No. 50.
Mr. Reynolds to Mr. Fish.
La Paz, Bolivia, March 11, 1875. (Received April 15.)
Sir: I have the honor to report that the revolt and attempted revolution at Cochabamba is still in progress, and the city is barricaded and all business entirely suspended.
The government troops, under General Daza, are en route to that city, and it is believed that the end of that revolt is not far distant. The entire republic is reported tranquil except Cochabamba, yet I am not so hopeful as formerly that this tranquillity will continue. The uneasy population seem ready at any moment to rise against the government if there appears to be any hope of success.
I shall await instructions from the Department with much interest, more fully defining my duties during revolutionary times, as I am inclined to the belief that the normal condition of this country for some time to come will be intrigue and revolution.
The precedents, so far as this legation is concerned, seem to be that asylum has been freely offered and afforded to the unfortunate defeated parties in all attempted revolutions, and I will thank the Department for such general or specific instructions as will mark out more clearly the line of duty to be observed by the legation during the stormy days of revolt and attempted revolutions. I have reference to cases stated in my dispatch No. 46, February 20.
I am, &c.,