96 



PERU. 



topic than their own apprehensions and sufferings. 

 The undisturbed quiet which they had so long en- 

 joyed, made them only more sensible to the pre- 

 sent evil ; and all was doulbt and despair. In for- 

 mer times, said the Limenians, our city was that 

 in which pleasure held her court ; wealth and ease 

 were our attendants ; enjoyment was our only bu- 

 siness ; and we dreamt of no evil but an earth- 

 quake. They had yet to learn that there are moral 

 and political, as well as physical earthquakes, 

 which, though they leave churches and dwellings 

 undestroyed, may lay the whole fabric of society 

 in ruins. 



The Royalist army, in common with the people, 

 as usual, referred every evil to the mismanagement 

 of the executive government ; and having decid- 

 ed, in their summary way, that the Viceroy was 

 unfit to reign, they forthwith deposed him at the 

 point of the bayonet ; and raised one of their own 

 Generals in his place. This strong measure had 

 been carried into effect a few days before we ar- 

 rived, and we found the city in considerable bustle, 

 preparatory to the festivities usual on the instal- 

 lation of a new Viceroy. The soldiers, of course, 



