“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...
“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ... “MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...
the Brazilians satisfy a list of new conditions that the Uruguayan merchant argued were necessary to address the increased risk associated with the transaction. First, Guarch now demanded that the cattle be provided before he sent the supplies across the border into Brazil. He further requested that the Brazilians tender the cattle across the border in the Estado Oriental. He indicated that he could not cross the border safely given the conditions in the neighboring republic. In short, Guarch used the fact of Ribeiro’s defection to exact a better deal from his embattled trading partners. At the same time, however, Guarch also used the negotiations over the Ribeiro contract to seek help from Brazilian officials in the Alegrete courts. In particular, Guarch drafted a letter to Almeida requesting that he intervene on his behalf by issuing a summons to Manoel José de Carvalho to appear in court. Recall that Carvalho purchased land from Domingos Vázquez in northern Uruguay, agreeing to make two annual payments. Carvalho had made the first payment, funneling the money through Fructuoso Rivera in 1837. Guarch now demanded Carvalho answer charges that he had defaulted on the second one. The previous month, Guarch had traveled to Alegrete. He had requested that Carvalho tender the remaining balance on the property plus interest. According to Guarch, when he appeared in Alegrete: It was not possible to obtain any result and given this fact I found it necessary to present to the Honorable juiz de direito of that town the demand [carta precatória] that I have attached for Your Excellency; however, I shortly had to abandon this project because the only judge was the municipal, Araújo, brother of Carvalho’s son-in-law, and given the state of things, in entering into said suit I was certain that I could place a stone over him and not obtain any result at all. 44 Guarch requested that Almeida ensure that he could obtain justice in the matter by appointing an impartial judge. By doing so, the Uruguayan turned to the same factional ties 44 CV-5122 (November 10, 1840). 84
that he had employed to first arrange the original land transaction in order to secure a verdict against Carvalho. Guarch did so at a moment of maximum leverage because Almeida no doubt recognized that Guarch could walk away from the commercial contract given Ribeiro’s defection. Put differently, Guarch indicated that legal protection from Almeida and others across the border in various local fora was a precondition for continuing commercial relationships. Guarch maintained his merchant business by carefully exploiting his leverage within reciprocal relationships like the one with Almeida to protect his legal rights. When Oribe defeated Rivera and seized control of the Uruguayan borderlands in 1843, these reciprocal ties across the border again proved vital to maintaining Guarch’s and Picant’s trading operations. We have already seen how Guarch shifted his overland commerce to the Uruguay River in order to maintain his connections with the Brazilians. Guarch further used these trading relationships to bolster his faction’s political position by supporting the correntino opposition to Rosas. When the Farrapos conflict ended in 1845, Guarch and Picant took advantage of the stability across the border to seek assistance from prominent Brazilians to recover debts for commercial transactions back in the Estado Oriental. In 1846, Picant wrote to Joaquim dos Santos Prado Lima, a local rancher and former police chief under the Farrapos in Alegrete. Prado Lima now served as Alegrete’s juiz municipal. In his letter, Picant requested help in recovering nearly 5,000 patacones from Eduardo Fernandez. Fernandez was another Uruguayan merchant engaged in overland transactions with Brazilian ranchers during the Farrapos War. According to Picant, Fernandez had received more than 7,000 head of cattle from him in connection with his commercial dealings with the Farrapos. After Oribe’s victory, however, Fernandez refused to make payment. This refusal perhaps reflected the fact that Fernadez’s own commercial 85
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- Page 77 and 78: Ríos in particular witnessed a dra
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- Page 81 and 82: simmering struggles. By 1840, local
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- Page 109 and 110: With his money now in limbo and his
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- Page 113 and 114: meant more than establishing a docu
- Page 115 and 116: Uruguaiana and Salto. 80 Chaves and
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- Page 121 and 122: status. Public recognition of one
- Page 123 and 124: They reasoned that “one has to re
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- Page 133 and 134: further agreed to provide payments
- Page 135 and 136: Sosa almost immediately responded.
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the Brazilians satisfy a list of new conditions that the Uruguayan merchant argued were<br />
necessary to address the increased risk associated with the transaction. First, Guarch now<br />
demanded that the cattle be provided before he sent the supplies across the border into<br />
Brazil. He further requested that the Brazilians tender the cattle across the border in the<br />
Estado Oriental. He indicated that he could not cross the border safely given the conditions<br />
in the neighboring republic. In short, Guarch used the fact of Ribeiro’s defection to exact a<br />
better deal from his embattled trading partners.<br />
At the same time, however, Guarch also used the negotiations over the Ribeiro<br />
contract to seek help from Brazilian officials in the Alegrete courts. In particular, Guarch<br />
drafted a letter to Almeida requesting that he intervene on his behalf by issuing a summons<br />
to Manoel José de Carvalho to appear in court. Recall that Carvalho purchased land from<br />
Domingos Vázquez in northern Uruguay, agreeing to make two annual payments. Carvalho<br />
had made the first payment, funneling the money through Fructuoso Rivera in 1837.<br />
Guarch now demanded Carvalho answer charges that he had defaulted on the second one.<br />
The previous month, Guarch had traveled to Alegrete. He had requested that Carvalho<br />
tender the remaining balance on the property plus interest. According to Guarch, when he<br />
appeared in Alegrete:<br />
It was not possible to obtain any result and given this fact I found it<br />
necessary to present to the Honorable juiz de direito of that town the demand<br />
[carta precatória] that I have attached for Your Excellency; however, I shortly<br />
had to abandon this project because the only judge was the municipal,<br />
Araújo, brother of Carvalho’s son-in-law, and given the state of things, in<br />
entering into said suit I was certain that I could place a stone over him and<br />
not obtain any result at all. 44<br />
Guarch requested that Almeida ensure that he could obtain justice in the matter by<br />
appointing an impartial judge. By doing so, the Uruguayan turned to the same factional ties<br />
<br />
44 CV-5122 (November 10, 1840).<br />
84 <br />
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