fortified posts, on the whole ascent to the Table-land, sufficiently strong to curb Victoria's incursions. The execution of this plan was preceded, and accompanied, by a series of actions between the Insurgents and Royalists, in the course of which Miyares gradually drove Victoria from his strong-holds at Puente del Key and Puente de San Juan; (September 1815,) and although the latter maintained the unequal struggle for upwards of two years, he never was able to obtain any decisive advantage over the reinforcements, which the Government was continually sending to the seat of war. Two thousand European troops landed with Mĭyārĕs, and one thousand more with Apŏdācă, (in 1816;) and notwithstanding the desperate efforts of Victoria's men, their courage was of no avail against the superior discipline, and arms, of their adversaries. In the course of the year 1816, most of his old soldiers fell: those by whom he replaced them had neither the same enthusiasm, nor the same attachment to his person. The zeal with which the inhabitants had engaged in the cause of the Revolution was worn out: with each reverse their discouragement increased, and, as the disastrous accounts from the Interior left them but little hope of bringing the contest to a favourable issue, the villages refused to furnish any farther supplies; the last remnant of Victoria's followers deserted him, and he was left absolutely alone. Still, his courage was unsubdued, and his resolution not to yield, on any
