ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



19 



-office-holders, and to abstain from official inter- 

 ference in the elections. 



An insurrection broke out on the morning of 

 July 26. It was begun by the troops command- 

 ed by the imprisoned officers, the artillery mak- 

 ing the first manifestation. The leaders of the 

 Union Civica joined the insurgent troops with 

 many civilians, who were armed with Remington 

 rifles that were provided for them. Only two 

 battalions of infantry and the police remained 

 faithful to the Government. The police began 

 the firing. The barracks and the arsenal were 

 in the hands of the Opposition. Gen. Manuel J. 

 Campos, who, with the other imprisoned officers 

 was set at liberty, took command. The people 

 of the city were in sympathy with the move- 

 ment, and'many of them took part in the fight- 

 ing, firing on the police from their houses. A 

 regiment of artillery, three of infantry, the en- 

 gineers, and the school of cadets were engaged 

 in the insurrection. A revolutionary committee, 

 composed of the leaders of the Union Civica, took 

 control and issued edicts as a provisional gov- 

 ernment. They were Dr. Leandro N. Alem, the 

 President of the Union Civica, Lucio Vicente Lo- 

 pez, Professor of Constitutional Law in the uni- 

 versity, Aristobulo del Valle, ex-President of the 

 Senate, Juan Jose Romero, ex-Minister of Fi- 

 nance, Michael Goyena, ex-Minister of Justice 

 .and ex-President of the Chamber of Deputies, 

 and Mariano de Maria, a distinguished lawyer 

 and former Deputy. The result of the first day's 

 fighting, which was very severe, was adverse to 

 the Government. On the 27th, a battalion of 

 the Government troops went over to the insur- 

 gents. The President went to San Martin on 

 the first day to bring provincial troops to his 

 aid. He proclaimed the country in a state of 

 siege, and called out the National Guard at Bue- 

 nos Ayres, Cordoba, and Santa Fe. Dr. Pelle- 

 grini directed operations on the side of the Gov- 

 ernment. On the second day the artillery and 

 the ships in the harbor, the navy having chosen 

 the popular side, fired on the Government House. 

 An armistice was arranged in the afternoon. The 

 Minister of War was wounded, and the Minister 

 of Finance made prisoner by the Civicas. On 

 the morning of the 28th, before the armistice 

 was over. Dr. Celman returned with fresh troops, 

 consisting of a large force of guacho militia and 

 forty pieces of artillery. The Union Civica had 

 not pressed the advantage gained on the first 

 day, but had agreed to an armistice and entered 

 into negotiations for surrender for the reason 

 that all the cartridges were exhausted. When the 

 soldiers went to the arsenal for a fresh supply, 

 they found nothing but empty boxes. Though 

 the Government now had them at its mercy, it 

 did not proceed to extreme measures, but came 

 to a compromise. The soldiers and civilians who 

 took part in the revolt were promised immunity, 

 but officers of the grade of captain and above 

 were to lose their commissions. The President, 

 on his part, promised that the ministry should 

 be reconstituted and reforms prosecuted. Dur- 

 ing the fighting at least 1,000 people were killed 

 and 5,000 wounded. 



Retirement of Celman. Gen. Roca and 

 Vice-President Pellegrini, who brought about a 

 cessation of the civil disturbances, obtained a 

 pledge from President Celman that he would re- 



sign. When the authority of the Government 

 was re-established in the capital and the military 

 helplessness of the Opposition was made apparent 

 he again changed his mind and determined to 

 hold on to power, although he dared not show 

 himself in public without a military guard. At 

 a Cabinet meeting it was decided to postpone all 

 payments from the treasury for thirty days, and 

 the question of a forced paper currency was dis- 

 cussed. Dr. Pellegrini and Gen. Roca, who 

 were present, insisted on the resignation of the 

 President, but he proposed to escape from his 

 difficulties by taking Roca and Eduardo Costa 

 into the Cabinet as Ministers of the Interior and 

 of Public Instruction. They refused, and Dr. 

 Pellegrini declared that he would resign his office 

 of Vice-President unless the President retired. 

 Abandoned by the respectable portion of his own 

 party, Celman offered the Cabinet posts to the 

 chiefs of the Opposition, and these also insisted 

 on his laying down his office as the prime condi- 

 tion. Failing in this quarter, the President en- 

 deavored to placate the menacing citizens by pro- 

 posing to secure for the capital autonomous 

 government and other tempting rights and im- 

 munities, but with sullen persistence they called 

 on him to resign. The resignation of the Min- 

 isters of Foreign Affairs and of Finance, Saenz 

 Peiia and Garcia, from the Cabinet left him more 

 impotent and isolated, and when Gen. Levalle, 

 the Minister of War, informed him that the 

 army could not be relied on to defend him in the 

 Presidency he finally offered his resignation on 

 Aug. 5, after Senor Dardo Rocha had made a 

 vain attempt to form a ministry. The faction 

 of Celman and Carcano demanded as a condition 

 of the acceptance of the resignation that Dr. 

 Pellegrini, Celman's constitutional successor, 

 should retire at the same time in order that one 

 of their friends might succeed to the control of 

 affairs ; but the committee of the Chambers that 

 had had charge of the matter threatened Cel- 

 man with removal and impeachment if he with- 

 drew his resignation. Under the fear of expos- 

 ure and punishment, he therefore, on Aug. 6, pre- 

 sented his resignation in a formal message to 

 the Congress, which accepted it by a vote of 61 

 to 22 in joint session. 



The New Government. President Pelle- 

 grini succeeded on Aug. 7 in obtaining a minis- 

 try, composed as follows: Minister of Finance, 

 Fidel Vicente Lopez, the President of the Pro- 

 vincial Bank ; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ed- 

 uardo Costa ; Minister of Justice'and Education. 

 Jose M. Gutierrez Lastra ; Minister of the Inte- 

 rior, Gen Roca : Minister of War, Gen Levalle. 

 The first acts of the new Government were to 

 raise the state of siege proclaimed by President 

 Celman and restore the liberties of the press, 

 that had been suspended. The emission of 

 $100.000,000 of hypothecatory notes that was 

 sanctioned by the Chambers was canceled by 

 the Government, which obtained authority to is- 

 sue $60,000,000 of treasury notes and to borrow 

 $35,000,000 on 4|-per-cent. bonds for the purpose 

 of withdrawing the unauthorized issue of Nation- 

 al Bank notes : also to raise a foreign loan of $20,- 

 000,000 at 5 per cent, in order to pay off obliga- 

 tions maturing in 1891. Notwithstanding the 

 fresh expansion of the currency, confidence in the 

 new administration of the Government and of 



