Símon Bolívar, the Liberator | Page 7

prohibition.
At the middle of the eighteenth century, there had been a movement
against the Compañía Guipuzcoana, established about 1730, and which

greatly oppressed the people. This movement failed and its leaders
were severely punished.
At the end of the eighteenth century, Spain allied herself with England
to fight against France. This war ended in 1795 with the Treaty of
Basel, by which Spain lost Santo Domingo to France. A year later,
Spain allied herself with France against England, and the disastrous
war which followed resulted in the loss of the island of Trinidad to
England, by the Treaty of Amiens, in 1802. France and England used
these possessions to foster revolutions in the Spanish colonies.
In 1797 a conspiracy was started in Caracas, but it too failed. Some of
its leaders received death sentences, others were expelled from the
country and others were imprisoned. In Mexico, in Perú and in the
southernmost part of the continent, men were working in favor of the
idea of freedom.
In Europe, at this time, there was a very prominent Venezuelan, don
Francisco Miranda, who had played an important rôle in the world
events of that period. Miranda was born in Caracas, came to the North
American colonies, and fought under Washington against the English
power. Afterwards he went to Europe and fought in the armies of
revolutionary France, attaining the rank of general. His friends were
among the most distinguished men in Europe in political position or
international achievement. He talked to them tirelessly, trying to
convert them to the idea of the necessity for emancipating the countries
of America. He failed to receive the attention he desired in England,
and came to America. In New York he prepared an expedition and went
to Venezuela, arriving there in March of 1806, with three boats, some
arms, ammunition and men. He found the Spaniards prepared, and was
defeated, losing two of his ships and many men as prisoners. He
escaped with the other boat to Trinidad. In the West Indies he obtained
the help of an English admiral, Sir A. Cochrane, and with larger forces
returned to Venezuela, landing at Coro, which he took in August, 1806.
But there he found the greatest enemy with which he and Bolívar had
to contend, and that was the lack of the sanction of public opinion. Men
whom Miranda had expected to increase his army failed to appear, and

perhaps this indifference was aggravated by the antipathy with which
the natives saw the foreign element which predominated in Miranda's
army. Lacking the support of the people and the reserves which
Miranda had expected to get from the English colony of Jamaica, he
withdrew and went to London, altogether discouraged.
At that time great changes had occurred in Spain. Charles IV, its weak
monarch, saw the French army invading his country under the pretense
of going to Portugal, and feared that Napoleon would end by wresting
the Spanish throne from him. If he allied himself with Napoleon,
England could easily seize America, and should he ally himself with
England, he would make an enemy of Napoleon, who already was in
possession of Spain itself. The Crown Prince of Spain, Fernando, was
intriguing against his father, and Charles IV had him imprisoned. Then
it was discovered that the Prince was in treacherous relations with the
ministers of Napoleon. The King complained to the French Emperor,
who persuaded him to forgive and release his son. Meanwhile, the
French army was advancing into Spain while the English were
fomenting among the Spanish people the hatred for the French. The
latter availed themselves of their advantageous position and, feeling
sure of their strength in Spanish lands, demanded from the Court the
cession of the northern section of Spain contiguous to Portugal.
Rumors ran wild in the Court, and it was even said that the monarch
and his family would leave Spain for Mexico. A favorite of the King,
named Manuel Godoy, received the greatest blame for this situation,
and Fernando, the Crown Prince, being the main antagonist of Godoy,
was regarded as the champion of Spanish right and was loved by the
Spanish people. The people rose and demanded that Godoy should be
delivered to them. In March, 1808, the King abdicated and Fernando
was proclaimed King. But the abdication was insincere, and Charles IV
wrote to Napoleon that he had been compelled to take that action,
certain that if he did not do so, he and the Queen would perish. Not
content with this communication, Charles IV went to Bayonne to meet
Napoleon, where his son Fernando had been invited by Napoleon to
meet him. There one of the most disgraceful episodes in Spanish
history occurred. Fernando renounced his rights to his father, and then
his father renounced his rights and those