settlement had been agreed upon by the ministers, and approved by their respective governments; but the later information to be had, and I think it is quite reliable, although both parties are very reticent, is, that a settlement is no nearer completion than at any other period in years past, in consequence of a complication which arose in the arrest and imprisonment of, and the refusal of this government to deliver up to the Chilian minister, the "Santa Cruz criminals."

It appears the Chilian mutineers at Sandy Point on leaving that place took an inland route to render pursuit more difficult, and marched some three hundred miles to Santa Cruz, on the Patagonian coast, where some seventy were captured by the Argentine authorities, and brought to this

city on the Argentine war vessel Parana and confined in the penitentiary.

To the demand of the Chilian Government for the surrender of the mutineers for trial in Chili as such, the Argentine Government replies that the mutineers, on the march up from Sandy Point to Santa Cruz, murdered some forty of their own comrades on Argentine territory, and they must take their trials under Argentine laws.

It appears that the territory in which the murders were committed is a portion of the disputed territory involved in the question of the boundaryline between the two governments; hence the present complications attending the main question.

I have, &c.,

No. 7.

THOS. O. OSBORN.

No. 181.]

Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Buenos Ayres, March 14, 1878. (Received April 29.)

SIR: It was finally determined in cabinet meeting to intervene in the disturbances in the province of Corrientes, on the formal request of Dirqui, the governor in possession; and the President issued a decree notifying all parties in arms to disperse, and placed the national forces at the command of Minister Raza, the government commissioner.

The telegraph-lines are cut and communication between Buenos Ayres and the province is difficult and tardy, but it is known here that another battle has been fought between the State troops and the rebels near Goya, and the State troops were defeated, and all of the infantry were taken prisoners. The numbers engaged on each side are estimated at two thousand.

A few days ago the President sent Colonel Arias, to whom General Mitre surrendered (which closed the Mitre rebellion some four years ago), to the seat of war to take command of the national forces which will follow him.

Under the Argentine constitution the President is elected for six years, and is ineligible to a re-election until at least one term has passed. President Avellenada was elected four years ago, and has but two years yet to serve, and it may be said that the next Presidential campaign has already opened in the province of Corrientes, and the perfect reconciliation of the old political parties was not fully accomplished, except between the leaders in the capital, as Dr. Dirqui and his party are of the administration party and the rebels are said to be the old "Mitrista" of the province; hence, when the question of national intervention was presented to the cabinet, the two "Mitrista" cabinet ministers opposed the intervention, but the President and the other ministers determined to intervene and support Dirqui, and that policy has awakened to a certain extent the old party feelings, and, unless a compromise is effected, will result sooner or later in a rupture or in a change of the present cabinet. This result, however, may be avoided by a compromise, by way of a new election in the province for governor, as it is reported that commissioners from the rebels are on the way to Buenos Ayres to lay before the President a proposition to lay down their arms if the President will guarantee a new election, as the return of Dirqui, it is claimed, was accomplished by fraud.

If it should prove to be true that commissioners are on the way with such a proposition, I do not think the President will receive them officially but in a friendly way, to assure them that peace must be restored to the province before any guarantee can be given.

Dr. Iriondo, the late chief of the President's cabinet, has been proclaimed governor of the province of Santa Fé. It is claimed that he was unanimously elected, as the opposition refused to vote, in consequence of armed troops being stationed around the polls, and rumors of threatened troubles in that province are current.

The province of Santa Fé and other provinces, as well as the southern part of this province, have of late suffered from rains and floods. From what we learn from Santa Fé the destruction must be terrible, as immediately on the receipt of dispatches from that province the President held a special session of the cabinet in order to decide on the best means of giving relief to the unfortunate.

Two cases of yellow fever have been reported in this harbor, which caused much alarm in the city, and the authorities to impose rigid quarantine regulations.

Both cases were brought from Rio de Janeiro and both patients died on shipboard. The report of several cases of yellow fever in Montevideo caused the authorities here to decree a quarantine of eight days against that city.

The weather is extremely hot, but the city still remains healthy, and it is hoped that Buenos Ayres may escape that terrible scourge which cansed the death of nearly twenty-five thousand of her inhabitants but a few years ago.

I have, &c.,

No. 8.

THOS. O. OSBORN.

No. 182.]

Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Buenos Ayres, March 23, 1878. (Received May 16.)

SIR: The rebellion in the province of Corrientes is over. Eight thousand men have laid down their arms at the command of the national government. The surrender was made on the general promise of the national government that full justice to the people of the province would be granted.

The President in his last proclamation commanding the rebels to hand over their arms to Minister Plaza, the government commissioner, said:

You cannot look for other guarantees than what the justice of the nation accords, and this I explicitly promised you. I am resolved to decide with the utmost impartiality and honor the questions affecting the province of Corrientes. It is no longer a question of local polítics, but of obedience to the national government, and to the decrees, which, in my quality of chief magistrate, are issued by me with the force of law. A refusal to lay down your arms would be open rebellion against the national government, and which would at once be crushed by the federal troops.

