ways that they acknowledge the sovereignty and independence, and respect the catholic religion, the only one in this country.

27. The foreigners who reside in the state of the Caraccas, becoming naturalized and holding property, shall enjoy all the rights of citizenship.

Duties of Man in Society.

1. The rights of others, in relation to each individual, have their limit in the moral principle which determines their duties, the fulfilment whereof is the necessary effect of the respect due to the rights of each of the individuals. Their basis are these maxims:-" Render to others the good which you would they should render unto you." "Do not unto another that which do not wish to be done unto you.'

you

2. The duties of every individual with respect to society, are; to live in absolute submission to the laws-to obey and respect the legal acts of the constituted authorities to maintain liberty and equality-to contribute to the public expences to serve the country in all its exigencies-and, if it becomes necessary, to render to it the sacrifice of property and life; in the exercise of these virtues consists genuine patriotism.

3. Whoever openly does violence to the laws-whoever endeavours to elude them-declares himself an enemy to society.

4. No one can be a good citizen, unless he be a good parent, a good son, a good brother, a good friend, and a good husband.

5. No man can be a man of worth, unless he be a candid, faithful, and religious observer of the laws; the exercise of private and domestic virtues -is the basis of public virtue.

Duties of the Social Body. 1. The duty of society with respect to its individual members is the social

guarantee. This consists in the obligation on the whole to secure to every individual the enjoyment and preservation of his rights, which is the foundation of the national sovereignty.

2. The social guarantee cannot exist, unless the law clearly determines the bounds of the powers vested in the functionaries; nor when the responsi bility of the public functionaries has not been expressly determined and defined.

3. Public succour is a sacred duty of society; it ought to provide for the subsistence of unfortunate citizens, either by insuring employment to those who are capable, or by affording the means of support to such as are unfit for labour.

Declaration of Independence of the Province of Venezuela.

f

In the Name of the Most High.

We, the representatives of the federal provinces of Caraccas, Cumana, Barinas, Mergalta, Barcelona, Merida, and Truxillo, constituting the confederation of Venezuela, on the southern continent of America, in congress assembled; considering, that we have been in the full entire possession of our natural rights since the 19th of April, 1810, which we re-assumed in consequence of the transaction at Bayonne, the abdication of the Spanish throne, by the conquest of Spain, and the accession of a new dynasty, established without our consent: while we avail ourselves of the rights of men, which have been held from us by force for more than three centuries, and to which we are restored by the political revo⚫ lutions in human affairs, think it becoming to state to the world the reasons by which we are called to the free exercise of the sovereign autho, rity.

We deem it unnecessary to insist upon the unquestionable right which every conquered country holds to restore itself to liberty and independence: we pass over, in a generous silence, the long series of afflictions, oppressions, and privations, in which the fatal law of conquest has indiscriminately involved the discoverers, conquerors, and settlers, of these countries; whose condition has been made wretched by the very means which should have promoted their felicity; throwing a veil over three centuries of Spanish dominion in America, we shall confine ourselves to the narration of recent and well-known facts, which prove how much we have been afflicted; and that we should not be involved in the commotions, disorders, and conquests which have divided Spain.

The disorders in Europe had increased the evils under which we before suffered, by obstructing complaints, and frustrating the means of redress; by authorising the governor placed over us by Spain, to insult and oppress us with impunity, leaving us without the protection or support of the laws.

first who generally acknowledged, "and who preferred that integrity; never forsaking the interests of their European brethren, while there remained the least prospect of salvation.

America had acquired a new existence; she was able and was bound to take charge of her own safety and prosperity; she was at liberty to acknowledge or to reject the authority of a king who was so little deserving of that power as to regard his personal safety more than that of the nation over which he had been placed.

All the Bourbons who concurred in the futile stipulations of Bayonne, having withdrawn from the Spanish territory contrary to the will of the people, abrogated, dishonoured, and trampled upon all the sacred obligations which they had contracted with the Spaniards of both worlds, who with their blood and treasures had placed them on the throne, in opposition to the efforts of the house of Austria: such conduct has rendered them unfit to rule over a free people, whom they disposed of like a gang of slaves.

