First Revolutionary Symptoms in South America....Morales and Quiroga....Character of Morales....Of Quiroga....Discovery made by Captain Salinas to two Friars....Their Report to the Government....Imprisonment of Morales, Quiroga, Salinas, and Riofrio....Character of Salinas....of Dr. Riofrio....Liberation of the Prisoners....Junta formed at Quito....Advice of to the President, Count Ruis....Manner in which the Revolution was conducted....New Oath....Marquis of Selva Alegre....Character of....Dissensions in the New Government....Count Ruis reinstated....Arrival of Troops from Lima and Santa FÉ....Imprisonment of the Insurgents....Trial of....Character of the Count Ruis....Of the Oidor Don Felipe Fuertes Amar....Of the Fiscal Arrechaga....Of Colonel Arredonda....Proceso sent to Santa FÉ.

Shortly after the arrival of his Excellency the Count Ruis de Castilla at Quito, the capital of his government, the collegians of San Fernando presented him with four theatrical representations, at which the whole of the nobility attended as spectators. The pieces chosen were Cato, Andromacha, Zoraida, and the Auraucana, the whole of them tending in their design and argument to inculcate a spirit of freedom, a love of liberty, and principles of republicanism. However, as is often the case with people who visit public exhibitions with a predetermination to be pleased, this tendency passed unobserved by the president and the other members of the government. Inattentive to what the state of affairs in the mother country might produce in the colonies, the American rulers judged that they themselves were surrounded by the same obedient vassals whom their predecessors had governed, without ever dreaming that the people were awake to what was actually passing in the parent state; for, although the opportunity of deriving information from the press was prevented by the government, yet the Americans who resided in Spain at this period were very actively employed in communicating to their friends in America the true state of affairs, and the natives were generally better informed of what passed in the mother country, than the Spaniards resident in America or even the government itself; because Spanish correspondents being loath to place their property in America in jeopardy, or judging that the colonists had only to obey whatever orders they might receive, either gave indistinct or favourably exaggerated accounts; or else treated the Americans with that contempt which as their superiors they fancied they had a right to exercise.

After the performance of the pieces, I became gradually acquainted with the individuals who had selected them—Dr. Quiroga and Don Manuel Morales; the former an advocate of some respectability, a native of Arequipa in Peru, married in Quito; the latter, a native of the city of Mariquita in the Viceroyalty of Santa FÉ de BogotÁ, had been secretary to the government when the Baron de Carondelet was President; but having offended him, Morales was discarded from his situation by the orders of the Baron. He hoped to have been restored on the arrival of the Count Ruis; but this chief having in his suite a young advocate of the name of Don Tomas Arrechaga, whom he had educated, and for whom he wished to provide, the claims of Morales were disregarded, and Arrechaga was nominated secretary to the government.

Morales was possessed of a strong mind, had received a liberal education, and having been employed many years in the secretary's office, had obtained a knowledge of the affairs of the government and an insight into the intrigues of the Spanish court. He considered himself unjustly dealt with by the Baron de Carondelet, and more so by the Count Ruis, who could only know his failings through the too often distorted medium of report: he saw his situation filled by a stranger, himself an exile, and was determined to be revenged on those whom he regarded as the supporters if not the authors of his disgrace. To this end circumstances that could not possibly escape his observation aided him; and had not rashness prompted him to execute his designs prematurely, he might have succeeded, and have lived to receive the thanks of his countrymen; whereas, his ashes can only be revered by them, his name can only dwell in their memories with painful regret, or gratitude drop a tear at the recollection of his untimely death.

