24 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



made on behalf of British settlers, namely, that the 

 treatment which they experienced at the hands of the 

 public authorities, and the insufficiency of the protec- 

 tion extended to them against the incursions of law- 

 less persons on their properties,were not only contrary 

 to the assurances under which they were induced to 

 settle in the country, but wholly incompatible with 

 what might be reasonably expected from a civilized 

 government. But the Government of the Republic, 

 if it allows such a state of things to continue, must 

 reconcile itself not only to the reproaches of other 

 nations, whose subjects suffer from its neglect of its 

 obvious duties, but also to the loss which it will sus- 

 tain in consequence of persons who would otherwise 

 be disposed to settle in the country being deterred, 

 by the reports which previous settlers may make, 

 from exposing themselves to such risks. 



Considerable damage was produced by a 

 dearth of water in the province of Santiago, in- 

 duced by a change of course in the Rio Dulce, 

 which formerly afforded a plentiful supply of 

 water to the suffering districts. The farmers 

 purposed petitioning the national Government 

 to have the river turned again into its old 

 course. The province of Buenos Ayres was 

 visited by a s\varm of locusts, which threat- 

 ened the country with devastation. The swarm 

 lay their eggs in the ground and die ; by-and- 

 by the young are hatched, and, their appetite 

 increasing with their growth, they devour 

 every species of vegetable growth, even to the 

 twigs and bark of trees. 



A great river was turned out of its bed and 

 made to take another. The Rio Bermejo, for- 

 merly so full of obstructions to steam naviga- 

 tion, was cleared of all obstacles by two Ar- 

 gentine engineers, Messrs. Roldan and Molina, 

 by emptying into it the waters of the Grand 

 Teuco through new canals, and thus changing 

 the course of the river ; so that parts which 

 before were only six inches deep, have now 

 three feet of water ; and the navigability of 

 the Bermejo has been permanently secured. 



Yellow fever appeared at Montevideo in 

 March, and, though the cases were not numer- 

 ous, the alarm was naturally great in Buenos 

 Ayres. Ten cases were soon after reported in 

 the latter city, and it was feared that the seeds 

 of the disease had been latent there since the 

 epidemic of the year before. The Argentine 

 ports were immediately closed to all shipping 

 from the Oriental Republic ; but, fortanately, 

 the malady disappeared with the few eases 

 mentioned. ' 



On the 14th of April it was reported that 

 Gail Jordan was on the frontiers of Brazil with 

 2,000 men, and sufficient money and arras to 

 undertake a campaign for the revival of the 

 dream of Artigas and Urquiza, namely, the 

 formation of an independent republic with the 

 provinces of Corrientes and Eutre-Rios, and the 

 Banda Oriental. 



Congress authorized an appropriation of 

 $3,000,000, for the purchase of monitors and 

 arms ; the latter to comprise 60,000 Henry ri- 

 fles, 20,000 Spencer carbines for cavalry, 20,- 

 000 sabres, and 20,000 lances ; besides 10 steel 

 guns, which wij) form a total of 25 first-class 



field-pieces ; and ten 300-pounders, for island 

 and coast fortifications. This act led to the 

 presumption that the question then at issue 

 between the Argentine and Brazilian Govern- 

 ments was assuming a more serious character. 



A revolution of enormous proportions in 

 Santiago was discovered on the eve of its out- 

 break, and in time to frustrate the plans of the 

 leader, Arredondo. Two wagon-loads of uni- 

 forms, accoutrements, and 20,000 ball-cart- 

 ridges, intended for the insurrectionists, were 

 seized by the Government troops. Some of 

 Arredondo's emissaries were captured, one of 

 the number being a lieutenant of the Seventh 

 regiment of the line. 



The Bolivian Government sent a detachment 

 of 400 men to occupy the Argentine Chaco, in 

 the neighborhood of Salta, where a new Bo- 

 livian province had been created. The Argen- 

 tine Government had already formally assumed 

 jurisdiction over the Chaco, and made Villa 

 Occidental, a Paraguayan town, built upon 

 territory which Bolivia asserts to be indisputa- 

 bly hers, the capital of the new annexation, 

 notwithstanding that the treaty for its cession 

 by Paraguay remained, and still remains, unne- 

 gotiated. 



Privileges were granted in July for the es- 

 tablishment of gas-works and horse-car rail- 

 ways in the city of Mendoza. 



The most important international questions 

 of the year were with Bolivia, relative to the 

 boundary-line between the two republics, Bo- 

 livia continuing to urge her claim to the Cha- 

 co, as far south as the Rio Bermejo ; and that 

 with Brazil concerning treaties with Paraguay. 

 A note from the Foreign Minister of the repub- 

 lic to the Brazilian Cabinet, protesting against 

 the right of that Government to negotiate 

 treaties with Paraguay without the interven- 

 tion of the two other allies, Uruguay and the 

 Argentine Republic, and declaring such sep- 

 arate negotiation to be a breach of certain ar- 

 ticles of the treaty of May 1, 1865, was regard- 

 ed as offensive by Dom Pedro's Government, 

 and war for a time seemed imminent. Early 

 in July, however, General Mitre arrived at the 

 court of St. Christopher's, empowered to settle 

 the questions at issue in the only way then 

 remaining to his Government, namely, by as- 

 suring the Rio Government that no offence 

 had been intentionally offered in Dr. Tejedor's 

 note, which assurance was likewise confirmed 

 by another note from Tejedor himself. The 

 temperance and diplomatic wisdom which 

 presided over the steps mutually taken to 

 restore cordial relations between the two 

 countries were creditable to both. Thus ter- 

 minated the controversy ; and the Argentine 

 Republic was to arrange boundary questions 

 by separate negotiation with Paraguay, fol- 

 lowing in that respect the example already 

 given by Brazil. It was anticipated that the 

 Rio Bermejo would be definitively settled upon 

 as the western dividing line between Paraguay 

 and the Argentine provinces ; in which event, 



