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Rh forces met on 16 Feb., 1817, and a desperate battle ensued, lasting three days, at the end of which the Spaniards were defeated and retired in disorder. During their retreat they were set upon and entirely cut to pieces by the Uaneros of Paez. While Bolivar pursued his victories in the west, Piar. the negro leader, wrested from the Spaniards the provinces of Guiana, his land force being supported by Brion's fleet of gun-boats. On 15 April, ten days after Bolivar had left that city in search of new recruits, Barcelona was captured by the Spaniards, who slaughtered the garrison, comprising the entire force that he had collected up to that time; but a new army was enlisted, and by the middle of July the royalists had evacuated all the provinces. On 20 July, while Bolivar was absent, Piar, Zea, Mariño, Arisraendi, and the other military chiefs summoned at Angostura a provincial congress, which recorded a decision to vest the executive powers in a triumvirate, consisting of Bolivar and two associates. On hearing of this action, Bolivar hastened to Angostura, and, supported by Brion, dissolved the congress, suppressed the powers of the triumvirate, and proclaimed a supreme council of the nation, consisting of himself as chief with Louis Brion and Antonio Francisco Zea as assistants, the former being the director of the military, and the latter of the political department. Piar, who assailed the character of Bolivar, stigmatizing him as a "Napoleon of retreat," was arrested and tried by a council of war, presided over by Brion, on a charge of conspiring against the whites, plotting against the life of Bolivar, and aiming at the supreme power. He was convicted, condemned to death, and shot on 16 Oct., 1817, Warned by the fate of Piar, Mariilo desisted from his rivalry with Bolivar and wrote an abject letter, throwing himself upon the mercy of the liberator. Bolivar had an army of 9,000 well-armed, equipped, and provisioned troops, double the Spanish force in the country; yet the patriot forces were so scattered that in the campaign that followed they were beaten in detail a dozen times, and by the end of May, 1818, were driven fi"om the provinces north of the Orinoco. Defection and discontent were rife. Bolivar retired to Angostura, where he fell in with Santander, a citizen of New Granada, who informed him that the people of that colony were prepared for a general revolt, and begged for assistance in invading the country. Bolivar aided him to carry out that project; and English, French, German, and Polish officers flocked to Angostura and offered their services to Bolivar, while supplies, vessels, arms, and volunteers came from England. On the advice of Dr. Roscio, Bolivar summoned, on 15 Feb., 1819, a national congress at Angostura, and was soon in a position to put 14,000 men in the field and resume the offensive. At the opening of the congress he submitted a detailed exposition of his views of government, and offered to surrender his powers into the hands of the congress, which, however, requested him to retain the supreme authority until the independence of the country should be completely established.

Bolivar then reorganized the army and decided upon a bold strategical plan to march over the Cordilleras, unite with Santander's guerrillas, seize Bogota, and drive the Spaniards out of New Granada, after first inducing them to concentrate their forces in Venezuela by a diversion in the coast provinces of that country. On 24 Feb., 1819, he left Angostura with the army, after nominating Zea president of the congress and vice-president of the republic during his absence. By the bold and successful manoeuvres of Paez, Morillo and La Torre were routed at Achaguas, a victory that resulted in the occupation of the province of Barima, leaving the way open into New Granada. Bolivar's daring and original plan of campaign was entirely successful. He marched his army, a third part of his troops consisting of Englishmen and other foreigners, through the difficult passes of the Andes in June, encountered and defeated the enemy on 1 July in the province of Tunja, entered the town of Tunja on 28 July after a sharp battle on the adjoining heights, and decided the fate of Bogota and of all New Granada on 7 Aug. by the victory of Boyaca. On 12 Aug. the liberator made his triumphal entry into Santa Fe. All the provinces of New Granada rose against the Spaniards, who shut themselves up in the fortified town of Mompox. After organizing a government in Bogota and leaving Gen. Santander as commander-in-chief, Bolivar returned to Montecal, in Venezuela, where he had ordered the patriot leaders to assemble with their forces, arriving there on 3 Nov., 1819. Morillo had fallen back before the attacks of Paez from San Fernando de Apure to San Carlos; but internal discord prevented Bolivar from following up these victories and crushing the Spanish force, now reduced to 4,500, with his army of 9,000 men. In October, 1819, the congress at Angostura compelled Zea to resign, and elected Arismendi in his place. Bolivar, upon hearing of this, marched upon Angostura with his foreign legion, restored Vice-President Zea, and arrested Arismendi and exiled him to the island of Margarita, He then proclaimed the republic of Colombia, securing the enactment of a fundamental law on 17 Dec, 1819, for the union of the states of Venezuela and New Granada under his presidency, with a common congress and a single constitution. The seat of government was transferred provisionally to Rosario de Cucuta, on the border-line between the two provinces. The absence of the foreign legion and the patriot commander gave Morillo an opportunity to collect re-enforcements, and the Spaniards were encouraged furthermore by the news of a formidable expedition about to start from Spain under O'Donnell; but an insurrection in Spain prevented the sending of O'Donnell's expedition, Bolivar took the field again, and on 20 Jan,, 1820, returned to San Fernando de Apure. The republican army was now larger and better appointed than at any previous time, and gained important advantages over the royalists. By autumn, fifteen of the twenty-two provinces of New Granada had joined the government of Colombia, while the Spaniards still retained only Carthagena and the fortified posts on the isthmus of Panama. In Venezuela the government of the republic was effective in six out of the eight provinces. On 25 Nov., 1820, Bolivar, probably in the hope of avoiding further bloodshed, concluded with Morillo at Truxillo an armistice of six months. On 17 Dec, Gen. Morillo embarked for Spain, leaving Gen. Miguel de la Torre in command of the Spanish forces.

On 10 March, 1821, Bolivar notified Gen. La Torre that hostilities would be resumed at the expiration of thirty days. The Spaniards were strongly intrenched at Carabobo, southwest of Valencia, but had not brought up all their forces. Paez with his 3,000 Uaneros, and the British legion, 1,100 strong, turned the enemy's position through a side-path and threw them into complete confusion, when Torre retreated with the remnant of his army to Puerto Cabello. This victory, which occurred on 24 June, 1821, virtually ended the war in Venezuela, and Bolivar entered Caracas on 29 June. By the end of the year Puerto Cabello was the only