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114 A HISTORY OF CHILE and finally, these efforts failing to dissuade the Span- iards from the undertaking, the)' slew their superin- tendents and besieged the quartermaster in his camp. The governor now formed an alliance with the Pehu- enches, but Curignancu suddenly fell upon them, routed them in a battle and took prisoner their leader, Coli- guna, whom he put to death. Failing to accomplish his undertaking, Gonzaga died, and the government fell a short time to Juan de Bal- maseda ; he was succeeded by Don Francisco Xavier de Morales. The war with the Araucanians was con- tinued. Curignancu and his vice-toqui, Leviantu, con- stantly ravaged the country and defeated the Spaniards on more than one occasion. In 1773, after the war had cost the Spaniards more than a million and a half of dollars, a treaty was again entered into ; by this the treaties of Quillin and Negrete were reaffirmed, and a further request by Curignancu was granted, which stipulation was, that henceforth the Araucanians should be permitted to keep a minister in Santiago, like other independent nations. Don Agustin de Jauregui succeeded Morales for a time, (1773 to 1780), then accepted the more important office of viceroy of Peru and was followed by Ambrosio de Benavides, a cavalier of the Royal Order of Charles III. Tomas Alvarez de Acevedo governed a short time. During the governorship of Jauregui, 1776, Charles III. promulgated a decree creating the viceroyalty of La Plata at Buenos Ayres. With this he incorporated the territory of Cujo, which had been for two centuries a part of the territory of Chile. Two years after this, in 1778, the same king threw open the ports of Spain to the colonies, permitted freedom of commerce with the French, which had been prohibited, and suppressed the odious privileges of the