Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, with the Annual Message of the President, December 6, 1875, Volume I
No. 13.
Mr. Osborn
to Mr. Fish.
Buenos Ayres, May 10, 1875. (Received Jane 24.)
Sir: On the 8th instant President Avellaneda opened the Argentine Congress by delivering his message in person to both houses assembled in the chambers of deputies.
The President, his cabinet, and officers of the army proceeded on foot from the President’s house to the house of congress with a battalion of troops as guard of honor, and was received by a deputation from both houses on his arrival.
The message of the President, which I have the honor to transmit herewith, was well received by the press and the people, is considered a plain statement of facts, and is accepted with much favor, not only, by the friends of the administration, but by the foreigners residing here and many of the opposition, who, since the inauguration of President Avellaneda and the close of the rebellion, have stood aloof and have given little or no sympathy to the government.
The two ironclads, on the monitor plan, and torpedo-boat, built in England for the Argentine government, arrived a few days ago, and are now in the waters of the Plate.
The torpedo-boat, called the Fulminante, was brought out by Mr. Hunter [Page 29] Davison, chief of the Argentine torpedo department, an American, and formerly of the United States Navy. The vessel is considered a very formidable one, and is calculated to do much execution when called into action.
I have, &c.,
President Avellaneda’s message to the Argentine Congress.
Messrs. Senators and Deputies:
The republic enjoys tranquillity and expects you to dictate those laws which will give stability to its institutions and promote its progress. The rebellion was but a passing fever engendered by the long and convulsive electoral struggle. The people and faithful soldiers rose and crushed it, showing that the oligarchy of a minority may raise a mutinous army, but must succumb to the reason and strength of the nation. When you closed last year’s session, six months ago, the insurrection had broken out, and threatened to imperil the welfare and institution of the republic. To-day you resume your benches as peacefully as ever, to study the development of the country, which is the great task of the new administration which you installed in October in the midst of many dangers. These dangers have been overcome, and peace is now triumphant.
The rebellion.
The province of Buenos Ayres was the focus of revolt, and here we organized three corps d’armée. After the victory of La Verde the heroic division of Colonel Arias received the submission of the rebels at Junin; the armies of the south and west were also converging thither, but even had the rebels escaped our pursuing forces they must have succumbed to the reserve-army, 6,000 strong, on the Arroyo del Medio.
Arredondo’s rebel forces still held their ground in the Cuyo provinces, making forced levies after the defeat of Colonel Catalan, who perished, with 400 of his men, in trying to prevent the rebels from entering Mendoza. Meantime General Roca was preparing the army of the north, and in twenty days started from San Luis by forced marches to overtake Arredondo’s army, which he cut to pieces at Santa Rosa.
The water-rebels under Erasmo Obligado had made away with a gunboat, to which the revolutionary committee at Montevideo added an armed steamer; while our only war-vessels were the Uruguay and Pavon, which ran foul of each other in trying to leave port. Pending the arrival of the new iron-clads from England we fitted up the other old steamers, now in commission as coast-guard vessels. At last the rebels abandoned their vessels, Obligado sending back the gunboat with a note to the government.
A movement in Corrientes was opportunely checked by a division of 800 men we sent up from Rosario under Colonel Obligado.
All these operations followed each other so quickly that in ten weeks from the day T had assumed power the war was over, peace firmly established, and after passing in review the largest army ever raised in these countries, I dismissed 60,000 soldiers to their homes, whose efforts had been crowned with victory.
Soldiers arid chiefs, people and governors had all done their duty. Impartial reports tell us that Europe and America applauded the new spectacle of a South American republic crushing anarchy and vindicating its government as the only means of peace and progress. Hence our bonds were quoted on the London stock-exchange in January and February at the maximum figure of 95.
Since the pacification, order everywhere prevails, the government resting on the incontrovertible basis of the popular will, except a few hundred individuals who set themselves against the vote of the nation and the authority of Congress, and who seem to reject the benefits of a clement administration by converting their own disappointed views into public grievances.