There has been no decision as yet as to who is the rightful governor of Corrientes; there appear to be no provisions for a new election unless Dirqui should resign, which as yet he has declined to do, and the

cabinet is not a unit in reference to the question. For solution it may be turned over to the courts.

On the 1st of April the Argentine Republic will enter upon a postal service in accordance with the Berne postal treaty.

I have, &c.,

THOS. O. OSBORN.

No. 184.]

No. 9.

Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Buenos Ayres, April 26, 1878. (Received June 12.)

SIR: The ministerial crisis in the national cabinet was reached on the 24th instant, and on the withdrawal of Dr. Rufino de Elizalde, minister of foreign affairs, and Dr. José M. Gutierrez, minister of public worship and instruction, the President reconstructed his cabinet, which is now composed of Dr. Barnardo de Yrigoyen, who resumes the post of minister of foreign affairs, Dr. Saturnino Laspur, minister of the interior, Dr. W. Pacheco, minister of public instruction and worship, with the other minister, who retains the same post held before reconstruction. The retirement of Drs. Elizalde and Gutierrez was caused by the policy adopted by the administration in reference to the political troubles in the province of Corrientes.

It is reported that the armed forces in opposition to Dirqui, who claims to have been legally elected and in possession, surrendered and delivered up their arms on the condition, granted by the President, that Dirqui should resign and a new election should be ordered, whereas Dirqui, it is claimed, is still kept in possession by the administration in order to prevent a new election, which would result in a defeat of the administration party in that province.

The withdrawal from the cabinet of the two ministers who went into the cabinet as the representatives of the "Mitre wing" of the party which adopted the platform of reconciliation for the good of the country, about one year ago, it is believed will disturb the future peace and harmony hoped for from that party, if it does not entirely destroy the good understanding arrived at, and mark the old party lines more distinctly than ever. This is indicated not only by the declaration of some of the leaders, but more especially by the "old partisan" press, which adopted reconcili ation, but now speak out against the policy of the administration with much bitterness.

It may be doubted that since the death of General Alsina, the late war minister and the master spirit of the new order of things, if the party of reconciliation has much strength beyond this province; as reports almost daily reach this city from several of the upper provinces of political disturbances in actual existence or threatened.

But a few nights ago, in the capital of the province of Santa Fé, a revolution was attempted by an attack on the city by an armed forcé, about nine o'clock at night; the attack was repulsed, as the governor, Iriondo, had sufficient notice to receive it, but with a loss of some thirty lives; and the governor only saved himself by taking refuge on the top of a church.

All these movements doubtless have in view the next Presidential election, and there appears to be but little hope for a better outlook until that is past.

I have, &c.,

THOS. O. OSBORN.

No. 189.]

No. 10.

Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Buenos Ayres, May 14, 1878. (Received June 26.) SIR: The annual session of the Argentine Congress was formally opened by the reading of the message by the President on the 6th instant to both houses of Congress in the chamber of deputies.

The President, after saluting the senators and deputies, and assuring them that every year constitutional principles are striking their roots deeper, opens his message by referring to the conciliation policy adopted by the administration, and says that many European and American statesmen were so impressed with that policy at Buenos Ayres, that they ask themselves if such were not preferable to the system of repression used in Europe which perpetuates violent rancor, and, as a proof of the success of the policy of conciliation, refers to the fact that three millions of Argentines united in the celebration of the centenary of St. Martin.

The President claims that there is peace in the republic, but that in two or three of the provinces a bad state of affairs exists; that the revolt in the province of Sante Fé had been suppressed by Governor Iriondo with superior force, and that the national government had intervened, on the call of Governor Dirqui, in the province of Corrientes for the purpose of maintaining peace in that province, and that he now submits the whole matter to Congress for solution, and recommends, for the peace and the prosperity of the province, that a new election should be called for the purpose of designating the governor of the province under the auspices of national intervention which should secure free suffrage to all.

It appears from the message that the total national debt amounts to $61,277,802, of which more than one-half are European loans, and the balance a home debt, except about two millions called the floating debt. These figures show a reduction of the national debt in the year 1877 of more than $4,000,000 from that of the year 1876.

The President congratulates Congress, that although the revenue did not come up to or meet expectations, the government has spent $8,000,000 less in the year 1877 than Congress had authorized, and claims that the apparent decline of 7 per cent. in the exports was due to the fact of reduced valuation on wool and hides, &c., as it was found that the quantities exported in 1877 exceeded those of the year 1876, but the valuation was reduced 15 per cent.

The number of immigrants to this country for the year 1877, is summed up as 29,000, the same as for the previous year, and the message claims that it is more than the aggregate of arrivals from Europe to all the other countries of South America.

With reference to foreign affairs in the message, the President states that the relations with all countries are friendly, and that Congress will hear with pleasure that protocols of a treaty, putting an end to the long and vexed questions with Chili, have been signed and approved by both governments; that the question at issue will be left to arbitration. This statement is questioned, and a portion of the native press, La Tribuno and La Libertad, published in this city, claim that the statement is incorrect; that the only agreement arrived at is to leave it to arbitration, and that none of the details are settled as a basis for arbitration, and that Barros Arana, the Chilian minister, has expressed his discontent in reference to the statement in the message. The matter is still being