solemn oath to take his share in the liberation of his
native land--an oath which, as history proves, he fulfilled in generous
measure, since the first desperate fights in the north of the Continent
were conducted on the patriot side under his auspices and those of
Miranda.

In the face of all the trials and injustices which they had undergone,
it is important to remember that the temperament of the South Americans
was one which urged them strongly to remain loyal to the Mother Country.
Although it had now become evident that a rupture was inevitable, the
colonists viewed the snapping of the ties which bound them to Spain with
reluctance and unease. As fate would have it, it was the situation in
Europe which arose to solve the difficulty, and to remove the last doubt
from the breasts of the South American patriots. The news of catastrophe
after catastrophe filtered slowly through from the peninsula to the
colonies. The Napoleonic armies had overrun the country; the Corsican's
talons were now fixed deeply in its soil, and the rightful Sovereign had
abdicated while the throne was being seized upon by Joseph Buonaparte.
Then came the news of a Spanish _junta_, formed as a last resource to
organize a defence of the harassed country; after this followed tidings
of dissensions among the numbers of these defenders themselves, of the
formation of other _juntas_, and, in fact, of the prevalence of complete
desolation and catastrophe and of the wildest confusion.

In the midst of the reports and rumours, contradictions and
confirmations which followed one another at as great a pace as the
methods of communication of the period would allow, there came at last
definite proofs of the chaos which reigned in Spain. An envoy arrived
in Buenos Aires, sent by Napoleon in his capacity of Lord of Spain, in
order to announce the fact to the colonies, and to open up negotiations
for future transactions. Almost simultaneously arrived another envoy--a
special messenger this, sent from the Junta of Seville, who claimed that
Spain still belonged to the Spaniards, and that the Junta of Seville
represented Spain.

[Illustration: BRITISH WARSHIPS UNDER ANSON'S COMMAND PLUNDERING PAYTA
(NORTHERN PERU) IN 1741.]

In one direction the colonial authorities were enabled to act without
hesitation. Napoleon's envoy was sent packing back in haste to where he
had come from! The messenger from the _junta_, on the other hand, was
received with every cons