“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

captured the city of Corrientes. To the east, Paraguayan troops entered Brazil and captured
Uruguaiana and the correntino port of Restauración just across the river. 19 The invasion
ensured that Mitre and the national forces under his command would now enter the conflict
along with the Brazilian empire and the colorados in the Estado Oriental. Brazilian diplomats
promptly opened up negotiations with the Argentine government on the terms of an alliance
against Paraguay. On 12 and 13 June 1865, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay exchanged
ratifications of their Triple Alliance against the Paraguayans. The entire Río de la Plata basin
was once again at war. 20
Mitre’s intervention presented Urquiza with a dilemma. Mitre requested troops from
Entre Ríos to support his campaign against the Paraguayans in Corrientes. If Urquiza
refused, he risked undermining his exclusive control over Entre Ríos’ still substantial armed
forces and perhaps provoking an internal civil war. On the other hand, dissident federalists
like López Jordán clamored for him to support the Paraguayans. López Jordán openly
declared that Mitre, not Paraguay, represented the true enemy in the conflict. He wrote:
“You [Urquiza] call on us to fight against Paraguay. Never, my General, for that nation is
our friend. Call on us to fight the Brazilians and the porteños and we will be ready – for they
are our enemies.” 21 Despite the protests from the dissident federalists, Urquiza again
decided to throw his support behind Mitre. This stance likely reflected Urquiza’s sense that
opposing the new national government carried with it unacceptable risks, both for himself
and his vision for an Argentine nation built around a union of coequal provinces. It also
reflected the central guiding principle in Urquiza’s political maneuvering in the wake of
Pavón – direct opposition to the national state was no longer a real possibility. Urquiza
19 Ibid., 263.
20 Ibid., 276.
21 Ibid., 330.
307