It may be said that in spite of these tariffs the trade of the Argentine Republic has increased 150 per cent., which is quite true. But who will venture to say what might have been the increase but for the tariffs? Ten years ago it was predicted that as soon as the Tucuman Railway should be pushed further north all the commerce of Bolivia would flow into the Argentine Republic. The result has been just the reverse, the trade with that country baving fallen 15 per cent. since 1878. Still worse is the case with Chili, the trade with that republic having declined 60 per cent. These are facts that can not escape the notice of the new Finance Minister at Buenos Ayres, who is perhaps as convinced as myself of the value of free trade and the evil consequences that are inseparable from protection.

M. G. M.

No. 233.]

Mr. Hanna to Mr. Blaine.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Buenos Ayres, May 18, 1889. (Received June 22.) SIR: Recurring again to the wholly insufficient and inefficient mail facilities between the United States and this country, I have the honor now to present some new truths in regard to the subject. The "Direct United States Mail Line," as it is miscalled, is again, and recently more than usually so, the cause of very general and bitter complaint. The commercial community, especially, seems to suffer seriously by its numerous accidents and unexpected delays. Many of its number, exasperated by losses and disappointments and discouraged by promises of betterments which never come, are seeking relief by resort to the use of European mail lines.

England, France, Germany, and Italy, all have direct and rapid lines, some of them two or three. The direct mail service of the United States and Brazil Mail Steam-ship Company, upon which such general reliance has been had for the transportation of mails from our ports to South American countries, as matters now stand, is literally a delusion and a snare, a positive detriment to traders south of Rio, as it furnishes a source of reliance to them which oftener brings disappointment and misadventure than good results. The company itself, I am confident, is not to blame. Mr. Thurber and Captain Lachlan, its experienced and able managers, have doubtless done the best possible to be done with their many embarrassments, but they have constant troubles with the port of Rio-that cess-pool of the ocean. Yellow fever prevails there about three-fourths of the year, and gives rise to constant quarantine embarrassments of which there seems to be no end.

I can think of but two remedies for the evil-a direct line of ships, or the transmission of the mails by Europe.

The United States mail due at Rio April 23 has not, so far as we know, yet left that port, twenty-five days delayed already, with the future to determine how much longer it will be continued. This, in a degree, is a frequent occurrence, and of course, paralyzes all trade relations between New York and the most valuable ports of South America. All the rest of the commercial world, except the United States, seems to have discovered the great importance of the extreme South American States, just now undoubtedly one of the most interesting commercial attractions known anywhere.

I am, etc.,

BAYLESS W. HANNA.

No. 235.]

Mr. Hanna to Mr. Blaine.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Buenos Ayres, May 20, 1889. (Received July 6.) SIR: As a number of vexatious delays and embarrassments have occurred here recently among citizens of the United States in reference to rights of marriage I have deemed it advisable, for personal information, to transmit to the Department duplicate copies of the law of matrimony which went into effect in this country April 1, 1889, together with translations of the same, also in duplicate.

By article 19 of this law, it is provided that the parties intending to contract matrimony, at the time of expressing their consent as required by Article 14 of the law, must produce before the public officer having charge of the respective civil registry the following papers:

(1) Certificate of birth or baptism.

(2) In case of previous marriage, certificate of death of former spouse. (3) A duly legalized copy of the decree annulling any previous marriage of either party.

(4) The authentic declaration of the person whose consent is required by the law. Also, in case the original domicile of either party is not in the Argentine Republic, such party must produce a certificate of his or her civil status in that domicile.

In case of the non-existence of the certificates required by the above article 19, the facts may be shown under article 21 by other modes of proof permitted by the Argentine civil code.

I am, etc.,

BAYLESS W. HANNA.

[Inclosure No. 1 in dispatch No. 235.-Translation.]

CIVIL MARRIAGE LAW.

In fulfillment of our promise, we give the first portion of the law of civil marriage which came into force in this Republic on the first day of this month. The law was passed on November 12, 1888, and is numbered 2393.

Art. 1. The code is modified in the manner and in accordance with what is established in the following articles:

SECTION 2.-OF PERSONAL RIGHTS IN FAMILY RELATIONSHIP.

CHAPTER 1.-Regimen of matrimony.

Art. 2. The validity of the marriage, in the absence of the impediments established in sections 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of article 9, shall be decided in the Republic by the law of the place in which it was celebrated, although the contracting parties may have left their domicile in order not to be subject to the forms and laws there prevailing.

Art. 3. The personal rights and obligations of the spouses are governed by the laws of the Republic so long as they remain in it, whatever may be the country in which the marriage has been contracted.

Art. 4. The property of the husband and wife is subject to the dispositions of the nuptial contract, whatever may the laws of the country in which the marriage was celebrated.

Art. 5. If there have been no nuptial contract nor change of matrimonial domicile, the law of the place where the marriage was celebrated applies to the movable property of the spouses wherever it may be or may have been acquired.

If there have been a change of domicile, the property acquired by the spouses prior to such a change is subject to the laws of the previous domicile, and those subsequently acquired to the laws of the new domicile.

