No. 6.
Mr. Osborn
to Mr. Fish.
Buenos Ayres, July 15, 1874. (Received August 20.)
Sir: The election of Dr. Don Nicholas Avellaneda as President of the Argentine Republic, and Don Mariano Acosta as vice-president, is the result of the ballots cast by the presidential electors chosen at the late election by the people of the several provinces.
It is claimed that frauds of the most serious character were practiced by the unsuccessful as well as by the successful party in the contest, but I learn from very good source that the authorities have eliminated the frauds practiced by both parties, and the result is still in favor of the parties above named. For the past ten days rumors of coming trouble and revolution have filled this city. A few nights ago the guards were doubled and the troops were put under arms, by reason of the fact that three thousand muskets were detected in the possession of one Caballos, said to be a Brazilian.
A regiment of troops from one of the upper provinces was at once ordered to the city, and the present administration seems determined to put down any disturbance which might arise. It is now claimed by the friends of the unsuccessful candidate in the late election, General Mitre, that Dr. Don Nicholas Avellaneda cannot be legally declared President from the fact that the constitution requires that a quorum of two-thirds of the national congress is requisite to perform that duty; and as the deputies of this province, Buenos Ayres, friends of General Mitre, are not permitted to take their seats, there will be no constitutional quorum of the national congress present to declare Avellaneda President.
It is claimed by the other side that the constitution requires only two-thirds of the members seated and present to make the proclamation. [Page 12] This question may be made the pretext or basis of trouble and even revolution, but the future can only determine.
On the 30th of June last, two officers of a Brazilian gunboat in Alto-Uruguay, landed at Argentine town, Alvear, were insulted, and the surgeon (one of the officers) was killed. The commander of the gunboat demanded the surrender of the assassin, which on being refused, fired on the town. The affair produced quite a sensation both in private and government circles. It is understood that several sharp notes passed between the minister for foreign affairs and the Brazilian minister on the subject, and resulted in the disapproval of the act of the commander of the gunboat by the Brazilian government and his dismissal from service.
I am, &c.,