No powers of language can describe the anxiety which this dreadful affair excited in the minds of the inhabitants, who, ignorant of the origin, considered it as an unprovoked slaughter of their countrymen, and consequently dreaded that it might be again repeated in the same manner. Only five of the soldiers who left the presidio entered the barracks—had twenty entered, they would doubtlessly have succeeded in liberating the prisoners; but these were murdered while those were engaged with the guard at the door.
The streets of the city were entirely deserted; groups of people were scattered about on the neighbouring hills, looking wistfully at their apparently desolated town; dead bodies were strewed about the streets and squares, and all was horror and dismay. During the night the bodies of the prisoners were conveyed to the church of San Augstin, and those that were murdered in the streets, to the nearest churches. The two succeeding days, the third and the fourth of August, the inhabitants kept within their houses, and, except the soldiers, not an individual ventured into the streets. The government now began to fear that the whole of the provinces would rise en masse; and as the news of the revolution at Caracas, which took place on the nineteenth of April, 1810, had reached their ears, this, with their ignorance of what was passing in the mother country, except that Bonaparte had taken possession of Madrid, suggested to them an effort at reconciliation, but without in the least reflecting on their own baseness and treachery, in having violated the conditions which had replaced the president in his authority, and thus branded themselves with the name which they most justly deserved, that of infames traidores, INFAMOUS TRAITORS.
On the fifth an order was published for the heads of all the corporate bodies, officers, and principal inhabitants to meet at the palace, and resolve on such means as were most likely to restore peace, tranquillity, and confidence to the country. Accordingly the persons who were summoned met; the president took the chair, having the Bishop on his right, and Colonel Arredonda on his left, the Regent, oidores, fiscals, attorney-general, and other officers and persons of distinction took their seats. The president rose, and in very few words expressed his sorrow for what had happened, and his sincere wish to restore peace and unanimity among the people. The Bishop in a short speech answered, that he was afraid such wishes would never be fulfilled, until those persons who had advised his Excellency to forget his promises made to the people were removed from that part of the country. Arrechaga rose and observed, that his lordship recriminated on his conduct; to which the prelate replied, that years and dignity precluded any recrimination on Don Arrechaga from him. This debate induced the president to request, that Arrechaga would leave the hall, which request was reluctantly complied with; although such a rebuff from the Bishop would only four days before that of the meeting have shewn him the way to a dungeon.
Dr. Rodrigues, a secular priest, greatly revered for his wisdom and his virtue by all who knew him, rose from his seat, and, advancing to the centre of the hall, delivered a most eloquent and animated speech, which lasted for more than an hour. He portrayed the character of the Quiteños in general, explained the causes of the late revolution with evangelical charity, and dwelt on the fatal results with the truest symptoms of grief, in such a manner, that, not through sympathy but sensibility, conviction, shame, and remorse, the big tear flowed down the cheeks of his hearers. He concluded by repeating what his prelate had said, and added further, that the people of Quito could no longer consider their lives and property secure, unless those individuals who had so lately forfeited their title of pacificators were removed from the country. "I allude," said he, "to the officers and troops; they have already made upwards of three hundred unoffending fellow-creatures, as faithful Christians and as loyal subjects as themselves, the peaceful tenants of the grave, and, if not stopped in their career of slaughter, they will soon convert one of the most fruitful regions of the Spanish monarchy into a desert; and future travellers, while execrating their memory, will exclaim, 'here once stood Quito!'"
Don Manuel Arredonda, trembling for his personal safety, now rose. He observed, that he was fully convinced the government of Quito ought to rely on the loyalty of the Quiteños, and allow him to retire with the troops under his command. This was immediately agreed to, and the act of the meeting having been drawn up, was signed by the President, the Bishop, the Commander of the troops, and several other members. Preparations for the evacuation of the city immediately commenced, and the troops under the command of Arredonda began their march on the following morning, leaving the two hundred soldiers from Santa Fé and the government to the mercy of a populace driven almost to despair by their cruel and murderous conduct.
A few days after the departure of Arredonda and the soldiers, Dr. San Miguel returned from Santa Fé, bringing tidings of an insurrection having taken place in that city. It commenced on the twenty-third of July, 1810, the day before the arrival of San Miguel with his cargo of papers. When he presented himself before the new authorities at Santa Fé, he was commanded to repair to the plasa mayor with his papers, and here he was ordered to deliver them into the hands of the hangman, who immediately committed them to the flames. Thus a trial was concluded, which, perhaps, in point of infamous intrigue was unparalleled in any age or nation; and had the conductors of it suffered a similar fate at the same time, numbers of Americans would have had just cause to have been satisfied. The return of San Miguel only served to throw the government of Quito into greater consternation, and the citizens who had lost their relatives or their friends on the second of August into deeper sorrow.
