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“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

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The national government sent an “observation force” of some 2,000 men under<br />

Emilio Mitre’s command. Urquiza ordered López Jordán to the correntino border, but with<br />

strict orders not to enter the province. Gathering a force of dissident federalists and<br />

emigrant blancos, López Jordán eagerly awaited orders to assist Cáceres. When Urquiza<br />

hesitated, again trying to avoid a confrontation between the federalists in his province and<br />

the national government, López Jordán grew irate. He wrote to several allies:<br />

I have been disillusioned by my joy to see . . . our general and friend on the terrain<br />

we have long wished for, but from the news today, the man has returned to his calm,<br />

killer of his true interests, those of his party and of the country as a whole, God help<br />

him. 36<br />

López Jordán and his fellow dissidents had been discussing a rebellion against Urquiza<br />

throughout the past year. Now, as outside national and federalist forces converged on the<br />

province, López Jordán took his first openly defiant step. As Cáceres and the correntino<br />

liberals prepared to meet around Arroyo Garay, López Jordán invaded Corrientes. He<br />

soundly defeated the correntino liberal forces. He then advanced towards the national<br />

observation army. A confrontation between the national government and the dissident<br />

federalists in Entre Ríos and Corrientes appeared imminent.<br />

While triumphant on the battlefield, the correntino conflict and the struggles in the<br />

interior had successfully limited Urquiza and the federalists’ influence in the national<br />

elections. Urquiza carried only the delegates from his native Entre Ríos, Santa Fe and<br />

besieged Salta. Elsewhere, after some electoral maneuvering, Domingo Sarmiento, the<br />

strident critic of provincial governors like Urquiza, emerged as Mitre’s successor.<br />

Recognizing the danger of an open civil war, Urquiza immediately worked to broker a peace<br />

with Sarmiento’s new government. Once again, the negotiations produced terms that<br />

appeared extremely favorable to the national government. Liberals remained in power in<br />

























































<br />

36 Duarte, Urquiza y López Jordán, 141.<br />

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