The news created a profound sensation. On May 18th., the Viceroy issued a rogatory decree, entreating the people to remain loyal to the Mother-country. The Argentine leaders replied that the Government of Spain had lapsed, that orders emanating from the self-appointed Regency in Cádiz were without legal value, that as there was no King there could be no Viceroy, and that therefore it was right and necessary that steps should be taken to arrange for self-government. These ideas were proclaimed throughout the city and were received with general applause. A committee headed by Castelli called on the Viceroy and on the City Council, asking that an expression of public opinion be secured, but met with resistance. The leaders threatened that if the authorities did not convoke the people, they would, and would employ force if necessary. The Viceroy and Council reluctantly consented, and the most influential citizens were summoned to a public meeting to be held on May 22nd. in the Town Hall, now on the west side of the present Plaza Mayo. At this meeting, Bishop Lue declared that "While Spanish troops held an inch of Spain, that inch commanded America, and while a single Spaniard existed in America, he should command the Americans". The session was adjourned to meet on the following day, when it was again adjourned until the 24th. There were intrigues by the Viceroy and his friends, and there were dissentions among the patriot leaders. The meeting on the 24th. was prolonged far into the night, and the public, waiting outside in the cold rain, became impatient. Nothing was decided even after the protracted discussions and on the next morning, May 25, 1810, the sun shining brightly, the Plaza filled with people who went in procession to the Town Hall and presented a written demand signed by numerous citizens, requiring that full governing powers be placed provisionally in the hands of a Committee whose names were given. Refusal was impossible, and the Argentine then and there definitely assumed the rights of self-government. "The revolution", Mitre remarks, "was effected without bayonets or violence, by pure pressure of public opinion, triumphant on the grounds of reason, law and public welfare; abstaining from persecutions it with dignity removed the chains which had bound the nation and assumed the rights of sovereignty with uprightness and moderation". The population of the entire Viceroyship in 1810, including negros and tame Indians, is calculated at 800,000, of which 250,000 lived in Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, Corrientes and Uruguay, principally close to the rivers. In the same year, the population of the United States was 7,000,000, most of which lived close to the Atlantic seaboard. These figures give an idea of the limited number of people who undertook the foundation of a new State in South America.