The Emancipation of South America

by Bartolomé Mitre

Two-thirds of the population were white, residing mostly in the towns and cities, hence the revolution took here a civic form, and was greatly hampered by local jealousies and by divergencies of opinion among the leaders.

The first revolutionary movement occurred at Cartagena, where the people, headed by their Cabildo, demanded a Junta. With the intervention of an agent of the Regency of Cadiz, then in the city, a Junta of three was appointed, of whom the actual governor was one; but as he openly showed his dissatisfaction with this arrangement, he was banished to Havana on the 11th June, 1810.

To the east of the most easterly range of the Cordillera lie the wide plains of Casanare; here two youths raised the standard of insurrection. They were joined by some small groups of the country people, which were dispersed by troops sent against them by the Viceroy. The leaders were put to death, and their heads were sent to the capital.

On the 4th July a Junta was set up by the Cabildo of Pamplona.

At Socorro two companies of the line and some militia were quartered. In a moment of false alarm they fired upon an assemblage of the people. Eight thousand citizens arose in arms and besieged them in their barracks. A Junta was formed of eight deputies elected by the people, and the government was placed in their hands.

At Bogotá everything was ripe for a revolution. Several attempts had been made without result, but the news from Venezuela and from the provinces, and above all the expectation of the speedy arrival of commissioners from the Regency of Cadiz, decided the Patriots to make another attempt, which was precipitated by an incident. On the 20th July a Spaniard spoke contemptuously of Americans; the people rushed tumultuously to the great square, demanding an open Cabildo and a Junta. They were supported by the municipal authorities. The Viceroy declined to accede to their wish. The bells of the churches were rung, and six or seven thousand armed men assembled in front of the public offices. The Viceroy had a thousand troops. A conflict seemed imminent, when at last he gave way, and sanctioned the summoning of a special Cabildo.

At six o’clock the same evening the Cabildo met. The debate was stormy, Dr. Camilo Torres taking the lead. The Patriots demanded a Junta, the Spaniards sought to gain time by resisting the proposition. One of the popular orators declared that any man who left his place before a Junta was appointed, was a traitor to his country. The speech was applauded by the people outside. A Junta was named, with the Viceroy, who was very popular, as President, and was installed in office at three in the morning of the 21st July.

The Junta drew up a constitution, on the basis of a federal union of the various provinces. The sovereignty of King Ferdinand was recognised, and also the authority of the Regency of Cadiz, so long as it should exist. This was a compromise on all sides, and the Junta being overawed by the popular leaders, had no real power. Later on the Viceroy was deposed, and the Junta was instructed to govern in the name of the King in complete independence of any other authority in Spain. Two days afterwards Montufar and Villavicencio arrived as commissioners from Spain, but were powerless to do more than accept what was already done. Montufar, who was entrusted with a special mission to Quito, continued his journey to that city, where we shall presently find him at the head of the revolutionists.

Anarchy and reaction were not slow to follow on these hasty steps. Local jealousies, which had been kept in check by the colonial system; divergence of opinion between the leaders of the movement; the antagonistic interests of Americans and Spaniards, and the instincts of the masses who grouped themselves on geographical lines, all combined to bring on complications in which the strength of the country was wasted without any good result.

The Junta sent a circular to the provinces inviting them to send deputies to a Congress. Nearly every province followed the example of the capital by appointing a Junta, but some of them refused to send deputies to a Congress, preferring to consider themselves independent republics.