Quiroga was of an unquiet aspiring disposition, rash and undaunted in his undertakings, but very self-opinionated: unable to brook controul in any shape, but open to conviction when persuasion was the medium. He was successful as a pleader at the bar, loquacious and eloquent, but even here his hasty temper drove him into difficulties; he was repeatedly reprimanded by the tribunal, and at length was not only mulct, but even suspended from the exercise of his office as an advocate. In one instance, when a fine was imposed upon him, he declared that he could in no manner pay it, because the tribunal was not competent to levy it; that the Regent and Oidores had taken possession of their seats on the bench contrary to law, or held them contrary to justice; and he proved his assertions by stating the cases, quoting the laws, and citing the regulations of the tribunal. This necessarily drew down upon him the hatred of the members, and obliged him to leave the bar. Quiroga was the constant companion of Morales, and, like him, expected that on the arrival of Count Ruis, an appeal to his Excellency, as President of the royal audience, would restore him to the exercise of his profession; but a report from the Regent Bustillas prevented the fulfilment of his expectations, and this circumstance drove him to despair.

These two disappointed individuals chose the dramatic pieces which were performed at the college of San Fernando in October, 1809, selected perhaps in order to probe the government; if so, the result was completely satisfactory to their views, for not the least suspicion was evinced, nor any alarm taken.

In February, 1809, Captain Salinas, who was commander of the infantry at Quito, informed two friars, Father Polo and another, of a plan that was about to be formed to depose the Spanish authorities in Quito, and to elect others from among the most respectable citizens, as substitutes. The information was immediately reported by the friars to the President, and a secret commission was given to the Oidor Fuertes Amar to proceed against all suspected individuals according to law. Don Pedro MuÑos was appointed to act as privy secretary, but this man had no other qualification than that of being a native of Spain. Quiroga, Morales, and the parish priest of Sangolqui, Dr. Riofrio, and Captain Salinas, were apprehended, and placed under an arrest in the convent of La Merced. Their declarations were taken down in writing by MuÑos, and every possible means employed to prevent the people from becoming acquainted with the state of the proceso; no person was allowed to see the prisoners, and they were deprived of the means of communicating to their friends any particulars relating to their situation; the secretary was not allowed the assistance of an amanuensis, and every inquisitorial practice was brought into action. In the beginning of April, when MuÑos was going in the evening to the palace to report on the proceedings to the President, the papers were stolen from him. This accident produced considerable confusion; many who were really concerned in the plot were assured that their names had never been mentioned by the prisoners, who uniformly denied having any knowledge of it; and Salinas protested against having mentioned any thing concerning it to the friars. Thus by a fortunate accident the plans of the government were frustrated, the prosecution ceased, and the prisoners were liberated. This occurrence, however, taught them to be more on the alert, and to be more careful in future; but the torch was lighted, and although the flame had been smothered for a short time, it was not extinguished.

The character of Salinas was well known to Morales and Quiroga. He was a true QuiteÑo, volatile and variable, embracing every novel object with avidity, without reflection, or discrimination; the pursuit of any new scheme was as ardently begun by Salinas, as it was easily abandoned the moment it ceased to be new, or the moment that another was suggested; but as this officer was at the head of the infantry, which consisted of about four hundred men, with part of which he had been formerly stationed at Panama, and which in their opinion was considered a campaign in a foreign country, he had become the idol of the soldiers; so that it was absolutely necessary that Salinas should be brought over to second the plans of Morales and Quiroga; and this was easily effected—the plan was novel, and promised a succession of what was most congenial to his feelings.

Dr. Riofrio was a secular clergyman, of a sullen morose temper, ready to coincide with any set of men whose plans were calculated to bid defiance to any thing that did not please him; yet, whether from natural imbecility, or natural cowardice, he seemed to be only an instrument, and probably became acquainted with the plans in agitation by being a frequent visitor at a house in Quito where Morales had lived, and on account of his own house being sometimes the residence of Morales, when he was estranged from Quito by the President Carondelet. This man and Salinas were both natives of Quito, but neither of them of families of rank or fortune, although from the situations which both had held they were very respectable.

