GENERAL HISTORY. 



[159 



Bolivar, the most discordant ac- 

 counts ha\e been given by the 

 opposite parties. About the end 

 of May he sailed with his stjua- 

 dron to the eastern coast of 

 Cumana, where he landed and 

 (gained possession of a defensible 

 post. He was there surprized by 

 the governor of Cunjana, and it is 

 said, lost a great part of his forces. 

 He afterwards withdrew to Mar- 

 garita ; and finding that a royal- 

 ist squadron was ajiprnachini; to 

 attack Pampatur, he ordered the 

 embarkation of the women and 

 children who had fallen into his 

 liands, and sailing away, landed 

 60 mUes from La Guiia. Here 

 his forces occupied a craggy moiui- 

 tain counidered as impregnable ; 

 but being surronnded by tlie 

 royal troops, they were all put to 

 the sword except tliosc who es- 

 caped to the (leet, which iinme- 

 diately took its departure. >inch 

 is the royali.>5t account : to which 

 it i>i added, that lioli^ar, attempt- 

 ing to penetrate into the interior, 

 was eoniplKtely routed by the 

 king's troop,-5, and after further 

 actions, the slaughter among the 

 insurgents is represented as fo 

 great, tliat their cause would ap- 

 pear cntiiely ruined in that quar- 

 ter, liolivar \s as afterwards heard 

 of at the West Indian island of 

 fit. Thomas. 



On July im\x, Ha.- published 

 at Buenos Ayrcs a Declaration of 

 Independence, by the " Kepre- 

 sentatives of the i 'nited IVo 

 vinecs in .^ouiii \mr-rici* assem 

 bled in (jenerai ( ongrccis.'" In- 

 voking tlie Su()reme iJeing, and 

 protesting to ail the nations and 

 men of tiie globe the justice of 

 their inteniions, they declare their 

 unajiimous purjiDt»e to break the 



galling bands which united them 

 to the Kings of .Spain, and as- 

 sume the character of a natioji, 

 free and independent of Ferdinand 

 VII., his successors, and their 

 mother countrv . 



The situation of these pro- 

 vinces was at this time critical. 

 .•\rtigas, who had (juitted Buenos 

 .•\yres, apparently to set up for 

 Inmself, and had placed liis troops 

 on the left bank of the Kio de la 

 Plata, gave a pretext 14> tl\e Por- 

 tugue.-e government in Brazil, 

 for interfering in the affairs of 

 the Spanish colonies ; and it was 

 known for a considerable time 

 past, that an armament was pre- 

 paring, the purpose of which was 

 matter of conjecture. At length 

 (lie Bra'iilian army entered the 

 territory of Montevideo and two 

 proclamations were :ijr!dres5ed to 

 its inhabitants, one by the ?>lar- 

 (juis dc Allegrete, Governor and 

 Otptain-general of the Captain- 

 ship of M. Pedro of the Rio 

 Grande; the other by Gon. Leeor, 

 Lieut. -gen. in the army of Por- 

 tugal, and commander-in-chief 

 of the troops destined for the 

 participation of the left bank of 

 tlie Rio de la Pla'a. Tlie lan- 

 guage of these proclamations was 

 \ery vagiie .nid indeterminate ; 

 ■ but the second gave as the reason 

 for the entrance of the Portuguese 

 troops, the " repeated insults 

 given by the tyrant .\rtigas to the 

 inhabitant.- of .Montevideo, and 

 the Rio Grande," and the proof 

 I hat fhi'rp co\ild he no stable go- 

 \ernmf.nt among thei-iselvcs, nor 

 .-eeiiriiy in the Poiiuguese domi- 

 nions, wiiilst tiiey remained sub- 

 ject to !iis oppression. Two other 

 proclamations from the same au- 

 thorities appeared in the Cadi/ 



papers. 