You, who now come from all points of the republic, know that there are two millions of Argentines secure of the present and confident of the future; and in order to convince natives and foreigners of this fact before the opening of this session, I repaired in person, a few days since, to Entre Rios, which was recently so convulsed, and without a single attendant soldier traversed the extreme eastern frontiers without meeting any but towns and citizens animated with loyalty to the government and a desire to carry out works of progress, such as your honorable chambers will sanction from timeto time.
[Page 30]Home affairs.
During the rebellion we had to proclaim state of siege and martial law, while the elements of war were collected with an activity and spontaneity never before witnessed. Only in two or three cases had we to use the extraordinary faculties of the occasion, as we saw no necessity for arrests or personal severities when everything was to be decided in the field, At the termination of the war we followed the same course, and the press of foreign nations unanimously remarks that never before was a revolution in Spanish America put down with less severity to the vanquished.
The terms of the Junin capitulation have been faithfully carried out. In a fortnight we sent 4,000 rebels to their homes, even at the risk of disorder in the rural departments. Even the refugees at Montevideo, who formed the rebel committee for the supply of arms, &c., received permits to return quietly to Buenos Ayres. Hundreds of civilians who had actively espoused the rebellion, and public writers of sedition who had even taken up arms, now walk about our streets; nor is there one actually detained in our city prisons.
The only exceptions were those officers of high rank who are about to be tried by a council of war, since it is necessary to uphold army discipline and prevent military commanders from turning to factious ends the arms confided to them by the nation. Hence the sentence, whatever it be, will at least condemn the inflammatory proclamations spread through the Campaña to subvert law and congress.
The results will enable us to judge how far we may consider the rebellion as an episode foreign to our social and political system; but the government has learned by painful experience that if we altogether abandon the means of repression we expose public order to those convulsions which blindness or debility may favor, when social interests call for vigorous protection.
The question of amnesty is of extreme gravity. When the rebels found themselves weak they endeavored to enlist partisans of former rebellions; and then I was urged to declare an amnesty in Entre Rios, to prevent any movement in that province. But I firmly refused, because amnesties should be the magnanimous acts of a strong government, beyond danger of anarchy, and can only inspire confidence under such conditions.
Now, however, that all danger has passed away, I think congress would do well to pass a general amnesty law, (except for ordinary crimes or personal damages,) to include all revolutions previous to that of last September, and even this latter may be included as soon as the implicated parties become convinced that, however party spirit may prevail at home, we have but one name and honor before the world, which it is unlawful to assail, and that the constitution can never be infringed.
Foreign affairs.
The European and American governments deplored the revolution which threatened to interrupt our progress, and hoped that law and order would triumph. Our relations continue friendly with all foreign powers.
Meantime we have questions pending which, as I told you last October, I should do nay utmost to wind up amicably, and without affecting the honor of any parties concerned. For this end I have sent Doctor Tejedor on special mission to Brazil to arrange the questions arising out of the triple alliance, especially as regards our limits with Paraguay.
Relations are restored with Uruguay, and a chargé d’affaires appointed at Montevideo. This will obviate the constant difficulties occurring before about sanitary regulations.
A minister has been sent to London for the new legation created by the budget.
Two postal conventions are being arranged with Spain and Germany, through the respective ministers. We have a no less friendly response from the Italian legation to the same purpose. These will be the first postal treaties between this country and European powers; they have been much called for, and will have the effect of reducing the postage, which is at present so high as to create an obstacle to our transatlantic relations.
Interior.
On the conclusion of the war we had to disband and pay off 60,000 men, which occupied all our attention for some time.
The governors of San Luis and San Juan having left the country on the triumph of the federal arms, the local chambers filled their places without any interfence on our part.
In Santiago a similar change of government has been hailed as a new epoch for that people. Hundreds of Santiagueños who were scattered over the other provinces have now returned to their homes. The sectional judge had requested the aid of the federal troops to carry out his decrees, whereupon Colonel Olascoaga was sent thither to be at his orders.
[Page 31]The Dew system of camp-judges and tribunals in Buenos Ayres promises well—the previous centralization deprived outlying districts of law and order. Let me remind you that the bill for establishing trial by jury all over the republic awaits your consideration.
Finances.
