The adherence of Popayan and Pasto to the Spanish governors precluded all communication between Quito and Santa Fé, Venezuela, and other places. The junta determined to open a communication by the coast with Cali and Buga, and also with those parts of the country which had established the same form of government as themselves. Owing to the knowledge which I had acquired of the coast, the title of governor of Esmeraldas, and military commander of the coast, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel of artillery was conferred on me; and on the fifth of December I left Quito with fifty soldiers, took possession of my command, opened the communication, and secured the depôt of arms belonging to the Spaniards at Tumaco. During my residence on the coast of Esmeraldas, nothing particular occurred in the capital, except preparations for defence: General Molina died at Cuenca, and the Bishop of Cuenca at Guayaquil. Aymerich, the governor of Popayan, solicited a brig of war, which was sent by the governor of Guayaquil; with this assistance Esmeraldas was invaded, and I was taken prisoner in May, 1811; but with the permission of Captain Ramires I made my escape from the brig. Don Toribio Montes was appointed by the Regency president of Quito, and immediately took the command of the troops stationed at Guayaquil and Cuenca, and began his march on Quito. The president, Count Ruis, retired to a small convent in the suburbs of Quito; but a popular commotion of the indians in the city occurred, a party of them went to the convent and dragged the venerable good old man into the street, where they murdered him. Montes had a few skirmishes with the Quiteños; but he entered the city, and caused several of the principal individuals who had been concerned in the late transactions to be put to death. Among these was Don Carlos Montufar, who, being sentenced as a traitor, was shot through the back, his heart taken out and burnt. Some of the indians who had been the ringleaders in the death of the Count Ruis were hanged, and their heads placed in iron cages in different parts of the city, where they remained until taken down by order of General Sucre. From the year 1811 Quito continued to be governed by the Spanish authorities, till May, 1822, when General Sucre entered by force of arms, and at that time it became a part of the republic of Colombia. CHAPTER III. State of Lima in 1811....Constitution proclaimed....Some Effects of....Wishes of the Inhabitants of Lima....Manifest of Venezuela.