Venezuela

by Leonard V. Dalton

Early in 1817 Mariño and Bermudez again came to an agreement with Bolivar, but when he and Arismendi were defeated at Clarines, on their way to Carácas, Mariño again became subordinate, and, to his lasting disgrace, left General Freites without support in Barcelona, where he and 300 refugees were massacred in the Casa Fuerte on April 7th by the royalists. Shortly after these events a Congress was formed in Cariaco, by which Bolivar was made one of the Executive, but Mariño Commander-in-Chief; the latter was at this time in Margarita, which was now first named Nueva Esparta.

Meanwhile, Bolivar had moved southward to Guayana, and a fresh invasion of royalists soon drove the other leaders in Cariaco to join him there. After a victory at San Felix by Piar the prisoners and monks were massacred, but by whose orders could not be definitely ascertained. The city of Angostura was evacuated by the Spanish on July 17th, and Guayana Vieja on August 3rd. During the succeeding months Páez was fighting with Morillo in the plains of Barinas; Mariño, by the intervention of Sucre, finally acknowledged Bolivar as commander-in-chief, and Piar, for insubordination and ostensibly also for the massacre of San Felix, was condemned by court-martial. On September 3rd an order was issued for the sequestration of royalist property to pay for the war, and in November Bolivar left Angostura for Calabozo. After one reverse he retired into the province of Barinas, where Páez joined him; and finally, early in 1818, he defeated Morillo at Calabozo, though Páez was in April forced back on San Fernando de Apure with a few men.

With insubordination and murmurings among his own generals, decreased troops and depleted treasure, and without the encouragement of decisive victories to make good these deficiencies, the outlook for Bolivar and for the cause in which he was fighting might well have disheartened him at this time. In March, however, Colonel Daniel O’Leary had arrived with the troops raised by Colonel Wilson in London, consisting largely of veterans of the Napoleonic wars. These tried soldiers, afterwards known as the British Legion, were destined to play an all-important part in the liberation of Venezuela, and Bolivar soon recognised their value, spending the time till December in distributing these new forces to the best advantage.

Elections were arranged in the autumn, and on February 15, 1819, Congress was installed in Angostura. Bolivar took the British Constitution as his model, with the substitute of an elected president for an hereditary king, and was himself proclaimed provisional holder of the office. The hereditary form of the Senate was, however, soon given up.

The early part of the year was spent in local marchings and counter-marchings, but in June Bolivar set out, accompanied by Colonel James Rook and the British Legion, on his famous march to New Granada. Pushing through swamps and forests and marching over interminable plains, they met and defeated the advance guard of the enemy in the defile of Paya. The first week in July found them crossing the Páramo of Pisva on the road to Bogotá, where many men perished from the cold. The rest of the month saw them victorious in many battles, in which the British Legion and the llaneros made themselves conspicuous. With 2,000 patriots Bolivar defeated 3,000 royalists in the battle of Boyacá on August 7th, taking many prisoners. On reaching Bogotá he made Santander vice-president of New Granada and left the prisoners in his charge, a confidence which the latter abused by shooting the most prominent, on pretext of an attempted escape. In the meantime there was the normal disaffection in the east, where Arismendi had been made vice-president, in the place of Zea, in Angostura. On hearing of Bolivar’s successes, he immediately wanted to resign; Bolivar, however, ignored his attempted insubordination, and made him commander-in-chief in the east.

On December 17, 1819, Bolivar formally inaugurated the Great Colombian republic, consisting of the three Departments of Venezuela, Cundinamarca, and Quito. A new capital with the name of Bolivar was to be built near the boundary of Cundinamarca and Venezuela, and the first united Congress was to assemble in Rosario de Cúcuta. Although this Declaration was not formally ratified for two years in Quito, 1820 marks the close of the first period of Venezuela’s independence, from the Declaration of July 5, 1811, to its inclusion in the Great Colombia, a part of which it remained till 1830.

With the commencement of the second period we come to an entirely new condition of affairs. While Spain was desirous of attempting a reconciliation with the northern colony, she did not realise that the Mestizos, and therefore the population of Venezuela generally, were now in favour of independence, and after their period of successful fighting, were not willing to accept less than a recognition of their freedom in some part, at least, of the territory. While the attitude of the Spanish authorities was thus foolishly lacking in appreciation of all that had happened in the last ten years, their general in command in Venezuela, Morillo, showed himself most conciliatory and even magnanimous. On November 25th, owing to his efforts, the armistice of Trujillo was declared. On the following day came the “regularisation” of the campaign, by which it was determined that hostilities should not recommence till April 28th of the next year, and on the 27th of the month the opposing leaders met in the little village of Santa Ana, north of Trujillo.

By the beginning of 1821 Bolivar had returned to Bogotá, and there he nominated a plenipotentiary to carry on negotiations with Spain, claiming for his part recognition of the absolute independence, either of Colombia with its three divisions or of the part of the territory which had now been liberated. He authorised the republic’s representative, however, to give up the recognition of Quito, if necessary, but either that or Panama was to be included. Finally, the republic asserted its willingness to enter into an alliance with Spain, but its unalterable opposition to union or to the rule of any European sovereign.

Spain, in spite of this clear statement of the case of the republic, persisted in regarding the revolution as a mere insurrection, and the first negotiations broke down. Meanwhile, in January, the province of Maracaibo had declared itself independent and part of Colombia. Later, one of Bolivar’s generals occupied the town of Gibraltar, on the Lake of Maracaibo, an act of zeal on his part which was nevertheless a violation of the terms of the armistice of Trujillo. Bolivar wished to submit this matter to arbitration, but before anything had been arranged the date for resumption of hostilities came round, and the last stage of the struggle began.

The royalists, at this time held the province of Cumaná, and Carácas between the towns of Unare and Guanare, and at both ends of the region they were attacked simultaneously. They succeeded in driving Bermudez out of the capital, but Bolivar was in Tinaquillo, not far to the west, with 6,500 men, his generals being Páez, in command of the Bravos de Apure and Británico battalions; Cedeño, with one brigade of the La Guardia, and the Tiradores, Boyacá and Vargas battalions; Playa, with the other brigade of the La Guardia, a regiment of English Rifles, the Granaderos, and Vencedores de Boyacá; and Anzoátegui, with one cavalry regiment under a Llanero leader. Mariño was Bolivar’s chief-of-staff.