The town was closely invested on its landward side. Very soon
after this, unfavourable news from Peru caused the Argentines to abandon
their aggressive attitude; an armistice was declared so far as
Montevideo was concerned, and the South American forces retired from
Uruguay.
The news from the north, indeed, was sufficiently serious. After the
victory of Suipacha a truce had been agreed upon by Castelli, who was in
command of the patriot forces. This he had observed loyally, but
Gueneche, the leader of the Spanish troops, had proved himself less
scrupulous. Without warning, he had attacked the Argentine army at
Huaqui, and had obtained a decisive and sanguinary victory, at the end
of which the 800 Argentines who survived had been obliged to retire in
some confusion to Potosi.
Gueneche now in turn took the aggressive, and, advancing, he crushed the
revolution at Cochabamba, and now prepared his forces for serious
invasion. These reverses of fortune were not sufficient to discourage
the ardour of the inhabitants of Buenos Aires. For that the idea of
independence had become too strongly engrafted in the young nation; and
on February 18, 1812, the blue and white of the Argentine flag was
decided upon to the sound of enthusiastic acclamations.
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