One of the gunboats, the Uruguay, was disabled and abandoned; the Parana is
now being used by the revolutionists to blockade the port, consequently no
vessels have been permitted to leave.
The opposition press in this province has been suppressed; there is much
excitement in this city, and so many conflicting rumors afloat that it is
very difficult to get at the truth.
President Sarmiento has declared all the provinces in a state of siege, and
called out the national guards. Many arrests have been made by the
government. General Mitre sent in his resignation as general of the army,
when an order for his arrest was returned, but he could not be found. It is
reported that he has left for Montevideo; others say that he is with the
southern division of the army commanded by General Rivas. I think there is
no doubt that two of the divisions of the regular army have gone over to the
insurgents. I learn from good authority that the rebellion was precipitated;
that it was not the intention to strike during the administration of
President Sarmiento, as they considered his government legal, but on the
12th of October, to prevent the inauguration of Dr. Avellaneda, who, they
claim, was elected by fraud and force. The president and his officers are
doing everything in their power to crush out the rebellion.
The United States steamer Wasp, A. T. Mahan commanding, arrived in this port
yesterday morning. I send with this note a copy of the message of the
President to Congress, in secret session, published in the Standard of this
morning.
[Inclosure in No. 22.]
president sarmiento’s message to congress.
Buenos
Ayres, September 26,
1874.
[From the Standard of September 29,
1874.—Translation.]
I have the honor to inform you that a revolution, of which we had
previous information, broke out by the commander of one of the new
gunboats seizing the commander of the other, and after a series of
disagraceful proceedings the matter ended thus:
We have just received telegrams from Colonel Roca that General Ivanowski
has been assassinated by General Arredondo, who, pretending infirm
health, had some time since solicited permission for an interview with
government, and to retire to his own house. His petition was backed by
influential persons, and General Ivanowski had himself gone bail for the
honorable conduct of his guest.
The plan of the revolt was the sooner made known to us by the efforts of
conspirators to corrupt the army. A letter from the Cordoba frontier,
dated September 21, had the following paragraph:
“The programme, as I learn from a leading commander in the army, is, that
General Mitre will surrender his dsipatches on October 12, either to put
himself at the head of the movement or to join as a private
citizen.”
Yesterday at noon we received a petition, without any date, from General
Mitre, requesting to be rubbed off the army-roll as brigadier-general,
and resigning his salary as such. The inspector of arms at once sent an
officer with a sealed letter intimating his arrest, but the officer
could not find him. Up to the present he has not obeyed the, order as a
soldier is bound to; for a person who has so long governed as he has
must know that it is not enough to resign his rank to acquit him of the
duties attached to same.
The gunboat stolen by the rebel officer pretends to blockade the port,
and exercises acts of jurisdiction, giving orders to vessels that
approach.
The government counts on all the divisions of the army, although as yet
we have no tidings of the forces under General Rivas.
The governments of the various provinces have responded with spirit, and
are raising forces. State of siege having been declared, the national
guards are called out to support the excellent line regiments.
We can at once put 20,000 men under arms, without counting the upper
provinces. We consider it necessary to declare all the republic in a
state of siege, so that even in remote provinces the authorities may be
able to crush any effort toward prolonging a war begun in crime and
treachery.
Ten years of progress have been written on the face of the country in
railways, telegraphs,
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home and
foreign loans, joint-stock companies, and enterprises that have brought
hundreds of millions of dollars into play, while the credit of the
republic was on so solid a basis as to promise security and tranquillity
for the future.
In three months not a stone will be left on another of so splendid an
edifice, raised and completed with such labor. In my idea the situation
and cause are the same as the rebellion of the Confederate States of
North America. There as here some individuals had been accustomed to
govern the country, and regarded it as their exclusive right. When
Lincoln was elected President, they refused to admit him, saying he was
elected by the multitude, and applying such coarse epithets as passion
suggested.
For the last month those papers edited by the revolutionary party
unanimously spoke of the incoming government and the actual Congress as
a government and Congress of fact. Unhappy the republic where any
colonel in command of a battalion may assume to himself the right to say
what authorities he is to obey!
We shall firmly do our duty, however painful, up to the moment of handing
over power to the new President.
But we must warn the people and Congress that if the revolution triumph
it will be the ruin of the country, exposing any future government to be
upset by incendiaries like those of the present moment, who have
renounced every sentiment of morality and every feeling of honor before
the idol of their own passions, whether embodied in men or in ideas.