After the release of the four denounced conspirators, Salinas and Riofrio returned to their former occupations; Quiroga to his home, more injured than ever; and Morales went into the country, without having reaped any advantage except experience. The government now appeared quite satisfied in having declared the acquittal of the prisoners honourable; they were pleased that no act of injustice had been committed, and flattered themselves that the papers lost by MuÑos had fallen into the hands of some pick-pocket, or that having been dropt in the street, they had ceased to exist in a shape which might betray their intentions. But they were deceived; the papers found their way into the study of Quiroga, who drew such conclusions from them as best suited his own ends, and disseminated their contents among such individuals as he judged most proper to entrust them with. From April to August, 1809, nothing particular occurred, except new advices from Spain; so that the abdication of Carlos, the accession of Fernando, the imprisonment of the King, and the invasion of the country by the French, were the subject matter of every conversation. But still tranquillity reigned in every part of the colonies, and their inhabitants seemed to vie with each other in enthusiastic demonstrations of loyalty and attachment to their amado Fernando. Every new advice from Spain served to increase the apprehension and the dismay of the governments and Spaniards residing in America; and their whole attention was so engrossed with the state of affairs in the country to which they belonged, that they had not time to meditate on the effects which might be produced by it in the country in which they were stationed—satisfied that the colonies must follow the fate of the parent state, just as if it had been annexed to it by the ties of nature, instead of being attached to it by the most unnatural connexions. But the bubble burst when and where it was perhaps least expected to happen, and although the effects of the explosion were soon repressed, yet it rent the veil, and laid the foundation of that emancipation which the whole of the heretofore enslaved nations of the new world now enjoy.

On the morning of the 10th of August, 1809, at an early hour, two natives of Quito, Ante and Aguire, waited on the president with a letter. The orderly who was at the door of the antechamber objected to carry any letter or message to his Excellency at so unusual an hour; but Ante persisted in the necessity of its immediate delivery, saying, that it contained matters of importance from the Junta Soberana, sovereign junta, a name as new in the ears of the orderly as was the body itself new in America. The orderly awoke the president, delivering the letter, and repeated the words which he had heard, as an excuse for his untimely errand. The president having read the superscription—"From the sovereign junta to the Count Ruis, ex-president of Quito," dressed himself, and read the following:

"The present unsettled state of Spain, the total annihilation of the lawfully constituted authorities, and the dangers of the crown of the beloved Ferdinand VII. and his domains falling into the hands of the tyrant of Europe, have impelled our trans-atlantic brothers to form provincial governments for their personal security, as well against the machinations of some of their traitorous countrymen, unworthy of the name of Spaniards, as against the arms of the common enemy: the loyal inhabitants of Quito, resolved to secure to their legitimate King and Master this part of his kingdom, have established a sovereign junta in this city of San Francisco de Quito, of which, and by the command of his Serene Highness the President and the vocal members, I have the honour to inform your lordship, and to announce to you, that the functions of the members of the old government have ceased: God preserve your lordship many years. Hall of the junta in Quito, August 10th, 1809: Manuel Morales secretary of the interior."

After reading this unexpected epistle, his Excellency entered the antechamber, and walked towards the messengers, who inquired whether he had received the note, and on being answered in the affirmative, they bowed, turned round, and retired. The count followed them to the outer door and attempted to pass it, but he was prevented by the sentry. He now sent his orderly to call the officer of the guard, who politely answered, that he could not consistently with the orders he had received, speak with the Count, pronouncing the last word with considerable emphasis. A great number of people began to assemble in the square before the palace, at six o'clock, when a royal salute was fired, and the military music, stationed on the esplanade in front of the palace, continued playing some national airs till nine o'clock. At this time the members of the new executive government met, the Marquis of Selva Alegre, president, the vocal members, the Marquis of Orellana, Marquis of Solanda, Count of Casa Guerrero, Marquis of Miraflores, Don Manuel Zambrano, Don Manuel Mateus, and Don Pedro Montufar, the two ministers. Morales and Quiroga: the declaration of the installation was published, and the form of the oath to be administered to all persons employed under the new government was drawn up. The Bishop of Quito was elected vice-president, but he refused to assist at this or any subsequent meeting.

