Frank Parish to To his Excellency Dr. D. Antonio E. Malaver, March 14, 1872

Mr. Minister: I have received the reply which it has pleased his excellency the governor to instruct you to make to my letter of 11th January last, on the subject of the Tandil massacre, in which I asked for some information respecting the sad case of two British subjects who were among the victims of that tragedy, expressing at the same time the deep feeling of anxiety occasioned to my countrymen whose lives were threatened and at that moment in peril.

Two months have elapsed since my letter reached your excellency’s hands, notwithstanding the urgent nature of the case, and the general consternation which existed as to the extent to which the malefactors had effected their murderous designs. Nevertheless, I was unwilling to suppose that the silence arose from any other cause than an oversight, and I was little prepared to learn from your excellency that it proceeded from an intentional disregard, on the authority of the governor, of my communication, on the ground that I was not entitled to address his government on such a case, and that I might refer to the public press for any information I might require on the subject.

With all due regard for the opinion of his excellency, and with every desire to treat the subject in a friendly spirit, I must dissent most distinctly from this extraordinary rule of procedure, for, assuming that it cannot be the fixed intention of his excellency to exclude me from the customary official intercourse with his government on matters relating to the welfare and interests of British subjects in this province, I have a right to expect that, so long as I am an accredited agent of my government, I be allowed that access to the authorities of the country which is absolutely necessary to enable me to fulfill the ordinary functions of my office.

The opposite course would oblige me to abandon the representation of those interests, and Her Majesty’s government to substitute some other form for preserving intact those ties and obligations which correspond to its position toward its subjects.

I venture to affirm that no precedent can be produced in support of any such established rule; and further, that if even it existed, could it be applied in such an instance as this, so as to debar a government from the exercise of reasonable and friendly means, through its agents, of obtaining for its subjects the full amount of protection and redress which the laws of the country might afford, and to which their peculiar position might entitle them.

Such a wholesale massacre of foreigners, and such acts of cruelty as were committed at Tandil on the persons of innocent foreign settlers, fortunately, in the name of humanity, are not matters of ordinary occurrence, and have no parallel even in this country and it would be useless, therefore, to seek for any guide as to the rule observed in the representation of such cases.

Judging, however, from some few instances of recent occurrence, such as that of the murder of several British subjects by Greek brigands, it will be remembered that it created a feeling of national interest, and that the right of fully representing the cases and seeking for redress was exercised and not denied.

For the government of this country, above all others, interested as it is in promoting foreign immigration as a means of advancing the nation, to seek to establish a rule by which the foreign immigrants would be deprived of the means of obtaining the legitimate support of their government, and the benefit of its friendly offices, would be to injure their own prospects, by producing a want of confidence and a discouragement to immigration.

I have no desire to draw an exaggerated picture of the state of things in this country; but certainly, if I were left dependent on the reports and opinions of the different public papers of this city, I might fall widely into that error. Neither, in this instance, do I wish to enlarge upon the case under discussion by referring to some of the terrifying incidents which are connected with this lamentable case, which might have the effect of destroying the friendly character which it is my desire to preserve in this communication. I will confine myself to expressing my firm and earnest remonstrances against the mode of treatment of this case by your excellency’s government, and communicating the contents of this correspondence to Her Majesty’s charge d’affaires, in order that he may obtain such instructions from my government as will enable me to learn whether, and to what extent, they are willing to accede to your excellency’s principles, and to relinquish the ordinary means of representing the interests of British subjects in Buenos Ayres.

I will add, in conclusion, that neither through the medium of the public newspapers, nor through any other source, have I been able, so far, to obtain any satisfactory account of the death of Mr. and Mrs. Gibson Smith, the two persons referred to in my previous communication; nor do I know what has become of their property, which must have been left abandoned at the time, and which I am specially called upon to take charge of.

I am your excellency’s most obedient, humble servant,