from Spain--as, for instance,
when in 1813 the regiment of Talavera arrived--the behaviour of these
Spaniards became more arrogant than ever. This attitude proved in the
end to be possessed of a disconcertingly slender foundation. As a matter
of fact, the troops which arrived from Spain during this period were for
the most part composed of very indifferent material, both officers and
men bearing the worst of characters, since every efficient soldier was
urgently required in the Mother Country at that time.

Numbers of the Spanish troops themselves at this stage gave many signs
of insubordination, more especially when, as occasionally occurred,
their pay was delayed; and on two occasions a widespread mutiny was only
staved off by the intervention of the Viceroy. Nevertheless, the
exultation of the Spanish civilians reached its most fevered height in
April, 1818, when the news of Spanish victories over the Chileans were
succeeding each other at short intervals. According to contemporaneous
historians, the Spaniards formed themselves into groups in the streets,
and mocked and insulted every Criollo who had to pass them by. So
arrogant was their conduct that no Criollo who valued his self-respect
dared to enter a coffee-house in which a group of these Spaniards was
assembled. The total news of the defeat of the Spanish General Osorio at
Maipu came as a thunderbolt, and the shocked and humbled Spanish had to
make the most of an altogether unexpected and painful situation.

W.B. Stevenson has an interesting account of the contrast which obtained
at this period between the state of affairs in Lima and in Santiago:

"The contrast between the society which I had just quitted in the
capital of Peru and that which I here found in the capital of Chile
was of the most striking kind. The former, oppressed by proud
mandatories, imperious chiefs, and insolent soldiers, had been long
labouring under all the distressing effects of espionage--greatest
enemy to the charm of every society--the overbearing haughty
Spaniards, either with taunts or sneers, harrowing the very souls
of the Americans, who suspected their very oldest friends and often
their nearest relations. In this way they were forced to drain the
cup of bitterness to the last dregs, without daring by
participation or condolence to render it less unpalatable, except,
indeed, they could find an Englishman, and to him t