The whole of the revolutionary change was effected in the night of the ninth. Morales came to Quito, and, with Quiroga, convened a meeting; he informed the members of the risk in which the country at large stood, set forth the intention of the government to acknowledge Napoleon as their sovereign, because the Kings of Spain had ceded their sovereignty to him, and exhorted them at the same time to preserve themselves and this part of the Spanish dominions from the fate that awaited the rest; and this he told them could only be done by establishing a provincial government in the name of Fernando, and of removing all suspicious persons from their offices. This harangue was nothing but a matter of form, because all the preliminaries had been agreed on beforehand. Salinas, being present, was deputed to bring over the soldiers, which he immediately did; he went to the barracks, and having formed the infantry in the square or patio—he informed them that their beloved King was a prisoner in France; expatiated on his sufferings; told them that the existing governments in America were determined to deliver up the country to the common enemy, and concluded by asking them, whether they would defend their beloved Ferdinand, or become the slaves of Bonaparte? The deluded soldiers immediately shouted Viva Fernando Septimo! Viva Quito! The commandant of the cavalry, Don Joaquin Saldumbide, received orders for the same purpose, and executed them in the same manner. On the return of these two individuals to the junta, they were commanded to give the necessary orders to the different guards, and to administer to the troops the following oath:

"I swear by God and on the cross of my sword, to defend my legitimate King, Ferdinand VII.; to maintain and protect his rights; to support the purity of the holy Roman Catholic Church; and to obey the constituted authorities."

After the conclusion of this ceremony, the necessary orders were given to the officer of the guard at the president's palace, barracks, and prisons: a guard was placed at the door of each suspected person, particularly at those of the Regent and Oidores; and the members of the government retired to their houses.

An express was immediately sent to Chillo, an estate belonging to the Marquis of Selva Alegre, with the news of what had taken place, and a request that his lordship would immediately come to Quito, and take possession of the supreme command of the government of the kingdom. Thus, in one night, without bloodshed or even without any popular commotion, a government which had been established for more than three centuries was displaced, and a new one erected on its basis.

The Marquis of Selva Alegre arrived on the morning of the tenth, and was visited by the members of the new government, while the two ministers proceeded on their duty to place new officers and clerks in the secretary's office, and to take charge of the archives belonging to the royal audience.

The character of Selva Alegre is almost indefinable. As a private man he was extremely kind and polite, having more of the polished courtier about him than might be supposed to exist in an individual born in what may be termed a sequestered country. Both in his town and country house a great deal of taste and splendour were exhibited, in a manner somewhat uncommon at Quito; yet neither his income nor his popularity could in any way be compared to those of Miraflores nor Solanda. As a public character Selva Alegre was extremely unfit; wavering and timid, wishing rather to reconcile the two parties than to support either; fond of show and parade, but frightened at his own shadow, as if it mocked him. At the gaze of the people he would, like a peacock, have allowed his gaudy plumage to fall to the ground; he would have endeavoured to hide himself, or, as the most enthusiastic QuiteÑos expressed themselves, "his shoes did not fit him."

On the thirteenth the new government visited the church of the Carmen Alto, the different members dressed in their robes of ceremony; His Serene Highness in the full costume of the Order of Charles III., of which he was a knight; the members of the junta in scarlet and black; the two ministers were distinguished by large plumes in their hats; the corporation, officers of the treasury, and other tribunals, in their old Spanish uniforms, and the military in blue, faced with white instead of red, as heretofore.

After the thirteenth of August, anarchy began to preside at all the meetings of the junta. Morales insisted on a reform in the regulations of the tribunals; Quiroga, that preparations offensive and defensive against the neighbouring provinces which did not follow the example of Quito should be made; Selva Alegre and the members wished that every thing might remain as it was. However the army was increased, and detachments sent to Guallabamba against the Pastusos, and to Huaranda, to prevent an invasion by the GuayaquileÑos. The people began to shew marks of discontent, particularly dreading a scarcity of salt, which article was procured from Guayaquil. The governor of Guayaquil first threatened to invade the provinces, next the Viceroy of Santa FÉ, and lastly the Viceroy of Peru. Advices arrived that troops from these different quarters were absolutely on their march, and to complete the consternation of the people, the Count Ruis retired from his palace into the country, to a small quinta, or country seat, two leagues from the city, where he remained, till on the night of the eighth of November a deputation from the sovereign junta waited on him with proposals for his reinstatement in the presidency, to which he acceded. On the part of the president the condition was, that the members of the junta should retire to their respective homes, and become quiet citizens, as before the tenth of August; and on the part of the junta, that what had passed should be referred to the central junta in Spain, and that no prosecution should take place against them until the resolution of the representative authority of Spain should be known. These simple preliminaries being agreed to, his excellency the Count Ruis entered Quito on the following morning, and was received with the most enthusiastic demonstrations of joy; the inhabitants and the members of the ex-junta presented themselves, and made a tender of their several titles, which were accepted by the president, and with all the acts and other papers belonging to the intrusive government, as it was stiled, were ordered to be burnt; but Arrechaga, instead of obeying the order given to him, kept them with the most depraved intention for the most execrable purposes.