Short wars are always the cheapest, and this has been again proved in the late revolution. The first revolt in Entre Rios cost 7,500,000$ f.; the second, 4,600,000$. Yet up to the present all payments incurred by the September revolution only amounted to 3,900,000 dollars. This includes the pay of 60,000 militia, who were all paid off before discharge, an event unprecedented in these countries.
We have paid the war-expenses and met the ordinary expenditure of the budget, in spite of a decline in revenue; we have also paid 4½ millions fts. of arrears to the war-office between January 1, 1874, and April 30, 1875. We have also paid for the arms and ships bought in Europe, and for which no funds had been set apart. All this has been done without injury to our credit, or even having to negotiate the balance of the loan in London. The finance minister, even at the darkest moment, paid no higher for money than the national-bank rate.
Our revenue arises from the custom-house import and export duties, the two years standing thus:
The public works of the 1871 loan proceed without interruption, and are defrayed out of the loan.
The expenditure during 1874 amounted to 29,784,000$ fts., which, notwithstanding the war, is 1,282,000$ less than the previous year—a proof of the wise economy of the last and the present administration. The budget for 1874 had put down the ordinary expenditure at 23,383,000$; but we expended much less, and find now a surplus of 3,702,000$. The special laws authorized an extraordinary expenditure of $25,000,000, and of this sum we only spent 8,929,000$.
The receipts in 1874 were 16,526,887$, showing a deficit of 3,905,000$ as compared with the estimates in the budget, and a decline of 3,633,000$ from the revenue of 1873.
| 1873. | 1874. | |
| Import duties | $16,516,000 | $12,540,000 |
| Export duties | 2,488,000 | 2,299,000 |
Import duties show a decline of $4,012,000, but exports only $189,000, which latter was caused by the drought and political events.
If we compare the trade returns, we find the value of imported goods fell away 21,688,000$, while our exports only diminished 2,857,000$. Hence the deficit clearly arises from a decline of import trade, and not from the quantity or value of our exports, which represent the industry and productive power of the nation.
Economists value a country by its products, and as long as our productive power continues the same we shall be able at any time to recover from the transitory effects of a disturbed trade or decline in the consumption of imported merchandise. Thus the crisis which at present affects our great emporium, Buenos Ayres, is of an accidental nature and will pass away as peace takes root in the interior; the increase of our products will speedily bring things back to their normal condition.
The national and provincial loans in London flooded our market with gold. The banks offered cheap money, and the public was tempted by seductive as well as unprecedented facilities for credit. The country was not prepared for such abundance; such enormous, capital could not find immediate employment, and speculators then began to pour out wealth on sterile land sites, giving the same artificial value by passing them from one to another, while the merchants saw their warehouses crowded with an accumulation of imported goods far beyond our requirements. When the time came to pay up a crisis ensued, but its effects are already diminishing with a reduction in public and private expenditure.
The trade of the other cities continues as prosperous as before. The Rosario custom-house shows for the first quarter of 1875 an increase of $105,000 over the corresponding quarter last year. Corrientes has doubled in the year, and the minor ports of the province of Buenos Ayers are equally satisfactory.
Post-office and telegraph receipts increased notably in 1874, the former showing a still greater advance in 1875, as also stamped paper.
The finance minister jealously guards our credit in Europe. The money is already in London for payment of the July coupons of the 1824 and 1888 loans, besides a considerable sum remitted for the coupons due next September on the public works loan of 1871.
Immigration.
The tide of European emigration declined last year, not only to the Argentine Republic, but still more as regards the United States and Australia. The returns show—
| 1873. | 1874. | |
| United States | 268,288 | 149,762 |
This is found to arise from the measures taken by European governments to increase their armies, and to improve conditions in certain countries.
With us the immigration has been very irregular; in 1870 it reached 41,000, then fell to one-half. Its maximum was in 1873, when it showed 79,712 immigrants, while it fell last year to 63,277, being a decline of 11,400. The present year shows a further decline, owing to the political events and the crisis.
