VENEZUELA. 



X)f the town-lioiifo. Some months arter this wonderful dif- 

 play of attachment to the mother-country and its fovereign, 

 many refpeftable families of Caraccas concurred in prefenting 

 a petition to the captain-eeneral, Cafas, for permifiiou to 

 eleft a junta fimilar to thole in Spain. The petitioners in- 

 deed were arrefted ; but after a confinement of very few days 

 they were releafed. About the end of July, 1808, Liniers, 

 Ticeroy of Buenos Ayres, received intelligence of the events 

 that had occurred in the Peninfula ; and in a proclamation 

 addrefled to the people, he exhorted them, in the name of 

 Bonaparte, to remain quiet. Xavier Elio, the governor 

 of Monte-Video, accufed him of diflbyalty, and thus fepa- 

 rated the country under his command from its allegiance to 

 him, by forming a junta refembling thofe of Spain. 



The news of the general infurredtion in Spain reached 

 Mexico on the 29th of July, 1808 ; and a junta was im- 

 mediately ellablifhed. La Paz, which was the capital of 

 one of the diftridts under the dominion of the audiencia of 

 Charcas, confidering Spain too feeble to free herfelf from 

 the power of the French, wifhed to provide for its own fe- 

 curity ; and, in the beginning of the year 1809, formed a 

 government for itfelf, compofed of many refpedlable per- 

 fons, which was ftyled " junta intuitica." The viceroy of 

 Buenos Ayres fent an army to oppofe this motion ; and 

 Goyeneche marched, by order of the viceroy of Peru, 

 againll La Paz, who fucceeding, ordered numbers of the 

 patriots to be ignominioudy and cruelly executed. Quito, 

 neverthelefs, capital of the audience bearing its name, efta- 

 bHfhed a feparate government, Auguft loth, iSog. But 

 the viceroy of Santa Fe de Bogota haftened to deftroy the 

 junta of Quito by force of arms ; and Abafcal, the viceroy 

 of Peru, did the fame. The defenders of the junta were 

 obhged to yield to fuperiority of force, receiving a promife 

 from the Spanifh prefident of Quito, that part events ftiould 

 be forgotten. But regardlefs of this promife, many pa- 

 triots, amounting to more than 300, were murdered in cold 

 blood. In 1810, the junta of Caraccas commemorated the 

 fate of thefe victims with funeral honours equally magnifi- 

 cent and folemn. Upon the difperfion of the central junta 

 in Spam, and an illegal eleAion of a regency, the inhabitants 

 of Caraccas refolved to try to obtain by force what reafon- 

 able reprefentation had failed to gain for them. The muni- 

 cipal body, in conjunftion with many perfons named by the 

 voice of the people, affumed the reins of government, and 

 the appellation of " junta fuprema." The afts of the 

 junta were pubhfhed in the name of king Ferdinand VIL 

 The eftabhfltment of the junta of Buenos Ayres was effected 

 with more tranquillity than that of Caraccas. A junta was 

 formed at Chili :n September ; and difaffeftion, occafioned 

 in Mexico by violent meafures, produced an infurreftion, 

 September i6th, 1810, in the town of Doleras, near Gua- 

 naxuato ; which infurreftion foon extended through the 

 whole country.' . 



When the council of regency received intelligence of the 

 proceedings at Caraccas, by which the inhabitants declared 

 themfelves independent of the mother-country, and deter- 

 mined upon forming a governing junta to exercife this fup- 

 pofed independent authority, it refolved to adopt vigorous 

 meafures for preventing the progrefs of this evil ; and, for 

 this purpofe, confulted the council of Spain and the Indies. 

