“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

also provided prominent local elites with a mechanism to enhance their own personal
standing as guarantors of cross-border economic relationships. 29
Once again, borderlands courtrooms represented important arenas in which to
articulate reciprocal ties. Litigation also provided a means to bolster the personal reputations
of local leaders vying to protect Brazilian property rights across the border. The criminal
charges against Hypolito Firio Cardoso and Cándido Figuero for allegedly organizing an
incursion of over three hundred Brazilians into Uruguay in 1847 provide a good example. 30
The proceeding began with a complaint from Diego Lamas, Oribe’s blanco lieutenant. Lamas
drafted a letter to Brazilian officials demanding justice for several incursions organized by
Cardoso and Figuero to remove cattle from across the border. Lamas noted that “a
considerable number of vizinhos of this frontier had cooperated for this end.” 31 Figuero’s
inclusion is particularly interesting because he possessed commercial relationships dating
back to the Farrapos Rebellion with Agustín Guarch and other colorado merchants across the
border. 32 His alleged participation in the raids again suggests that cross-border reciprocal
relationships were at work in driving the californias.
Faced with Lamas’ claims, Brazilian officials filed criminal charges against the two
commanders for violating the empire’s stated policy of strict neutrality in Uruguayan affairs.
The nature of the trial, however, suggests that officials in Alegrete were less interested in
defending Uruguayan sovereignty than in publicly manifesting Cardoso’s and Figuero’s legal
protection of Brazilian property. To that end, Cardoso and Figuero appeared in the Alegrete
courts in a public jury trial. Selected exclusively from property owners, the jury embodied
29 Ibid.
30 Justiça c. Hypolito Firio Cardoso e Cándido Figuero, APRGS. Alegrete. Cartório Civil e
Crime. Processos Crimes. Maço 77 No. 2669 (1847).
31 Ibid., 10
32 CV-4434 (February 18, 1841).
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