It is impossible to prevent the effects of war or crises; when poverty prevails people will run away, as they are now doing from New York, as well as from Buenos Ayres. But we can distribute immigration better through the country; we can offer land-grants to industrious settlers, and open up a fresh stream of hardy Northern European immigrants by providing them with passages to Buenos Ayres at the same cost as they would pay to the United States. Public opinion urgently calls on congress to adopt these measures. Meantime I have done all in my power, forwarding immigrants to the upper provinces, organizing provincial committees, inciting the various governors, sending agents in all directions, and placing 4,400 immigrants in the first quarter of 1875. This includes 25 sent up to the Bermejo, now open to steamers, where thousands will soon follow. In my six days’ trip through Entre Rios I visited the rising colony of Villa Colon, the custom-house of which showed $3,000 for the first quarter of 1874, and $16,000 for the same months of 1875. Let me add, as a proof of the success of our agricultural colonies, that the colonists of Santa Fé obtained two million hard dollars for their grain-crop of 1874. As regards the Concordia colony on the west frontier of Buenos Ayres I sent assistance to the colonists, who had suffered greatly by the war and failure of crops.
Railways, telegraphs, mails.
The committee of three engineers has given its report on the Tucuman Railway. The first two sections are about to be opened for traffic from Cordoba, a length of 170 miles, thus bringing the northern provinces within five days’ journey of our ports.
A new section of 75 miles on the Rio Quinto line will be finished this year.
The Primer Entre-Riano line at Gualeguay has been handed over to the Entre-Rios government.
Some days since I personally inaugurated the East Argentine Railway, which runs out 96 miles, from Concordia to Monte Caseros. Congress ought to prolong this line to Paso Los Libres, which would make Concordia the market of all the upper Uruguay trade.
As you suppressed the department of engineers, the surveys for the proposed line from Concordia to Gualeguaychu (160 miles) were approved by the new committee of public works.
No new telegraph lines have been constructed, but you will see what trouble we have had to repair existing lines during the war; 748 miles were repaired on the Entre Rios and Corrientes line, where the rebels had destroyed 27,000 pounds of wire.
The receipts for telegrams increased 40 per cent, over 1873, and telegraphing has now become general with the inhabitants. We are laying two extra wires hence to Cordoba, and one extra from Rosario to Santa Fé.
There are still towns of 7,000 or 10,000 inhabitants in the province of Buenos Ayres without telegraphs, and I have offered every assistance to the governor to remedy such defect. Congress had better at once construct lines to the frontiers of this province, to connect the military outposts with the war-office. The minister of war urges this in his report as all-important to guard against Indian invasions.
The post-office department was prompt to restore the western communications interrupted by the rebellion. Many improvements have also been introduced, increasing the number of mounted couriers, and abolishing the costly mail-cars by subsidizing mensagerias. The post-office produced $174,000, an increase of 16,000$ f. over the previous year; during the current year we shall have three times this increase, owing to the increased service and expenditure. The returns of letters, &c, are superior to all other South American countries, except Brazil, and show for 1874—
| Letters | 3,731,324 |
| Dispatches | 230,143 |
| Newspapers | 1,956,864 |
| Total | 5,918,331 |
Which were carried in the following mails:
| Bags. | |
| By steamers | 7,906 |
| Sailing-vessels | 97 |
| Railways | 14,090 |
| Mail-cars | 4,972 |
| Horse-men | 2,637 |
| Mensagerias | 7,747 |
Each paper or letter cost for carriage two-thirds of a cent, and produced 3£ cents. The post-office report suggests interesting reflections.
Administration.
President Sarmiento created ports at Ensenada, Zarate, and San Pedro, which greatly facilitate commerce and increase the revenue. I have in like manner opened Bahia Blanca and Ajo, for coasting and foreign trade; Ajo has already produced 40,000$ revenue in three months.
The new custom-house at Rosario is now in use; a port will be at once constructed, and the finance minister is arranging with the Central Argentine Railway for a branch to the pier, which can be made at little cost, and will be of immense service for the trade of nine of our provinces. The new regulations and facilities for northern trade are found of great benefit.
The proprietors of the Catalinas wharf and stores have petitioned for permission to prolong their works.
The dredging of the Riachuelo was not interrupted during the war. Two dredges are working, and we have already removed 10,000 tons of mud from the river. The project will be submitted to you for canalizing the same, as proposed by the late department of engineers.
