Although Ferrand was personally liked, discontent began to brew in the country. The inhabitants were loyal to Spain and chafed under foreign rule; many believed there was danger of Haitian invasion so long as the French remained; certain tax exactions stirred up animosity; and the stories of Spain's resistance to Napoleon's aggressions inflamed the spirits of the leading men. Conspiracies ensued, fomented principally by a Cotui planter named Juan Sanchez Ramirez, who had emigrated in 1803, but returned after four years of exile, and the Spanish flag was formally raised in Seibo in October, 1808. Ferrand immediately set out to quell the uprising and on November 7, 1808, met Sanchez Ramirez at Palo Hincado, about two miles west of Seibo. He was vigorously attacked by the revolutionists, his native troops deserted, and his other troops were cut to pieces. Seeing that all was lost and that all his work was ruined, Ferrand blew out his brains with a pistol. The revolutionists received assistance from the governor-general of Porto Rico and from their former enemy Christophe, who had made himself king of northern Haiti; a British squadron took Samana, the only post held by the French outside of Santo Domingo City, and raised the Spanish flag; and Sanchez Ramirez laid siege to the capital, where the French general Barquier had assumed command, while British vessels blockaded it by sea. The siege lasted almost nine months, during which the besieged suffered greatly from want of provisions, being reduced to eating dogs and cats, and the surrounding country was devastated by sorties and foraging parties. The severest fighting took place about San Geronimo castle, on the shore three miles west of the city, which was taken and retaken. In the sixth and seventh months of the siege the city was repeatedly bombarded from land and sea, but without result. At length Sanchez applied to the governor of Jamaica and a British force under Sir Hugh Lyle Carmichael was sent to his assistance. It landed at Palenque and took up a position in San Carlos. A general assault had been determined upon, when the brave little defender of the city, realizing the hopelessness of further resistance, agreed to capitulate to the English. On July 9, 1809, the French flag was lowered and the country again became a dependency of Spain, and in 1814 Spain's dominion was confirmed by the treaty of Paris.