344 SPANISH AMERICA. 



tiently expecting him as their deliverer 

 from the odious tyranny of the royalists. 

 Fierro, who had been appointed by Mon- 

 teverde governor of the city, being un- 

 able to make any effective defence, con- 

 voked a Junta, consisting of the audiencia, 

 the clergy, and the officers of the garrison ; 

 and they agreed to send commissioners to 

 Bolivar vv^ith proposals for a capitulation. 

 Bolivar, who was then at La Vittoria, ac- 

 cepted the proffered terms ; promising that 

 no person should be molested on account 

 of his previous opinions, and that all those 

 individuals who chose it, should be allowed 

 to quit Venezuela, taking with them their 

 property. The Governor, however, did not 

 wait for the ratification of the treaty, but 

 • embarked at La Guayra, carrying off with 

 him all the money, whether public pro- 

 perty, or belonging to private persons, 

 which he could lay his hands upon ; and 



