318 



COLOMBIA. 



unfortunate attempt was made to liberate her from 

 the yoke. General Miranda, a native of Caracas, 

 formed for this purpose an expedition partly at St 

 Domingo and partly at New York. A landing was 

 effected on the coast, but the force proved wholly 

 inadequate to the designed object. Many were 

 taken prisoners by the Spanish authorities, and se- 

 veral suffered death. The defeat was decisive, and 

 gave an effectual blow, for the time, to the project of 

 independence. In 1810, however, Spain being over- 

 run by the French troops, the opportunity was seiz- 

 ed by the principal inhabitants to establish a freer 

 form of government. For this purpose, a junta su- 

 prema, or congress, was convened in Caracas, con- 

 sisting of deputies from all the provinces composing 

 the former captain-generalship, with the exception 

 of Maracaibo. At first, they published their acts in 

 the name of Ferdinand VII. ; but the captain-general 

 and the members of the audiencia were deposed and 

 imprisoned, and the new government received the 

 title of the confederatioti of Venezuela. The most 

 violent and impolitic measures were now taken by 

 the regency and cortes of Spain towards the people of 

 this district. The congress, finding the voice of the 

 people decided in favour of independence, issued a pro- 

 clamation, on the 5th of July, 1811, formally declaring 

 it. A liberal constitution was established, and affairs 

 wore a favourable aspect for the cause of freedom, 

 until the fatal earthquake of 1812, which, operating 

 on the superstition of the people, led to a great 

 change in the public opinion. Monteverde, a royal- 

 ist general, taking advantage of the situation of af- 

 fairs, marched against Caracas, and, after defeating 

 general Miranda, compelled the whole province to 

 submit. In 1813, however, Venezuela was again 

 emancipated by Bolivar, who was sent with an army 

 by the confederation of Grenada. In 1814, he was, 

 in his turn, defeated by Boves, and compelled to 

 evacuate Caracas. In 1816, he again returned with 

 a respectable body of troops, and was again defeated. 

 Undismayed by reverses, he landed again, in Decem- 

 ber of the same year, convened a general congress, 

 and defeated the royalists in March, 1817, with 

 great loss. In the month following, however, Bar- 

 celona was taken by the Spanish troops. The con- 

 test was maintained for some time afterwards with 

 various success. Bolivar was invested by the con- 

 gress with ample powers, the situation of the republic 

 requiring the energy of a dictator. On the 17th of 

 Dec., 1819, a union between the republics of Grena- 

 da and Venezuela was solemnly decreed, in confor- 

 mity with the report of a select committee of depu- 

 ties from each state. This confederation received 

 the title of the 



Republic of Colombia. In conformity with the 

 fundamental law, the installation of the general con- 

 gress of Colombia took place on the 6th of May, 

 1821, in the city of Rosario of Cucuta. The first 

 subject considered by this body was the constitution ; 

 and it was finally determined that the two states 

 should form one nation, on the central system, under 

 a popular representative government, divided into 

 legislative, executive, and judicial. Bolivar, the 

 president, was, in the mean time, actively engaged 

 in bringing the war to a close. On the 24th of June, 

 1821, was fought the memorable battle of Carabobo, 

 in which the royalist army was totally defeated, with 

 the loss of their artillery, baggage, and upwards of 

 6000 men. In the fall of 1822, Bolivar completed, 

 by the capture of Panama, the overthrow of Spanish 

 power in this quarter ; the only remaining memorial 

 of which was Porto Cabello, which held out until 

 Dec. 1823. For, by the successes of the troops sent 

 against Quito, the Spaniards had been compelled to 

 surrender their authority in the south. Bolivar de- 



feated Murgeon at Curiaco, in April, 1822, and, in 

 May, Sucre gained the splendid victory of Pichincha, 

 immediately after which the Spanish authorities ca- 

 pitulated. A long course of victory having thus 

 delivered Colombia from the Spaniards, Bolivar 

 arched into Peru, in 1824, at the head f>f an army 

 of 10,000 men, to effect the liberation of that coun- 

 try. Meanwhile, the acknowledgment of the inde- 

 pendence of Colombia, by the United States, in 1823, 

 and, in successive years since then, by Great Britain 

 and the other governments of Europe, except Spain, 

 gave new activity to her commercial relations. The 

 government was administered, in the absence of Bo- 

 livar, by the vice-president, general Francisco de 

 Paula Santander ; and from the adoption of the con- 

 stitution until 1826, the legislative and executive 

 authorities, relieved from anxiety with respect to 

 Spain, strenuously exerted themselves in various do- 

 mestic improvements. The finances were placed on 

 a more solid footing; public education was carefully 

 fostered ; and institutions, adapted to the new order 

 of things, everywhere arose. To all outward ap- 

 pearance, the republic was rapidly acquiring consist- 

 ency and stability, when the insurrection of Paez, in 

 Venezuela, produced a fatal change. Paez, being 

 one of the most distinguished officers of the revolu- 

 tion, received the command of the department of 

 Venezuela. In the execution of a law for enrolling 

 the militia in the city of Caracas, he gave so much 

 offence to the inhabitants by his arbitrary conduct, 

 that they obtained an impeachment against him be- 

 fore the senate. Being notified of this, in April, 

 1826, and summoned to appear and take his trial, he 

 refused obedience to the summons, placed himself at 

 the head of the troops, and became the nucleus of a 

 strong party in ancient Venezuela, which, dissatisfied 

 with the central system, demanded a reform of the 

 government, some desiring that Venezuela should 

 again be separate from New Grenada, others wishing 

 for a federal constitution, like that of the United 

 States. In consequence of this insurrection, the 

 north-eastern departments of the republic remained 

 virtually independent of the rest, until Jan., 1827, 

 when Bolivar returned to Colombia, and succeeded 

 in restoring the national authority, by promising to 

 assemble a convention for the reform of the constitu- 

 tion. Meanwhile, various disorders broke out in 

 other parts of the republic, the departments formed 

 out of New Grenada alone continuing faithful to the 

 constitution. Congress assembled in May, and, in 

 June, passed a decree of general amnesty, and, in 

 August, another decree for convoking a grand con- 

 vention at Ocana, for amending the constitution. 

 Bolivar and Santander, having been re-elected presi- 

 dent and vice president, were duly qualified, the lat- 

 ter in May, and the former in Sept., 1827, and affairs 

 remained tranquil until the convention assembled at 

 Ocana, in March, 1828. The violence of parties, 

 and the disturbed state of the country, prevented the 

 convention from effecting anything, and it soon se- 

 parated. These events finally resulted iu Bolivar's 

 assuming absolute authority, and, in effect, abolishing 

 the constitution of the republic. Whether he took 

 the step solely in order to terminate the public dis- 

 orders, or whether he himself, as others allege, creat- 

 ed them by his intrigues, in order to afford a plausi- 

 ble pretext for his usurpation, it remains for time to 

 show. What appears on the face of things is, that 

 the various municipalities drew up addresses to him, 

 in which he was requested and invited to assume the 

 supreme command. The earliest of these was the 

 act of the municipality of Bogota, dated June 13, 

 1828 ; and others followed in quick succession from 

 every part of the country. Bolivar was not slow 

 in obeying the call, and organized the new govern. 



