six consecutive years of peace, during which great public works and long lines of railroads had been constructed. During this period, also, he showed that the Government had taken possession of vast territories, hitherto under savage domination, both in the north and in the south, which had been fully explored, divided into nine territorial governments, which soon would join the nation as new States.

The imports and exports in 1880, when his administration was inaugurated, amounted only to $103,000,000; during the last year they increased to $189,000,000, the revenue of the Republic now being $39,000,000 as against $20,000,000 in 1880. He showed that the tonnage between entries and sailings is now 3,350,000, against 1,050,000 in 1880, and that the country now had 4,800,000 acres under tillage, against 2,700,000 in 1880. Immigration had increased from 32,000 to 108,000 persons.

He congratulated the city of Buenos Ayres on its wonderful advancement-its parks, its costly monuments, its sewerage, streets, and publicschool buildings, and embraced in this review La Plata, so near by, the marvel of South America, only three years old, with a population of 45,000 souls, vast public buildings, granite streets, electric lights, and & made harbor, where the largest ships now float inland, many miles from the shores of the Plata.

He said the assets of the banks in 1884 stood at about $200,000,000, and that since then they had increased 50 per cent., standing now at $300,000,000, and since 1880, 2,500 miles of railway had been constructed.

The President stated that the post-office returns show 35,500,000 letters and papers were carried by the mails during the last year, producing a revenue of $710,000, which was an increase of 15 per cent. over the receipts of two years ago. The telegraphs yielded a revenue of $271,000, an increase of 20 per cent. within the same period. The country now has 637 post-offices and 154 telegraph offices.

He dwelt at much length on the vast river and harbor improvements in progress of construction, and the structure of new lines of railroads, soon destined to traverse the Andes and touch the Pacific coast. He showed that the net receipts of the Central Northern line railway, constructed and operated by the Government last year, were $612,903, the gross receipts having reached $1,523,042; also that the portion of the Andine railway now opened has already earned a net profit of $478,910. In October, 1880, the Republic had 2,318 kilometers of railway; now it has 6,152, and those which are being worked produced a net profit of $6,489,704.

It was stated that during his administration $1,105,222 had been realized by the Government by sale of public lands, the average price being $2,019 per league of 6,400 acres. The Government has been granting concessions to colonies who would take up tracts of public lands and settle and develop them, but that this system of colonization has recently been suspended, and that the public lands are now all subject to sale or rent to private individuals.

The depression in the trade of foreign markets, he claims, had affected ihe prices of products here, but at the same time, he contended, the Government had, notwithstanding this fact, reached a healthful equilibrium in the balance of trade, imports declining and exports augmenting. The returns show:

There had been an increase of $3,945,000 in the export of wool, $2,300,000 in jerked beef, and $1,600,000 in linseed.

The revenue returns show:

1884. 1885..

$37,725,000

39, 185, 000

The appropriations voted were $43,500,000, but the expenditures had been only $42,765,000.

The revenue of the first quarter of the current year has reached $11,650,000, and for the entire year will probably reach $46,000,000, which will be sufficient for present public needs and to cover the deficit of last year.

The consolidated public debt, on March 31, 1886, was reckoned as follows:

Internal

Foreign

$47, 138, 000 73, 994, 000

Since 1880 $45,500,000 had been expended in public improvements, chiefly in the structure of railroads. The state railways now represent a value reaching $40,000,000.

Allusion was made to paper money, at a discount, at a present, under the suspension of specie payments, but he claimed the outstanding issue, though large, did not exceed public and business needs. Cheap money, he thought, threatened no evil, as long as immigration increased and the industries of the people were prosperous.

The interests of education were then discussed at length. On this subject the President said:

Education is making rapid strides. The nation and the provinces expend large sums on this branch of administration, the expenditures last year amounting to $3,516,794. In America, the United States alone surpasses us in this respect. The number of Argentine public schools is 1,741. In addition to these, private schools number 711, showing a total of 2,452 schools, directed by 4,736 professors, and attended by 168,078 pupils. The public schools are directed by professors who have taken out their diplomas in our normal schools. Numerous school buildings are now being completed in the capital, and forty such will soon be inaugurated.

The discussion of education was pursued at much length.

The strength and efficiency of the army and navy were then reviewed, and warmly commended for the part they had played in national prog

ress.

Here the President put aside his manuscript, evidently much exhausted, and suffering great pain from his bruised head, and with a depth of feeling which manifestly touched every heart present, and which will doubtless give him a warm place in the sympathy of all his countrymen closed his message as follows:

I have laid before you a general statement of my six years in office. You can see in it the wish and aim always kept in view by my Government, and judge whether I have kept my word as to peace and administration. I also leave behind me a wellfounded respect for the national authority, without which no people can exist, and the absence of which caused so many of our troubles. Thanks to this, the transmission of power will, for the first time, be made in peace to the new President.

I may have made mistakes. The office of Chief Magistrate is no easy one; but all my acts, good or bad, had, I can assure you, solely in view the good of the country.

