No. 8.
Mr. Osborn
to Mr. Evarts.
Buenos Ayres, February 11, 1880. (Received March 30.)
Sir: The election for members of the national Congress took place on the 1st instant. The election in this city passed off quietly. The [Page 11] Roca party refused to vote, and all the candidates of the Tejedor party were elected.
The Roca party carried all the other provinces save Corrientes and two other provinces, which are still in doubt.
The reason given for the policy of not voting by the Roca party is that the “Tiradores Nacionales,” a corps organized, armed, and equipped by Governor Tejedor, without authority of law, appeared at the voting places in uniform with arms, and that even had the Roca party attempted, they would not have been permitted to vote. In reply, the Tejedor party claims that their opponents would not have been molested, and the course was adopted by Roca’s friends in order to have a pretext to disfranchise this province in the next Congress if they have the power.
The political situation has not changed for the better; in fact, I think the explosion must come sooner or later. The volunteer organization of this city known as the “Tiradores Nacionales,” composed of from six to ten thousand men, with its commanding general and other officers, seem to have possession of the city, while the troops of the line are encamped outside but close to the city.
The volunteer corps—“Tiradores Nacionales”—I am told is composed principally of the best young men of the city, but they cannot have the discipline of the troops of the line; but, on the other hand, it is claimed that the national authorities cannot depend upon the national troops if called into action, as many of the officers and men belong to this province and would refuse to fire upon their friends in the city.
I am inclined to think that a mistake by the authorities on either side is liable to bring on a revolution any moment.
I have, &c.,