EVACUATION OF VALENCIA. 333 



The congress, likewise, had been obliged 

 to issue one million in paper money, which, 

 after the earthquake, became much dis- 

 credited ; unable to withstand the tide of 

 public opinion, which was now flowing 

 strongly against them, that assembly ad- 

 journed their sessions, after giving the com- 

 mand of the army to General Miranda, at- 

 taching to it, at the same time, a sort of 

 dictatorial powder. Miranda, at the head of 

 two thousand men, marched to meet the 

 royalists, commanded by General Monte- 

 verde, who proceeded from Carora to Bar- 

 quisimeto, of which he took possession 

 without any opposition ; as he did, soon 

 afterwards, of Araure, after a slight resist- 

 ance. The intelligence of these successes 

 dispirited the independent troops who had 

 been sent against Angostura ; and Miranda, 

 after evacuating Valencia, found it necessary 

 ^ to concentrate his forces in the pass of La 

 Cabrera, near the Lake Tacarigua. 



