In Quito a junta was established on the 10th of August, 1809, but the viceroys of Peru and New Granada, with the greatest promptitude, detached a force against this city, which compelled the insurgents to abandon their project. At this time affairs wore a serious aspect in America; numerous adventurers appeared on her shores, eager to enrich themselves on the spoils of Spanish power. The partizans of revolution in Caraccas, the coast of which was more accessible to emissaries from Europe, formed themselves into a junta suprema, assumed the reins of government, but still published their acts in the name of the Spanish monarch. At Buenos Ayres a similar measure was taken; in Chili, the junta was organized in September, and an insurrection breaking out in the town of Dolores, near Guanaxuato in Mexico, the whole continent was now in a state of alarm and tumult. In the mean time these proceedings were related to the council of the regency in Spain, which determined that body to take such active steps as their circumstances enabled them to do, and the coasts of the captain-generalship of Caraccas were declared in a state of vigorous blockade. From this period, the revolt in that province and the northern parts of New Granada, became daily more alarming; General Miranda was the commander of the Venezuelan army, in which capacity he achieved one victory, the result of which can never be forgotten in the Caraccas. The inhabitants of Valencia were for the royal cause, and though of very inferior force, resisted the insurgent party in two actions, in the first of which they were victorious, but in the second were subdued. The 4th of July 1811, was the day on which the congress of Venezuela proclaimed themselves the representatives of the free provinces of Caraccas; and the little village of Mariara, close to the beautiful lake of Valencia, saw the first blood that was spilt in the civil war of these unfortunate countries. On the return of the king to his throne, on which he was placed by the glorious and ever-memorable conduct of the British and Spanish troops commanded by the Duke of Wellington; he issued a decree on the 4th of June 1814, announcing to the Spanish Americans, his arrival in his kingdom, ordering them to lay down their arms, and promising oblivion of the past; to enforce this mandate, he also sent General Morillo from Cadiz with a well equipped army of 10,000 men. This army landed on the coast of Caraccas in April 1815; but the insurgents not paying attention to His Majesty's commands, the general immediately commenced active measures. From Campano, where he landed, he proceeded to Margarita, from thence to Caraccas, and in the following August he besieged Carthagena.