“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

see no reason for this city to be deprived of such a good citizen [tão bom
cidadão] and honorable magistrate [honrado magistrado].” 120
Lourenço wrote his own letter to the president, noting that “a number of the principal
Citizens of this town have been traveling along the frontier, soliciting opposition to me.” 121
The clash between Lourenço and Sá Brito provides another example of the ongoing
tensions throughout the 1830s between borderlands inhabitants and central authorities. As
we have seen, imperial officials in the mid-1830s were engaged in a concerted effort to
control the southern borderlands. Appointing Lourenço provided a mechanism to enforce
imperial laws – particularly revenue measures – regulating the cross-border activities of
Alegrete’s ranching community. At the same time, removing a prominent local judge like Sá
Brito threatened to destabilize the reciprocal relationships that linked localized nodes of
justice together throughout the borderlands. Not surprisingly, Lourenço’s nomination
provoked a sharp backlash. By defending Sá Brito, Prado Lima and his allies equally
defended the borderlands economy and the town’s local autonomy. They also publicly
manifested their connections to Sá Brito and other local judicial officials. With the outbreak
of the Farrapos Rebellion, Sá Brito retained his district judgeship in Alegrete under the rebel
government. He served in that capacity until 1842. 122
Having helped secure Sá Brito’s judicial office in Alegrete, Prado Lima now drew
upon his reciprocal relationships with the juiz de direito to vindicate his property rights. He
entered the court bringing with him his history of political support for the judge. What Sá
Brito now offered in return was the ability to declare Prado Lima’s property rights publicly.
Educated at the elite Coimbra University in Portugal, as well as at the Academia de São
120 Ibid.
121 AHRGS. Câmara de Alegrete: Correspondência Expedida, Carta dirgida ao Illmo Exmo
Sen Presidente desta Provincia sobre Bacharel Francisco de Sá Brito Junior (June 2, 1834).
122 Francisco de Sá Brito and Paulino Jacques, Memória da Guerra dos Farrapos (Rio de
Janeiro: Gráf. Editôra Souza, 1950).
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