POLITICAL EVENTS CHAP. XXV. 



invasion of Spain by the French. When the in- 

 telligence of the capture of the royal family and 

 the transactions at Bayonne reached that country, 

 the Viceroy Iturrigaray seems to have acted an 

 indecisive part, as if balancing in his mind whether 

 to yield to the power Buonaparte had assumed 

 over all the Spanish dominions, or to acknowledge 

 and obey the newly created Junta of Seville, who 

 had claimed similar power. The old Spaniards in 

 the capital composed a faction which had been the 

 chief instrument of each successive viceroy in 

 continuing the authority of Spain. They seized 

 the viceroy, and under the pretence of an accusa- 

 tion of heresy, committed him to the prison of the 

 inquisition, and from thence transferred him to 

 Spain, where, though imprisoned for some years, 

 his conduct was never investigated. 



In the course of three centuries the mass of 

 energetic inhabitants had become composed of the 

 natives of the soil, but descended from Spanish 

 ancestors. They were treated by the Europeans, 

 who exercised political and judicial power, and 

 were the richest part of the population, as an in- 

 ferior class. Among these, called the Creoles, 

 discontent was generated and rapidly extended ; 

 and as the great body of the Indians were easily 

 influenced by them through the priests, a change 

 was operated which quickly converted the languid, 

 simple, and superstitious natives into furious, vin- 

 dictive, and unfeeling revolutionists. A feeble 



