The latter retorted with similar cruelties, and the war of extermination raged more fiercely than ever. Bolivar gained possession of the town, but was unable to dislodge the garrison, on account of the strength of the fortress, and the desperation of its defenders. The royalists of the province of Coro, the staunchest stronghold of despotism, reinforced by Spanish troops from Porto Rico, marched into the territory of Caraccas, but, after gaining some advantages, were routed, in three actions, by the Liberator. To avoid the evils of a continued military rule, Bolivar now summoned all the principal persons of the state, with the intention to resign his authority into their hands; but it was judged expedient, in view of the critical position of affairs, that he should hold the authority of dictator for some time longer. (January, 1814.)

The royal party, burning with revenge at their successive discomfitures, now took the mad and desperate resolution of exciting the slaves, seventy thousand in number, to insurrection. This nefarious project, for a time, met with complete success. The blacks, attracted by the hope of freedom and of plunder, enlisted with great zeal under the incendiary agents. Puy, a Spaniard, and Palomo, a mulatto and outlawed assassin, at the head of such a force, carried desolation through Barinas, Guiana, and other towns; while Boves and Rosette, with an army composed of similar materials, laid waste a vast tract of country in another direction, killing every inhabitant who refused to join them. Their force, amounting to eight thousand, consisted almost entirely of slaves, and with such suddenness and fury was the rising effected, that a portion of the servile army advanced within ten leagues of the capital.

The Spanish prisoners at that place and at La Guira, encouraged by these circumstances, concerted a revolt; and Bolivar, excited by the atrocities of the royalists, and dreading the result of the insurrectionary movement, caused them, eight hundred in number, to be executed without mercy. This cruel and impolitic deed was resented by an act of equal ferocity at Porto Cabello, all the republican prisoners there, several hundred, suffering a similar fate. This massacre committed, Bolivar marched against the enemy, and gained some advantages, though with severe loss. Marino marched from Cumana to his assistance, and the patriot forces, thus strengthened, gained two important victories. Defeated in turn, they retreated to Valencia, where, on the 28th of May, 1814, Cigigal, the new royalist captaingeneral of Venezuela, with forces largely strengthened by concen

tration, engaged them. The battle was contested with uncoinmon obstinacy and fury, but the rcyalists were finally defeated, with a loss of five hundred men, and were pursued by the victor to Coro and Los Llanos.

The patriot general, by an indiscreet division of his force, was, in turn, defeated by a large body of cavalry, under Boves, and Marino experienced a similar disaster. With that striking suddenness peculiar to this desultory civil warfare, the royal faction again started up in the ascendant. The patriot generals retreated to Cumana, and nearly the whole population of Caraccas, dreading the vengeance of the enemy, followed them. That city, with La Guira and Valencia, were taken, the latter surrendering only in consideration of a solemn oath, taken by the Spanish general in assurance of good faith, and fortified by the celebration of mass. But no sooner had he gained possession of the town, than he caused the officers and nearly all the soldiers of the garrison to be shot. The remains of the patriot army, after twice repulsing the victorious enemy at Maturin, were overcome by superior numbers, and a few retreated to the island of Margarita, where they still held out. Bolivar, despairing for the present of saving his country, repaired to New Granada, and offered his services, which were gladly accepted, to the congress of that state.

CHAPTER IV.

RESTORATION OF FERDINAND.-EXTINCTION OF LOYALTY IN THE COLONIES.-TYRANNICAL POLICY OF THE KING.SPIRITED CONDUCT OF THE CONGRESS OF NEW GRAN

ADA. DISSENSIONS OF THE REPUBLICANS.

INJUDICIOUS CONDUCT OF BOLIVAR.

-

THE Overthrow of Napoleon, in 1814, and the restoration of the bigoted, tyrannical Ferdinand to the throne of Spain, were events which might well fill the minds of the republicans with gloomy forebodings. Singular to state, their precautions against the threatened ascendency of France had first precipitated the revolution; and the news of these events, at that time, would have excited the greatest joy in the provinces. But a civil war of four years, embittered by

continual outrage and cruelty, especially by the Spanish party, had now quite extinguished the flame of loyalty in the breasts of the South American patriots. It was, therefore, with the greatest dismay that the congress of New Granada, at the same time, heard of the restoration of Ferdinand, the renewed subjection of Venezuela, and the entire defeat of their own army, under Narino.

