that no one should, in any way, suffer on account of what had taken place; yet, in violation of this plightea faith, a large number of those who had belonged to, or supported the popular government, were arrested and imprisoned; and on the 2d of August, the following year, they were all massacred in prison, under pretence of revolt. The troops stationed in the city, after massacreing the prisoners, were suffered to plunder the inhabitants, the scene of rapine and carnage was shocking, and involved the property of thousands, and the lives of more than three hundred persons, murdered in cold blood. The anniversary of the fate of these early victims to the liberation and independence of Colombia, was commemorated by order of the junta of Caraccas, in 1810, in a solemn manner, with appropriate funeral honours.

These tyrannical and sanguinary measures producing great excitement throughout the colonies, tended to weaken the attachment that was felt towards the parent country. Few individuals, however, even thought of independence; on the contrary, all were anxious for a re-establishment of the government of Spain, and a reformation in the colonies. The intelligence of the disturbances in America, and the violent measures pursued by the colonial chiefs, alarmed the central junta of old Spain, and with a view to conciliate the wounded feelings of the Americans, they issued a pompous declaration, in which they asserted, that "the colonies were equal to the mother country." But this was entirely deceptive; no reformation of the system, no correction of abuses, was attempted; and, notwithstanding the disturbances which the violence of the governors had occasioned, Spaniards were sent to America to fill all places, and to occupy all public employment, as had been done for ages past; while the colonies were still drained of money to supply the pressing wants of Spain, engaged in a struggle with the gigantic power France.

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Nothing could exceed the astonishment of the Americans, when, at the very time they were expecting to hear of the final triumph of the patriots in Spain, and the restoration of Ferdinand VII., they learned that the French were masters of Madrid, and that the central junta had been driven to Andalusia. But their confidence in the courage of the people of Spain remained unshaken; and instead of being discouraged by these disasters, they only served to awaken the zeal of the Americans in the cause of the mother country, which they still regarded as their own. Hence, not only the regular remittances were made, but large sums were raised by subscriptions from every class of the population. The intelligence of war breaking out between Austria and France, and the victory of Talavera, occasioned as great joy in America as it did in the Spanish peninsula; but this joy

was soon diminished by intelligence of the most alarming dissensions among the patriots; General de la Romana published a manifesto, declaring the power of the central junta illegal, and the juntas of Seville and Valencia protested against it. These dissensions were followed by the defeat of their armies, and the dispersion of the central junta, which, having become obnoxious to popular rage, its members were pursued and insulted by the people, and denounced as traitors. A few of the members assembled in the isle of Leon, but not daring to exercise the powers of government any longer, and trembling for their own safety, they vested their authority in a regency consisting of five members. At this time, the whole of Spain was under the dominion of Bonaparte, except Cadiz and Gallicia, which would have been the extent of the jurisdiction of the regency, had it been legally constituted; but for one illegal body, whose authority the national will had annulled, when unable any longer to maintain its own power, to attempt to transfer it to another tribunal of its own creating, was such a palpable attempt at usurpation, that the new government would not have been respected for a moment, by any one in Spain, had it not been for the awful crisis which threatened the annihilation of the last hopes of the Spanish patriots.

What a favourable conjuncture for the Americans to emancipate themselves from a government which had tyrannised over them for three centuries! But instead of promptly embracing the opportunity, they appear to have been only thinking of the re-establishment of the legitimate power of their oppressors-the restoration of Ferdinand the adored. The prevailing anxiety of the colonists, from the commencement of the disturbances in Spain, had been an apprehension of falling under the power of Bonaparte, in the event of his becoming master of the Spanish peninsula; and as the cause of the Spanish patriots became more desperate, the fears of the colonists increased. "What will become of us if Spain shall be conquered?" was a question universally asked; and its discussion directly led to the consideration of the necessity and the right of providing new guards for their own security. The question admitted of only two answers; for if Spain fell under the power of France, her colonies must have shared her fate, or taken care of themselves. The case supposed, presented but an alternative to America, to fall under the power of France, or become independent. The first ideas which the Americans had of independence, did not relate to independence as it respected Spain, but as to France. How different was the origin of the revolution which resulted in the independence of the British American colonies, from that which separated the Spanish colonies from the mother country. The revolution in the British colonies originated from measures of oppression on the part of VOL. II.

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the parent state, and long and systematical resistance to those measures on the part of the colonies. The Anglo-Americans were alarmed from an apprehension of being oppressed by the parent country; but the Spanish Americans, although tyrannised over by Spain for centuries, were terrified at the prospect of the overthrow of the power of their oppressors, and that that event would place them under the dominion of a foreign power which they detested. Although such, generally, were the feelings of the Spanish colonists; yet at this period, and before, there were some few enlightened individuals in the different settlements, who entertained higher views and hopes; who wished to avail themselves of the present juncture to restore their country to its natural rights, of which it had been deprived for three hundred years. The illegal regency in Spain, being encouraged by the manifesto of the merchants of Cadiz, addressed a proclamation to the colonies in America; and with the intention of conciliating them, at a crisis when it was evident Spain could do nothing without their assistance, the proclamation contains sentiments not less true than remarkable, as emanating from such a source.

"Americans, ye have been long weighed down by a yoke more oppressive to bear, because ye were distant from the centre of power. We now place your future destiny in your own hands. Ye have hitherto been the football, as it were, of the viceroys, always subject to their ambition and caprice, while at the same time ye were a prey to their cupidity. From this time your fate shall not depend on them."

