Paez had been left at the head of military affairs in Venezuela and soon after the capture of Puerto Cabello he became involved in quarrels with the municipal authorities. The llanero general recked little of the arguments of the lawyers, and carried things with a high hand. In 1826, when the Bogotá government sent an order for the organisation of militia, he filled the measure to overflowing, and the municipality of Caracas made a formal complaint to the central government. A decree for his suspension was issued, but a riot in the streets terrorised the cabildo and he was replaced in power as a sort of dictator. This amounted to a destruction of the influence of the central Colombian government in Venezuelan affairs. Many cities raised the standard of rebellion and made themselves virtually independent. Bolivar hastened back from Peru to reduce his old companion in arms to obedience. He cajoled Paez into temporary co-operation, subdued most of the revolted cities, and, seeing that his system could not be sustained without coercion, assumed a dictatorship. But the news that Peru had revolted destroyed his dream of a continent-wide dominion, and the demand for local autonomy continued so strong throughout Venezuela and New Granada that he was forced to call a national assembly to amend the Constitution on the basis of a compromise. In spite of Bolivar's intrigues nearly half the elected delegates staid away, and a majority of those who presented themselves at Ocana, in March, 1828, though chosen under the pressure of his influence, opposed his measures.
ENTRANCE OF PUERTO CABELLO IN 1870.
The minority who favoured him withdrew at his suggestion, leaving the congress without a quorum. It dissolved and the Liberator visited Caracas, Cartagena, and Bogotá, calling popular assemblies whose deliberations were directed by bayonets and which obediently besought him to save the country from anarchy in his own way. He issued a decree virtually abolishing the Cucutá Constitution, but a conspiracy to assassinate him was formed at Bogotá in the fall of 1828, and he was saved only by the devotion of his mistress, who stood in the way of the midnight assassins, giving him time to jump from a window and escape. He took a fearful vengeance on the conspirators and banished his worst political enemies, but the incident failed to turn public sentiment in his favour, and it was in vain that he exhibited himself as a martyr. His old friend, General Cordoba, headed an unsuccessful insurrection in the province of Antioquia; insurgents rose in Popayan and Rio Negro, and towards the end of 1829, in Bolivar's native city, Caracas, an assembly of one thousand generals, public functionaries, and prominent citizens announced that Venezuela would shortly separate from Colombia and called upon Paez to assume a dictatorship. The Liberator struggled vainly against the rising tide of federalism; the country was at heart opposed to Cæsarism and union; he had been unable to convince the Creoles of the advisability of providing a strong centralised government; and his only supporters were personal ones. Bitterly protesting that he was falsely charged with aspiring to mount a throne, and insisting that his real ambition had been only to secure the perpetuity of the Colombian union and establish an ordered government, he offered his resignation. Congress, however, contained many of his friends and hesitated at coming to an open breach. He was re-elected and made one last effort to enforce the obedience of Venezuela. But the troops he raised in New Granada did not dare to attack Paez, who with superior forces was waiting in an impregnable position near the frontier. Sick and discouraged, the Liberator renewed his resignation—this time in earnest—and retired to the seacoast, where a few months later he died of a wasting sickness at the early age of forty-seven. Though his courage, energy, and sublime persistence and self-confidence had been the chief factors in securing South American independence, those qualities proved utterly inadequate to hold in check the unruly ambitions of the Creoles. He died clearly foreseeing the decades of anarchy which lay before the northern countries of the continent. "I blush to admit it," he said to congress on the eve of his fall, "but independence is the only benefit we have achieved, and that has been at the cost of all others." On his death-bed he wrote: "Our Constitutions are books, our laws papers, our elections combats, and life itself a torment. We shall arrive at such a state that no foreign nation will condescend to conquer us, and we shall be governed by petty tyrants."
