The Declaration of Independence was followed almost immediately by disturbances in Los Teques and Valencia, instigated mainly by colonists from the Canary Islands; but though the provinces of Coro, Maracaibo, and Guayana held aloof, the leaders of the Revolution were sufficiently strong to declare a Constitution on December 21, 1811. One of the main features of this first Constitution was the power given to the Central Government to revise the Constitutions of the provinces. The national power was divided under three heads—Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The Legislature was to consist of two Chambers—one of Representatives, the other of Senators, the first to be elected by popular vote, the second by the Provincial Governments; the qualifications for membership of the Lower Chamber were: to be over twenty-one years of age, five years a citizen, and a property-owner; the Senators were to be over thirty years of age, ten years citizens, and to possess 6,000 pesos. A National Guard was provided, to be controlled by the Legislature. The Executive was vested in a Junta of three persons, who were to have been in Venezuela on July 5th or to be natives of the “Colombian Continent” (_i.e._, South America); they held office for four years. Judicial power was exercised by a Supreme Court, subaltern Courts, and inferior tribunals, under control of Congress. The royalists who had been responsible for the risings in Valencia were pardoned and released. In 1812 the troubles of the young republic began. Early in the year Don Domingo de Monteverde landed in Coro and marched inland, capturing Siquisique and Carora, finally directing his steps towards Carácas via Barquisimeto and San Carlos. On Holy Thursday (March 26th), while thousands were gathered in the churches, a terrible earthquake destroyed Carácas, La Guaira, San Felipe, Barquisimeto, Tocuyo, and Mérida; in Carácas alone 10,000 people were killed. The ecclesiastics, recognising their interests to be largely bound up with the royalist cause, attributed these disasters to the wrath of Heaven at the revolution, and one who preached in this strain in Carácas is said to have been threatened with death by Bolivar, who exclaimed, “If Nature opposes us we will fight her and make her obey us!” For his antagonism to the new régime the Archbishop of Carácas was expelled and Madariaga put in charge in his place. An expedition to Guayana had been planned, but was abandoned after the earthquake, when Miranda was made Dictator by Congress. The royalist leader Monteverde reached La Victoria in June, and some four weeks later, for obscure and, it was widely suggested, discreditable pecuniary reasons, Miranda, with 4,000 men, capitulated to the Spanish force of 3,000 on July 25th. Monteverde sent him to Puerto Rico, but for which Bolivar and others would have shot him as a traitor at the first opportunity. He finally died in prison in Spain in 1816.