The intrusive government, which have arrogated to themselves the authority which belongs only to the national representation, treacherously availed themselves of the known good faith, the distance, and effects which ignorance and oppression had produced among the Americans, to direct their passions against the new dynasty which had been imposed upon Spain; and, in opposition to their own principles, kept up the illusion amongst us in favour of Ferdinand, but only in order to baffle our rational hopes, and to make us with greater impunity their prey; they held forth to us promises of liberty, equality, and fraternity, in pompous discourses, the more effectually to conceal the snare which they were insidiously laying for us by an inefficient and degrading shew of representation.

As soon as the various forms of the Spanish government were overthrown, and others had been successively substituted, and imperious necessity had taught Venezuela to look to her own safety, in order to support the king, and afford an asylum to their European brethren against the calamities by which they were menaced, all their former services were disregarded; new measures were adopted against us, and the very steps taken for the preservation of the Spanish government were branded with the titles of insurrection, perfidy, and ingratitude; but only because the door was closed against a monoply of power, which they had expected to perpetuate in the name of a king whose dominion was imaginary. Notwithstanding our moderation, our generosity, and the purity of our intentions, and in opposition to the wishes of our brethren in Europe, we were declared to the world in a state of blockade; hostilities were commenced against us; agents sent among us to excite revolt, and arm us against each other; whilst our national character was traduced, and foreign nations excited to make war upon us.

Deaf to our remonstrances, without submitting our reasons to the impartial judgment of mankind, and deprived of every other arbitrement but that of our enemies, we were prohibited from all intercourse with our brethren; and, adding comtempt to calumny, they undertook to appoint delegates for us, and without our consent, who were to assist at their cortes, the more effectually to dispose of our persons and property, and render us subjects to the power of our enemies.

In order to defeat the wholesome measures of our national representation, when obliged to recognize it, they undertook to reduce the ratio of our population, submitting the forms of election to servile committees acting

at the disposal of arbitrary rulers; thus insulting our inexperience and good faith, and utterly regardless of our political importance or our welfare.

The Spanish government, ever deaf to the demands of justice, undertook to frustrate all our legitimate rights, by condemning as criminals, and devoting to the infamy of the gibbet, or to confiscation and banishment, those Americans who at different periods had employed their talents and services for the happiness of their country.

Such were the causes which at length have impelled us to look to our own security, and to avert those disorders and horrible calamities, which we could perceive were otherwise inevitable, and from which we shall ever keep aloof; by their fell policy they have rendered our brethren insensible to our misfortunes, and have armed them against us; they have effaced from their hearts the tender impressions of love and consanguinity, and converted into enemies many members of our great family.

When, faithful to our promises, we were sacrificing our peace and dignity to support the cause of Ferdinand of Bourbon, we saw that to the bonds of power by which he united his fate to that of the emperor of the French, he added the sacrifice of kindred and friends; and that on this account the existing Spanish rulers themselves have already resolved to acknowledge him only conditionally. In this painful state of perplexity, three years have elapsed in political irresolution, so dangerous, so fraught with evil, that this alone would have authorised the determination which the faith we had pledged and other fraternal attachments had caused us to defer, till imperious necessity compels us to pro ceed further than we had first contemplated: but, pressed by the hostile and unnatural conduct of the Spanish rulers,

we are at length absolved from the conditional oath which we had taken, and now take upon us the august sove. reignty which we are called here to exercise.

But as our glory consists in establishing principles consistent with human happiness, and not erecting a partial felicity on the misfortunes of our fellow mortals, we hereby proclaim and declare, that we shall regard as friends and companions in our destiny, and participators of our happiness, all those who, united by the ties of blood, language, and religion, have suffered oppression under the ancient establishments, and who shall assert their independence thereof, and of any foreign power whatsoever; engaging that all who co-operate with us shall partake in life, fortune, and opinion; declaring and recognizing not only these, but those of every nation, in war enemies, in peace friends, brethren and fellowcitizens.

