MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



531 



by intelligent politicians ; many 

 were surprised that she could be 

 so blind to her own interests, after 

 shehadononeoccasion manifested 

 the strongest suspicion of Para- 

 guay ; for to her scrupulous jea- 

 lousy of this power the expulsion 

 of the Jesuits frorei that country, 

 in 1750, is to be attributed. 



The wars that arose from the ' 

 French Revolution have produced 

 in Europe changes of the greatest 

 magnitude, which have had an 

 immense influence on the affairs 

 of South America. When Spain 

 joined France against the com- 

 bined princes, she exposed her 

 distant possessions to British 

 hostilities. The great naval power 

 of England gave her ready access 

 to the American colonies. En- 

 gaged in an arduous contest, she 

 was prompted by her feelings and 

 interests to retaliate on Spain the 

 conduct she experienced from her 

 during the war of our indepen- 

 dence. Encouraged, perhaps, by 

 the counsels of her enemies, the 

 first symptoms of insurrection in 

 the continental possessions of 

 Spain %vere exhibited in the year 

 1797, in Venezuela. These were 

 succeeded by the attempts of 

 Miranda in the same quarter, 

 which were accompanied or were 

 followed, since the vacillating 

 state of the Spanish monarch, 

 by revolutionary movements in 

 Mexico, Grenada, Peru, Chili, 

 and Buenos Ayres ; and from 

 .which scarcely any part of tlie 

 Spanish dominions in America 

 has been entirely exempt. 



The occurrences that led the 

 way to the subsequent important 

 events in the provinces of La 

 Plata, were the invasion of the 

 British, under Popliam and Be- 



resford, in the year 1806, and 

 their expulsion, a few months 

 afterwards, by the collected forces 

 of the country, under Liniers 

 and Pue3'rredon. These incidents 

 fortunately gave to the people a 

 just idea of their own strength ; 

 and they afterwards repelled, with 

 a firmness and bravery that did 

 them great honour, the formidable 

 attack of the British under Ge- 

 neral Whitelock. 



The wretched state to which 

 Spain was reduced, by the policj', 

 the power, and the arts of Napo- 

 leon; the resignation of Charles 

 IV in favour of Ferdinand VII, 

 and the renunciation of both in 

 favour of Napoleon, were pro- 

 ductive of the most important 

 results. They threw the kingdom 

 into the greatest confusion. The 

 alternate successes and disasters 

 of the French armies produced a 

 new era in Spain. The people, 

 generally, revolted at the idea of 

 being governed by the brother of 

 Napoleon, to whom he had trans- 

 ferred the crown. Juntas were 

 established, who acted in the 

 name of Ferdinand, then confined 

 in France. These were substi- 

 tuted for the ancient Cortes, and 

 the regular counsel of the nation, 

 to which, in times of imminent 

 danger, they ought to Iiave re- 

 curred agreeably to their usages. 

 Conflicting authorities produced 

 a distracted state of afiairs. In 

 the scenes that ensued, the proper 

 attention was not paid to the 

 American provinces. Their con- 

 duct towards them was versatile 

 and inconsistent: they were lost 

 sight of or neglected, until it was 

 too late. Conceiving thej' were 

 abandoned by the parent state* 

 they thought it justifiable to act 



2 M 2 Ibv 



