conjunction with the cabildo, deposed the captain general on
April 19, 1810, and created a junta in his stead. The example was
quickly followed by most of the smaller divisions of the
province. Then when Miranda returned from England to head the
revolutionary movement, a Congress, on July 5, 1811, declared
Venezuela independent of Spain. Carried away, also, by the
enthusiasm of the moment, and forgetful of the utter
unpreparedness of the country, the Congress promulgated a federal
constitution modeled on that of the United States, which set
forth all the approved doctrines of the rights of man.

Neither Miranda nor his youthful coadjutor, Simon Bolivar, soon
to become famous in the annals of Spanish American history,
approved of this plunge into democracy. Ardent as their
patriotism was, they knew that the country needed centralized
control and not experiments in confederation or theoretical
liberty. They speedily found out, also, that they could not count
on the support of the people at large. Then, almost as if Nature
herself disapproved of the whole proceeding, a frightful
earthquake in the following year shook many a Venezuelan town
into ruins. Everywhere the royalists took heart. Dissensions
broke out between Miranda and his subordinates. Betrayed into the
hands of his enemies, the old warrior himself was sent away to
die in a Spanish dungeon. And so the "earthquake" republic
collapsed.

But the rigorous measures adopted by the royalists to sustain
their triumph enabled Bolivar to renew the struggle in 1813. He
entered upon a campaign which was signalized by acts of barbarity
on both sides. His declaration of "war to the death" was answered