In consideration, therefore, of these solid, public, and incontestable motives, which force upon us the necessity of reassuming our natural rights, thus restored to us by the revolution of human affairs, and in virtue of the imprescriptible rights of every people to dissolve every agreement, convention, or social compact, which does not establish the purposes for which alone all governments are instituted, we are convinced that we cannot and ought not any longer to endure the chains by which we were connected with the government of Spain; and we do declare, like every other independent people, that we are free, and determined to hold no dependence on any potentate, power, or government, than we ourselves establish; and that we now take among the sovereign nations of the earth the rank which the Supreme Being and Nature have assigned to us, and to which we have been called by the succession of human

VOL. IV. PART II.

events, and by a regard for our own happiness.

Although we foresee the difficulties which may attend our new situation, and the obligation which we contract by the rank which we are about to occupy in the political order of the world; and, above all, the powerful influence, of ancient forms and habits by which (to our regret) we have been hitherto affected-yet we also know, that a shameful submission to them, when it is in our power to shake them off, would prove more ignominious to ourselves, and more fatal to posterity, than our long and painful servitude. It therefore becomes our indispensable duty to provide for our security, liberty, and happiness, by an entire and essential subversion and reform of our ancient establishments.

Wherefore, believing, for all these reasons, that we have complied with the respect which we owe to the opinions of mankind, and to the dignity of other nations with whom we are about to rank, and of whose friendly intercourse we assure ourselves,—

We, the representatives of the confederated provinces of Venezuela, invoking the Most High to witness the justice of our cause, and the rectitude of our intentions; imploring his divine assistance to ratify, at the epoch of our political birth, the dignity to which his providence has restored us, the ardent desire to live and die free, and in the belief and the defence of the Holy Catholic and apostolic religion of Jesus Christ, as the first of our duties,

We, therefore, in the name, by the will, and under the authority which we hold for the virtuous people of Venezuela, do solemnly declare to the world, that these united provinces are, and ought to be, from this day forth, in fact and of right, free, sovereign, and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance and dependence on the crown of Spain, and of

X

those who now call, or may hereafter call themselves its representatives, or agents; and that, as free, sovereign, and independent states, we hold full power to adopt whatever form of government may be deemed suitable to the general will of its inhabitants: to declare war, make peace, form alliances, establish commercial treaties, define boundaries, and regulate navigation, and to propose and execute all other acts usually made and executed by free and independent nations; and for the due fulfilment, validity, and stability of this our solemn declaration, we mutually and reciprocally pledge and bind the provinces to each other, our lives, fortunes, and the honour of the nation.

Done at the federal palace of the Caracas, signed with our hands, and sealed with the great seal of the provincial confederation, and countersigned by the secretary to the congress as sembled, on the 5th day of July, in 1811, and in the first of our

the year independence.

Gabriel de Ponte, for Caracas.
Juan Jose Maya, for San Felipe.
Luis Jose Cazorla, for Valencia.
Dr Ticente Unda, for Guanare.
Francisco X. Yanes, for Ataure.
Ferando Toro, for Caracas.
Martin Torar Ponte, for St Sebastian.
Juan Toro, for Valencia.
Jose Angel Alamo, for Barquisimeto.
Francisco Hernandez, for St Carlos.
Linode Clemento, for Caracas.

Province of Cumana.
Francisco X. Marez, for Capital.
Jose G. Aloala, for Capital.
Juan Bermudez, for Sur.
Mariano de la Eova, for Norte.

Province of Barcelona. Francisco de Miranda, for Pao. Francisco Policarpo Ortiz, for Sa Diego.

Province of Barinas.

Juan N. Quintana, for Achaguas. Ignacio Fernandez, for Capital. Ignacio Ramon Brizeno, for Pedraza. Jose de Sata Y. Busy, for S. Fernan do de Apure.

Jose Luis Cabrera, for Guanacito. Ramon Y. Mendez, for Guasdualito. Manuel Palacio, for Mijagual.

Province of Margarita. Manuel P. Maneyro, for Margarita. Province of Merida. Antonio Nicolas Brizena, for Merida. Manuel V. Maya, for Grita.

Province of Truxillo.
Juan P. Pachece, for Truxillo.
Villa of Aragua and Province of
Barcelona.

Jose Maria Ramirez.
A true copy (L. S.)

FRANCISCO IZNARDI, Sec.

Decree of the Supreme Executive.

Federal Palace of Caracas;
July 8th, 1811.

By the executive power of the confederation of Venezuela, it is ordained, that the above declaration of indepen dence be published, carried into effect,