lda_. To calm their fears, I wrote to the Government
that there was no intention of taking her, otherwise I would have done
so, and at midday too in spite of any such precautions.

Lima was at this time in an extraordinary condition, there being no less
than five different Peruvian flags flying in the bay and on the
batteries. The Protector had passed a decree ordering that all Spaniards
who might quit the place should surrender half their property to the
public treasury, or the whole should be confiscated, and the owners
exiled. Another decree imposed the penalties of exile and confiscation
of property upon all Spaniards who should appear in the streets wearing
a cloak; also against any who should be found in private conversation!
The punishment of death was awarded against all who should be out of
their houses after sunset; and confiscation and death were pronounced on
all who possessed any kind of weapons except table-knives! A wealthy
lady in Lima was so annoyed at the rigour of these decrees, that her
patriotism overcame her prudence, and having called the Protector ill
names, she was compelled to give up her property. She was then habited
in the garb of the Inquisition,--a garment painted with imaginary
devils!--and taken to the great square, where an accusatory libel being
fastened to her breast, a human bone was forced into her mouth--her
tongue being condemned as the offending member--and then secured; in
which state, with a halter round her neck, she was paraded through the
streets by the common hangman, and afterwards exiled to Callao, where
after two days she died from mental anguish arising from the treatment
she had received. Such was the liberty conceded to Peru.

In the midst of this national degradation, the Protector had assumed the
style of a Sovereign Prince. An order of nobility was established, under
the title of "The Institute of the Sun," the insignia being a golden sun
suspended from a white ribbon, the Chilian officers who had abandoned
the squadron coming in for a full share as the reward of their
subserviency.

A quasi-royal guard was established, consisting of the leading youth of
the city, who formed the Protector's escort in public; a precaution
which, notwithstanding that the exasperated Limenos were weaponless, was
not altogether unnecessary. The Solar nobility were permitted to place
their armorial bearings in front of their houses, with the sun blazoned
in the centre, which was certa