ir power. The Colonies were for the first time called
upon to provide for their own defence,--solicited, not commanded, to
obey; and they proved their loyalty by dispatching enormous sums in
gold and silver to the Junta at Cadiz, as well as by their eagerness
to ascertain in whom actually reposed the lawful government of Spain.
Gradually, however, the consciousness of their own entity stole over the
Venezuelans and New Granadians, and they bethought them of establishing
an administrative Junta of their own, until better times should dawn on
Spain. Blindly imprudent, the Viceroy violently opposed the project,
and with such troops as remained in the Colonies the first Juntas were
dispersed or massacred. Squabbles ensued, until the citizens of Caracas
quietly deposed the chief Colonial authorities, and appointed a
_Junta Suprema_ to administer affairs in the name of Ferdinand VII.
Intelligence of this step, however, was received with great alarm by the
sapient Junta of Cadiz, and a proclamation was launched, on the 31st of
August, 1810, declaring the Province of Caracas in a state of rigorous
blockade. A war of manifestoes ensued, until the Provinces became
enlightened as to their own importance and strength, and published, on
the 5th of July, 1811, the Declaration of their Independence. Scarcely
was this done when the Spanish Cortes offered liberal terms of
accommodation, but they were rejected. The nation, that in 1808 thought
it sweet to be subject, declared itself, three years later, for
unqualified independence. The ardent revolutionist, General Miranda,
was placed in command of some hastily-levied forces, and took the field
against the Spanish commander, Don Domingo Monteverde, who had assumed a
hostile attitude immediately after the Declaration.

It is only necessary here to say, that, after some hard-fought and
honorable fields, Miranda and his fellow-officers were completely
successful. All the principal cities were in the hands of the Patriots
before 1812 began. Monteverde, in January of that year, was cooped up in
the remote province of Guiana, and Coro on the sea-coast was also held
by his troops; but elsewhere the new Republic seemed fully established.
Already the point of Constitution-making--the crystallization-point of
republics--had been reached. The ports of Venezuela were for the first
time opened to foreign trade. Her inhabitants were no longer restricted
from the enjoyment of the fruits of their own ind