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304 met Gen. Monteverde at Lostaguenas and inflicted upon him a crushing defeat, following upon re- verses at Niquihao, Betisoque, Carache, Barquise- meto, and Varinas. Gen. Monteverde was com- pelled to fall back upon Puerto Cabello and shut himself up in the fortress with the rem- nant of his army. Gen. Fierro, gover- nor of Caracas, signed a capit- ulation at Vic- toria, and on 4 Aug., 1814, »Bolivarentered Caracas at the head of the lib- erating army. Gen. Marino had recovered from the royal troops the east- ern part of the province, and assvimed the title of dictator of eastern Venezuela. Bolivar was honored with a triumphal entry into the capital, being conveyed on a car drawn by twelve young ladies, proclaimed himself dictator and liberator of the western pi'ovinces of Venezuela, set up a body- guard, and established the " Order of the Liber- ator." The enthusiasm of the people was damp- ened by this display of courtly pomp, and by the arrogance of Bolivar's officers, while the royal- ists concentrated their forces and applied all their efforts to regaining possession of Venezuela. Sev- eral sanguinary battles were fought, in which the revolutionists were at first successful. Public dis- satisfaction impelled Bolivar, on 1 Jan., 1814, to call together a junta of influential citizens of Ca- racas and offer to resign the dictatorship into their hands, but the assembly, by its decision on the following day, insisted upon his retaining the su- preme military and civil authority. The Spanish general Boves, collecting a large force for a de- cisive encounter, marched, in June, 1814, from Calabozo upon La Puerta, where the united forces of Bolivar and Mariflo were encamped. The revo- lutionary army was split up into three divisions as the Spanish array came up, and on 11 June Boves inflicted upon the patriots a ruinous defeat near Cura, and well-nigh annihilated their army, kill- ing 1,500. The Spaniards then took Caracas, and defeated Bolivar a second time at Aragua.

Bolivar escaped to Cumana with some of his officers, and sailed thence to Carthagena, proceed- ing thence to Tunja, where the revolutionary con- gress was sitting, and offered his services to the confederated provinces of New Granada. Not- withstanding his misfortunes and the detractions of his numerous enemies, he was appointed com- mander-in-chief of the forces of the federal repub- lic, and ordered to march against Cundinamarca, the president of which province refused to ac- knowledge the authority of the central govern- ment and the union of the provinces. He liberated Cundinamarca, and took possession of Santa Fe de Bogota. He appeared before that city in Decem- ber, 1814, with 2,000 men, carried the suburbs by storm, and forced the leaders of the defection to capitulate. For this servioe he received the thanks of congress, which immediately made Sante Fe the seat of government. Bolivar was then sent to re- capture Santa Marta, which had fallen into the hands of the enemy, being the only sea-port in New Granada in their possession. Castillo, the commandant in Carthagena, refused to supply the troops with arms and ammunition ordered from the citadel, whereupon Bolivar led his forces against that city, laid siege to it, and remained there till May. Aleanwhile, Gen. Morillo had arrived from Spain with large reenforcements, debarked on the island of Margarita, 25 March, 1815, relieved the Spanish garrison in Santa Marta, and soon after- ward captured Carthagena.

Bolivar, on 10 May, 1815, embarked with about a dozen of his officers for Kingston, Jamaica, where he looked for assistance. While he remained in Jamaica, for eight months. New Granada was over- run by Morillo's troops, though the patriots in Venezuela and Gen. Arismendi in the island of Margarita held their ground against the Spaniards. In Kingston, Bolivar narrowly escaped being mur- dered by a hired assassin, who stabbed his secre- tary instead of him. From Kingston he went to Port au Prince, in Hayti. On his promising to emancipate the slaves, President Petion, of Hayti, furnished him with four negro battalions. At Cayes he met Admiral Brion, who had arrived from England with a corvette and a supply of arms and military stores for the patriots. Bolivar gathered a force, enlisted from patriot refugees, and with it and his negro troops sailed for Marga- rita, 16 April, 1816, for the purpose of aiding Aris- mendi. The Spaniards occupied only the single spot of Pampatar on the island. With the ap- proval of Gen. Arismendi, upon Bolivar's promise to call a national congress as soon as his power should be established in Venezuela, a junta was summoned in the cathedral of La Villa del Norte, which proclaimed Bolivar commander-in-chief of the forces of Venezuela and New Granada. Land- ing at Carripano on 1 June, he issued a proclama- tion emancipating the slaves. Marino and Piar withdrew the forces under their command, in order- to undertake an expedition on their own account against Cumana, leaving Bolivar with about 650' men. He sailed for the mainland in thirteen vessels, seven of which were armed, landed at Ocumare on 3 July, and marched toward Valencia. His force was increased through the enrolment of liberated slaves to about 800 men. Not far from Ocumare he met a Spanish detachment commanded by Gen. Morales, and was beaten and compelled to reem- bark. He sailed first to the island of Buen Ayre, and then to Cumana; but, being coldly received by Piar and the other generals, who threatened to try him by court-martial for cowardice and deser- tion, he returned to Aux Cayes. A few months later a majority of the superior Venezuelan officers united, in requesting Bolivar to resume the chief com- mand. Collecting another band at Aux Cayes, he landed a second time on the island of Margarita, on 31 Dec, ISld Arms, munitions of war, and provisions were supplied by the president of Hayti. On 2 Jan., 1817, he was joined by Arismendi, and proclaimed martial law and the union of the civil and military power in his person. Five days later Arismendi's troops were surprised in an ambush by the Spaniards. Bolivar fled to Barcelona, where he was joined by the patriot troops that escaped and by re-enforcements sent by Louis Brion, with arms and amnninition. He soon collected a new force of 1,100 men. Morillo advanced against him with a strong division of royalist troops. The two-