The regency, also, endeavoured to impress on the Americans, that Spain and her colonies were to share the same fate, whatever it might be. "It is not sufficient," they observe, “for you to be Spaniards, unless, whatever be the event of fortune, you belong to Spain.”

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The news of the disastrous events in the Spanish peninsula, and the proclamation of the regency, reached Caraccas in the year 1810, and occasioned great alarm. The struggle in Spain was believed to be nearly at an end, and the final triumph of Bonaparte certain. At such a conjuncture, the inhabitants felt it to be their duty and their right to provide for their own security; the legitimate government of the mother country being annihilated, and the colonies exposed to fall into the hands of a foreign power. They felt the more confirmed in this course, as they had no longer any reason to doubt that it was the design of the Spanish chiefs at home, and of all the colonial officers in America, who were determined to yield obedience to every species of government established in the peninsula, however illegal, that the colonies should fall under the dominion of Bonaparte in case he conquered Spain. We have seen that the colonial chiefs were will

ing to sacrifice their king, and recognise the power of Joseph Bonaparte, as sovereign of Spain; and after the insurrection in the peninsula, they had evinced a readiness to acknowledge the authority of any self-created tribunal in Spain, however probably illegal, and at the same time to resist every attempt of the colonists to establish any provisional tribunal, which might preserve the country from anarchy in case of the subjugation of the parent country. The prime object of the colonial rulers was to keep the colonies in a state of dependence on some power in Europe; and they seemed hardly to care where or what it was. And it is not difficult to discover the motives of this conduct; as long as America could be kept in a state of dependence, the colonial rulers supposed a readiness to acknowledge any authority which claimed dominion over Spain, and consequently over Anierica, was the most sure way of preserving their stations. They wished to keep America dependent, not so much from a regard to the interests of Spain, as to preserve their own power; being very sensible that they could have no part in any government constituted by the people. Hence, the violence with which they pursued the American patriots; every act, every movement tending towards the independence of the colonies, although temporary, and with the entire and express recognition of Ferdinand VII., was regarded as a blow aimed at their own power. This is the cause of the fury with which they pursued the first patriots in the colonies; and the zeal they pretended to feel for their country, was stimulated by an apprehension of losing their own power, a passion of all others the most violent and vindictive.

The inhabitants of Caraccas were well acquainted with the opinions and feelings of the captain-general of the province, and aware that he intended, at all events, to keep them in a state of dependence; and considering that, as the legitimate government in Spain was at an end, the powers of government during this suspension of authority in the parent state, had reverted to the people; and that, in the language of their brethren in the north, in their solemn declaration to the world, it consequently had become a right and a duty to "provide new guards for their own security:" by the almost unanimous voice of the people, the Spanish colonial officers were deposed, and the cabillo, or municipal body, together with several other persons, designated by the people, were vested with the powers of government, and styled a junta suprema. The junta, however, acted in the name of Ferdinand VII.; and although they disallowed the authority of the regency at Cadiz, they offered to afford all the aid in their power towards the prosecution of the war against France.

The influence which the condition of Spain had on her colonies, the measures that the Americans had adopted, and the vio

lence with which they had been opposed by the Spanish rulers, both in Spain and the colonies, had greatly increased the jealousy and unfriendly feelings between the creoles or native Americans, and the European Spaniards in America. In July, 1810, an affray occurred at Santa Fe de Bogota, which originated from a European Spaniard, insulting a native American, and including in the opprobrious and reproachful language which he applied to him, all his countrymen. The quarrel between these two individuals soon assumed a serious aspect; the citizens collecting to the scene of contention, the Spaniards joining on the side of their countrymen, and the creoles taking part with theirs, a contest ensued, in which the latter, being the most numerous, were triumphant. Under the influence of the excitement, which this popular contest had occasioned, a meeting of the inhabitants was convened, and a junta established. In Chili, the captain-general exasperated the people to such a degree, that he was obliged to resign his office, and a junta was formed in September; and in Mexico an insurrection broke out the same month in consequence of the violent measures of Venegas, the new viceroy.

Accounts of these proceedings in the colonies, were sent to Spain, by the colonial governors, with all the exaggeration which their exasperated feelings were calculated to give to them; and their effect on the regency must have gratified their most violent resentments. The official despatches of the junta of Caraccas, containing the reasons which had induced the people to take the course they had, the nature of the power assumed, and that, although they could not submit to the authority of the regency, they recognised the supremacy of Ferdinand; had no influence on the unstable and violent councils of a distracted state.* The regency of Spain, illegal and impotent as it was, with that rashness and violence which oppugnation to illegal power, usually occasions, immediately declared Caraccas in a state of blockade. This decree was published on the 31st of August, 1810, and its importance, as well as to exhibit its spirit, requires its insertion.

"Scarcely had the council of regency received intelligence of the occurrences at Caraccas, whose inhabitants, instigated no doubt by some intriguing and factious persons, were guilty of declaring themselves independent of the mother country, and of forming a governing junta to exercise this supposed independent authority, when it determined to take the most active and efficacious means to attack the evil in its origin, and prevent its progress. in order to proceed with mature deliberation, the regency consulted the council of Spain and the Indies, and has taken such measures as will answer the end proposed, particularly as neither the province of Maracaibo, nor the department of Coro, have ta* Walton's Expose to the king of England.

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