806) ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



which, after considerable blood- 

 shed, the patricians were obliged 

 to surrender, and the ringleaders 

 were tried and condemned, some 

 to be shot, and others to imprison- 

 nnent. The old Junta had been 

 deposed in the preceding month 

 and a new one established, con- 

 sisting of only four members. The 

 Cabildo interfered with them in 

 the management of public affairs, 

 and party contests were extremely 

 prevalent in the city. In the 

 meantime their authority in the 

 provinces was diminished, and that 

 of Cordova threw off its depend- 

 unce on the capital, and set up a 

 government of its own. To these 

 evils wBsadded a quarrel with the 

 Portuguese, whose troops sent in 

 aid of the Montevideans refused to 

 return home according to the sti- 

 pulation in the late treaty, and 

 took possession of Maldonadu. A 

 corps under General Artigas was 

 sent from Buenos Ayres to dislodge 

 them, which entered the territory 

 of Montevideo, contrary to agree- 

 ment, and made an attack upon a 

 body of Portuguese, but without 

 success. The Montevideans were 

 irritated with this breach of treaty, 

 and fitted out a naval force to pre* 

 vent the troops of Buenos Ayres 

 from passing to their side of the 

 river; whilst the government of 

 Buenos Ayres, in order to provide 

 supplies for a war, had laid an 

 embargo on all property belonging 

 to Spaniards in Europe, Lima, 

 Montevideo, and the Peruvian pro- 

 vinces occupied by the adverse 

 party. In this state were affairs 

 about the middle of February. 

 Advices in March stated that the 

 blockade of Buenos Ayres was re- 

 sumed by the Montevidean squa- 

 dron, and that the property of 



Spaniards was still under sequestra- 

 tion at that city, but had not been 

 confiscated. 



Further advices received from 

 Buenos Ayres, up to May 20, gave 

 some particulars of the hostility 

 subsisting between the Juntaof that 

 city, and the viceroy (now Viyo- 

 detj at Montevideo. The occur- 

 refices were of no great import- 

 ance ; but the papers on each side 

 displayed a high degree of arvimo- 

 sity. The Portuguese, whom the 

 Montevideans denominated ♦« their 

 generous alljes," were encamped 

 on the rivulet of St. Francisco, 18 

 leagues from Salto, where Artigas 

 w:is posted with the troops of Bue- 

 nos Ayres. At this last city had 

 arrived two ships from Philadel- 

 phia laden with arms and military 

 stores. 



Not long after, Buenos Ayres 

 was on the brink of experiencing a 

 counter-revolution from a conspi- 

 racy in its bosom, which, had it 

 been carried into effect, would pro- 

 bably have rendered the whole city 

 a scene of bloodshed and rapine. 

 A Spaniard, named Martin Alzaga, 

 represented as a man of a daring 

 andturbulentdispasition,associated 

 a considerable number of his coun- 

 trymen, under an oath of secrecy, 

 in a plot, the purpose of which was 

 to take possession by surprise of all 

 the strong posts of the city, disai^ 

 the Americans, and restore the as- 

 cendancy of the Spaniards. U ilh 

 this was connected the assassina- 

 tion of the members of goverH- 

 ment and magistrates, and doubt- 

 less many other persons of conse- 

 quence were marked as victim^. 

 The discovery of the design was 

 owing to the incautious languaee 

 held by one of the conspirators m 

 the presence of a slave, who re- 

 ported 



