March 1787, he continued his attack against his enemies from Riobamba with a series of eight satirical letters which he called Cartas riobambenses. In response, his enemies denounced Espejo before the President of the Royal Audiencia, Juan José De Villalengua. On August 24, 1787, Villalengua requested that Espejo either to go to Lima or return to Quito to occupy a post in the government, and subsequently arrested him. Espejo was accused of writing El Retrato de Golilla, a satire against King Charles III and the Marquis de la Sonora, colonial minister of the Indies. He was taken to Quito, and from prison he sent three petitions to the Court in Madrid, which decreed, on Charles III's behalf, that the case was to be taken to the Viceroy of Bogotá. President Villalengua feigned ignorance of the matter and sent Espejo to Bogotá to defend his own cause. There he met Antonio Nariño and Francisco Antonio Zea and began to develop his ideas on liberty. In 1789, one of his followers, Juan Pio Montufar, arrived in Bogotá, and both men got the approval of important members of the government for the creation of the Escuela de la Concordia, called later the Sociedad Patriótica de Amigos del País de Quito (Patriotic Society of Friends of the Country of Quito). The Sociedad Económica de los Amigos del País (Economic Society of Friends of the Country) was a private association established in various cities throughout Enlightenment Spain and, to a lesser degree, in some of her colonies. Espejo successfully defended himself on the charges against him, and on October 2, 1789, he was set free. On December 2 he was notified he could return to Quito. Final years In 1790, Espejo returned to Quito to promote the "Sociedad Patriótica" (Patriotic Society), and on November 30, 1791, a branch was established in the Colegio de los Jesuitas; he was elected director and formed four commissions. In the same year, he became director of the first public library, the National Library, originally established with the forty thousand volumes left by the Jesuits after their expulsion from Ecuador. The main duty of the Society was improving the city of Quito. Its 24 members came together weekly to discuss agricultural, educational, political and social problems and to promote the physical and natural sciences. The Society founded Quito's first newspaper, Primicias de la Cultura de Quito, published by Espejo starting