No. 494.
Mr. Stevens to Mr. Fish.
Montevideo, March 8, 1872. (Received April 23.)
Sir: In my dispatch No. 29, of February 13, 1872, I stated that the terms of peace had been arranged between the contending parties in this country, the Argentine minister of foreign relations acting as mediator. That statement was correct. After long and elaborate negotiations the treaty of peace was signed by the special agent of the Uruguay government, the commissioners of the revolutionary party and the Argentine mediator. The terms were, in substance, that both parties should disarm and abide the action of the citizens at the electoral urns, the existing government to be recognized until another should be duly chosen and inaugurated, it being a fact admitted by both of the contending parties that the legal term of the executive and of congress has already expired, save eight of the thirteen senators who were chosen at a time when one party only had any real voice. But the political and military leaders of the government party would not consent to the resignation of the eight senators, compelled the removal of the government agent who had signed the treaty of peace, and of the minister of foreign relations, who was thoroughly identified with the negotiations, the two ablest political men of the country.
The president of the senate, Señor Thomas Gomensoro, is now the acting executive of the republic agreeable to the terms of the constitution. He has just selected his cabinet, and the cry of the government party is for war. But as the pressure of the commercial men and the land-owners is strong for peace, and the general weariness on both sides points in the same direction, it is not likely that very vigorous hostilities will be maintained. In the mean time the commerce of Montevideo flourishes far beyond what the political state of the country would seem to justify.
I am, &c.,