The Venezuelan federalists had not waited for Bolivar's death to complete the formal separation from Colombia. In May, 1830, a constituent congress assembled which named Paez dictator and notified Bogotá that the country regarded itself as absolutely independent. But Bolivar had partisans and the ruling clique enemies. The eastern provinces refused to recognise Paez's authority and the whole country was soon under arms. But Bolivar's death and the virtual recognition of Venezuela's independence by New Granada brought about a treaty between Paez and Monagas, the chief of the insurrection. The Creole aristocracy came to a working understanding with the generals, and little cliques in each city supported the central government as long as they were recognised as dominant in their own localities. Naturally the ignored outsiders were dissatisfied and plotted to overthrow these oligarchies. In May, 1831, a revolution broke out in Caracas which menaced nothing less than the extermination of the property-holding classes, but it was suppressed and its leaders executed. On paper the form of government was most liberal, congress abolishing the tobacco monopoly and many odious taxes inherited from Spanish times, proclaiming religious freedom, and adopting a Constitution very similar to that of the United States. But in practice the conservative cliques had things their own way. Though ambitious chiefs headed insurrections from time to time, they were all bought off or defeated, and Paez continued president until 1835, leaving the country in a condition of comparative order and prosperity.
Doctor Vargas, a civilian, succeeded him, but against him the generals revolted, declaring Mariño dictator. Carujo, the soul of the insurrection, said, in the act of making the president and his ministers prisoners, "Doctor Vargas, the world belongs to the strongest," and the latter nobly replied, "No, the world belongs to the just," résuméing in a word the conflict between force and law, between unbridled ambition and the necessity for order, which has desolated Venezuela to this day and which will last until the selfish elements learn that their own true interests would best be served by promoting the prosperity of the whole people—by relying upon their own industry rather than on chances to despoil the producing classes. The government party appealed to Paez, and the llanero general accepted the command. His prestige with the common people and the army enabled him to gather forces with which he overcame the revolted generals after eight months of bloody civil war. Vargas was recalled from exile, but after a short time refused to continue in the presidency, and his place was taken by the vice-president, Doctor Narvarte. In 1839 Paez was again made president, and was succeeded in 1842 by General Soublette, another of the heroes of the war of independence. Until 1846 there was comparative tranquillity in Venezuela. The population had decreased by a fifth during the Spanish wars, being estimated at six hundred and fifty thousand in 1825, but within the succeeding twenty years it grew to a million and a quarter. Cacao, coffee, and sugar became important articles of export and made the landed proprietors rich. With the cessation of warlike operations on the plains, cattle rapidly multiplied, the first waggon roads were built, and a bank was established.
In 1846 an anti-Creole insurrection broke out among the men of colour, and Paez was again invested with dictatorial powers. When he had completed his work he installed Monagas as president. Popular irritation against the ruling conservative coterie was, however, profound and Monagas quarrelled with congress, and sent his soldiers to break up its meetings. Paez took up arms again and tried to expel his nominee, but was defeated, and for the next nine years Monagas and his brother alternated in the presidency. Though raised to power by the conservative party they abandoned it and before 1850 had thrown themselves into the arms of the liberals, or federalists. Extravagant powers were granted to the states; the provincial coteries ran their localities to suit themselves; the ties binding the different parts of the country together were weakened; an elaborate and confused set of taxes, national, provincial, and municipal, well-nigh choked commerce out of existence. More and more liberty was conceded to the states and municipalities, and, on paper, to the individual also. Slavery was abolished in 1854.
Revolutions broke out from time to time, and finally, in 1858, the so-called conservatives overthrew the Monagas régime. But they immediately divided into warring groups, and their new Constitution proved too centralising to suit the Creole politicians. The liberals hoisted the banner of federalism and several provinces rose in revolt. Under the leadership of Pedro Gual the conservatives were, however, victorious, but they again split to pieces, and Gual himself went over to the liberals. A revolution in Caracas brought back old General Paez, who assumed a dictatorship and tried to re-establish the power of the central government. But it was impossible. Many disappointed conservatives had turned federalist. No politician seemed willing to submit to any administration unless he was a member of it. The struggle had degenerated into a mere selfish contest for power, and the terms liberal and conservative, federalist and unitarian, had ceased to have any real relation to the opinions of the persons who bore these appellations. General Falcon, with Guzman Blanco as lieutenant, led a successful insurrection in Coro and made himself undisputed master of a considerable portion of the country. The province of Maracaibo formally declared itself separated from all connection with Caracas. For three years civil war raged, when finally Paez gave up and Falcon assumed direction of the exhausted country. On only one thing had the rapid succession of dictators, provincial and national, been agreed,—the increase of taxes. Import duties had been raised to such a point that commerce could stand no more. But in spite of the enormous sums wrung from merchant, producer, and consumer, the treasury was empty, for the local chiefs openly took possession of the receipts of the custom-houses in their respective districts, and diversions of public funds to private use were the rule among all ranks of officials.