Surveys are being made for canalizing the Gualeguaychu, Victoria, Goya, and Esquina Rivers; but there are many other bars in the Parana and Uruguay for which I propose to get out two dredges; and then we shall have the ports and channels free for commerce.
The department of agriculture is doing much good all over the republic. Last year it distributed 200,000 plants and 16,000 parcels of seed. An agent is appointed in each province to facilitate the work, and also to report on the soil and climate.
The park at Palermo, for the city of Buenos Ayres, progresses rapidly under the able direction of the late President of the republic.
Public instruction.
The census of schools has been retarded by the war, but we have to report renewed activity in Mendoza, Santa Fé, Entre Rios, and Buenos Ayres. In Mendoza City we find one-fifth of the inhabitants attending school, including night-schools for adults. A normal-school is about to be opened at Tucuman; that of Parana has doubled its pupils. The government at Buenos Ayres has approved of the plans for the girls’ normal-school, for which the national treasury holds $f,400,000 as voted by congress. The national college of Rosario was opened on March 1st. There are in the other 14 national colleges 4,000 pupils, and since January we have appointed 60 professors for new courses of study. We have sent to Europe for physical apparatus, books, &c., and the number of these and of free libraries will greatly increase this year. The Cordoba Academy of Science has been re-opened; the new building is pushed forward.
Dr. Gould has presented two luminous reports on the astronomical and meteorological departments. We shall shortly require funds to publish the Uranometria Argentina and climatic observations, forming voluminous works. Several scientific associations of the United States have sent us valuable donations of works, as an encouragement for our efforts; such friends deserve our public thanks.
The University of Buenos Ayres has remodeled its faculty of science; institutions of this kind raise our intellectual level, and give a lasting glory to the country.
Army and navy.
The war-office had a busy time in equipping armies and moving them about; when the rebellion was over it had to pay off the divisions and convey the men to their homes, as most of the forces of the north, reserve, and Buenos Ayres divisions were national guards. Then the troops of the line had to be sent to the frontiers, where the barracks and plantations had been destroyed, after costing much labor and money; all had to be recommenced.
The army was found short-handed, the rebellion having wiped out four regiments of cavalry and two battalions of foot; but as the ballot was judged inadvisable, the war-minister ordered a general recruiting by voluntary enlistment. For this purpose the republic has been divided into eight sections, each under a high official.
The war-office report will soon be laid before, you, with a new method for frontier protection and some bills on army reform. We propose to suppress the proveedurias, which have been making money out of the soldiers’ rations.
The artillery-depot has undergone a total reform. Steam workshops are being got ready, which can turn out all kinds of arms and ammunition.
The fleet now consists of 2 iron-clads, 2 gunboats, 1 torpedo-boat, 2 steam-transports, [Page 34] 8 war-steamers, and some sailing-vessels, besides 4 more gunboats that Minister Garcia reports from England to be nearly finished.
The marine-school is reorganized, and the government is now equipping a floating-school for sailor-boys.
You have now before you, honorable gentlemen, an account of my administration during six months. Let me observe that I have received valuable co-operation from many private citizens, especially from those forming the committees of marine, artillery, and commissariat, besides the director of railways for the province of Buenos Ayres.
Messrs. senators and deputies: You represent a nation that is making great strides, and which only requires wise laws and prudent administration. The rebellion was but an accident, which showed that the republic will not consent to anarchy or disorder. The commercial crisis, far from indicating decadence, is precisely such as the most flourishing nations at times experience. The causes in our case can easily be remedied, and will act as a lesson for the future. When people put capital into unproductive investments, or that the consumption of imports is excessive, you have only to increase labor and production, at the same time cutting down both public and private expenditure. The public is beginning to see this, and already a great reduction of imports shows general economy, without prejudice to our social condition.
I cannot see a cloud on any side of our horizon. Our home-policy is one of clemency and reconstruction; and as regards the rest of America, it is peace.
You may therefore tranquilly resume your seats, but I specially recommend to you the construction of a port in Buenos Ayres, as we shall soon see our railway system connecting us with Chili, Bolivia, and Brazil, and bringing us their rich products; also the measurement of national lands, as a matter of social weight to thousands of men. And, imploring the aid of divine Providence to secure to us the blessings of peace and the constitution, I declare the congress session duly opened.