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SOUTH A 
Europe, that it seemed a matter of certainty that a distant 
province, peopled by degraded and despised Indians, should 
be miserably and cruelly governed. Recently, this sup¬ 
position has been converted into the fullest certainty. The 
report of some Spanish gentlemen sent over by the court of 
Spain, to examine into the state of the country, though se¬ 
creted at the time, has recently been brought to light and 
published; and the scenes it exhibits of barbarity and licen¬ 
tiousness on the part of the Spaniards is, perhaps, without 
parallel in ancient or modern history. The sale of justice 
by the viceroy and the judges, who did not even keep faith 
with those they had taken bribes from—the levying of taxes 
by inferior officers in the most arbitrary manner—the raising 
imposts several times over, by asserting they had not been 
received—priests living in open concubinage with several 
women of the same family, and their whole lives occupied 
with drunkenness and debauchery, and not a few instances 
of the most systematic seduction achieved by the united 
labours of these reverend brethren.—These are the matters dis¬ 
closed by the chosen servants of the crown, who had every 
opportunity for knowing the truth, and whose natural incli¬ 
nation must rather have been to palliate than exaggerate the 
crimes of their fellow-countrymen. After long and wretched 
endurance of this galling slavery, Venezuela set the example 
to the other provinces, by forming a supreme junta in Ca¬ 
raccas, the capital, which assumed the reins of government. 
A similar proceeding took place at Buenos Ayres, and at the 
several capitals of Santa Fe de Bogota, Carthagena, and 
Quito. So soon as intelligence of these proceedings reached 
the regency at Cadiz, a proclamation was issued by them, 
declaring the provinces in a state of insurrection. Irritated 
by these severe measures, the provinces resolved to renounce 
at once their allegiance to the mother country; and in this 
also, Venezuela took the lead, having issued a declaration of 
independence in July, 1811, after having arranged its future 
government somewhat after the fashion of the United States 
of America. Declarations of a similar nature were issued in 
Mexico, among all the states which constituted the federation 
of New Granada, and, shortly after, by the congress which 
met at Buenos Ayres. 
The congress of Venezuela met with some opposition to 
their views; but the malcontents were not formidable, and 
in general the new government, after having issued the de¬ 
claration of independence in 1811, may be said to have pros¬ 
pered in all its undertakings; when unforeseen events hap¬ 
pened, which involved those ill-fated countries in new 
troubles. As the first act of the Venezuelan revolution had 
occurred on Holy Thursday in 1811, the whole inhabitants 
were engaged in 1812 in celebrating this festival with pecu¬ 
liar solemnities, when the country was shaken by a terrible 
earthquake, which destroyed five of the chief cities of the 
confederacy; and among these, Caraccas itself, the capital, 
was nearly ruined, and an immense number of soldiers and 
inhabitants lost their lives. The superstitious people imme¬ 
diately considered this as a signal of the displeasure of Pro¬ 
vidence with the revolution, which sentiment was zealously 
enforced by the priests, who were the decided enemies of in¬ 
dependence. In the mean time, the Spanish commander 
Monte Verde, who was in the interior with a military force, 
seized the opportunity to advance to Caraccas; and though 
he was forced ultimately to retreat, he got possession of Porto 
Cabello, and thus secured to the Spaniards a communication 
with the sea. The Venezuelans were so dispirited by this 
misfortune, and the general aspect of their affairs, that they 
concluded a treaty with Monte Verde, the Spanish general, 
by which the sovereign authority of the Cortes was once 
more established throughout Venezuela. This treaty was, 
however, broken by the Spanish commander, and in vio¬ 
lation of it, several of the independent leaders were appre¬ 
hended and thrown into prison. These eveuts took place 
before the end of the year 1812. 
About 18 months after this, the Caraccas were again 
delivered from the tyranny of the Spanish .governor, by the 
renowned Bolivar, who, having retired to the state of New 
Granada, after the successes of Monte Verde, and now 
MERICA. 
thinking the opportunity favourable for his enterprise, landed 
with a small force, which was soon increased by numerous 
recruits, and with which he made his triumphal entry into 
the Caraccas. 
