The Express.
London, England, 1852-08-17 00:00:00

AFFAIRS IN THE RIVER PLATE.

TO Till SUITOR OW Till DAILT NSW.

Buenos Ayres, Junc 29.
SlR,—Our political prospects, I am sorry to say,
have not improved since the sailing of last packet. 1.
At the end of the past month the governors of the
different provinces Resembled at San Nicolas, to
make preliminary arrangements for a National Con-
grebe. A convention win agreed on, styled the
Acuerdo, or compact of San Nicolas, the lest
article in which confers upon General Urquiza,
tile supreme power in the affairs of the
con federntion , without responsibility. authorising
him to make war, put down internal dis-
affection, &e., places under his control and com-
mand the whole of the forces of the confederation,
the entire revenues of the country, and, in short, in-
vests him with unlimited dictatorial powers Without
any responsibility. 'flie,e powers are termed in the
said act provisional until the Notional Congress is
conatitutesl, which is fixed for the month of August
next. Immediately on the announcement of this
compact of San Nicolas in Buenos Ayres the utmost
excitement prevailed, and one universal cry was
raised ligitinst it, principally on account of
the article above referred to, creating as it does
an irresponsible and absolute dictatorship. Before
this Acuerdo could legally be effective, the ap-
proval of the representatives of each of the provinces
had to be confirmed, and it was generally felt in
Buenos Ayres that it would be rejected by the
Chamber of Representatives. The discussion com-
menced here on the 21st ; on that and the following
day, after much warm discussion, the feeling was
strongly for the rejection of the measure. On
the 2:tid the executive determined on resigning.
The same evening General Urquiza issued •
decree, in which he annlunced his having
assumed the powers conferred upon him by
the Acuerdo of Sun Nicolas, stating that he did so to
preserve the country lion) the machinations of a few
demagogues. On the 24th, the chambers met, but
• message came from General Urquiza to the Presi-
dent, informing him that the assembly was dis-
solved. On the 25th, decrees appeared closing all
the printing offices of the liberal newspapers, and
banishing five of the most obnoxious members of the,
Sala; and the same day, General Urquiza came to
lowa, and reappointed provisionally the old execu-
tive, who had previously resigned.
Thus are we once more under the rule of a dicta-
tor, whose power will last just so long as the physi-
cal force at his command is greater than that which
can be brought against him. No one can predict
how long this may last, hut one thing is very certain,
that the bulk of the population have no sympathies
for a man who has trampled on the first revival of
the liberty of Buenos Ayres, and who has the addi-
tional drawback (not a small one in the eyes of a
Buenosayrian) of not being one of themselves, but a
mere provincialist.
You may easily fancy the uneasy feeling which
these events have mune& and the utter prostration of
confidence in the public mind. Such a beginning is
indeed a bad augury for the successful issue of the
promised Congress; and I apprehend that the con-
fidence in the good faith and stability of any govern-
ment likely to be established here, which seems to
prevail in England, judging from the value of their
bond debt in your market, will find itself sadly mis-
placed. This state of matters must of course quite
prevent any attempt on the part of the
executive to grapple with their financial
difficulties, beyond the getting on by some
means from day to day ; and this is no
easy matter. Besides the heavy amount of debt still
unliquidated, the government admit that the deficit
of revenue to meet their ordinary expenditure is 00
millions of dollars. I believe it is nearly double that
in reality. I can see nos efficient source for meeting
this, except by an emission of paper money—thus
adding to their floating debt, the amount of which
is now about 130 millions of dollars, or, about
1,900,0001. ; add supposed creation of one hun-
dred millions more, would be about another
1,200,0001. Several plans have been talked of for
giving some fixed value to this paper debt,
but so long as expenditure exceeds the revenue
this seems an impracticability, as the executive has
no other resource to meet emergencies but the issue
of more notes ; the preliminary step, therefore, it is
evident, before any reform of our finances can be
dreamt of, is a stable government and a well defined
expenditure, not to be exceeded. I have already
shown you the difficulties that present themselves to
the attainment of the former, and can only hope that
my presentiments of the failure of the projected
congress to meet the requirements of the times, con-
sequent on these violent proceedings of Urquiza and
the reactionary feeling that is rapidly growing, may
not be verified. X.