On the second of December the auxiliary troops arrived from Lima and Guayaquil, composed of five hundred infantry, and fifty artillery men, under the command of Colonel Arredonda. The inhabitants of Quito, relying on the fulfilment of the conditions agreed to by the Count Ruis, erected triumphal arches to receive them, and strewed flowers along the streets as they passed; but scarcely had they taken quiet possession of the city, and disbanded the native troops, than Arrechaga, who had been appointed fiscal on the death of Yriarte, advised Arredonda to solicit of the president an order for the apprehension of all persons who had taken an active part in the late revolt, grounding his solicitude on the law of power, that good faith ought not to be kept with traitors. The count had the weakness to accede to the request of Arredonda, and an order was immediately issued commanding Don Manuel Arredonda, Colonel of Infantry, and Commandant of the Pacifying Troops, tropas pacificadoras, to arrest all the persons who had been concerned in the late rebellion, the names of whom were subministered by Arrechaga, and on the twelfth of December upwards of fifty of the most respectable inhabitants of Quito were dragged from their homes, and immured in cells in the barracks. Judge Fuertes Amar was again appointed to form the proceso criminal. Every succeeding day brought new victims to the prison, for not only those who had taken an active part in the affair were apprehended, but many individuals also to whom letters had been written by the insurgents; and some because they had not declared themselves hostile to the revolutionary government; however the Regent, Oidores, Fiscals, and other persons who had remained neuter, and some Spaniards in office who had kept their places during the administration of the junta, were not included in the number; but the Bishop, who, being an American, was included in the list of insurgents, and accused of having connived at the treason of his flock, because he did not anathematize them, interdict the places of public worship, and sentence to everlasting torments all schismatics to royalty and passive obedience.

Two hundred more soldiers arrived from Santa FÉ de BogotÁ, and brought with them a greater security to the ministers of despotism, and the whole of the provinces of Quito groaned under their tyranny. Many of the most wealthy inhabitants fled to their estates in the country, and many, although totally unconnected with the affairs of the junta, were afraid of being swept away by the torrent of persecution. Among those who fortunately absconded, and eluded the vigilance of the government, was the Marquis of Selva Alegre: the Marquis of Miraflores died of grief in his own house, and a guard of soldiers was placed over him even till he was interred.

Not content with imprisoning those persons who might be termed the ringleaders, the soldiers were taken into custody, and placed in a separate prison, called the presidio. This alarmed the lower classes, who began to steal into the country, and seek in the mountains and woods an asylum against the systematic persecution that now pervaded the miserable hut of the labourer as well as the residence of his employer—the cabin of the indigent as well as the mansion of the wealthy. Provisions became daily more scarce in the city, the soldiery in the same ratio became more insolent, when, to crown the state of desperation among all classes of the inhabitants, except the natives of Spain who resided here, the examination of the prisoners was concluded, and the vista fiscal was drawn up. This horrible production, worthy of its author, Arrechaga, divided the prisoners into three classes, but sentenced them all to death: their number was eighty-four, including the prisoners and the absent, who were outlawed; even the Bishop was not excluded, although, according to the laws of Spain, he could only be tried by the council of Castile. Distress, affliction, and grief now reigned triumphant: mothers, wives, and daughters filled the air with their cries for mercy on their sons, their husbands, and their brothers, who had been torn from them and immured in dungeons, where they were not allowed to visit them; and who lay under sentence of an ignominious death, no hopes being left, except that the president would not confirm the sentence, and in this hope they were not deceived.

