The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1846-08-25
BuENos AYREs, l4th May,

BuKNos AYREs, 14th May, 1916.
On the 22d September, 1916, the English and
French agents here, and at Montevideo, issued
the following notice -
"Sir-I have the honor TO inform you that in conse
quence OF decision, which the Ministers Plenpotenta-
ry of England and France at Monevdeo have found ne
cesssry blockade Of the ports and coasts Of the pro-
vince Of Buenos Ayrs has been declared and that such
blockade will be enforced by the combined squadrons CT
England and France forty Eight hours after the date Of
the present notification.
Fifteen days however will be allowed for the depar
ture of neutral vessels from Buenos Ayres."
This blockade was protested against by most
of the foreign representatives here. The U.
S. Charge and Consul protested; the Portuguese
Charge proested the Consul for Bremen ard
Hamburg made u partial protest. The Brazilian
Consul of course did not protest, because his 60
vernment nstgated the Intervention; and the
Sandman Consul was encharged with the Eng
sh and French business here when the repre-
sentatives of those governments withdrew; of
course he said nothing, There are two or three
other consus here, but haye heard nothing of
their course Captain Pendergrast Of the u s.
corvette Boston, then senior officer In the river,
protested against the coast blockade.
The chief grounds of all these protests were,
that England and France had no right TO declare
a whole coast, extending, as does the OF Bu-
enos Ayres, some twelve or fifteen hundred miles,
under blockade. They were at the same time,
and with the same vessels, pretending to blockade
the whole province of the Banda Oriental, ex-
cept Montevideo.
The essential thing in every definition Of block
ade, is q sufficient force stationed of the place
blockaded to make it hazardous to enter Our
government has never recognized mere paper
blockade Her course in relation to captures
made under the orders in council Of England,
and the Berlin and Milan DEGREES of France, has
defined her position" clearly
The blockaders stationed two or three vessels
off Buenos Ayres, sometimes only two The re-
sidue Of their combined squadrons were either
at Montevideo, at some other port of the Ban
da Oriental, or cruising II, the rivers Parana and
Uruguay, ito open up the navigation" OF those
rivers. They have not at any time had single
vessel stationed opposite, or even cruising OFT,
any OF the numerous ports of this province, TO
the extremity of Patagonia, except at this port.
About the 10th of November, an expedition or
gansed at Montevideo, consisting OF about fifty
merchant YES els of various nations, even three
or four Americans, assembled at the Island OF
Martin Garcia, where they were joined by an es-
cort OF two English and one French steamers, and
nine other English and French vessels of war, for
the purpose OF forcing the free navigation OF the
River Parana. Governor Rosas short time pre-.
vious, had declared the navigation OF this river
entirely suspended even TO vessels under the Ar
gentine fiag because Corrientes, one of the inte
rior provinces, was in rebellion, ard had captured
| several vessels descending with cargoes. 1t had
never been open TO foreign flags.
| On the 10Th of November, this expedition had
assembled about thirty three leagues, near to point
Obligado, where Rosas had assembled a strong
force, under command of his brother in law Gene
| raj Mansila, who had erected three small Bate
rss and stretched two chains the river, to
which were attached a number of small vessels.
At one end was placed an armed schooner.
Early on the 2lst, the English and French open.
ed their fire on the batteries and schooner. They
had in all over a hundred guns, from 50 Founders
down. The ArgentInes had in all thirty-three
guns, from 6's to 2fs-only two of the latter.
According to the English account of the matter
| the battle lasted nine hours, and was conducted
with great bravery on both sides They soon
disabled the Argentine schooner, but the COM
mander before leaving her. set fire TO her to pre-
har fol into he ban IS of he
They finally succeeded in cutting the chains, and
passing up with the three steamers to position
where they could rake the batteries with
| their heavy guns and shells, for time. As
one SET of gunners were shot down, others took
| their places; but finally their ammunition was
nearly exhausted; and the result cannot be doubt
ed when the superior force Of the invaders is con-
| sidered They themselves speak of the undaunt-
| ed bravery of the Argentine troops. Gen. Man
silla seen throughout the day issuing his or
ders, and taking "mate' with great n0nchaLarce.
The combined forces finally landed and spiked
! the guns; next day they carried oil the guns, and
| burned all the vessels that had been stretched
across the river, and then commenced repairing
their vessels, several of which, in their own Ian
guage, were literally cut to pieces" They
claim to have killed over thousand, and acknow-
| ledge loss of about 100 From the best infor-
nation l can obtain, the loss of the Argentlnes
was about 800, and Of the other side about 200;
vince all that the mediaters did not come to stop
the effusion of human blood, as they claimed.
This battle was fought without any declaration
of war, and for other alleged cause than that
the mediators resolved to force their way into
the interior rivers of the Argentine confederation,
contrary to the laws Of country with which they
professed friendly relations. The few American
vessels that accompanied this hostile expedition
have dsgraced the flag they carry, and the name
of an American so far as their conduct goes. They
have already suffered much, for they are still up
the river, having been gone nearly seven months,
and at the last accounts they had done very little
in selling what they took up, or in obtaining
return cargo. The whole expedition has been
expectedssbwn for some days, and General Man.
sa is far better prepared for their reception than
when they assembled
a CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES.