The Spanish colonies of South America had been so treated throughout by the mother country as mere political children, that the people of _Buenos Ayres_, although they saw the disgrace of the position in which they were placed, were almost incapable of the political vigour necessary for the effort to escape from it. What they wanted above all was a leader; and had they depended solely on colonial genius at this juncture it is very unlikely that General Beresford would have been disturbed in his possession, or at least that any local leader would have been found with the necessary qualities to effect a successful revolt. But the needful leading spirit was found in the person of a Frenchman. Jacques Liniers had been thirty years in the service of Spain. He had for some time occupied the post of governor of _Misiones_, and at the time of the English invasion was captain of the small port of _Enseñada_. He was brave, active, and enterprising, but somewhat apt to be carried away, and without much solidity of character. On learning the triumph of the English, he had asked and had obtained permission to visit his family at _Buenos Ayres_, but had declined to take the oath of allegiance. It was easy for him to perceive that the common people did not accept the foreign domination with the same resignation which was displayed by the wealthier colonists, who had much to lose in the case of a continuance of military operations; he likewise realized the fact that the _gauchos_ of the surrounding _pampas_ might materially aid a movement which should take the shape of partisan warfare in which they might fight after their own loose fashion. By good luck and a little daring he might easily get the better of an enemy so inconsiderable in number. Having arranged his plan of action, and acting in accord with _Señor_ Puirredon and other _Creole_ patriots, Liniers quietly quitted _Buenos Ayres_ and made the journey to _Monte Video_, where he communicated his project to General Huïdobro, who commanded there, and from whom he asked some troops, by whose aid he assured him he would compel the English to re-embark. Huïdobro was willing to aid these patriots with all the resources in his power; and Puirredon and two others were sent into the country in different directions to arrange for a rising. At the same time a small force of regular soldiers, placed under the orders of Liniers, marched for _Colonia_, opposite to _Buenos Ayres_, where it was awaited by a flotilla of light boats such as might easily evade the English vessels in the shallow waters of the _Plata_. Under a thick fog the flotilla crossed to the right bank, and the men disembarked at twenty-one miles to the north of the capital.