Art. 6. Landed property is subject to the law of the place in which it is situated. Art. 7. The dissolution in a foreign country of a marriage celebrated in the Argentine Republic, although it may be in conformity with the laws of such country, does not, unless it be in conformity with the laws of this code, enable either of the spouses to marry again.

CHAPTER 2.-Of betrothal

Art. 8. The law does not admit an espousal de futuro. No tribunal shall admit any demand in respect thereof nor any compensation for damages which it may have caused.

CHAPTER 3.-Of impediments.

Art. 9. The following are impediments to marriage:

(1) Consanguinity in the ascending or descending scale, without any limit, and whether legitimate or illegitimate.

(2) Consanguinity in the collateral scale or of the half-blood, legitimate or illegiti

inate.

(3) Affinity in a direct line in all the degrees.

(4) The woman being under twelve years of age or the man being under fourteen. (5) A previous marriage still subsisting.

(6) Having been the voluntary author or the accomplice of the homicide of one of the spouses.

(7) Insanity.

As regards sections 1 and 2, the proof of the relationship is subject to the prescriptions of this code.

Art. 10. A woman above twelve years of age and a man above fourteen, but who are minors, and deaf-mutes who can not make themselves understood by writing, can not marry each other or any other person without the consent of their legitimate or natural father who shall have recognized the parentage, or without that of the mother in default of father, or without that of the guardian in default of both father and mother, or if there be, also, no guardian, without the consent of the judge.

Art 11. The civil judge shall decide upon cases of dissent after a private and informal investigation of the facts.

Art. 12. The guardian and his legitimate descendants who are under his power can not contract marriage with his ward until the guardianship shall have ceased and the accounts of his administration shall have been approved. In case of breach of this prescription the guardian shall lose the remuneration assigned to him out of the ward's income, without predjudice to any penalty which he may have incurred. Art. 13. If minors should marry without the necessary consent, they shall not have the possession or administration of their property until they attain their majority; there shall be no mode of curing the defect of the want of consent.

CHAPTER 4. Of consent.

Art. 14. The consent of the contracting parties expressed before the public officer in charge of the civil register is indispensable for the existence of matrimony.

The act in which any of these requisites shall be wanting shall not produce any civil effects, even if the parties acted in good faith.

Art. 15. The consent may be expressed by proxy, with a special power in which the person with whom the donor of the power is about to contract matrimony is expressly mentioned.

Art. 16. Violence, fraud, or mistake as to identity, physically or civilly, vitiate the

consent.

CHAPTER 5.—Of the preliminaries to the celebration of the marriage.

Art. 17. Those who intend to contract matrimony must attend before the public officer in charge of the civil register in the domicile of either of them, and shall state verbally their intention, of which a record shall be made, and shall be signed by the public officer, by the future spouses, and by two witnesses. If the future spouses can not or do not know how to write, another person shall sign the record at their request.

Art. 18. The record must express :

(1) The Christian and surnames of those who wish to be married.

(2) Their respective ages.

(3) Their nationality, domicile, and place of birth.

(4) Their profession.

(5) The Christian and surnames of their parents, with their nationality, profession, and domicile.

(6) Whether either of them has been previously married, and, in such case, the Christian and surname of the previous spouse, the place of the marriage, and the cause of its dissolution.

Art. 19. The future spouses must at the same time produce

(1) The certificates of their birth.

(2) In case of a previous marriage of either of them, the certificate of death of the previous spouse.

(3) A copy, duly legalized, of the judgment annulling the previous marriage of either or both the future spouses, as the case may be.

(4) The authentic declaration of the persons whose consent is required by the law, if not given verbally at the time, or the permission of the judge, when required. The parents or guardians who give their consent before the public office shall sign the record referred to in article 17, and if they can not or do not know how to write, one of the witnesses shall sign it at their request.

The future spouses, whose original domicile is not in the republic, must also produce a certificate of their civil status in that domicile.

(5) Two witnesses, who, from their knowledge of the parties, shall declare that they believe them qualified to contract matrimony.

Art. 20. If the certificates mentioned in the preceding article should be found on the register of the public officer who officiates at the marriage it shall be sufficient to refer to them.

Art. 21. In case of the non-existence of the certificates, or when the inscription on the register shall have been made under false names or as of parents unknown, these facts may be proved by the other modes of proof admitted in this code.

Art. 22. The record referred to in article 17 having been duly completed the public officer shall publish it on the outer door of his office during eight days. If the future spouses have different domiciles the public officer before whom the proceedings shall be taken shall remit a copy to the public officer of the other domicile so that he may make an identical publication. If the domicile of the future spouses, or of either of them, shall have been changed during the six months next preceding the publication such publication shall also be made in the previous domicile.

Art. 23. The public officer who receives for publication records remitted from another place must, at the expiration of the term of publication, make a record of such publication, and shall remit a certificate thereof and of any notice of opposition or of there being no opposition to the public officer before whom the marriage is to be celebrated.

