LONG LIVE THE FEDERATION!

Córdoba, April 16th, 1841

Most Excellent Señor Governor Don Manuel López,

I just found out at this moment that Roca addressed a little letter to Your Excellency, and I have anticipated that it will be his business to communicate to Your Excellency a disagreement that he has had with his stepchildren: Your Excellency cannot imagine the grief that it has caused me to have to tell you [about] the annoyance of a man that should close his mouth in a matter in which he is precisely at fault. . . only a man like him can have the audacity to address Your Excellency. But I hope that Your Excellency will not take one step without being well informed; I hope that you will acquaint the authorities with "my sons" because that is also what I call them. . . and all of [the local authorities] have known that…[Roca] does not have the authority because only he has wanted to commit the most atrocious slander, and hoping to find protection in Your Excellency that everyone here denies. . . But as Providence does not forsake justice, I have been able to be afforded counsel, and as such, I feel obligated to say in favor of justice that whatever Roca says against them is a grave lie; because I know the irreprehensible behavior of the children, their honor, and all the qualities that can rest in a man that has the title of honest and honorable man.

Not having time to make a report of what has happened, I will be content with saying to Your Excellency that Roca has wanted to accuse the children of being Unitarians because he had no other more noble weapons to attack them; but he has deceived himself into believing that he could prove anything because he cannot provide more proof than hearsay that one of them composed a song against the Federalists. . . and above all, they are children who still do not have the ability to think things over, and [even if the accusations were true] it is not so strange that they were blinded, and [even] cautious men have been surprised by the craftiness of the Savages [Unitarians].

I hope that Your Excellency will not make the case [only] from all that Roca says, and that you will not take action against them until you are well informed, and in order not to have the slightest misgivings, Teresita and I will guarantee their conduct. . .

Ignacia Funes
Teresa Bulnes de Aldao

[Excerpted from Final Judgement, June 8, 1831]

In Buenos Aires on June 8th, 1831, [those] present in the courtroom of the Public Court are Dr. Don Ventura Martínez, Counsel to Don Eduardo Brown, his son Don Leonardo Brown, Don Manuel Alvarez, and Doña Magdalena Rivas and her daughter, Doña Magdalena. Having provided the report of Don Martínez, as the counsel to the first expressed [Don Eduardo Brown], to the judge: that in attention to having left the authority of his father without consent and finding the young Don Leonardo still under the patria potestad for not being more than nineteen years of age, asked the court the restitution of what was taken, such as a box that had been bought and a mattress as a sign of marriage which had been given to the young woman that he had tried to marry. In this case, I take the word of Doña Magdalena Rivas, mother of the young woman indicated, who confessed that these were gifts that had been made to the referred daughter by the young man Don Leonardo. Heard before all of You Señores and Señoras, it is resolved that the young man be returned to his house of his father, ordering the same mother of the young woman the expressed indicated be restituted with which this concludes this act. . .

Edward Brown
Leonard Brown

[Plea to Court, August 11, 1831]

Don Edward Brown, appearing before Your Excellency as the best law provider, says: that after having reclaimed from Your Excellency the legal protection of patria potestad for the flight that my son made from my house and the other excesses committed by my son, Leonardo, he reached the point of denying his ancestry, which I proved to the satisfaction of the court. Unfortunately, another incident has occurred that adds further credence to the bad behavior of this young man.

He has presented himself before the President of the most Excellent Chamber denying my authority as a father and requesting permission to contract marriage, and to prove my authority, it is indispensable to have the court clerk provide me the affidavit of what happened before Your Excellency for the reasons I have already indicated. . . Edward Brown, Buenos Aires, August 11, 1831.

A person must be very conscious of himself at the dinner table, since it is there that he must observe an infinite number of rules in order to avoid all forms of rudeness and ill-breeding. Parting from the notion that cleanliness is never more necessary than at the table, the Child will wash his hands after all other persons superior to him have done so, taking care not to wash at the same time as these others, unless he is expressly not forbidden to do so, in which case the man-servant should be nearby to provide a towel.

The fourth Commandment of the Decalogue indicates to us in the strongest fashion the reverence and respect that must be shown toward our parents. It is the first precept imposed on us by the second tablet of the Law of Grace, and which must be obeyed in the strictest fashion after the first three precepts of the first tablet which refer to God. The Child will look with horror upon all deeds or words that may be interpreted as disobedience, contempt, mockery, or inattention toward his Parents. He will kiss their hands upon entering the house or wherever He encounters them.

LONG LIVE THE FEDERATION!

