ACT OF INDEPENDENCE. 323 



I have already mentioned the establish- 

 ment of a Junta of Government at Carae- 

 cas : the decree of blockade issued in con- 

 sequence by the Regency of Spain, had 

 only the effect of ripening into actual in- 

 dependence what was previously merely 

 a sort of provisional, or intermediate state 

 of political existence. Thus on the 5th of 

 July 1811, the act of independence was 

 published of the united confederation of 

 Venezuela, consisting of the provinces of 

 Caraccas, Cumana, Barinas, Margarita, 

 Barcelona, Merida, and Truxillo ; and 

 agreed upon by the Congress composed of 

 the representatives of these provinces. In 

 this act the conduct of the recent smcces- 

 sive governments of Spain, to which I have 

 already alluded, was justly stigmatized ; 

 and their determination, in consequence, 

 no longer to preserve the bonds which had 

 hitherto united them to Spain, and to be- 

 y2 



