“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

Urquiza reiterated his role as the political and military guarantor of the commercial
revolution along the lower Uruguay. In the process, he enhanced his personal prestige and
the corresponding power of his commercial associates as they extended trading linkages. 34
While Urquiza continued to serve as Rosas’ most important lieutenant, his economic
success began to produce frictions with his erstwhile ally in Buenos Aires. The Guerra
Grande had been a personal bonanza for the entrerriano leader. When Oribe encircled
Montevideo, Urquiza had used his ever-expanding commercial connections along the
Uruguay and his rivertine flotilla to supply the besieged city. The European naval blockade
of Buenos Aires only further increased trade towards his warehouses along the Uruguay. By
the late 1840s, Urquiza had become one of the principal importers of manufactured goods in
the Río de la Plata basin. He now possessed sufficient wealth to expand his landholdings
and construct the largest salting plant in the region. Through these operations, he further
augmented his profits by exporting hides and salted beef to Europe. Along with agricultural
staples, he cornered the gold export market as well. 35
So long as Rosas and Urquiza faced a common enemy, their relationship prospered.
Rosas drew upon the deeply rooted opposition to the unitarists and their European allies
throughout the Littoral to paper over differences between Buenos Aires and the interior.
The end of the European naval blockade in 1848, however, laid the growing commercial
tensions between the thriving rivertine ports throughout Entre Ríos under Urquiza’s
protection and Buenos Aires bare. Urquiza and his allies had flourished through their
growing cross-border trading relationships, particularly with merchants in Montevideo. With
the European blockade now lifted, Rosas sought to reassert porteño control over the rivertine
34 Adolfo Saldías, Cómo Surgió Urguiza (Buenos Aires: Plus Ultra, 1973).
35 Bosch, Urquiza y Su Tiempo.
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