In descending from this elevated post of great honor, but, also, of decided obligations and great responsibilities, where strife and fatigue are incessant and bitterness abounds, where the slightest carelessness may be a crime, and where one must bear the enmities of private interests without complaint, and receive complacently the poisoned darts of party passion, I do it with a tranquil conscience and serene mind, caressing the idea of retirement which democracies reserve to those who have served them whether well or ill, without hatred or ill-will for any one, even for the unfortunate man who has just attempted to assassinate me, and with a soul filled with

gratitude for the counselors who have aided me in the Government, for you who have indicated to me, by wise and opportune laws, the course which I ought to follow, and for all those of my fellow-citizens who have encouraged me with marks of approbation and sympathy in critical moments, with boundless thanks to the Creator for His visible protection of the Argentine Republic, and earnestly praying that the moral and material conquests achieved in recent years may be preserved and enlarged, I leave you in charge of your high trusts.

The foregoing were the main points presented by the message, all of which are respectfully submitted.

I have, &c.

BAYLESS W. HANNA.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE LEGATION OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC AT WASHINGTON.

No. 2.

Mr. Quesada to Mr. Bayard.

[Translation.]

LEGATION OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC,

Washington, November 5, 1885.

I have received instructions from the Argentine Government to send your excellency a printed copy of the extradition law promulgated on the 25th of August last, although one has already been transmitted to the United States minister at Buenos Ayres.

The minister of foreign relations instructs me to state to your excellency that this law does away with the necessity of special conventions, the clauses and provisions of which it is difficult to make uniform; it also establishes a general rule according to which any extradition cases that may arise are to be decided.

It is proper for me to add that all the copies that I have received contain the corrections which are found in Articles IV, XV, and XXXI. I have the honor to reiterate to your excellency the assurances of my highest consideration.

VICENTE G. QUESADA.

[Inclosure.]

EXTRADITION LAW.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN RELATIONS,
Buenos Ayres, August 25, 1885.

Whereas; the Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine nation, in Congress assembled, sanction with the force of law:

CHAPTER I.-Concerning extradition cases.

ARTICLE I. The Government of the Argentine Republic may surrender to foreign Governments, on condition of reciprocity, any person who may be pursued or accused, or who may have been convicted by the courts of the demanding power, provided that the crime or offense concerned is one of those enumerated in the present law, and in conformity with the rules thereby established.

ART. II. Extradition shall be granted when the crime committed is one of ordinary character, which according to the laws of the Republic, would render the perpetrator liable to not less than one year's imprisonment.

ART. III. Extradition shall not be granted:

(1) When the person for whose surrender application is made shall have been a native or naturalized Argentine citizen before the commission of the act on which the application for extradition is based.

(2) When the offenses committed shall be of a political character, or connected with political offenses.

(3) When the offenses shall have been committed in the territory of the Republic. (4) When, although the offenses have been committed outside of the Republic, the perpetrator thereof shall have been prosecuted and tried definitively therein.

(5) When, according to the laws of the demanding power, the penalty or the right to prosecute for the offense on which the demand for extradition is based has become void through the statute of limitation.

ART. IV. When the person for whose extradition application is made shall be a slave who is charged with or has been convicted of an ordinary offense, extradition shall be granted provided that the nation making such application pledge itself to try him as a free man and to consider him always as such.

ART. V. In cases in which, according to the provisions of this law, the Government of the Republic is not to surrender the delinquents whose extradition is asked for, such delinquents shall be tried by the courts of the country, and shall be subject to the penalties established by law for crimes or offenses committed in the territory of the Republic. The final sentence or decision shall be communicated to the demanding Government.

ART. VI. Extradition shall always be granted with the proviso that the person surrendered shall not be prosecuted or punished for an offense distinct from that on which the demand for his extradition shall have been based, unless the offense concerned shall be another rendering him liable to extradition, and unless the Argentine Government shall duly consent thereto after the requirements of Articles 12 and 24 have been complied with. These restrictions shall not be enforced when the accused shall not have returned to the Republic within three months subsequent to his release, whether he shall have remained in the country that demanded his extradition or in another.

ART. VII. When application shall be made for the extradition of a foreigner who is pursued or accused, or who has been convicted in the courts of the Republic of a crime distinct from that on which the demand for his extradition is based, he shall not be surrendered until his trial is over and he has served out his punishment. Nevertheless, the extradition of a foreigner may be temporarily granted for the sole purpose of allowing him to appear before the courts of the demanding country, on condition that he shall be returned when the trial is ended.

ART. VIII. If, after the extradition of a foreigner shall have been obtained by the Argentine Government, such foreigner shall be claimed by another state, on account of another offense, extradition shall not be granted if there is ground therefor, except by consent of the country that shall have surrendered him.

ART. IX. If the extradition of a foreigner shall be asked for on account of offenses committed in a territory not belonging to the demanding power, it shall not be granted, except in those cases in which prosecution for offenses committed outside of the territory is permitted by the Argentine laws.

