the British authorities in Trinidad, Miranda
headed two expeditions to the coast of Venezuela. He had hoped that his
appearance would be the signal for a general uprising; instead, he was
treated with indifference. His countrymen seemed to regard him as a tool
of Great Britain, and no one felt disposed to accept the blessings
of liberty under that guise. Humiliated, but not despairing, Miranda
returned to London to await a happier day.

Two British expeditions which attempted to conquer the region about
the Rio de la Plata in 1806 and 1807 were also frustrated by this
same stubborn loyalty. When the Spanish viceroy fled, the inhabitants
themselves rallied to the defense of the country and drove out the
invaders. Thereupon the people of Buenos Aires, assembled in cabildo
abierto, or town meeting, deposed the viceroy and chose their victorious
leader in his stead until a successor could be regularly appointed.

Then, in 1808, fell the blow which was to shatter the bonds uniting
Spain to its continental dominions in America. The discord and
corruption which prevailed in that unfortunate country afforded
Napoleon an opportunity to oust its feeble king and his incompetent son,
Ferdinand, and to place Joseph Bonaparte on the throne. But the master
of Europe underestimated the fighting ability of Spaniards. Instead of
humbly complying with his mandate, they rose in arms against the usurper
and created a central junta, or revolutionary committee, to govern in
the name of Ferdinand VII, as their rightful ruler.

The news of this French aggression aroused in the colonies a spirit of
resistance as vehement as that in the mother country. Both Spaniards and
Creoles repudiated the "intruder king." Believing, as did their comrades
oversea, that Ferdinand was a helpless victim in the hands of Napoleon,
they recognized the revolutionary government and sent great sums of
money to Spain to aid in the struggle against the French. Envoys from
Joseph Bonaparte seeking an acknowledgment of his rule were angrily
rejected and were forced to leave.

The situation on both sides of the ocean was now an extraordinary
one. Just as the junta in Spain had no legal right to govern, so the
officials in the colonies, holding their posts by appointment from a
deposed king, had no legal authority, and the people would not allow
them to accept new commissions from a usurper. The Church, too,
detesting Napoleon as the heir of a revolution that had undermi