V.

LIBERTAD.

By the year 1820 the Revolutionists had for the third time perceptibly gained ground, and Morillo’s force, spread like a fan at the inland base of the sierra, was gradually yielding to the unceasing pressure;—­in a word, the Patriots were at length driving their enemies into the sea.  Towards the close of 1820, Morillo opened negotiations with their chiefs, and a suspension of hostilities was commenced on the 26th of November, when the Spanish general gladly quitted the scene of his fruitless efforts, and retired to Spain with the title of Count of Carthagena, leaving Generals Morales and La Torre in authority behind him.  The armistice was not prolonged.  The Congress of Colombia, as the united republics of Venezuela and New Granada were then termed, demanded unqualified independence as the price of peace; and in June—­the Battle Month—­of 1821, Bolivar and Paez took up arms once more.  The Spanish troops were concentrated at the base of the mountains, with Valencia and Caracas in their rear.  Before them, the road wound westward, through tortuous passes, towards Tinaquilla and Barinas, at the former of which places Bolivar with his forces was now halting.  Six thousand men were in arms on either side; but the troops of the Republic, though ragged, ill-fed, and badly armed, were flushed with the consciousness of success and the presentiment of triumph, while those of Spain were dispirited, worn out, and malcontent.

It was plain to the meanest trooper, however, that Carabobo must be held; and on intelligence of the Patriot advance, the position, of amazing strength, was resolutely occupied.  It seemed, indeed, that a regiment could defend such a pass with ease against an army.  In order to debouch upon the Plain of Carabobo, the Patriots must penetrate a defile, forming a narrow and tortuous pass, the road through which was a mere seam at the base of a deep ravine.  This narrow passage, through which, of necessity, Bolivar’s troops must march in straggling line, terminated abruptly in a basin or valley shut in by hills, except upon the northeast, where it opened upon the boundless expanse of the contested plain.  At the mouth of this gorge La Torre lay with all his force.  Despite the unfavorable condition of his men, with whom, moreover, he was not popular, the odds seemed overwhelmingly in his favor.  He stood on the defensive, in one of the strongest of military positions, and well provided with artillery, while his adversary was to struggle through a narrow valley in the face of his opponents, before a single man could be made available.  The mouth of this valley was blockaded by the Spanish infantry, who stretched in silent lines from side to side in the evening of the 23d of June.  On either flank, the hills were occupied by corps of riflemen, and the artillery was posted at their base.  No force, it appeared, could enter the beleaguered valley and live.