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.
Pages:
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226