The intelligence from Europe, (says Mr. Niles,*) "entirely changed the general aspect of things, and in some measure the character of the revolution. The resistance in America commenced against the authority of the regency of Spain, and in most of the provinces the authority of Ferdinand was expressly acknowledged. Ferdinand was now on the throne, and if resistance was continued, it must be against the power of the legitimate sovereign of Spain. The restoration of the king, therefore, changed the relations between the colonies and the parent-country, as well as placed the latter in a condition to direct all its strength against the rebellious Americans, being relieved from the war at home, and having no longer any employment for her armies in the peninsula. At an earlier period of the contest, the restoration of Ferdinand would have greatly damped, if not effectually checked, the spirit of the revolution; but after the struggle had continued nearly five years, and the minds of the Americans become exasperated by the cruelties and massacres of the Spanish colonial rulers, it was calculated to have but comparatively little influence. Had Ferdinand, however, pursued a conciliatory line of conduct towards America; had he condemned the rashness of the colonial chiefs, who had driven the people into resistance; reformed the abuses and removed the oppression of which the colonies justly complained, probably he might have so far revived the sentiments of loyalty as to have checked, if not extinguished, the flame of the revolution. But instead of this course, the first official intelligence the Americans had of his being reinstated on the throne, was a decree, treating them as rebels, and commanding them to lay down their arms." Another decree (June, 1814,) directed the equipment of a formidable armament, for the suppression of the insurrection.

Amid all these disheartening circumstances, the congress of New Granada, true to their trust, presented a bold front to their menacing destiny. In a proclamation, detailing with the most naked distinctness, the losses and misfortunes of the republican cause in

* History of South America.

the two states, and presenting the disastrous prospect of subjection in its fullest light, they nobly conclude, "Useless shall be the declaration of our independence, if we have not resolution to support it. We possess within ourselves the means of attaining this great object, and no power whatever will be strong enough to conquer us, if we avail ourselves of our own strength; our exertions must unquestionably be great, and our sacrifices for the common cause unbounded. But such efforts are worthy of men raised to the dignity of a free people, and are absolutely necessary, since we have nothing to hope and much to fear from the European nations. Notwithstanding the cessions at Bayonne, and the torrents of blood which the French have shed by the war in the Peninsula, Ferdinand has been restored to Spain; and the country, now freed from the French, will have both the power and the will to send a formidable army again to subdue us.

"Ye people of New Granada! contemplate your fate, and that of your posterity; you may easily judge of it; and let your resolution be formed accordingly and nobly. Again, we repeat, your destiny depends upon your own exertions." (September 1st, 1814.)

Stringent measures, dictated by necessity, were taken for the common safety. The chiefs of the province of Cundinamarca having refused to join the confederacy, Bolivar, in December, 1814, was dispatched to its capital, Santa Fe de Bogota, to force a compliance. He took the suburbs by storm, and the president, Alvarez, making a virtue of necessity, capitulated, and agreed to unite in the confederacy. The federal government, thus strengthened, appointed a triple executive, and proceeded to pass many liberal and salutary acts. Monopolies and tribute of the Indians were abolished, foreigners were invited to the country, and the liberty of the press was assured. Among the clergy, many of the more intelligent now embraced the popular cause; and the friars of St. Dominic, in particular, showed their patriotism by presenting to the national treasury the wealth which they had long hoarded in their sanctuary.

Cabal and Urdeneta, with reinforcements, were employed in different directions, against the enemy; and Bolivar, with the appointment of captain-general of New Granada and Venezuela, in command of three thousand men, raised by great exertions, marched against the royalists of Santa Martha. But that commander, with singular infatuation, being thwarted in his plans by Castillo, the republican commander of Carthagena, his personal enemy, delayed his march

to besiege that city and bring the refractory officer to terms. This civil contest, entirely breaking up the original enterprise, and permitting the royalists to gain great advantages, was carried on till news arrived that the great Spanish expedition, prepared at Cadiz to crush the republican cause, had arrived off Venezuela. Recalled to his judgment by this alarming intelligence, Bolivar ceased the unnatural contest, and, leaving the remains of his army for the defence of the city he had besieged, betook himself to Jamaica to fit out an expedition for its relief.

CHAPTER V.

ARRIVAL OF THE SPANISH ARMY, UNDER MORILLO.-TERRIBLE BLOCKADE OF CARTHAGENA.-RENEWED EXERTIONS OF THE PATRIOTS.- -ALTERNATE SUCCESSES.- -MORILLO CONQUERS NEW GRANADA.-SEVERITIES EXERCISED ON THE VANQUISHED. MARCHES INTO VENEZUELA. -SUCCESSFUL DEFENCE OF MARGARITA BY THE PATRIOTS.

THE armament of Span, the most formidable which that nation. had ever dispatched to the shores of the New World, consisted of ten thousand of her best troops, conveyed in fifty transports. The feeble resources of the country, exhausted by war with the French, had been almost entirely expended in preparing it. Morillo, the commander, first took the island of Margarita, where many of the patriots of Venezuela, under Bermudas, had taken refuge; and thence proceeded to Caraccas, where, and at other cities on the coast, he landed two thousand men. In August, 1815, he laid siege to Carthagena. That city, strongly fortified, and bravely defended, stood a siege of four months, including two bombardments; but being strictly invested, both by land and water, the garrison suffered terribly from famine. On the 5th of December, the deaths amounting to a hundred a day, they evacuated the city, two thousand in number, in eleven ships, making good their retreat, and repulsing the Spanish armament, by which they were attacked. They mostly proceeded to Aux Cayes. "The horrible appearance of the city," says Montalvo, the captain-general, “is scarcely to be