The violence of the two parties had now proceeded to the 
atrocious extreme of giving no quarter; and the royalists, 
reduced to the last extremity, resolved to arm the slaves in 
their favour. After ravaging the country with a degree of 
ferocity hitherto unparalleled, this force was encountered by 
Bolivar at Calaboso, the 28th May, 1814, and totally defeated. 
The Spaniards retreated into the interior, whither Bolivar 
dispatched a force to disperse them. Having by this means, 
however, too much divided his strength, he was himself 
attacked and defeated, and finally obliged to quit the 
country. He retired with a few tried companions to Car¬ 
thagena. He returned at the end of 1815, and having en¬ 
tered into an agreement with one Brion, who undertook to 
defray the expences of a maritime expedition, they landed 
at the island of Margaritta, which they soon reduced ; after 
which Bolivar landed on the continent 6th June, 1816, and 
immediately issued a proclamation offering freedom to the 
slaves, and announcing his resolution in future to spare all 
prisoners of war. He marched in the direction of the city 
of Caraccas, his vanguard under the command of a Scots 
adventurer, Gregor M'Gregor, who had served during the 
Spanish war in the British army, and who was valuable to 
Bolivar from his experience of war. The main body of 
Bolivar’s army was in the meantime defeated by the royalist 
general-Morales, and he was compelled hastily to re-embark. 
M'Gregor not being able to effect his retreat, was compelled 
to fight two battles with Morales, in the last of which fie 
was completely triumphant, and immediately after made his 
entrance into Barcelona, where he was joined by Bolivar, 
with reinforcements, in December. 
From this period, the contest seems to have been main¬ 
tained with greater equality on both sides, and many bloody 
and indecisive battles appear to have been fought, of 
which it would be useless to enter into the details, which are 
imperfect and contradictory, both parties claiming the victory 
in most of the actions which have been fought. The 
royalists had been materially aided by reinforcements 
brought by Morillo from Granada; but the independents 
had so far prevailed, that on the 8th May, 1817, they revived 
their former constitution. General Bolivar and Don Fer¬ 
nando Toro were placed at the head of the executive power. 
Judges and other functionaries were also chosen, and generals 
Bolivar and Marino were reinstated in the command of the 
armies. A decree was at the same time issued, confirming 
Brion as admiral in chief of the Venezuelan squadron. The 
independent troops had received reinforcements of disbanded 
officers and soldiers from Europe, where they had agents to 
recruit for them. By their successes in 1817, the Spaniards 
under Morillo were chiefly confined to the towns of Bar¬ 
celona and Cumana, on the coast; while on the side of the 
Caraccas they held possession of the level country to the 
northward of the immense plains which stretch into the 
interior. The fortresses of Angostura and Guyana surren¬ 
dered to the patriot forces, which were thus enabled to 
occupy all the country watered by the Orinoco. Their 
commanders were at this time Bolivar, Piar, Arismendi, 
Bermudes, and Cedeno. In addition to. this force, Marino 
was at Cumanacoa with 2000 men, and Roxas at Maturin; 
Monagas and Zaraza, with their cavalry, were in the plains 
of Barcelona; while Paez, the Santa Fe chieftain, occupied 
all the country from Varinas to Calaboso. In the course of 
this year, Morillo was repulsed in his attempts on the island 
of Margaritta, which had been previously occupied by the 
patriots. Early in the year 1818, several severe engagements 
appear to have been fought between Bolivar and Morilio, in 
the neighbourhood of Calaboso, in which they both claim 
the victory, and which appear therefore to have been inde¬ 
cisive ; and in August, we find both parties again preparing 
for a renewal of the bloody struggle. Our subsequent 
accounts of the operations which took place are extremely 
imperfect; but in 1819, we find that Bolivar had proceeded 
on 
