royalist detachments.

[2] Bolivar seems to have been hurried into a dreadful error by the
warmth of his feelings. Not only is the _expediency_ of the
capitulation admitted by eye witnesses of the first
respectability, but also that Miranda had no other alternative.
The rich and influential inhabitants withheld their support, not
that their political sentiments had undergone a change but
because they saw the useless of sacrificing property and life in
a wild attempt to stem the stream of public opinion; the bulk of
the people having become decidedly royalist in principle ever
since that earthquake, which had been represented by the
priesthood as a judgement of Heaven upon the insurgent cause.

The Spaniards from the commencement of the war, had put to death all
persons whom they found with arms in their hands. The South Americans, on
the contrary, gave quarter to those royalists who fell into their power.
The natives consequently preferred entering the royalist ranks, feeling
secure that, in case of being made prisoners, their lives would be spared.
Bolivar, perceiving the great disadvantage under which he laboured, and as
a retaliation for the horrid butcheries committed by the Spaniards, issued
a proclamation at Truxillo, declaring, that from that time forward he
should wage a war of extermination. This declaration of _guerra à muerte_
on the part of the independents made the danger, in that respect, equal on
both sides.

Bolivar, having separated his small corps into two divisions, entrusted the
command of the second to the active General Rivas. Bolivar himself
penetrated the Llanos, after having beaten the Spaniards at Niquitao,
Carache, Varinas, Tahuana, and Torcones. He then advanced to Vitoria,