 Accordingly the regency declared the province of Caraccas 

 in a ftate of rigorous blockade. The meafures now adopted 

 evinced the prevalent fpirit that aftuated the Spanifh 

 Americans, though the different provinces were not atting 

 in concert with each other. War feemed to be the wifn of 

 the merchants of Cadiz, and of the cortes that had been 

 afTembled by the regency ; and various methods wer-e ufed 



Vol. XXXVI. 



to excite and encourage it. Its long continuance, and the 

 favage manner in which it u proCecuted, evince the irrecon- 

 cileableanimofityof the contending parties. " The Spaniards 

 fight for reconquering their once pofTefTed territories, and 

 the Spanifh Americans to obtain independence : the firil are 

 cruel in the hour of triumph, and with adverfity their en- 

 mity increafes ; the latter are courageous in attack, and, 

 when defeated, ready to place confidence in their leaders, 

 and to rally under their banners. The firft: pofFefs great 

 military fkill ; the latter, fuperiority of number. Both 

 have uniformly fhewn a firmnefs and decifion ir. aftion 

 fuited to the high objefts they have in view, and to the 

 great obftacles they have to overcome. In thefe contefts, 

 the blood of thoufands has already inundated an extent of 

 country of more than 1600 leagues, which comprife the 

 Spanifh fettlements in the new continent ; and as if the mor- 

 tality in the field of battle were not fufficient, numbers are 

 daily murdered in cold blood." — "The Spanifh chiefs and 

 rulers, it is faid, gave the firft example of violating capi- 

 tulations, of fhooting prifoners, and of refufing all means 

 of accommodation, m the cruel war carried on in the new 

 continent, by the authority of the cortes of Spain, and by 

 Ferdinand VII. The old Spaniards of either world mufl 

 be altogether unable to find an excufe, or even a palliation, 

 for their want of humanity, and breaches of faith, fince the 

 beginning of the revolution. The cruelty of the Spanifh 

 chiefs, and tokens of approbation on the part of the regency 

 and cortes, have exafperated the newly-formed governments 

 in Spanifh America, and given ftrength to their decifions. 

 At firft the revolutionary fpirit was confined to very few 

 perfons, but it foon fpread through the whole continent. 

 This fufliciently appears in the fpirit and language of the 

 aft of independence publifiied by the congrefs of Venezuela, 

 July the 5th, 181 1. Similar declarations to thofe of the 

 congrefs of Venezuela were made in Mexico, and in Cartha- 

 gena, Socorro, Tuiija, Pamplona, Antioquia, and the other 

 provinces, which compofed the confederation ol New 

 Grenada, and more lately by the congrefs of Buenos 

 Ayres." 



When king Ferdinand, in his decree of the 4th of June, 

 1814, announced to the South Americans his return to his 

 country, he ordered that they fhould lay down their arms ; 

 and this order was enforced by an army of 10,000 men, 

 equipped at Cadiz, and placed under the command of Mo- 

 rillo. This army appeared on the coaft of Venezuela in 

 April, 1815. AH hopes of reconciliation were now aban- 

 doned, and a revolt in Spanifh America againfi: Ferdi- 

 nand VII. may be dated from this period. From Campano 

 general Morillo proceeded to Margaretta, and from thence 

 to Caraccas ; and in the following Auguft he befieged Car- 

 tiiagena. Although difTentions had occurred between Bo- 

 livar and Caftello, both commanders of the South American 

 forces, and leffened the means of defence which Carthagena 

 pofTelTed, the inhabitants, neverthelefs, fupported by nearly 

 2000 regular troops, prepared for a vigorous refiftance. 

 But provifions failed, and more than 3000 perfons died of 

 famine. On the 5th of December, 1815, the governor and 

 garrifon of Carthagena evacuated the place, and on the fol- 

 lowing morning the king's troops entered. General Mo- 

 rillo, thus pofTefTed of Carthagena, was enabled to conquer 

 New Grenada. He entered Santa Fe de Bogota in June, 

 1816, and remained there till November. More than, 

 600 perfons of thofe who compofed the congrefs and pro- ' 

 vincial governments, as well as the chiefs of the independent 

 army, were fhot, hanged, or exiled ; and the prifons were 

 full of others waiting their fate. 



The firft decree of the junta fuprema of Caraccas, formed 

 4 Y April 



