No. 80.
Mr. Partridge to Mr. Fish.

No. 258 bis.]

Sir: The Argentine envoy here, Dr. Tejedor, suddenly took his departure hence, by the royal mail-packet Neva, on the 2d instant, to the surprise of most persons, without having definitely agreed to and forwarded, as it now appears, any draught of treaty, and without having had any [Page 116] audience of leave from the Emperor; and, in short, in so unceremonious and unusual a way as to have given rise to all sorts of rumors, at first, of negotiations broken off, complicated relations with the Argentines, &c.

For some days the cause of this proceeding was quite unknown; and in reply to my question at the foreign office on the 4th, the reply was, “We can only say that negotiations are still pending;” so that until today, it has not been possible to obtain any reliable intelligence in regard to the occasion of this sudden departure.

The very brusque, not to say impolite, mode of departure, may be accounted for by saying that the manners and address of Mr. Tejedor are such that it only much surprised those who do not know him.

But it is now asserted—-and not denied, I believe—that the Argentine envoy was sent here, not so much to conclude a treaty with Brazil, if that could be rendered unnecessary by carrying out an arrangement between the Argentine Republic and Paraguay, which was begun at Asuncion between the President of Paraguay and the Argentine minister there, in the absence of the Brazilian representative, by which the Cerrito and the Villa Occidental, &c, were to be surrendered to the Argentines, and which arrangement was to be concluded between Mr. Tejedor and the Paraguayan minister here, Mr. Sosa, who was present at all the interviews between the minister of foreign affairs here and Mr. Tejedor, during their late negotiations. The consideration of this extraordinary arrangement is said to be the advance of a large sum of money by the Argentines to the government of Paraguay, which had been disappointed by the non-fulfillment of the similar promises alleged to have been made by Brazil to advance the same or a larger sum to Paraguay to enable this last to pay the interest on their last loan, and to aid that government also to “go on.”

It seems that Brazil had promised this assistance, both in money and men, at the time of the Cotegipe treaties, (1872,) and had only fulfilled the latter part in maintaining a garrison at Asuncion, The money said to have been promised not being forthcoming, and not being likely (since the late banking disasters here, by which this government has lost large sums) to be paid just now, it is stated that the President of Paraguay became dissatisfied, and so proposed or made this arrangement with the Argentines.

If this shall prove to be true, and it seems, at present, that it is true, the Argentines will think that they have repaid with interest what they thought due to Brazil for her negotiation of separate treaties with Paraguay in 1871–’72, and of which they complained, at the time, as an infraction of the alliance against Paraguay.

The Argentines claim that as Brazil settled her question of boundary with Paraguay, at that time, by separate treaty and according to her own demands, and without the assistance, participation, or consent of her allies, the Argentines (and Uruguayans,) these last have now, also, by separate (and secret) treaty, without the consent, assistance, or partcipation of Brazil, arranged their question of boundary with Paraguay, and have gotten all they desired, which will, no doubt, be more acceptable if it can be acquired against the wishes of Brazil.

There is very good reason for believing all this to be true, and it explains the sudden departure of Dr. Tejedor, as well as the manner of it, for he would be highly pleased, it seems, if he could thus overreach Brazil in her own capital, and during negotiations with her for settling these very points, and also because he is said especially to resent the mode in which this government answered his note (when minister of foreign affairs in Buenos Ayres) in relation to the Cotegipe treaties.

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Beyond the feeling naturally created here by this mode of procedure and behavior, I do not know that anything is really lost by Brazil if all this be true; and if Paraguay concede the island Villa Occidental, &c., to which she, in fact, had no rightful claim, the Argentines gain only a disputed territory, as Brazil did by her treaty of limits.

The ministry here have declined to make any statement in the chambers, and it is probable that their effort will now be to prevent the ratification, at Asuncion, of this arrangement between Tejedor and Sosa. As the Brazilian garrison is still there, perhaps this may yet be in their power.

In any event, I do not think it probable that any real difficulty can grow out of this matter, although of course the manner of this proceeding is not likely to promote cordial relations between the two governments. These will continue as heretofore; jealousy and ill-feeling will exist; but there is, I should think, less chance of war than before, simply because the ability to meet the expense of war is also less on both sides.

I am, &c.,

JAMES R. PARTRIDGE.