No. 66.
Mr. Partridge to Mr. Fish.
(Petropolis,) Rio de Janeiro, June 16, 1872. (Received July 12.)
Sir: A good deal of feeling has been caused here by the reception of a note addressed by the minister of foreign affairs of the Argentine Republic directly to the Brazilian minister of foreign affairs, (though there is still a Brazilian minister in Buenos Ayres,) in relation to the treaties lately made between Brazil and Paraguay.
Of this note, the expressions and style of which are very extraordinary, as yet only extracts have been published here; so that I am not able to send you more than the copy annexed (A) cut from the Journal de Comercio, and without (for want of time) a translation, which I will send with a full copy of the original, as soon as published. I also inclose some extracts from the journals here, showing their appreciation of this note. In my interview with Mr. Correia on the 13th he spoke of this communication in very decided terms, and said they were going to answer it.
It had seemed to me that the proper answer might be to return it, though, of course, I did not say so. It will appear to you, I think, on reading it, that the complaint of the Argentines is not that any undue advantage was taken by Brazil of Paraguay in securing an acknowledgment of an enormous, and, for Paraguay, clearly impossible indebtedness, for the expenses of the war, (three hundred and seventy five millions of dollars,) nor that great injustice was practiced in demanding the admission by Paraguay of the limits (River “Apa”) always claimed by Brazil; but that Brazil, by securing these advantages, by separate treaties, without the concurrence of her allies, had left them to their own means of securing the advantages they hoped to exact for themselves. These exactions, as Brazilians call the demand for the cession, by Paraguay to the Argentines, of the Gran Chaco, their last hope to obtain by the pressure of a joint demand, backed by the effect of the Brazilian army of occupation, and to be made simultaneously with the terms required by Brazil.
With my No. 47 I sent the only copies I could then procure of these treaties between Brazil and Paraguay, the negotiation of which has given rise to this note, together with some account of them. I will send you by the next regular mail-packet (24th) a letter and correctly printed copy, in the appendix to the report of the ministry of foreign affairs, which has just been published and sent to me.
I will go down again to Rio to-morrow, and if I can receive there in time for this steamer the answer of the Brazilian government to this Argentine note, will also inclose it in this.
It is also announced that General B. Mitre (formerly President of the Argentine Confederation and commander of their forces in the Paraguayan war) has been appointed their minister to Brazil, and will shortly arrive. General Mitre is the editor, or at any rate the proprietor and director, of the journal La Nacion, in Buenos Ayres, which has, during the discussion of these treaties, published very violent articles against Brazil.
I met him when lately here, ostensibly on a visit for his health, and he was then well spoken of here; but there is already some talk of declining to receive him in this new character. He is the political opponent of Dr. Sarmiento, the present President, and his nomination has caused [Page 104] great surprise. I am told, in Buenos Ayres, where some pretend to explain it by saying that the President has appointed a rival on purpose, either that they may refuse to receive him, or that, if received, he may push the question to a war, and thus incur the odium of having brought about a calamity which prudent management might have prevented.
I am, &c,