C A R A C C A S. 



4S3 



' militia; in the vallies of Aragoa, 1530 militia ; in 

 ., 50 militia cavalry; in Cumana, 221 troops 

 of the 1: .rtillcrymen, '22l.~> militia ; in Ma. 



'OS troops of the line, KX) artillerymen, 

 > militia ; in Guiana, 1.10 troops of the line, 100 

 artillerymen, H70 militia ; in the hie of Mar^aretta, 

 77 tin..]) . (if the line, JOO artillerymen, 77<) militia ; 

 and at Varinas, a company of troop* of the line, 

 consisting of 77 men. 



Religidn. Among the evils which repress the energies and 

 retard the improvement of the inhabitants of Carac- 

 cas, the first place ought doubtless to be assigned to 

 the Roman Catholic religion, which is here accom- 

 panied with all the horrors of the Inquisition. This 

 dreadful tribunal has the power of condemning to 

 fine, confiscation, banishment, the galleys, or the 

 flames. In proscribing books hostile to their ideas of 

 true religion or sound policy, the most pernicious 

 exercise of their prerogative, the members of the in- 

 quisition are particularly vigilant. No book is al- 

 lowed to be imported, circulated, or read, till it has 

 received the seal of orthodoxy from the commissaries 

 of the holy office. Every bookseller must provide 

 himself with a catalogue of the books proscribed, 

 and is bound to furnish, in the two first months of 

 every year, an inventory of the books he has for 

 sale, with his oath subscribed, that he has no other 

 books than those named in the inventory. Even pri- 

 vate persons, who enter the country with books, 

 must make a detailed declaration of the contents of 

 their library, confirmed by oath, which declaration 

 is sent to the tribunal of the inquisition, or its 

 commissaries, who have power to permit the intro- 

 duction of the books, or to seize them. Should this 

 declaration be omitted, or imperfectly made, the 

 books are confiscated, and a fine of 200 ducats is 

 exacted for the expences of the holy office. Books, 

 when imported, are generally deposited at the cus- 

 tom-house, nor can the officers release them but 

 by express permission of the commissary of the 

 inquisition. Catalogues procured from abroad for 

 the selection of books, must be sent before any 

 use is made of them, to the holy office, which 

 may retain or restore them. Should any person 

 succeed in eluding the vigilance of the inquisi- 

 tion, he still possesses proscribed books by a very 

 dangerous tenure, for he is perpetually exposed to 

 those domiciliary visits which the commissioners of 

 the inquisition have a right to make at any hour, ei- 

 ther of the night or day. When we examine the 

 list of books condemned by this rigid tribunal, we 

 despair of the rapid progress of improvement among 

 a people, from whom the richest treasures of litera- 

 ture, and even of science, are withheld, lest their eyes 

 should be opened to the absurdities of a pernicious 

 superstition, or to the abuses of an oppressive go- 

 vernment. 



Manners From the difficulty of procuring permission to 



ractcr of emi 6 ra . tc to an y of the Spanish colonies, and the 



the inhabi- 8cru P ulous care of government to ascertain the mo- 



tants. al purity and sound orthodoxy of those to whom 



the permission is granted, we might naturally think 



that the inhabitant* of Caraccas must be particularly 



exemplary in their character, and attached to the 



government. But the indolence and indifference na- 



VOL. V. PART II. 



tural to the Spaniards, seem to be so much increased <- 

 by the heat of the torrid /.one, as to form almost > ^ ~" 

 the only features in the character of tli n at 



well as the Creole inhabitants of the captain-general- 

 ship of Caraccas. The moment a Spaniard is trans- 

 ported to South America, he seems to forget that he 

 has a native country, and loses all desire to return. 

 In the Creole, attachment to the parent country 

 becomes, of course, more feeble. To obtain some 

 public employment, which might distinguish him 

 among his American countrymen, is the only motive 

 which can induce him to visit the land of his fore- 

 fathers ; and to be adorned with the badge of of- 

 fice, is the only connection he desires with a govern- 

 ment, to which, in other respects, he may be per- 

 fectly indifferent. However deeply, therefore, the 

 Spanish government may seem to have laid the pil- 

 lars of its sovereignty in Caraccas, and its other A- 

 merican colonies, we may expect to see the mighty 

 fabric very speedily and generally subverted. 



To become independent of Europe, was a wish 

 very naturally inspired by the oppressive load of taxes 

 necessary to support the government of a European 

 monarch, and by the restrictions necessarily imposed 

 on commerce by a monopoly which government pa- 

 tronised. This wish was confirmed, and increased in 

 ardour, by the example of the British colonies in 

 America ; and, so early as the year 1797, the flame 

 had nearly broke forth with a destructive violence. 

 In that year, three state prisoners in Spain had been 

 condemned to perpetual confinement in the casemates 

 of Guayra. These men, who represented themselves 

 as the martyrs of freedom, and the victims of despo- 

 tism, had the art to form a very extensive conspi- 

 racy against government ; and had the wish for inde- 

 pendence been seconded by the activity of the peo- 

 ple, there is reason to believe that the conspiracy 

 might even then have been successful. It was pre- 

 maturely discovered, and crushed. But liberty had 

 now exerted among the people the magic of her 

 name ; and had kindled throughout the district of 

 Caraccas a spark of discontent, which, however dull 

 the materials on which it had to operate, was not 

 likely to be extinguished till the fabric of the old 

 government was violently shaken, if not entirely con- 

 sumed. 



Such was the state of the public mind when Mi- Revolution 

 randa landed with an armed force on the shores of in 1811. 

 Caraccas, and unfurled the standard of revolt and 

 independence. Round that standard the patriots 

 were at first prevented from rallying, by the imme- 

 diate danger of rebellion, and by the inherent indo- 

 lence and timidity of their dispositions. But when 

 the attention of government was withdrawn from the 

 colonies to the distresses which began to multiply at 

 home ; when Spain was perfidiously invaded by the 

 oppressor of Europe, robbed of her monarch, and 

 her territory overrun by hostile armies ; then insur- 

 rection began to appear more openly in Caraccas ; 

 and while the mother country was sunk in the lowest 

 misery, her colonies were distracted by a fierce civil 

 war. 



From the very commencement of this insurrection, 

 there appears to have been a strong faction in all parts 

 of South America, determined to establish the abso- 

 3 i 



