The city or Coro having refused to join the standard or the insurgents, the Alarquis del Toro was sent against them with an armed force, but the Coreans quickly re pulsed him with considerable loss. The town of Valen cia, which stands upon the lake of the same name, 14 inerAy called 'lacarigus, imitated the loyalty of the Co reans, and having been joined by an entire battalion of Pardos or people of colour, they openly proclaimed Fer dinand the Seventh. In consequence of this declaration, General Miranda marched against that city with the Caraquenian army, amounting to about 2600 men. 11 :ty ing passed the mountains of San Pedro, and descended into the valleys of Aragon, he advanced without any mo lestation to La Victoria, from the heights of which he descended into the immense plains of Valencia. Sc Vera I small gun-boats, equipped by the Valencians, were sta tioned on the lake, and concealed au tong the bushes and reeds which grow upon its banks ; and when the Cara quenian army came to the village of Mariara, where the road follows the margin of the lake, they received sonic unexpected and well-directed shots from the gun-boats. The resistance of the gun-boats, however, was very feeble, and Miranda marched without opposition to the Morro, which is a round height and pass that commands Valencia. At this pass the Valencians resolved to try their strength; but after opposing a brave resistance to the enemy, they were compelled to retire with the loss of their chief engineer, and several pieces of cannon. From the entrance of the city, where they had rallied, the Valencians were driven into the great square, where, after a second stand, they were routed with the loss of all their artillery. The spirits of the Valencians, how ever, were not subdued by these disasters; a shower of balls was discharged from the flat roofs and strongly grated windows of the adjoining houses ; and in attempt ing to force their way into the houses, and to take pos session of the barracks, where the battalion of Pardos were posted, the Caraqttenians were every where repuls ed. After having kept possession of the town for ten hours, they were forced to abandon it, with the loss of all their artillery, several prisoners, and two hundred men killed or severely wounded, and never halted till they reached Guacara, which is more than four leagues hum Valencia. The number of Valencians who were armed did not exceed seven hundred men.
'Fite army of Miranda, receiving reinforcements from various quarters, was, in less than a fortnight, enabled to advance upon Valencia, while, from the desertion of the wi,ites, the Valencians were reduced to less than 500 armed men. On the 8th of August he attacked the Va
l( tn_ians in the valley of Palotal, and on the heights of El Puto and Agua Blanca, w hich were taken after an ob stinate resistance. The Caraquenian light infantry fol low ecl the Valencians into the city, which they had de femiecl by lorming new ditches and intrenchments iii the principai streets which led to the great square, and after liking attacked on eight different points at the same time, they were at last closely hemmed in. Their strength being now greatly weakened by desertion. and L•in;., without water and prof isions, tin y surrender( d at his re tion on the 13th August, and the flotilla of gun-boat . t•hich had been equipped upon the lak( , was also give up.
While the Caraquenians were tin s (•stabli thi• power in Valencia, an army of coreuns had ads arc( d G r its relief, as far as San Felipe on the while ti' Guyanese, who had also remained stead) to the mother country, had extended their troops nearly to •al•r rio the west. itt this state of affairs the governim nt of II Cararcas adopted a system of severity and vigilance Milt ed to the dangers that menaced than : They instituted a tribunal of t igil•nce, which paid domiciliary tisits, and ordered arrests upon the slightest suspicion ; the theatre was shut, and all balls and concerts, and even private par ties, were at an end. The people were regularly train ed to the use of arms, and it became the fashion for per sons of the greatest distinction to sleep at the barracks ; a law was passed for the abolition of torture, and the li berty of the press was established.
It would be out of place here. even if we were posses., cd of authentic materials, to enter into a more detailed account of the proceedings of Miranda and his party. or to follow them in the various steps of their progress. W( may only observe, that the revolutionary party is daily gaining strength, and that their armies are almost con stantly victorious. Atrocities are committed on both sides, from which the mind revolts with horror ; yet we anticipate, with no small degree of satisfaction, the eman cipation of a people possessed of one of the fittest coun tries in the world, from a system of tyranny and oppres sion, which paralyzed all their energies, and deliberatelt repressed the exertions or their industry, lest it should interfere with the interests of the mother country. Sec Depon's Travels in South ilmerica ; Ilumboldes .Au Spain ; and Scruple's Sketch of the present State of •a raccaa. (k)