“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...
“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ... “MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...
period; a “necessary prelude to the creation of those parties of ideas that are compatible with peace and the ordinary development of free institutions.” 10 These fusionist efforts to forge a new national coalition based in Montevideo began with the election of Juan Giró to the presidency in 1852. Berro served as his Interior Minister. Giró, a blanco during the war, embarked on a campaign to incorporate important elements of the colorado faction into his government. Giró nominated Venancio Flores, a prominent colorado military officer in Montevideo, to the position of the capital’s jefe politico. He further appointed César Díaz, another colorado officer, his Minister of War. Still, these initial efforts to fold colorados and blancos into the new government largely failed to overcome political conflicts. The government faced constant financial hardships and crushing debt obligations to the neighboring Brazilians. Giró resorted to ever-increasing taxes on Montevideo’s powerful merchant community to keep the government running. Eventually, Giró’s government collapsed when colorados in Montevideo revolted against his policies. With the failure of their initial efforts to tramp down factional divisions, the fusionists in Montevideo sought to establish a new basis for the project through the creation of a plural executive. The old leaders of the Guerra Grande, Fructuoso Rivera and Juan Lavalleja, along with Flores, made up the new 1853 triumvirate. Although initially successful in unifying elites in the capital, the uneasy balance ended when Rivera and Lavalleja died in early 1854. Almost immediately, old factional divisions reemerged. In this instance, the blanco party rose in opposition to Flores. Flores in turn requested aid from the Brazilian government. Some 5,000 imperial troops occupied Montevideo for nearly year. Flores eventually fled the country for Buenos Aires. 10 Bernardo P. Berro, Escritos Selectos (Montevideo: Bibilioteca Artigas, 1966), 178. 154
The 1855 occupation reinvigorated efforts to forge a fusion between the traditional political rivals. Elites in the Montevideo focused their attention on controlling the country’s interior. Berro was particularly open about the need to impose order on the countryside. Berro, joined by prominent elites in Montevideo supporting the fusionist movement, called for the end of the rule of rural caudillos who defied central authorities. Andrés Lamas, the colorado diplomat and politician, emerged as one of the most prominent advocates for the fusionist movement in Montevideo. Lamas served as the republic’s plenipotentiary envoy to the Brazilian government from 1840 until 1876. In this capacity, he played a critical role in securing Brazilian support for the 1851 campaigns to defeat Rosas and Oribe. He also had a lead role in negotiating the 1851 treaties that accorded the imperial government substantial authority over Uruguay’s domestic affairs. With the Guerra Grande now over, however, Lamas became a forceful advocate for Uruguayan sovereignty and the end of its tutelage to the Brazilians. In 1855, Lamas penned a lengthy manifesto entitled simply Andrés Lamas a sus compatriotas that forcefully advocated for the fusionist project. 11 Like Berro, Lamas called for the end of the traditional political divisions between the colorado and blanco parties and the creation of new parties of ideas. Lamas sharpened Berro’s arguments, however, by directly calling for the country’s coastal elites to forge a new alliance to usurp the authority of rural caudillos. Lamas described the old rural elite as “vultures” that “fed upon the men of our countryside.” He continued that for the inhabitants in the interior, “there was no rule or protection of law.” This rendered the countryside little more than a “school for Vandals.” Lamas instead envisioned a government of “those vecinos most interested in local prosperity in the interior.” These new sources of 11 Andrés Lamas, Pablo Blanco Acevedo, and Ariosto D. González, Escritos Selectos del Dr. D. Andres Lamas, vol. 2 (Montevideo,: Tip. de Arduino hnos., 1922), 1-90. 155
- Page 113 and 114: meant more than establishing a docu
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The 1855 occupation reinvigorated efforts to forge a fusion between the traditional<br />
political rivals. Elites in the Montevideo focused their attention on controlling the country’s<br />
interior. Berro was particularly open about the need to impose order on the countryside.<br />
Berro, joined by prominent elites in Montevideo supporting the fusionist movement, called<br />
for the end of the rule of rural caudillos who defied central authorities. Andrés Lamas, the<br />
colorado diplomat and politician, emerged as one of the most prominent advocates for the<br />
fusionist movement in Montevideo. Lamas served as the republic’s plenipotentiary envoy to<br />
the Brazilian government from 1840 until 1876. In this capacity, he played a critical role in<br />
securing Brazilian support for the 1851 campaigns to defeat Rosas and Oribe. He also had a<br />
lead role in negotiating the 1851 treaties that accorded the imperial government substantial<br />
authority over Uruguay’s domestic affairs.<br />
With the Guerra Grande now over, however, Lamas became a forceful advocate for<br />
Uruguayan sovereignty and the end of its tutelage to the Brazilians. In 1855, Lamas penned<br />
a lengthy manifesto entitled simply Andrés Lamas a sus compatriotas that forcefully advocated<br />
for the fusionist project. 11 Like Berro, Lamas called for the end of the traditional political<br />
divisions between the colorado and blanco parties and the creation of new parties of ideas.<br />
Lamas sharpened Berro’s arguments, however, by directly calling for the country’s coastal<br />
elites to forge a new alliance to usurp the authority of rural caudillos. Lamas described the old<br />
rural elite as “vultures” that “fed upon the men of our countryside.” He continued that for<br />
the inhabitants in the interior, “there was no rule or protection of law.” This rendered the<br />
countryside little more than a “school for Vandals.” Lamas instead envisioned a government<br />
of “those vecinos most interested in local prosperity in the interior.” These new sources of<br />
<br />
11 Andrés Lamas, Pablo Blanco Acevedo, and Ariosto D. González, Escritos Selectos del<br />
Dr. D. Andres Lamas, vol. 2 (Montevideo,: Tip. de Arduino hnos., 1922), 1-90.<br />
155 <br />
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