On my arrival in Lima I found the same spirit of revolutionary principles disseminated among all ranks of creoles, excepting some few individuals who possessed lucrative employments under the government. The Viceroy Abascal endeavoured to check the spirit of rebellion by the mildest measures possible, avoiding all acts of persecution; he established a regiment, called _de la Concordia_, of concord, from the respectable inhabitants of the city, constituted himself the colonel of it, and nominated the officers from among the more leading individuals, whether Spaniards or creoles: this for a short time lulled the spirit of insurrection. The victory of Guaqui, gained by General Goyoneche over the army of Buenos Ayres, was welcomed with feasts and rejoicings; but the scarcity of wheat, the ports of Chile being closed, began to be very apparent. In 1812 the constitutional government was proclaimed, and copies of the constitution of the Spanish monarchy were the only books that were read, consulted, and studied by all classes. The formation of a constitutional corporation, cabildo, and the election of constitutional alcaldes, caused some uproar in the city; but the measures became alarming to the Spaniards when the election of deputies for the cortes took place. The Spaniards, accustomed to consider the natives as inferiors, and almost as intruders in their own country, had now to brook their contempt in return, to bear with their opposition, and sometimes with their reproaches. The poll was conducted in the patio, or principal cloister of the convent of La Merced; several collegians of San Carlos placed themselves on the hustings, and, according to the _Ley de Partido_, no native of Spain is permitted to reside in the colonies without a special license of the Casa de Contratacion of Seville, or in the employ of the government, and the latter were declared by the constitution, tit. 2, cap. IV. art. 24, to have no vote. Thus as no Spaniards in Lima could produce a license, or passport, they were not allowed to vote; and this excited in them the most frantic rage and chagrin. One Spaniard presented himself with his passport, and insultingly advanced towards the hustings to vote; but one of the collegians, looking over the paper, found that the voter was a native of the Canary Islands, which being African islands, and all Africans, or descendants of Africans, being declared by art. 22, tit. 2, cap. IV. of the constitution, as not having an elective vote, unless they had obtained a letter of denizenship from the cortes, he was obliged to retire amid the shouts of the creoles, and the curses against the cortes of the Spaniards.