give the necessary orders to the different guards, and to administer to the troops the following oath: "I swear by God and on the cross of my sword, to defend my legitimate King, Ferdinand VII.; to maintain and protect his rights; to support the purity of the holy Roman Catholic Church; and to obey the constituted authorities." After the conclusion of this ceremony, the necessary orders were given to the officer of the guard at the president's palace, barracks, and prisons: a guard was placed at the door of each suspected person, particularly at those of the Regent and Oidores; and the members of the government retired to their houses. An express was immediately sent to Chillo, an estate belonging to the Marquis of Selva Alegre, with the news of what had taken place, and a request that his lordship would immediately come to Quito, and take possession of the supreme command of the government of the kingdom. Thus, in one night, without bloodshed or even without any popular commotion, a government which had been established for more than three centuries was displaced, and a new one erected on its basis. The Marquis of Selva Alegre arrived on the morning of the tenth, and was visited by the members of the new government, while the two ministers proceeded on their duty to place new officers and clerks in the secretary's office, and to take charge of the archives belonging to the royal audience. The character of Selva Alegre is almost indefinable. As a private man he was extremely kind and polite, having more of the polished courtier about him than might be supposed to exist in an individual born in what may be termed a sequestered country. Both in his town and country house a great deal of taste and splendour were exhibited, in a manner somewhat uncommon at Quito; yet neither his income nor his popularity could in any way be compared to those of Miraflores nor Solanda. As a public character Selva Alegre was extremely unfit; wavering and timid, wishing rather to reconcile the two parties than to support either; fond of show and parade, but frightened at his own shadow, as if it mocked him. At the gaze of the people he would, like a peacock, have allowed his gaudy plumage to fall to the ground; he would have endeavoured to hide himself, or, as the most enthusiastic Quiteños expressed themselves, "his shoes did not fit him." On the thirteenth the new government visited the church of the Carmen Alto, the different members dressed in their robes of ceremony; His Serene Highness in the full costume of the Order of Charles III., of which he was a knight; the members of the junta in scarlet and black; the two ministers were distinguished by large plumes in their hats; the corporation, officers of the treasury, and other tribunals, in their old Spanish uniforms, and the military in _blue_, faced with _white_ instead of _red_, as heretofore.