332 



SPANISH AMERICA. 



physical evils. The clergy, who, by the 

 new constitution, had been deprived of 

 some of their privileges, immediately pro- 

 claimed that the earthquake was an evi- 

 dence of the wrath of the Almighty ; and 

 they unfortunately found a great number of 

 terrified individuals, who were too ready to 

 believe them. 



Other circumstances combined, also, to 

 cause a considerable depression in the minds 

 of the independents ; the royalists of Coro, 

 having attacked the force under Colonel 

 Xalon, gained a considerable advantage, and 

 obtained possession of Carora. The day be- 

 fore the earthquake, the troops stationed at 

 Barquisimeto were preparing to march, in 

 order to attack the royalists, at the moment 

 the earthquake took place ; when the bar- 

 racks being thrown down, the greater part 

 of the soldiers were buried under the ruins, 

 and their commander severely wounded. 