Art. 24. The marriage can not be celebrated until the expiration of the third day next after the last day of the publication. If, on account of the domicile of the contracting parties, the publication shall have been made in various places, the publie officer can not proceed to the celebration of the marriage without having received the certificates referred to in the previous article.

Art. 25. The publication shall be considered as not having been made if the marriage should not be colebrated within one hundred days.

CHAPTER 6.-Of opposition.

Art. 26. The only grounds of opposition which can be alleged are those which are established in this code.

The opposition which is not based on the existence of any of those impediments shall be summarily rejected.

Art. 27. The right of opposing the celebration of a marriage by reason of the impediments established in Art. 9 appertains:

(1) To the husband or wife of the person who wishes to contract another marriage. (2) To the relatives of either of the future spouses within the fourth degree of consanguinity of affinity.

(3) To the guardians or curators.

(4) To the public minister, who must oppose the marriage whenever those impediments become known to him.

Art. 28. If a widow wish to contract matrimony contrary to the dispositions of article 99 the relations in the degree of succession of the deceased husband shall be entitled to oppose the marriage.

Art. 29. The parents, guardians, or curators may also oppose the marriage on the ground of the want of their consent.

Art. 30. The parents, guardians, or curators must express the reasons of the opposition; but the parents shall be exempt from this obligation in the case of a son under eighteen years of age, or of a daughter under fifteen, except when such son or daughter is in the actual enjoyment of his or her property.

The opposition can only be founded:

(1) On the existence of one of the impediments established in article 9.

(2) On the existence of contagious disease in the person who intends to marry the minor.

(3) On the dissipated or immoral conduct of such person.

(4) On the fact that such person has been condemned for the crime of robbery, larceny, swindling, or any other crime punishable with more than one year's imprison

ment.

(5) On the want of means of subsistence and of aptitude for acquiring the same. Art. 31. The opposition may be declared immediately after the initiation of the proceedings for the marriage and up to the time of its celebration.

Art. 33. The opposition may be declared verbally or by writing, expressing:

(1) The Christian and surname, age, civil status, profession, and domicile of the person opposing.

(2) His relationship to either of the future spouses.

(3) The impediment on which the opposition is founded.

(4) The reasons for believing in the existence of the impediment.

(5) Whether or no there are documents proving the existence of the impediment, and the references thereto.

When the opposition is declared verbally the public officer shall draw up a statement of the facts which must be signed by the opposer and by two witnesses, if he is unable to sign his name. When the opposition is declared in writing, it shall be transcribed into the minute book with the same formalities.

Art. 34. If the opposer have any documents, they must be produced at the same time; if he have none in his possession, but has had notice of them, he shall state where they are and give a list of them.

Art. 35. The opposition having been duly recorded, notice thereof shall be given to the future spouses by the public officer who is to celebrate the marriage.

If either or both of them shall admit the existence of the legal impediment, the public officer shall record that fact and shall not celebrate the marriage.

Art. 36. Should the opposition be declared before a public officer not in the place where the marriage is to be celebrated, he shall, within twenty-four hours, remit to the public officer of such place a copy of the minute of opposition together with the documents produced.

Art. 37. If the opposition should not be founded on any legal impediment, the public officer before whom it is declared shall reject it and record the fact.

Art. 36. If the future spouses shall not acknowledge the existence of the impediment, they must make a declaration to that effect to the public officer within three days next after the day of the notification and the public officer shall record the fact and remit to the civil judge an authorized copy of all the proceedings, with the documents presented, and the celebration of the marriage shall be suspended.

Art. 39. The civil tribunals shall investigate and decide summarily with fiscal citation on the opposition declared, and shall remit to the public officer a legalized copy of the judgment.

Art. 40. The public officer shall not celebrate the marriage until final judgment rejecting the opposition.

If the judgment declare the existence of the impediment on which the opposition is founded the marriage can not be celebrated; in either case the public officer shall note the disposing part of the judgment in the margin of the minute of opposition.

Art. 41. If the opposition be rejected its author, not being a relative in the ascending scale, or the public minister, shall pay to the future spouses a compensation to be fixed at the discretion of the tribunal taking congnizance of the matter.

Art. 42. Any person may denounce the existence of any of the impediments established in article 9.

Art. 43. The denunciation having been formally made, the public officer shall remit it to the civil judge, who shall submit the same to the fiscal minister, and the latter shall within three days declare opposition or state that he considers the denunciation to be unfounded.

CHAPTER 7.-Of the celebration of the marriage.

Art. 44. The marriage must be celebrated before the public officer in the civil register in his office, publicly, the future spouses, or their proxies in the case provided for by article 15, appearing personally, in the presence of the witnesses and with the formalities prescribed by this law.

If either of the future spouses should be unable to attend at the office, the marriage may be celebrated at his or her place of abode.

Art. 45. There must be two witnesses present if the marriage be celebrated in the office, and four if it be celebrated in the place of abode of either of the spouses.

Art. 46. When celebrating the marriage the public officer shall read to the future spouses articles 55, 56, and 58 of this law, shall receive from each of them personally