ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



23 



2,270 Argentines, and 401 foreigners. The 

 mineral riches of the country were represent- 

 ed by 3,000 specimens of metalliferous stones. 

 No less than 471 prizes were awarded by the 

 jury. The total cost of the exhibition was 

 $365,934.28. 



A singular meteorological phenomenon oc- 

 curred at Rosario in December, 1871 : a se- 

 vere tempest had ended in a shower of stones 

 which lasted ten minutes, and caused great 

 mischief. The stones varied from the size of 

 a nut to that of a pigeon's-egg. The river 

 Parana had fallen very low ; and, strange to 

 say, the Rio Negro, an affluent of the Uruguay, 

 had at the same time overflowed its banks, in- 

 undating the circumjacent country to a con- 

 siderable distance. 



A spirit of revolution was manifested in 

 Corrientes during the election for Governor ; 

 and an invasion of Entre-Rios by Lopez Jor- 

 dan was spoken of. In Martin Garcia, an island 

 at the head of the estuary of the Plata, some 

 200 prisoners revolted and succeeded in pro- 

 curing arms ; in the attempt to quell the dis- 

 turbance, eight of the rioters were killed, 18 

 wounded, and a large number made good their 

 escape to Uruguayan territory, where they 

 concealed themselves in the woods. The 

 question of transferring the seat of govern- 

 ment from Buenos Ayres was again agitated 

 in the early part of the year, some recom- 

 mending Cordoba, others Rosario, and all 

 agreeing upon the expediency of having the 

 government in a small quiet town, where it 

 would be less exposed to mob-law and coer- 

 cion, than in a populous city. 



Extensive coal-mines were discovered at 

 Madayer, by Don Felix Klapenback, who thus 

 became entitled to the reward of $25,000 

 promised by the Argentine Government for 

 such discovery. 



In February Santa F6 had for the, third time 

 in the space of a few months been the scene 

 of an invasion by the Indians, who devastated 

 fields, killed a colonist, and retreated with a 

 drove of mares. A fourth invasion took place 

 March 4th, when the Indians, numbering from 

 2,000 to 3,000, carried away many captives, 

 and drove oif some 80,000 horned cattle and 

 40,000 horses. On the 7th the church and all 

 public buildings were full of families, who had 

 to sleep on the ground and in the courts, most 

 of them being deprived of clothes. General 

 Rivas set out with troops in pursuit of the 

 savages, 200 of whom were killed when over- 

 taken. The most of the animals were recov- 

 ered. 



In February a revolution broke out in Cor- 

 rientes headed by two colonels, who, without 

 firing a shot, seized the Governor, his minis- 

 try, and the military commandant of the city, 

 and threw them into prison. Some chiefs of 

 one of the parties in Uruguay participated in 

 the movement. A battle was fought near Cu- 

 ruzu. Cnatia, in Corrientes, on the 6th of Feb- 

 ruary, between 3,000 of the insurgents and the 



national troops under Babiene, the former be- 

 ing routed and all their infantry captured. Ba- 

 biene was, however, finally defeated in an- 

 other encounter with the revolutionists at Ta- 

 baco. After the battle, which lasted 20 hours, 

 and in which many were killed and 500 

 wounded, the commander of the revolutionary 

 party set free all the prisoners, including Ba- 

 biene. Thus ended the civil war of Corrientes. 

 A secret reaction took place in Entre-Rios in 

 favor of Lopez Jordan, notwithstanding that 

 he had been openly declared to have been the 

 cause of all the misfortunes of that country. 

 The Indians made frequent predatory excur- 

 sions in the province of Cordoba. 



On New-Year's day the town of Tandil was 

 entered by a band of forty gauchos, who dis- 

 armed the soldiers on guard, set a prisoner 

 free, and shouting, " Death to the masons and 

 gringoes (foreigners) ! " began a general massa- 

 cre, which terminated with the slaughter of 

 some thirty-five persons. These gratuitous 

 abominations were not perpetrated for the 

 purpose of robbery and pillage, but were a 

 crusade of religious fanaticism against mason- 

 ry ; the perpetrators were not criminals, nor 

 did they belong to the mobocracy; but war 

 against masonry had long been preached from 

 the pulpit; and the Tandil assassins were Cath- 

 olics, who believed that in ridding society of 

 freemasons they were accomplishing the Di- 

 vine will. The leader of the murderous band 

 was a Bolivian, who had for some time trav- 

 elled through the rural districts proclaiming 

 himself to be a saint and prophet sent by God 

 from Bethlehem, and possessed of the power 

 to cure all manner of infirmitios by the laying- 

 on of hands. This Dios-medico (God-physi- 

 cian), as he caused himself to be called, had 

 found many believers in his pretended virtues, 

 not only among the poor and ignorant, but 

 also in the ranks of the opulent and influen- 

 tial. Nor did the authorities make any move 

 to put an end to the imposture until fanaticism 

 had reached the culminating point, and nearly 

 twoscore of peaceful citizens had perished un- 

 der the knife of the assassin. Measures were 

 then taken for the apprehension of the mur- 

 derers, twenty of whom were taken prisoners, 

 including the infamous Dios-m6dico himself, 

 who had assured his followers that no hurt 

 could come to them while they were with him'. 

 Eighteen others were secured some time after- 

 ward; of the entire number, fourteen were 

 condemned to death, and fifteen to 15 years' 

 imprisonment with hard labor; and their fanat- 

 ical leader was shot dead in his prison by the 

 populace. As some English families had been 

 killed in the Tandil massacre, the results of the 

 latter were discussed in the British House of 

 Commons ; and representations were made 

 from the Foreign Office in London to the Ar- 

 gentine Government. Earl Granville's dispatch, 

 of June 22d, closes in the following terms : 



The Government of the [Republic has heretofore 

 shown itself very sensitive in regard to allegations 



