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But from the time Sobremonte was deposed, the prestige of the viceroyalty was lost, never to be restored. At this period arose two rival parties, the European and the American. Ferdinand VII. was at that time dethroned; and this trouble in Spain, added to the ideas suggested by the French revolution, increased the difficulties in South America. The 1st of January, 1809, a conspiracy, supported by the Europeans, presented themselves in the public square of Buenos Ayres, and demanded the deposition of the viceroy and the establishment of a governmental junta for the whole viceroyalty. This met with opposition, of course, but the idea of independence had taken possession of the people, and the result was that a junta was formed, and three persons were put in power. After the fall of this junta, and the establishment of other similar ones, the government was placed in 1814, in the hands of a single person, called. Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the La Plata. From the beginning of this supreme directory, especially after the return of Ferdinand VII. to the throne, there was supposed to be a strong tendency in Buenos Ayres towards submitting to the royal authority. But if this desire had existed in any force among those who directed affairs, or guided public opinion, no opportunity or pretext could have offered more favorable to it than the incessant solicitations and proposi-