The insurrection of Santa Fé was conducted, like that of Quito, without any bloodshed; the news of the commission conferred on Villaviencio by the central junta of Spain, to visit his native place, and to make any such alterations in the form of the government as might appear necessary for the preservation of the country, had arrived at Santa Fé. The friends of this American wished to prepare a house for his reception; one of them begged the loan of a chandelier of a European Spaniard, who, chagrined at the idea of a royal commission having been conferred on a colonist, insulted the borrower; this conduct produced an altercation between the parties, a mob collected at the door, the Spaniard attempted to drive the people away with threats and insults, which at last produced a cry of Cabildo Abierto! an open meeting at the City Hall. Scarcely had the shout been re-echoed by the mob, when it was extended to every part of the city, and Cabildo Abierto became the watchword. Crowds of people flocked to the plasa mayor, the doors of the town hall were thrown open, and several individuals, all natives, ranged themselves round the table. At this juncture some one advanced to the door, and asked the populace why they had collected in that manner, at this particular time? Some one answered, queremos gobierno nuevo, fuera Españoles! We want a new government—out with the Spaniards! Nariño was then sent to request the presence of the Viceroy Amar, as president of the meeting. His excellency refused; a second message was sent, and met with the same refusal: this conduct exasperated the people, and the cry of fuera Españoles! fuera chapetones! again resounded from every quarter. A third messenger was shortly after sent to inform Don Antonio Amar, that his functions, with those of all European Spaniards in the government, had ceased. Amar now volunteered to go and preside at the meeting; but he was told, that only his baston of command was requested; this, after a little altercation, he delivered up. The new government took possession of the barracks, the park of artillery, and the government stores. The ex-viceroy and some of the ex-oidores were sent to Carthagena to be embarked for Spain. In one day the change in the government was completed, and on the following the people retired to their several homes and occupations in the most perfect order, after witnessing the public burning of the papers brought by San Miguel.
In the month of September of the same year, Don Carlos Montufar, son to the outlawed Marquis of Selva Alegre, who with several others had again presented himself publicly in Quito, arrived, bringing with him powers from the central junta of Spain, to establish such a government, or make such changes in the one existing, as might ensure the allegiance of the country to Ferdinand on his restoration. The joy which this arrival would have occasioned a short time before it took place was considerably damped by the recollection of the second of August. However, to support, and as it were to exculpate the conduct of the government with respect to the treatment of the unfortunate victims who had perished on that day, Montufar and his friends determined on re-establishing the junta. A meeting was convened at the hall of the university, at which the Count Ruis presided; the commission conferred on Montufar was read, and the formation of a junta proposed, which was immediately agreed to. The Count Ruis was nominated president, and the Marquis of Selva Alegre vice-president; the members for the city were elected by the five parishes, and those for the country by the parishes of the heads of the provinces.
Don Carlos Montufar, desirous of preserving tranquillity, and maintaining a good understanding with the Viceroy of Peru in particular, immediately forwarded to his Excellency Don Jose de Abascal his original commission; but the innovation was so great, and the decrease of Spanish authority so alarming to the Viceroy, that he returned the papers with an assurance, that he "should exert himself in the support of his own authority, and that of all the faithful subjects of the crown of Spain." This imprudent and ill-timed answer, accompanied by a knowledge of the present state of affairs in Santa Fé and Venezuela; of the revolt of San Miguel and el Valle de los Dolores in Mexico, which took place on the nineteenth of August; of that of Buenos Ayres on the twenty-sixth of May, 1819; together with the condition of the mother country—distracted the attention of the Spaniards, and first disseminated the whisper of Independence: a whisper which was confined to private conversations, and was heard only among the higher classes.
Colonel Arredonda and his troops were at first ordered to remain at Guayaquil; but on the arrival of the news communicated by the newly-established government of Quito, he was commanded to invade the territory belonging to that jurisdiction, and to declare war against the newly-established authorities, as being traitors to the Crown of Spain. At the same time that Arredonda began his march, Montufar collected the armed force of Quito, began to discipline new troops, and proceeded with them to Riobamba. Popayan and Pasto, under the influence of Samano the governor of the former place, declared their adherence to the old government, and avowed their intention of invading Quito to the northward, while Arredonda should attempt the same to the southward. A few troops placed by Montufar at Guaitara precluded all fear with regard to Samano, and Montufar waited at Riobamba the advance of Arredonda.