No. 6.
Mr. Osborn
to Mr. Fish.
Buenos Ayres, December 11, 1876. (Received Jan. 30, 1877.)
Sir: Many of this city were surprised, on the morning of November 28th, to learn that at a late hour on the night before, by decree of the President and his ministers, the provinces of Buenos Ayres, Santa Fe, Entre Rios, and Corrientes were declared under state of siege till the next meeting of Congress, May next.
The decree was based principally upon the movements of the notorious Lopez Jordan, who had crossed over from Uruguay to Entre Rios, where his partisans had gathered for insurrection.
The plan of insurrection embraced chiefly the four river provinces, as the President claimed, and the government was in possession of all the details and the appointed hour for outbreak. About one hundred and fifty suspected citizens of this city were arrested and placed on a government vessel in the harbor, under guard. In this city, and in fact in all the provinces, since the 27th of November, there has been no outbreak, except in Entre Rios, where there has been some skirmishing between the government troops and the party led by Lopez Jordan.
This morning a dispatch was received by the secretary of war that Lopez Jordan was captured yesterday and is now a prisoner of the government. The insurrection or rebellion is considered over. It is understood that General Mitre had no knowledge of the movement, or that he would not countenance any such a project.
Lopez Jordan, for the past few years, has made his headquarters in Montevideo, Uruguay, as an exile from Entre Rios. He is the same Lopez Jordan who some years ago caused the assassination (according to his own written proclamation a short time afterward) of General Urquiza, his own father-in law, who was formerly President of the Argentine Republic, and at the time of the assassination governor of Entre Rios. For the head of Lopez Jordan President Sarmiento offered thirty thousand dollars reward.
This is the third attempt of Lopez Jordan against this government. The two former assumed the dignity of revolutions, as they lasted for [Page 7] more than a year each; but this last, by the prompt and timely action of the government, was speedily put dawn.
I was informed this morning, by an official at the government office, that Lopez Jordan was undoubtedly captured, but had been placed for safekeeping in the hands and under the control of one of his own friends, and: that it was quite probable he had escaped the punishment he so richly deserves.
I am, &c.,