ART. X. When two or more nations apply for the extradition of the same person, on account of different offenses, the extradition shall be granted to that nation in whose territory the most serious offense shall have been committed, and if the offenses shall be of equal magnitude, it shall be granted to the nation which shall have first made application.

ART. XI. If the person claimed shall not be a citizen of the demanding country, and shall likewise be claimed by the Government of his nation on account of the same offense, it shall be optional with the Argentine Government to surrender him to whichever Government it may think proper, according to the antecedents of the case.

CHAPTER II.-Procedure.

ART. XII. Every demand for extradition shall be made diplomatically, and shall be accompanied by the following documents:

(1) The sentence of condemnation, notified in the form prescribed by the laws of the demanding country, if the person claimed shall already have been convicted, or the warrant of arrest issued by the competent courts, with the exact designation and the date of the commission of the offense in question, if the person is merely charged with committing the same. The originals of these documents or an authentic copy thereof shall be presented.

(2) All data and antecedents necessary to prove the identity of the person whose extradition is demanded.

(3) A copy of the legal provisions applicable, according to the laws of the demanding country, to the offense with which the person is charged.

ART. XIII. When the demand for extradition is received, the minister of foreign relations shall examine whether it is accompanied by the necessary documents, whether the offense for which it is made is included among the cases specified in this law, and whether any of the circumstances enumerated in Article III exist.

ART. XIV. If the result of such examination shall be unfavorable to the granting of the extradition, he shall submit his opinion to the President of the Republic for

the consideration of the cabinet, and if his said opinion shall be approved, he shall transmit it officially to the respective diplomatic minister, with the grounds on which it is based.

ART. XV. If, on the other hand, the minister of foreign relations shall consider that the requirements of Article XII are satisfied, and that the case comes within the provisions of this law, and not within the exceptions provided for in Article III, he shall immediately give notice to the minister of the interior, to the end that suitable measures may be adopted for the arrest of the person whose extradition is demanded, provided that he shall not already have been arrested, according to the provisions of Articles XXV and XXVII.

ART. XVI. The person arrested shall be placed at the disposal of the judge of the district in which his arrest shall have taken place, together with the accompanying antecedents, within the space of thirty days; at the expiration of which, without this having been done, the person arrested shall be released by the aforesaid judge.

ART. XVII. Within twenty-four hours from the receipt of the said documents the judge shall receive the statement of the presumptive criminal, with a view to obtaining proof of the indentity of the person, who may be permitted to employ counsel. ART. XVIII. It shall not be permissible to call into question the intrinsic validity of the documents produced by the demanding Government, but the investigation shall be confined to the following points:

(1) Indentity of the person.

(2) Examination of the extrinsic forms of the documents presented.

(3) Whether the crime is included among the cases enumerated in this law.

(4) Whether the penalty enforced belongs to the category of those penalties which are properly applicable to the crime or offense in question, according to the laws of the demanding country.

(5) Whether the case is included within the provisions of Article III.

(6) Whether the sentence or the warrant of arrest emanates from the competent courts of the demanding country.

ART. XIX. The person whose surrender is demanded, or his counsel, shall have six days to present his defense, which the district attorney shall be allowed to hold for six days for examination.

ART. XX. If there shall be any necessity to prove any facts, the case shall be received for evidence, and with regard to this, and to its terms, the provisions of national procedure shall be observed.,

ART. XXI. When the evidence has been laid before him, the judge shall decide within ten days, and declare whether there is or is not ground for granting the extradition.

ART. XXII. If the decision of the court shall be unfavorable to the granting of the extradition, owing to any defect in the documents which must accompany the demand, such decision shall be communicated by the minister of foreign relations to the representative of the demanding country, to the end that the defect in question may be remedied.

The person arrested shall be released if these documents shall not arrive within one month, reckoning from the time of the communication of the diplomatic notice, if the country concerned be one bordering on the Republic, and within three months in the case of all other countries.

ART. XXIII. If the decision of the court shall authorize or refuse extradition for any of the causes specified in paragraphs 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Article XVIII, an appeal to the supreme court may be taken; which court shall finally decide the case, it having previously been submitted to the attorney-general of the nation.

The original process shall be transmitted to the ministry of foreign relations through the ministry of justice, and an authenticated copy of the decision shall be transmitted to the demanding minister, together with the decree authorizing the extradition, if it is granted.

ART. XXIV. If, on account of a crime or offense committed previously to the act of the extradition, but discovered subsequently thereto, authorization shall be asked to prosecute the person already surrendered, the demand, which shall be accompanied by the papers relative to the process, in which shall be contained the observations of the person accused, or a declaration signed by him that he has no observations to make, shall be submitted to the district judge before whom the demand for his extradition shall have come, and from his decision there shall be no appeal.

CHAPTER III.-Various provisions.

ART. XXV. In case of urgency, the courts of the Republic may order the preliminary arrest of a foreigner in compliance with the direct request of the judicial authorities of a country having an extradition treaty with the Republic, provided that the existence of a sentence or of a warrant of arrest be invoked, and provided that the nature of the crime for which the person in question has been sentenced or is pursued be clearly determined.