46 



CONSTERNATION OF THE INHABITANTS. 



of people on foot, in carts, on horseback, hurried 

 distractedly past ; men, women, and children, with 

 horses and mules, and numbers of slaves laden 

 with baggage and other valuables, hurried wildly 

 and indiscriminately along, and all was outcry and 

 confusion. 



In the city itself the consternation was excessive; 

 the men were seen running to and fro in the streets 

 in fearful doubt what was to be done ; the women 

 flving in all directions towards the convents : the 

 narrow streets were literally choked up with wag- 

 gons and mules, mounted horsemen, and loaded 

 slaves. All night long the noise and confusion 

 continued. At day-break the Viceroy marched out 

 with his troops, not leaving a single guard, nor 

 even a sentinel over the powder-magazine. Up to 

 this moment many people, with a strange degree of 

 incredulity, arising out of long-cherished prejudice 

 and pride, would not believe that such events were 

 possible ; so that when the moment actually arrived, 

 their despair became immeasurable, and they fled 

 away like the rest. For an hour or two after the 

 Viceroy's departure, the streets were filled with 

 fugitives; but by mid-day scarcely an individual 

 was to be seen ; and in the course of the after- 

 noon I accompanied one of the English merchants, 

 during a walk of more than a mile, through the 

 most populous parts of Lima, without meeting a 

 single soul ; the doors were all barred, the window- 

 shutters closed, and it really seemed " some vast 

 city of the dead." 



An indistinct dread of some terrible catastrophe 

 was the principal cause of this universal panic ; 

 yet there was a definite cause of alarm besides, 

 which contributed considerably to the extraor- 

 dinary effect I have been describing. This was a 

 belief, industriously propagated and caught up with 

 all the diseased eagerness of fear, that the slave 

 population of the city meant to take advantage of 

 the absence of the troops, to rise in a body and 

 massacre the whites. I could not, however, bring 

 myself to suppose this at all probable ; the slaves, 

 indeed, had no leisure to plan such a scheme ; their 

 habits, too, were not those of union or enterprise, 

 for being all domestic servants, they were thinly 

 scattered over an immense city, with very rare 

 opportunities of confidential intercourse. Had the 

 panic, however, been less general, and not spread 

 itself overall classes, from the highest to the lowest, 

 there might have been some grounds to apprehend 

 a riot, or other mischief, from the mob attacking 

 the houses of obnoxious individuals ; but as the 

 inhabitants were all equally under the influence of 

 terror, there was no one left to take advantage of 

 the moment. 



The Viceroy, on leaving Lima, had nominated 

 the Marquis of Montemira as governor of the city, 

 and the selection was a judicious one, for this old 

 nobleman, independently of being a native of the 

 place, was so universally esteemed, that his influence 

 was likely to prove most beneficial to the city at 

 this juncture. In the course of the day he sent for 

 such of the principal inhabitants as had not fled 

 to Callao, in order to consult with them on the 

 measures to be taken for securing the peace of the 

 town. As the British merchants had no trifling 

 interest in this question, I considered it right to be 

 present at this meeting, where I found a strange 

 assembly of people. 



Some came to learn the news, others to suggest 



plans ; and all to talk, smoke cigars, and do nothing. 

 Many whose politics had obliged them to keep out 

 of sight for a long time, now came forward from 

 their hiding-places ; and others, whose authority 

 had a few days before carried all before it, now 

 looked sadly crest-fallen. Some expressed the 

 greatest alarm ; some sorrow ; others, again, were 

 exulting and congratulating one another on the 

 consummation of their political hopes ; and some 

 bustled and fidgeted about amongst the crowd, 

 and aggravated the evil by saying how very much 

 they were in doubt what ought to be done. My 

 old acquaintance, the ex-inquisitor, whom I had 

 met in the same house in February last, was there 

 among the rest, but was treated with a contempt 

 that very clearly proved his occupation to be gone. 

 On the other hand I recognised a strange little 

 man, folded up in an old dingy Spanish cloak, with 

 a broad- brimmed yellow hat, hooked loosely on 

 one corner of his small square head, and shadow- 

 ing a face plastered all over with snuff, which, in 

 the vehemence of his agitation, he flung at his 

 nose in handfuls ; but through this forbidding 

 exterior it was easy to perceive, by the flash of 

 his eye and the sarcastic turn of his expression, 

 a promise of intellect far beyond that of the 

 people about him. He had been formerly pointed 

 out to me in the streets as a furious republican, 

 who had been with difficulty restrained by his 

 friends from breaking out too soon ; his active 

 intrigues, it was also said, had essentially contri- 

 buted to that revolution in public sentiment which 

 had been gradually accomplished in Lima, — and 

 now he was in his glory. 



Among Spaniards no business is ever done on 

 such occasions without much talk ; the tendency 

 of which generally is to avoid meeting the question. 

 Accordingly, the state of the times was canvassed 

 and recanvassed, but the main point at issue, 

 namely, what was to be done, was perversely kept 

 on one side. By a unanimous vote, however, the 

 late rulers of the city were stigmatised, in no very 

 measured terms, as having proved themselves trai- 

 tors to their country. 



In the midst of this universal confusion and 

 doubt, the minutest points of etiquette were not 

 forgotten : the new Governor had to receive a 

 visit of ceremony from the Cabildo, or town-coun- 

 cil ; — from the Consulado, or commercial board ; 

 and so on through all the public bodies, or, at 

 least, from as many of the members as remained 

 in the city. In these idle forms much time was 

 lost ; and the day was wearing fast away, when 

 the necessity of doing something, and that speedily, 

 became too obvious to be longer neglected, even 

 by men never known to act promptly in their 

 lives. At the suggestion of the little republican, 

 whose indignation at these absurd delays was 

 roused to the highest pitch, a short letter was 

 written to San Martin, inviting him to enter the 

 city, to protect it from the imminent dangers by 

 which it was threatened. It was not only of 

 the slaves and of the mob that people were 

 afraid ; but, with more l'eason, of the multi- 

 tude of armed Indians surrounding the city, 

 who, although under the orders of San Martin's 

 officers, were savage and undisciplined troops, 

 and very likely to enter the place in a body as 

 soon as the Spaniards had gone. These Indian 

 auxiliaries were so near that we could see them 