General Department of Police

CONTRACT
Buenos Aires, March 1841
Year 32 of Liberty, 25 of Independence,
and 12 of the Argentine Confederation

We, the undersigned, in accordance with the Law of November 17, 1821, agree upon the following articles:

Art. 1. We, the principals of Bourgan, Funge, and Co., declare that, in accordance with the proposal made to us by Doña Juana María Olivera to accept her son, Benjamín Montes, as apprentice in our factory, and receiving her promises of his good conduct, have agreed to do so for a term of three years, beginning at such time as we commence his training in the making of plush and silk hats at the level of perfections at which they are currently produced.

Art. 2. We commit ourselves to his maintenance and to give him shelter and thirty-five pesos monthly during the agreed-upon term of three years.

Art. 3. Benjamín Montes commits himself to perform all duties customary in the factory on Sundays and holidays, as required of him. He will maintain his cleanliness, he will be punctual in his working hours, and with his obligations away from the factory during such days when there is no work, and he will comply with his religious obligations.

Art. 4. Benjamín Montes, apprentice, will be obligated to maintain good order and harmony with the other members of the house during the agreed-upon term of three years, and to obey without hesitation whatever we or the foreman may ask of him (which will be only those things related to the factory or to its good order), and in the event that Benjamín should flee from the factory, it is the obligation of his mother to find him and to bring him back, and two days will be added to the contracted period of service for every day that he remains a fugitive.

Art. 5. I, Benjamín Montes, fully cognizant of everything contained in the previous four articles, and with the approval of My Lady Mother, declare that from this day forth I enter into apprenticeship for the agreed upon term of three years in the hat factory of Messrs. Bourgan Bunge (sic) and Co. under the conditions and obligations herein expressed, and as proof or our [agreement] they add their signatures to the one of My Lady Mother…and to the same effect it is all hereby authorized by the Chief of Police.

Quantitative Evidence, School Population in Buenos Aires, Argentina

In this regard it is convenient and of great value to Portugal, given the great multitude of foundlings and [male] orphans that exist in this Realm, who could be of great utility to the Republic, [if] raised in proper doctrine and placed in trades. It is more expedient to use this remedy in maritime regions, such as Lisbon, Setúbal, Porto, Viana, and in the Algarve; for in these [places], orphans and the abandoned once taken into custody could supply ships with cabin-boys, and swabbers for vessels, and sailors, all of whom there is a great shortage in this Realm. The proper teaching and training would be of great profit to our navigations, for there is a common lack of breeding geared toward men of the sea, as we have seen in so many shipwrecks and losses, of which there are many complaints. With this remedy we will also stop many of those who pretend to be poor, or who are vagabonds in this Realm, and they will occupy themselves in honest work. This will be of benefit to the Republic, and with this the number of residents in those locations would increase, and the population in the Realm.

This way of recruiting the orphans is so well-known that already in 1641 the members of the Cortes [the Portuguese parliament] asked His Majesty with these words: "It would be greatly advantageous that in the amassing of young orphans we recruit many boys, and that an amount be applied for their sustenance, for they will be taught the art of seafaring, with which there will always be an abundance of mariners, of whom there is a great lack in this Realm." [They gave] the example of the hospital that the Queen of Castile set up in Madrid to train boys to be mariners due to the existing shortage of them. And the response from His Majesty is that he would order that which they asked of him.

The same that has been said for the relief and remedy of orphaned boys can be said of orphaned girls. This is better yet, [because] much more care must be given to them, for lack of support is a greater danger to them, for women have much less means of making a living than men. Thus it is appropriate that a remedy be found for them, by applying all the means that can exist to have these [female] orphans of the people get married: for besides the great service [this will provide] to Our Lord by removing the occasion for them to disgrace themselves, we will attain our aim of increasing the number of people with the multiplication of marriages. The City of Milan, which is the most populous in Europe, serves as an example of this; one of the reasons for its growth is the dowry it provides each year to 800 [female] orphans. The same can be seen in the increase that the city of Seville has had for some years; for whereas much of it was caused by the commerce with the Indies, we can also attribute it to the marriages that take place each year of a great number of [female] orphans. In that city there are chapels. . . founded exclusively with large endowments to marry many [female] orphans: besides this there are many hospitals. . . that each marry many young women, and there are many more [public and private charities] that with the surplus from their revenues carry out this act of charity.

To put this means to work: we say that some portion of municipal revenues could be used, where a surplus exists, or some revenue from the head tax could be assigned to this, which income could be used solely for this pious work. We would also ask all municipal judges and officials that whenever they find money or bequests left to spend on pious works that were not named by the testators, they order [this money] spent entirely on these weddings. And likewise other similar things could be found for this purpose.