When the proceso was concluded, and required no more than the veto of the president, it was presented to him; but instead of concurring in the opinion of the fiscal, and giving way to the entreaties of Colonel Arredonda, he ordered the papers to remain in his cabinet. The agitation of the old count was now truly distressing, and he frequently said to me, that he would prefer signing his own death-warrant to the sacrificing of so many deluded victims, the greater part of whom had only committed an error of judgment, founded, perhaps, on a mistaken sense of loyalty; at last he determined to refer the case for revision to the Viceroy of Santa FÉ, to the inconceivable chagrin of Fuertes, Arrechaga, and Arredonda, who all founded their hopes of preferment in Spain on the execution of the prisoners, who had been denominated traitors.

The Count Ruis was at this time eighty-four years of age; he had resided in America upwards of forty; first in the capacity of Corregidor of Oruro, then of Governor Intendent of Huancavilica, afterwards as President of Cusco, and lastly of Quito. When at Huancavilica he commanded the troops, in 1780, against the unfortunate Tupac Umaru, who was taken prisoner, and quartered alive in the plasa mayor at Cusco, by being tied to four wild colts, which were driven to the four opposite angles of the square.

When President of Cusco, the unhappy victims of Spanish jealousy and cruelty, Ubalde and Ugarte, in 1796, were executed on an ex-parte evidence. This proceso was conducted by the Oidor Berriosabal, afterwards Count of San Juan and Marquis of Casa Palma, and who was afterwards, in 1821, proscribed in Lima by San Martin. The Count Ruis as a private individual was remarkably kind and familiar, and excessively charitable: in his public capacity he was too easily overruled, especially by persons in authority under him, and when he could be induced to believe them to be actuated by motives of justice; but he was obstinate in the greatest degree if he once suspected their integrity. The court of Spain was so well convinced of the virtuous character of this nobleman, that in 1795 a royal order was issued inhibiting him from a residenciary investigation at the expiration of his first government of Cusco: an honour which I believe was never conferred on any other governor in the Spanish colonies.

The Oidor Don Felipe Fuertes Amar was remarkably timid, in fact he was a complete coward, and this weakness brought him to the gallows, during a commotion of the indians in 1810.

The Fiscal Don Tomas Arrechaga was a native of Oruro, said to be the offspring of a friar of San Juan de Dios and a mestisa of Oruro. The Count Ruis took him when a boy under his protection, educated him, and brought him to Quito to establish him in the profession of the law, which he had studied. Arrechaga was brutal in his looks, his manners, and his actions; he was possessed of all the subtle cruelty peculiar to the caste of chinos, which is a mixture of African and indian blood: his mother was of the latter race, and his father was not entirely exempt from the former. Arrechaga would have waded through the blood of his countrymen to secure promotion; and from the first discovery of the country this had been too often the means of obtaining it.

Don Manuel Arredonda was the son of the Viceroy of Buenos Ayres, and nephew to the Regent of the Royal Audience of Lima; he was in search of reputation, fame, and promotion—not in the cannon's mouth—no, for indeed he was the original fop described by Hotspur, he was effeminate, proud and cruel, the general qualifications of a coward soldier; an imperious tyrant when in prosperity, but the most abject of all wretches when in adversity.

The person chosen to convey to Santa FÉ the whole of the proceso was Dr. San Miguel, a young advocate who had become the constant companion to Arrechaga. Not less than six reams of written paper formed the important charge, for the safety of which a piquet of horse was ordered to escort San Miguel as far as Pasto, lest some of the outlaws might surprize him on the road. The prisoners expected no favour at the hands of the Viceroy, because he was the uncle of the Oidor Fuertes who had tried them. It was natural to suppose that he would not extend his mercy against what he would consider the justice of the law as expounded by his nephew; for, although it may appear very strange in England, that the inclinations of persons in such elevated situations should be biassed by personal interest, this was too frequently the case in South America.